A Brief Hiatus

Author: SamStevens

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SamStevens
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I am taking a break from this account for 15 days. I was able to bring that down from 3 weeks to 15 days. Despite this being my first ban, I'd say it was worth it.

I'll make appearances on the hangouts to hang out with the regulars. I do not know if the hangouts are under the Code of Conduct; therefore I will NOT discuss uncomfortable truths about a certain user with other people who have also picked up on, looked into, and arrove at the same conclusion as myself.

Discord is always an option, not too familiar with the platform... And I look forward to the predictable words and actions by those who will view this as a personal victory. I can't necessarily blame them since it was so easy for me to get under their skin and make them cry or show that they are not who they say they are. 

At the end of the day, it is what it is, and it was a lot of fun. 
Goldtop
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So, another sane person is being banned while the crazies continue to run amok. Go team Dart!
Mharman
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@Goldtop
I hope we can all set aside our differences and push for better moderation. This is getting ridiculous.
Goldtop
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@Mharman
Unless the nutters are put on a leash or banned from here, nothing will change.
thett3
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FREE SAM
thett3
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Yet another POC driven off this site by our all white leadership 
Goldtop
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Looking at the Leaderboard, out of the current membership of 369, only about 60 are posting, the rest are long gone.
RationalMadman
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@Goldtop
The ratio was far, far worse on DDO. Point is?
Goldtop
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RM

Why do you block me and then responsd to me? Doesn't that defeat the entire concept?

First of all, I looked at the stats while you just pulled that comment out of your butt.

Secondly, lots of sane folks bailed on ddo because the crazies were running amok there too.

Thats the point.
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@Goldtop
Thanks for agreeing with me. Instead of 'sane' say 'rule-abiding' and/or 'non-abusive' and we agree that moderation here is becoming much better than DDO's lazy moderation which allowed toxic members to run riot.
coal
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Why is Sam being banned? 
Mharman
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@coal
Stupid over-policing moderation policies.
ResurgetExFavilla
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Bye Sammy-boy, see you in two weeks.
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@Mharman
Ok, fine.  But, like... what was the supposed offense? 
Mharman
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Not sure TBH. I said what I said earlier because of previous incidents.
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@thett3
Do you know why Sam was temp banned? Or why anyone was temp banned?
RationalMadman
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@coal
I will just say it was part me, part nd. I cannot speak more about the individual you are asking due to a restraining order. Look at the post history and do the math (may have to go back several weeks).

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@coal
nd was whatthef
Lunatic
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I don't know what happened to get sam banned, but he made referenced MMA meme's like eddie bravo and the GOAT Max Holloway memes, so I am automatically on his side! #pumped for UFC 232
Mharman
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@coal
Here’s a list of users who have been temp banned:

RationalMadman
Nd24007
SupaDudz
Polytheist_Witch
Ethang5
Goldtop
SamStevens
Wylted
Tyrone
probably some others


Most of these happened more recently.

Mharman
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@coal
And Kingladdy01.
RationalMadman
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@Mharman
All were deserved except mine and yes, yes you will come and talk shit about egomania. No. It's the truth and bsh1 is proving that he believes that, considering his actions post-return of me and what I preached about who he should be banning publicly and privately.

There is more to it, of course. Ramshutu speaking about intent vs 'actual content' was a huge stepping-stone in this process. I thank him for it. 
Analgesic.Spectre
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I know this comment will be unpopular, especially most people are not sure what Sam did, but I couldn't be happier with this moderation. Seriously, bsh and his team are setting the reasonable rules and following through with them, something Max was a bit loose on (he was still an excellent mod). 

Being a teacher myself, I know how difficult it is to set and follow through with rules, so I have a lot of respect for this work being done. It is thankless, often nasty work, and whilst it could be argued that it's not all smooth sailing, they are human and I'm willing to overlook the very occasional misstep. 

I've watched Sam flagrantly and maliciously break the rules (he attempted to doxx in my AMA thread, and then spammed doxxing questions and information in it, too), and he gets banned for it. I've watched other people break the rules, and they get banned for it. None of the bans are draconian, and the punishments seem to be thoroughly thought through and weighted, something Max continuously got right, too.

Anyway, I know Sam probably thinks he's a martyr for a good cause, but he's shown a complete disregard for the community by so odiously ignoring the rules. No one wants a community wherein people are continuously attempting to doxx and ruin people's lives. What's more shocking is that Sam seemed to be one of the more sane members on this site, someone I really didn't have any beef with. But again, moderation has shown that it doesn't give special privileges to people breaking the rules, which is nothing short of admirable. When Sam receives another chance, I hope he returns to his old, sane self so that the community can welcome him again.

I hope we appreciate how great this moderation is, because boy oh boy it can get A LOT worse.
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@RationalMadman
I have no problem with Bsh as a person. He was a great user on DDO. I simply just do not like currently moderation policies. There’s no doubt in my mind this all stems from disagreements on what should be ban-worthy.

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@Analgesic.Spectre
None of the bans are draconian, and the punishments seem to be thoroughly thought through and weighted,

None of the bans are draconian, and the punishments seem to be thoroughly thought through and weighted, something Max continuously got right, too.

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@Mharman
Here’s a list of users who have been temp banned:

RationalMadman
Nd24007
SupaDudz
Polytheist_Witch
Ethang5
Goldtop
SamStevens
Wylted
Tyrone
probably some others


Most of these happened more recently.
Ah, so what. Those are about the numbers I was expecting. I don't get why people are clutching their pearls over temp bans. Unless personal attacks are stricken from the CoC, this is what you get. At this point I half wish they were, dealing with them is a mess. Of course, then you'd just have users like Poly tearing around completely unpunished.

Also I'm not sure why you formed an opinion about this ban before you knew anything about it.
Analgesic.Spectre
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@Castin
Ah, so what. Those are about the numbers I was expecting. I don't get why people are clutching their pearls over temp bans. Unless personal attacks are stricken from the CoC, this is what you get. 
Absolutely. A debate site, when filled with personal attacks, becomes unproductive and a breeding ground for trolls. I think people are forgetting why a site like this should exist at all: to facilitate interesting and intellectual content. The odd frivolous post is fine, but when the content degrades to personal attacks, it's not longer of use to anyone.

At this point I half wish they were, dealing with them is a mess. Of course, then you'd just have users like Poly tearing around completely unpunished. 
Yes. I think we can all agree that Poly has a nasty habit of doing that. We do need procedures in place for users like her.

Also I'm not sure why you formed an opinion about this ban before you knew anything about it. 
I think it's largely because we wouldn't expect Sam to behave in such a horrible way. A week ago, if you had told me that Sam would go on a doxxing tirade, all with the clear intent of ruining someone's life, I wouldn't have believed you. But hey, he did it, and if people saw it like you and I did (assuming that you, being a mod, have access to the deleted thread), I'm certain people would quickly realise that Sam made a horrible decision.

Maybe Sam was having a bad day. Maybe Sam was overly emotional about something. I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt, given his excellent track record. Certainly, no one is celebrating his actions or banning -- it's actually quite sad to see someone completely lose it. Despite attempting to do something horribly malicious, I think it's best to hope that he comes to see how out of control he was, and then forgive him so that we can move on.



Castin
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@Analgesic.Spectre
Yeah, I like Sam as well and was surprised to hear this. And I actually can't see any more than you do, I turned down the position of full time assistant mod. Did Sam unleash out of the blue, was there an argument or something?

In general I think because many of our members were from DDO, where there was no active moderation to speak of and you had an anything-goes environment, many people may have forgotten what moderation looks like. Laying down new law after such a long period of lawlessness is bound to be turbulent.

As a side note, Poly is actually perfectly capable of intelligent and contributive posts, I just have no idea what determines the Jekyll/Hyde factor. Or what her problem with me and others is.


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Mharman
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@Castin
Personal attacks should not be part of the CoC. People made personal attacks all the time on DDO. Airmax never cared. Airmax would only step in when someone got especially vile (ex: MalcomXY’s perma-ban).

My policy would be as follows: Personal attacks are allowed but saying extremely vile things isn’t.

Examples:

Calling Bsh1 a dirty faggot? Allowed, but not approved of.

Telling Polytheist_Witch to get piped by Satan? Not vile enough. People tell each other to go get fvcked all the time.

Telling Thett3 that you hope his kids are autistic? Now that’s vile enough the be violation-worthy.


Under this policy members like Poly still are held accountable when they start being toxic, and members who hate each other are still free to express it.