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Author Topic: So, howdy all...  (Read 2015 times)

RedFox

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« Reply #15 on: May 05, 2007, 02:52:32 PM »
Quote from: Blue Devil
But the cult of personality over there makes me not want to post over there too much.

The only time I really post over there is when I think it's a topic that I would get more of a response of over there then I would here.

But even that is rare these days.  I post here more now then over at TBP.


Yup.
 

Blue Devil

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« Reply #16 on: May 06, 2007, 12:20:11 AM »
Quote from: RedFox
Yup.


That's part of the reason I created the lounge.  I want to give people a choice of where they can go to discuss role playing games where they don't have to deal with the mod abuse.

I have to say I knew Curt was abusive before he became mod, and I knew when he got mod power he would abuse it.

It's a big case of "I told you so"

Tommy Brownell

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« Reply #17 on: May 06, 2007, 03:00:45 AM »
Having read all the offending posts on RPG.net, that was a silly thing to warrant a *permaban*.

Oy gevalt.
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Blue Devil

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« Reply #18 on: May 06, 2007, 10:28:38 AM »
Quote from: Tommy Brownell
Having read all the offending posts on RPG.net, that was a silly thing to warrant a *permaban*.

Oy gevalt.


Are you trying to say that moderators and administrators on RPG.net went too far?

Nah, that Never Happens  :D

zomben

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« Reply #19 on: May 06, 2007, 01:46:33 PM »
Quote from: Tommy Brownell
Having read all the offending posts on RPG.net, that was a silly thing to warrant a *permaban*.

Oy gevalt.

Well, okay, I've got a few minutes, so I'll tell the whole story (albeit in slightly abbreviated form).

My dissillusionment with RPG.net began maybe a couple of years ago.  I was getting fed up with the mods throwing their weight around, the 'cults of personality' which were springing up all over, and how people could talk shit about anyone who wasn't an RPG.net member, but as soon as they dumped on a member, the mods came down on them like flies on shit. (IE: It's okay for someone to bash friends of mine at Chaosium, because Chaosium are not members of RPG.net... but as soon as I chime in to defend Chaosium, I'm being a dick...  whatever).

Anyway, the penultimate nail in the coffin for me was last summer when my friend Brit Daniel (whom most of you may know as "Tetsujin28") on RPG.net had been suspended for a month, and during that month was killed in a motorcycle accident.

My pal Brian (Molotov) reported the incident to me, having gotten the news from close friends of Brit's down at the local game store.  Brian posted a note to RPG.net about it, and after a few 'oh my god!' responses, the thread was locked by the mods.

Seems they felt that someone might be pulling a hoax, and so we had to scramble around to try and find an obituary or something.  In the meantime, I'm exchanging emails with friends of Brit's from all over the world, who've spoken with his family, gotten the full story, etc.  Yet RPG.net's mods still didn't beleive it.

I honestly don't recall what ended up happening to change their mind, but basically this went on for at least a few days.  It was intensely irritating, and I decided at that point that my respect for the mods at RPG.net was effectively null and void.

So, flash forward a few weeks.  I was still frequenting the site off and on, but becoming more and more disinterested.  I was also finding myself becoming short tempered and argumentative with people on the site.  Basically, if someone was asking stupid questions, or being a dick, I started calling them out.

After a few weeks of that, I decided it was better if I just didn't return to the site for a while.  I sent some PMs to a few of the people on the site who's opinions I respected, gave them my email address and told them to keep in touch.  That began nearly 8 months of my 'vacation' from RPG.net

Now, I'll be honest, I did return to the site off and on, mostly to sell books in the "Sales & Trades" area, and to keep up on a few threads.  But basically, I was done with it.

For some reason, I still don't understand, sometime in February I think, I decided to join in to a thread on the site.  That led to me starting a few of my own.  And soon, I was back as a member.  The few people who'd noticed I'd left RPG.net welcomed me back, and I was having fun again for at least the first few weeks.

But in the back of my head, I still came back with the feeling that if someone was being a dick, I was going to call them on their shit.

And that's exactly what happened.  A thread started by a new member, stated that he was getting back into the hobby after the first time in twenty years or so, and wanted to know what games would fit specific criterion for his needs.

Some jackass comes along (sorry, can't find the thread to link to) and suggests the extreme polar opposite of what he wants.  Lists games that are OOP, or haven't been released yet (when the guy said he wanted somehting he could go to the store and buy today).  Mentions games like L5R when the OP wanted straight medieval fantasy (or something).  Basically, being completely unhelpful.

So I call him on it.  I say that the list is unhelpful in the extreme.  And he writes back something which I cannot remember, but I recall it sort of implied that the guy thought he was being funny by posting the initial list, which was totally not helpful and he knew it.

To which I write in "I can only assume you're trying to be funny, because if you're not, you're a fucking idiot."

WOAH!  Bad Ben!

So, I get a follow-up message shortly thereafter from a Mod telling me that I was being mean, and if I did it again, I'd be suspended.

So I told him to get fucked, I was done with RPG.net and wouldn't be returning.  "Go ahead and ban me if you want, I won't be back" I think is what I said.

After that, I changed my 'location' bar to "Not on RPG.net, that's for fucking sure" and scrambled my password.

Shortly afterwards, I got an email stating that I'd been suspended for a month for being a dick (not their words; I didn't bother to keep the email).

At which point I wrote back, and was actually really insulting to most of the mod staff.  I won't post the insults here, but they were fairly good ones.  I went off, telling them "You may as well go ahead and permaban me if you want. I won't be returning."

And so they did.

Now, I will admit that the next morning, after the dust had settled, I sent an apology to the specific mod who'd gotten stuck with banning me.  Not for the circumstances, but for my specific actions.  I'm normally not the sort to fling insults around willy-nilly, but they'd pushed me to my breaking point.  I was told that if I wanted to contest the ban, I could write to a specific person.  I responded that I was perfectly happy with the ban, and was not interested in the slightest in contesting it.

And that, in a nutshell, is that.

I still feel a bit bad about the manner in which I stepped out.  I should have just faded away and stopped frequenting the forums.  But what's done is done.  The guys at RPG.net are just going to keep having this sort of thing cropping up (looking over their "Trouble Tickets" forum right now, I see mabye five or six members - some of them with post counts over 2000, like I had - have been banned recently).  Frankly, while the 'users' of RPG.net feel like they drive the industry on some level, RPG.net itself is pretty much seen as a 'necessary evil' in the biz.  Most pros I speak to talk of the place fairly derisively, and will not go there at all.

And that's pretty much the whole story.  If I left anything out, it's simply because I've given it so little thought over the last month+ that I've forgotten.

If there's a moral to this, I suppose that I just should have walked away, and not said anything.  Also, never post to RPG.net if you're mad, and taking codeine for back pain.

The Yann Waters

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« Reply #20 on: May 06, 2007, 01:59:56 PM »
Quote from: zomben
Some jackass comes along (sorry, can't find the thread to link to) and suggests the extreme polar opposite of what he wants.

'Ere it is.
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Ian Absentia

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« Reply #21 on: May 06, 2007, 02:25:50 PM »
Quote from: zomben
...in the back of my head, I still came back with the feeling that if someone was being a dick, I was going to call them on their shit.
This story is so familiar it hurts.

Anyway, welcome to the fold.  Around here you're welcome -- and sometimes even encouraged -- to mention that someone's shit stinks.  And, like all forms of free speech, it's a priviledge that carries its baggage, good and bad, with it.

!i!

King of Old School

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« Reply #22 on: May 06, 2007, 04:04:31 PM »
Quote from: zomben
Anyway, the penultimate nail in the coffin for me was last summer when my friend Brit Daniel (whom most of you may know as "Tetsujin28") on RPG.net had been suspended for a month, and during that month was killed in a motorcycle accident.

My pal Brian (Molotov) reported the incident to me, having gotten the news from close friends of Brit's down at the local game store.  Brian posted a note to RPG.net about it, and after a few 'oh my god!' responses, the thread was locked by the mods.

Seems they felt that someone might be pulling a hoax, and so we had to scramble around to try and find an obituary or something.  In the meantime, I'm exchanging emails with friends of Brit's from all over the world, who've spoken with his family, gotten the full story, etc.  Yet RPG.net's mods still didn't beleive it.

I honestly don't recall what ended up happening to change their mind, but basically this went on for at least a few days.  It was intensely irritating, and I decided at that point that my respect for the mods at RPG.net was effectively null and void.

I think that RPGnet moderation is utterly cockheaded, and frankly the idea that Curt or Darren could ever be mods there shows how intellectually and ethically bankrupt the whole enterprise is.  That said, on this point I have to be fair and point out that in light of the whole "John Wick is dead" hoax, I can't blame them for being overly cautious.

KoOS
 

zomben

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« Reply #23 on: May 06, 2007, 04:14:11 PM »
Quote from: King of Old School
I think that RPGnet moderation is utterly cockheaded, and frankly the idea that Curt or Darren could ever be mods there shows how intellectually and ethically bankrupt the whole enterprise is.  That said, on this point I have to be fair and point out that in light of the whole "John Wick is dead" hoax, I can't blame them for being overly cautious.

KoOS


I can understand that to some extent.  But when I write Shannon Appelcine -- who used to work for Chaosium, and is now an RPG.net mod -- and say "Hey, here's the deal, if you don't beleive me, you can call Greg Stafford and he'll be my character reference."

And they still don't beleive me...

Fuck 'em.

zomben

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« Reply #24 on: May 06, 2007, 04:14:51 PM »
Quote from: GrimGent
'Ere it is.


Ah, yeah, that was it.  See, I'm already getting details mixed up a bit.

RedFox

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« Reply #25 on: May 06, 2007, 04:20:02 PM »
Wow, that's sad.  Someone's blatantly trolling the thread, and you get warned for a personal attack on 'im.  *sigh*
 

zomben

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« Reply #26 on: May 06, 2007, 04:22:31 PM »
Yup!

Gotta love RPG.net

Blue Devil

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« Reply #27 on: May 06, 2007, 09:56:45 PM »
Quote from: zomben
Yup!

Gotta love RPG.net


You do?

Is there some kind of law I don't know about?  :D

KrakaJak

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« Reply #28 on: May 07, 2007, 12:44:46 AM »
Hi, Welcome, athough I'm not banned at rpg.net, I don't really post there anymore. I prefer it here...
-Jak
 
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pathfinderap

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« Reply #29 on: May 07, 2007, 10:11:31 AM »
God I miss Tetsujin28, :(

The grumpy old bugger