Look, I had 1200 words on this, but I'm just going to slice it down to a few:

Valve. Is. The. Issue.

I know they can afford a few thousand a year to explicitly support T2/3 events by proven organizers. They can afford to support your events more. Meanwhile, everyone - players, casters, TOs, etc - is going to suffer more and more until everyone chooses to grow a pair and stand up to Daddy Volvo before he truly "leaves to grab a pack of cigarettes." They practically own the ecosystem now with the Circuit system.

You all need to stop coming at others who do the same thing as you every few months; come together across aisles of role and team and company and take it up more vocally with the number one underlying issue. Which, again, is Valve. If you all say something, they can't punish one of you. People are already misconstruing this so, more to say, Valve won't be able to afford to look the other way.

It's genuinely exhausting to watch from fans' point of view (and as a washed-up journo myself). I don't want to see this scene wither. You're all fucking fantastic flowers and deserve better.