Night of the Long Knives?

[Lingchih]

Thanks to the Mods for not banning me, and allowing this discussion to continue. It does have it's place on the board.

[Trumanator]

Originally Posted by Annette

Sombre was not banned for one post, nor for one private message. He was banned because he continually violated, and later indicated that he would not abide by, the terms of use we set forth for these boards. Apparently there are many of you who think, 1) we should have no rules or, 2) we should let Sombre have his own set of rules. I have absolutely no wish to hurt the community (what does our company stand to gain from that?), nor am I interested in any kind of power-play. But Shrapnel Games will not successfully run a company forum with either points 1 or 2 above in play.

So the new story is that you banned him because of a perceived lack of respect for the rules. So somehow the fact that he didn't give a rat's @ss about your two bit warnings and almighty mod powers made an instant perma ban somehow applicable under this rule:

A permanent ban can be applied for any reason if the Admins determine it is warranted to promote the harmony of the community.

Great job, I can see that you've successfully promoted harmony in the community. Leaving that aside however, tell me how in the hell his private communications with you could possibly affect community harmony? Obviously they can't because they're PRIVATE. So really, you're just trying to cover up the fact that you broke you're own policies because you couldn't stand someone who didn't "Respect mah authority," or you violated your own policies that called for a preliminary temp ban.

[Rookierookie]

Originally Posted by Trumanator

So the new story is that you banned him because of a perceived lack of respect for the rules. So somehow the fact that he didn't give a rat's @ss about your two bit warnings and almighty mod powers made an instant perma ban somehow applicable under this rule:

That's not a new story. That has been her original point all along.

[Squirrelloid]

Originally Posted by Annette

I have a thick skin, and I'm actually quite impressed how some of you have managed to put words in my mouth. Sombre was not banned for one post, nor for one private message. He was banned because he continually violated, and later indicated that he would not abide by, the terms of use we set forth for these boards. Apparently there are many of you who think, 1) we should have no rules or, 2) we should let Sombre have his own set of rules. I have absolutely no wish to hurt the community (what does our company stand to gain from that?), nor am I interested in any kind of power-play. But Shrapnel Games will not successfully run a company forum with either points 1 or 2 above in play.

First, I want to make clear I'm not trying to bash anyone. I have no personal agenda here. I don't even personally like Sombre, although I do respect the modding work he's done.

What does bother me is that what you say doesn't match up with either what he's said (and I have no reason to believe he's lied) nor his infraction record. He had a warning that was long since expired, and the -10pts he received from the current violation that sparked this entire chain of events. That's not an especially 'continual' problem. If Sombre was such a continual problem, why doesn't he have a long record of disciplinary action? Where are the temp bans?

I don't like being lied to, and I don't like seeing people treated unfairly. Unfortunately, all the evidence available suggests that is exactly what is happening here. If you want to change people's minds, its going to require actual evidence. As a trained scientist, I for one tend to prefer the hypothesis that the evidence actually supports.

[Annette]

Originally Posted by Trumanator

So the new story is that you banned him because of a perceived lack of respect for the rules. So somehow the fact that he didn't give a rat's @ss about your two bit warnings and almighty mod powers made an instant perma ban somehow applicable under this rule:

Great job, I can see that you've successfully promoted harmony in the community. Leaving that aside however, tell me how in the hell his private communications with you could possibly affect community harmony? Obviously they can't because they're PRIVATE. So really, you're just trying to cover up the fact that you broke you're own policies because you couldn't stand someone who didn't "Respect mah authority," or you violated your own policies that called for a preliminary temp ban.

New story? How so? My post from last night:

I'm the one who banned Sombre. Don't blame our volunteer moderators, please. We're all very saddened by this and don't take it lightly. We (Shrapnel Games' staff) understand that Sombre has made many positive contributions to these boards. On the other hand, he/she continually violated the rules we have established and expect every forum member to observe. We actually gave some extra rope in this case, encouraging Sombre to continue participating positively without breaking our forum guidelines. Unfortunately, Sombre was not willing to do this.

[Frozen Lama]

i guess she ran out of drivel to spout and is now reusing her old rhetoric. once again - why no temp bans if it was a continual problem?

[rdonj]

Sombre is hardly the only person with discipline problems on this board... not including maerlande, who has finally gotten his. Sure took him an awful lot of effort to get it, in comparison.

[Squirrelloid]

Originally Posted by rdonj

Sombre is hardly the only person with discipline problems on this board... not including maerlande, who has finally gotten his. Sure took him an awful lot of effort to get it, in comparison.

And lets not mention Wikdthots - was any discipline ever handed down about that at all?

Edit: that is, given he was a sockpuppet, did the person responsible suffer *any* consequences?

[Baalz]

To those who are angry, I'd like to ask that the discussion be elevated above what I'd expect out of other forums. Regardless of your grievance this isn't accomplishing anything other than making people look like petulant children. If you really feel fed up enough to leave then just do it.

To the admins I'd like to expound on the real reason people are angry, and I alluded to it in my previous post. Most of us identify with Sombre, even if we found him abrasive. He was part of the community and (at least those that are protesting think) he contributed much more than his abrasiveness subtracted. Your actions feel unilateral, arbitrary and an attack on our community. If he had been consistently unpalatable then not only would everyone understand why he was banned, they'd thank you for it. This feels like some outsider decided that enough respect was not paid to him and attacked our community, only to be fully supported by the powers that be. Let me be clear that I don't know or particularly care about the specifics of what happend, I'm just telling you why people are mad as they're not doing a good job articulating it.

It's not that there is a feeling that there should be no rules, it's that the feeling is that how this is enforced is an attack on our community. If you banned Sombre then who else? Obviously Sombre is not coming back, and I'd expect that several other people are gone for good over this...and the feeling is why in the hell are you swinging a big club around like that when nobody else saw a problem? This whole thing could have been greatly mitigated by publicly asking, then warning, then being clear about consequences for further behavior and bringing the community along with the decision. *Obviously* important members of the community deserve special consideration - they are what makes the community. If there is a compelling reason that one of the pillars of a community needs to be removed you can't just unilaterally do it with no transparency...unless you want considerable backlash.

[Foodstamp]

This thread has been very entertaining. Let's wrap it up with a ban to Frozen Lama for personal attacks on a moderator so he can join his buddies on the free forums.