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My last topic was locked and when I tried to seek answers regarding the matter, the question was dodged for several minutes until I received a strange answer in which I supposedly broke rules regarding "discussing bans in public". I suppose that we're completely forbidden from ever discussing individuals that were banned then.




With all due respect, I appreciate the website that has been created for us and it is a marvel at that. This, however, appears to me as an example of "power abuse" and a scare tactic to silence what is truly happening. I imagine that I will be banned for defying authority, but I would rather have my argument be acknowledged instead of being shadowbanned like the others.

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About a month and a half ago, several admittedly "stupid" events occurred here on the forums. Some of you may know exactly what I'm talking about while others of you are scratching your heads wondering just what in the heck I am referring to. If you belong to that second group of people, then for the most part, I am completely with you. Being that most of this happened at the beginning of June in which I was at my Freshman year orientation for my college of choice (University of Massachusetts-Amherst represent), I actually missed a majority of what "went down", but for some odd reason, my name was brought up during a time in which I was inactive. It was a little silly to become dramatic about drama that I was pulled into, so I mostly ignored this aside from asking to have my name removed from the list of those involved (which was blatantly ignored, by the way):



In the end, I decided that it wasn't worth it, so I let it go.

So what exactly happened?

As I said, details are fairly scarce for me, but it seemed to have involved Mag Lev stepping down from his role as moderator, Nytem4re and J8cob being banned from the official Discord server (the latter was also banned from the website itself),and Grimhildr being banned from the RoleplayerGuild in general. Grimhildr's ban is the only one of the three that is clearly documented which can be seen here and is entirely valid due to the user in question breaking a myriad of rules involving insulting other users, using heavily inappropriate language, and even posting the topic in the incorrect section of the forums. It goes without saying that Grimhildr absolutely deserved their ban, but because of the heavy publicity the topic received due to the controversy of "obvious trolling" surrounding it, quite a few important and valid points where missed. And that's what I'm here to talk about today.

You might be asking why I have begun to care about this two months later, but this is mostly due to the fact that the situation has begun to only escalate further. Shadow bans have been frequently happening both on the official Discord and website itself without so much of an explanation from the Staff. That being said, I'm not asking for the Staff to answer to me as I'm just another writer sitting behind a computer screen, but at the very least, I believe that people deserve to know exactly what is happening (which may or may not be a result of me listening to "Revolution Radio" too much because that's a great album amirite?, but I can't say for sure).

And with that said, let's dig into this monster.

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It is apparently according to website rules that Staff can "choose" to discuss a ban in private which, admittedly, does make some sense. If someone committed wrongdoing and was punished as seen fit, then they shouldn't be further ridiculed and/or given the attention that they likely seek. This, however, can backfire if a user is banned for questionable reasons as was the case with a user known as Buddha/Odin. It is no secret that Buddha/Odin has made quite a few enemies on the site due to his brash and blunt nature, however, it's fairly obvious that he was banned without explanation as shown by the reaction of several users on the official Discord. When asked about it, Buddha/Odin had no idea as to why he was banned with this apparently being his final commentary.

This is not exactly friendly commentary to say the least, but it's not exactly offensive either. A mod on the server and the very same that represents the Arena section, Rilla, even responds to Buddha/Odin's commentary in a civil manner. The better question, however, is not to ask why he was banned, but what exactly is it that he's referring to? The fact that a Roleplay called "Negro Academy" remained active on the forums until Mag Lev took action.

This Roleplay was allowed to exist on the forums for several hours, despite the fact that moderators were apparently online:




The real kicker, however, is that you can still see the Roleplay on the website and said user is not banned!



If it's beginning to feel like a personal vendetta to you due to the fact that this can exist while simple commentary cannot, then perhaps it may just be that. This conclusion could be drawn from screenshots taken from a Discord Staff chat in which I was called a terrorist for no reason (important note: Ruby herself has said multiple times that this comment is not her own and comes from someone higher in command - perhaps Mahz or Hank?) aside from possibly helping to spearhead a topic in which community improvement was discussed. Note how Grimhildr was (again, rightfully so) banned followed by Buddha/Odin being banned on the official Discord while those two, along with myself, were among the most active in this discussion. Does this mean that I am next?

And this is where we get to the final part of this post, my friends.

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I was undeniably dragged into this so-called "drama", but at this point, I am the first to admit that I am willingly involving myself at this point. I find it oddly suspicious how the three people that were most involved in a topic relating to community involvement have been labeled as "terrorists" while multiple moderators from the former unofficial Discord server ran by yours truly have been banned on the Official server. The reason for this may as well be personal vendetta shown by how Mahz has referred to the former unofficial server as "toxic" in the past which was further implied by NuttsnBolt who even called for Nytem4re and J8cob's ban because of it. That seems to answer the question as to why J8cob and Nytem4re were banned from the Official Discord (with the latter being banned from the website itself) and with Buddha/Odin now being silenced, that only leaves one of their apparent "terrorists" left.

Me.

Please note that I am also the apparent "terrorist" that willingly supported Mahz's server over my very own, spearheaded the unofficial Discord server along with community events such as movie and games nights, ran a program for matchmaking friends, Roleplay partners, etc, and even created a fun way to spend time with other users through the Official RPG Crush Thread filled with tarot card and astrological readings.

With this in mind and my own fear of being banned in mind, I have to ask: How dare you?

Where does the Staff get off telling me and my friends that we do not care about that this community? By stating that we are trolls and/or "terrorists"? I have broken my back attempting to help this community and I am repaid with my friends being silenced and banned. I am repaid by being called a "terrorist" and not even having the right to defend myself. I am repaid by people saying that the server I created was toxic.

I am repaid by the threat of a ban.

What in Rooting Tooting Tarnation is going on here

I've unlocked this thread for now as an acknowledgement of the polite and reasonable manner you've drafted up your post, but this is definitely an exception and won't be the rule going forward.

First things first: there is no terrorist list . The phrase "We don't negotiate with terrorists", a quote by President Bush, was jokingly invoked by me in a conversation with Ruby to summarize my approach in dealing with problematic users that try to hold the Guild's attention hostage with public outrage instead of discussing issues like adults.

Our policy of not discussing bans in the public domain has nothing to do with anything so melodramatic as a "scare tactic". It's only for the reasons you've outlined yourself -- it gives the drama a chance to continue, which defeats the purpose of banning the user in the first place. It's between us and the user and simply isn't anyone else's business. We don't have to justify ourselves to anyone but the user in question. We're not obligated to tell anyone why j8cob and Nytem4re were banned or why Odin was muted on Discord. The Evidence Chest thread is a method to meet the vocal minority that wants to discuss bans halfway. If banned or muted users don't know why they've been smacked with the hammer, they should probably reflect on their actions or just ask us outright.

There's no coverup or grand scheme. We just don't like to waste our time on people blowing things out of proportion. As for reporting threads, the best way to get our attention is to PM every staff member at once in a group conversation. Nobody bothered to do this when it came to the Negro Academy thread. Moderators don't actively scour the forums looking for rulebreaking. We're all too busy for that (a side effect from the fact that the people most suited to being moderators tend to be adults or teenagers with full-time responsibilities).

PS. We do listen to appeals. @Sven is a good example of this. Grim can obviously forget it for now.

@Hank same Sven who was literally advocating killing all Muslims in YOUR discord?

Yet when I try to appeal J8's and Nyt's ban I get no reply? IDK man that shit stinks.

Yet when I try to appeal J8's and Nyt's ban I get no reply? IDK man that shit stinks.

You don't get to appeal other people's bans.

@Hank Why not? What a ridiculous concept.

It's between us and the user and simply isn't anyone else's business.

This is why, @Odin. If they want to return they can make the effort themselves.

It's kind of odd, I must say, that unlike a proper ruling body, the mods here don't seem to be at all accountable to anyone but themselves--which is a recipe for disaster. Did you ever consider that perhaps there would not have been any drama--or at least as much--if the bans had been explained to begin with? If there had been proper responses to some of these questions? If a number of the issues addressed had been dealt with when they'd happened rather than let to escalate.

I was there for a number of these things, lurking, or communicating with observers or those who were also directly involved in an effort to just understand what was going on. When you, and the other mods, choose not to answer questions, or at least make an effort to actively explain to someone why they were banned you PLANT THE SEED FOR DRAMA. Sorry, but silencing people (which I have seen done in the discord channel before--not in a figurative banning, but in mods LITERALLY deleting posts in a futile attempt to stifle discussion) is not the way to make them stop thinking about, discussing, and eventually bringing forth issues.

It makes people angry, it makes people feel as if something more is going on, and in the absence of REAL ANSWERS, they create their own and MORE drama is created, rather than less. It creates a systematic and recurring issue where past drama continues to create future drama, which leads to further issues for you mods to deal with.

This is one such example and it is not the first time this sort of thing has happened. The other examples, posted in the OP of this thread, are also indicators that telling people to shut up (or shutting them up forcefully, either unintentionally or in a way that it appears you have done wrong) does not fix the problem. Furthermore, when you say that the mods do not have to explain themselves to ANYONE...well, it makes A LOT OF PEOPLE raise their eyebrows and ask "Well why the hell not?"

Like, the mods aren't unbiased, perfect decision making machines. You're people who can make mistakes, get emotionally invested, or misunderstand a situation just as easily as the rest of us. The only difference is the mods have the power to ban people, lock threads, delete posts (on the forum or in the discord), and make what amount to executive decisions for what they see as the betterment of the guild (or to keep the peace, as it were).

People with power, moreso than people without, should be accountable for their actions, because their actions create bigger ripples whether they like it or not. Just like how I imagine none of you enjoy the fact that threads like this pop up. Additionally, the mods seem to act like their reputations don't exist, they do. The reality is that when issues of the same vein are not resolved and are instead silenced or ignored you lose face, and when you lose face people feel less inclined to talk to you about things that worry them, things that you very well might want to address if you knew.

I know quite a few people who have looked at this thread and probably said to themselves "Is it worth saying something, knowing that in the past people have (by all appearances) been banned for speaking against the mods? Do I want to risk a ban just to express my worry and my opinion?" That is not a fear that people should have here on a place we all come to have fun and, often, relax to escape the stresses of real life. People shouldn't have to be afraid of talking to you and when you don't explain why you make drastic decisions, you create ripples, and those ripples create misunderstandings, and those misunderstandings become "unknown gaps," in people's knowledge.

And you know what they say @Hank, there is no fear stronger than the fear of the unknown.

@Hank

I'm going to break my silence about this issue since this thread seems to be more about an actual dialogue.

Sure, you're not obligated to reveal details of bans. I'll give you that one.

However, it seems only strange that someone who advocates killing Muslims on the discord, Sven namely, hasn't been given a warning or any disciplinary action (as far as I know) When j8cob was banned for merely calling Mahz a deadbeat on the now non-existent "babycrib". Why is one worth an nearly automatic ban (j8cob was banned mere minutes after he used that "insult") yet calling for the deaths of Muslims a non-issue? Can't really say "He's allowed to say that" When j8cob didn't even get a warning. In this case, it only seems like he was banned because he harshly criticized Mahz. In theory, the application of the rules would have meant an automatic ban for Sven, which clearly didn't happen.

Not to mention the fact that Mahz had been perpetuating drama in babycrib. Yes, you're probably going to tell me that I shouldn't have posted my shortcomings about babycrib in babycrib itself, but Chai literally did the same thing.

Yet only I was targeted. Which is strange really, if it really was about "not causing drama" why didn't mahz get angry at Chai as well?

It just doesn't seem the rules are applied uniformly.

You ask me to DM the mods, but I don't really see the point as one believes I have a "LUST FOR POWER". (you can see this in some of the screens in the evidence locker and in cyn's post) Yet, I never asked for power, and just asked for babycrib to be deleted, and the use of the warn first, then ban policy. Nor did I ever claim that I was angry at official, which I'm not. In fact, I was the one on GCS who attempted to rein in some of the more toxic/vocal parts of GCS who were harassing Ruby,(under the threat of permaban) so I gave nothing but support honestly, and I was repaid as being labeled as toxic myself, and a concern troll by mahz.

Despite the fact I didn't contribute to any of the screens given here, nor grims deleted post, but I'm a concern troll (apparently) Despite the fact that I was a pretty active member of the community at one point, as evidenced by my post count alone.

In fact, I was banned on discord when I tried to tell mahz/nutts to take his thinly veiled insults towards grim and j8cob to DMs. (again, you can see nutts reference it in a screencap) Sure, you don't have to like anyone, but seeing as you have a rule about not "discussing" drama publicly, I don't see why you'd make fun of banned users in public when they literally cannot defend themselves. Insult them in private all you want, but I'm sure if I made a thread on off topic/spam rejoicing that a user was banned, insulting them as well, it would be closed/deleted p fast.

Yeah, I think some of the mods have personal vendettas against me. That's fine. But when the admin has it out for me, it doesn't really make me want to DM the mods I might even consider willing to listen to me really for help or a ban repeal (not that I really care about getting unbanned from discord). But I can see why other people may not WANT to DM the mods, as they have similar reasons to me.

I honestly want to ask how I blew things out of proportion since I'm pretty sure you're referring to me in that post of yours, since both mine and j8cobs ban weren't really clear cut. If you want I'd be happy to take it to DM if you so wish, I really would genuinely like to know.

First things first: there is no terrorist list . The phrase "We don't negotiate with terrorists", a quote by President Bush, was jokingly invoked by me in a conversation with Ruby to summarize my approach in dealing with problematic users that try to hold the Guild's attention hostage with public outrage instead of discussing issues like adults.

It doesn't really matter to me what phrase you used to describe me, it matters that you've marked me as a problematic user for no reason as far as I'm concerned. I would be open-minded to hear otherwise, however.

There's no coverup or grand scheme. We just don't like to waste our time on people blowing things out of proportion. As for reporting threads, the best way to get our attention is to PM every staff member at once in a group conversation. Nobody bothered to do this when it came to the Negro Academy thread. Moderators don't actively scour the forums looking for rulebreaking. We're all too busy for that (a side effect from the fact that the people most suited to being moderators tend to be adults or teenagers with full-time responsibilities).

You all seemed to find my first topic rather quickly. With that said, I truly appreciate you reopening this thread for the sake of discussion.

As a bystander, this all seems like a tangle that needs to be unraveled by an unbiased third party. Both sides seem to be pointing the finger at someone else, and its confusing and inciting further chaos, while impeding any attempt to straighten things out by either side.

And the biggest issue in trying to get a third party is the fact that the moderators are usually that third party, but that very clearly won't work since its the mods themselves being pointed at.

I'm NOT taking sides. I am simply pointing this out, along with my suggestion of a third party, in an attempt to help resolve the issue.

I found this because Cynder wasn't responding in our 1v1. I didn't know why, nor am I going to make assumptions. As it was stated above, yes I am very scared I might get hit in the crossfire with a ban just for making this post, but as they say...no guts no glory? Enjoyed RPG through the years, I don't want it to start crashing around everyone's ears because of cloak-and-dagger.

I'd like to make a suggestion. Speaking as someone who has friends on both sides of this, so you know I'm unbiased. Let the community pick it's moderators. Let the community nominate and/or vote. It's fair, and I think it will at least help put an end to this escalated drama.

I'd like to see Mahz in this one.

I'd like to make a suggestion. Speaking as someone who has friends on both sides of this, so you know I'm unbiased. Let the community pick it's moderators. Let the community nominate and/or vote. It's fair, and I think it will at least help put an end to this escalated drama.

Nah, I don't think that'll solve much of our problems. If anything, it'll make the Guild more prone to the kind of clique-y conflict that caused much of the hostility we see today. It can too easily turn into people just vying for positions of power and getting their friends to strong arm them into these roles, which means that the main characteristic of a mod isn't someone who is truly qualified, but someone who has many friends (or a few very loyal/key friends). My point is that this path can turn clique conflict into clique politics, which would further polarize the Guild.

Honestly, one of the biggest and bestest ways to solve this problem is to phase out the necessity of moderators and even limit their power via an expansion of the Guild's features. The ability for thread creators/GMs to self moderate their threads (deleting posts, blocking people from posting, etc.) might not solve all problems relating to the administration's issues, but would allow for Mahz (peace be upon Him) to cut back on what powers the moderators need to have. Maybe there could be an Auto-Mod, which scans threads for racist/bad words or numbers of reports or individual complaints from thread owners (need post deleted, need person blocked, etc.) and acts accordingly. Both of these would require Mahz (peace be upon Him) to put in alot of work, but I feel as though the reward would be well worth it for both Him (peace be upon Him) and the community.

just my opinion, man.

@Didgeridont I agree with you.

I'd like to make a suggestion. Speaking as someone who has friends on both sides of this, so you know I'm unbiased. Let the community pick it's moderators. Let the community nominate and/or vote. It's fair, and I think it will at least help put an end to this escalated drama.

Honestly, a lot of the issues are self-escalated. One cannot objectively say if entitlement, sensationalist emotions, or biased moderation actions are exclusively to blame but at this point the best thing is for the vocal minority to just stop. Taking my perspective (my emotions/knowledge of both sides of the fence) of the issue I would say the best course of action is to stop – outraged sentiment only escalates the situation further and is problematic to the site as a whole as it does more internal damage than anything productive. It always appears like the intent is to discredit and de-validate the staff and oft times Mahz himself; intent aside, that is an issue. If you want to be seen as less problematic, don’t make problems. Simple as that.

Just my two cents.

Well, I think that the staff (at least one official representative of it like @Hank) should come here and address this issue properly. I'm sure that I'm also putting myself on the ban line for doing this comment (especially after returnign to the Guild briefly, after RL made me unable to do anything after I joined), but this has grown into a real community problem.

Silence or repression are just going to brew it further until the Mods lose all their credibility. No matter who was it that began the issue, you are the figures of power here, you are the only ones that can solve it. Omitting yourselves/banning people/locking threads to hide behind your wall of power will solve nothing, just create more martyrs.

Of course, if your intention is an ideological purge, go ahead, the site is private so it technically is yours to do as you see fit. Even if this "see fit" is to purge the site of all of the opposition and leave this a community with just half a dozen dedicated d*cksuckers to pamper your inflated ego.

I like the phrase 'peace be upon'

peace be upon me for I have screwed up many a time.

sometimes I laugh about it. Other times I shake my head.

Its tough but in the end

I say. "That happened."

Tomorrow I go out with a smile on my face.

Someone asks me "what happened yesterday?"

I raise my eyebrows curiously. Yesterday?

That is not a fear that people should have here on a place we all come to have fun and, often, relax to escape the stresses of real life. People shouldn't have to be afraid of talking to you and when you don't explain why you make drastic decisions, you create ripples, and those ripples create misunderstandings, and those misunderstandings become "unknown gaps," in people's knowledge.

No, it isn’t.

But that fear might not be exclusively the fault of the administration. Over the last few months there have been efforts, intent aside, that have caused spread of distrust and possibly damage of the infrastructure. I won’t even mention diverting moderator time away from thread management to deal with duplicate accounts with intent to cause sitewide dissent. The moderators on RPG are not draconian by any measure, but if they are getting more assertive or exhausted I don’t blame them for doing so knowing what has occurred since Mahz’s return. This ripple effect you mention is not exclusive to the moderation team but also the opposition, dissenters, and disenfranchised whom have intentionally or unintentionally created a domino effect that has led to damaging the site and what I imagine is wasting the time of key staff members on a vocal disruption.

Also, if we want to talk about misunderstandings – what about cherry-picking Discord conversations to create a narrative of incompetence or totalitarian administration using out of context quotes?

Really the best thing about this place is that its an escape for the imagination.

Unfortunately we got stuck in this matrix of evil.

Why bother?

There is no issue.

We carry on talking to each other about our interests and creating our dream characters.

Having fun is this place.

This thread is a waste of time.