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So you probably heard about a small fuss we had the other day? Well as I promised, here is the thread explaining things to the best of my ability; and also outlining some fallout.
Firstly a small warning, this post is written in the spirit of good faith and truthfulness. A single post in reply here that falls into the category of flaming or trolling will net you instant Mod attention, and not in a nice way. Be mature, be respectful.
What The Fuck Happened?
Note: This story is pieced together from what both sides have said to various people and then to us, the Mods, Leaders and Admin.
- Wolves Challenge Dark Angels
- Dark Angels put off game due to timezone issues
- Game commences some days later
- Dern's car was in the mechanics and when he went to pick it up on the way home from work the engine wasn't yet re-assembled
- First two games commenced run by Cypher for the DA's while Dern makes his way home
- SW's use tactics which ruffle DA's feathers
- Dern turns up and is briefed on how the games went between game 2 and 3
- Dern decided not to take game seriously due to aforementioned tactics and repeatedly jumps to B on Shattered Bridge and lets them kill him
- A lot of insults fly both ways
- Next day Dern, Operth, DarkSaint and Skotten in a party, Dern apologises for his conduct, both ingame and inchat. Both apologies rejected
- Dern makes a public apology to all Wolf members who played, this is also ignored
- Note: Still no apology from the Wolves for their part in it all
- A member makes a post, I delete it and warn him for it
- Some hours pass and replies to Derns apology from other community members are positive
- A member makes another inflamatory posts, this time no Admins or Mods are around and it doesn't get removed
- Resulting argument from both sides raises tempers to a crescendo.
- Skotten decided to take the Wolves and "officially" leave this site
- Note: Still no apology, even to other members now dragged into what is essentially a private squabble
- Mods start putting people on moderated-posting to combat spread of flames
- Study-Group formed and the entire situation discussed openly between Mods and Leaders
- Punishments selected (Temp-Suspensions, no bans)
- Discussion begins on "No-Bickering" rules and accompanying mod actions
Basically this was really a personal issue between Dern and Skotten (+ mayby a few other players in that game). The rest of the community was unfairly dragged into it.
I want to mention that the sub-bullet points regarding the SW's are not intended to make them look bad. Just to try and remove this delusion that seems to be fogging up the communities view that they are in fact completely innocent. Both sides are equally responsible for subjecting us to this mess, and both sides should equally share the blame, resentment and animosity if there is to be any. Remember that only a few caused this, do not shame us all by shunning entire factions because of the actions of a few.
I have to post a small apology for a part I unwittingly played here. There was a post about "Cheap Tactics" made and I didn't realize that's what it was about (the game - I found out after Skottens post about impartiality). So when I replied about Melta Spam and Rocket Sniping (Halo 3) I looked like I was beating on the Wolves. So my apologies for being a muppet there!
So What Happens Now?
Well there is a list (below) of members who were decided, after some debate, to be the "ringleaders" of this mess and they will all receive 3 day suspensions. During this time period they will be unable to login, and therefore only able to view the Guest areas of the forum.
Now I know this is slightly unfair to those suspended and staying here, because one of the two main culprits has left the site. We cannot do anything about this, we know we're pretty awesome but not that awesome. What we will do is suspend them if they ever come back, I know this might be considered incentive for the Wolves to never come back, but if they can be mature about it then it won't deter them if such an unlikely occasion ever arises.
The Mods will be expanding again with the view to try and have someone monitoring the site at all times. Zero will discuss this at a time when he is ready.
There will also be a new section added to the Community Rules page about how the Mod team will react ruthlessly to petty bickering. We have always expected people to act their age and not bicker like pre-schoolers, however we have all disappointed by this.
Just to ride the wave of efficiency tearing through the leaders and mods right now, we will also put in some rules about "Cheap Tactics" and "Game Rules", basically trying to clamp down on the COMPLAINING. If you think someone is cheap and not fun to play (whether you win or loose) do what I do and just don't play them!
Mods, Leaders, Members and even Admin will be held accountable to this rule - which only applies to public forums. You can complain to your hearts content in the passworded faction forums.
Suspension List - To Begin On Monday (To Avoid Heavily Gamed Weekends)
- Skotten
- TheGodDernMan
- Cypher 1013
- Sanguinary Priest Azrael Kade
- Brother Remiel
Note: We have removed reputation given with the express purpose of trolling and flaming people involved. Negative feedback given in good faith is welcome, even wanted depending on the reason, however that given in bad faith is just immature.
Member Count
Well, Skotten has taken the Wolves officially off this site. They have some "ambassadors" here to organize games, so your games will be largely unaffected.
On paper (assuming all Wolves leave, plus some misc others involved) we will loose about 40 people. That includes all the inactives, so it's largely over-inflated; and some Wolves seem to be content to remain a part of the community (and to them we say thanks for being mature enough to not let crap like this affect you). Just to clarify this, Skotten has removed the formal Wolves from here, we have no intention of deleting the user group, so those members who wish to still be part of this community can wear their tags with pride. The staff here will certainly not persecute them for wearing Wolves tags, so we expect the rest of you do remain friendly.
That may seem like a lot of negatives, but it's really not considering the bulk of the members who actively post here are not leaving. Plus we have an absolute ton of new people coming in over the next few weeks. With the possible joining of 2 new chapters, Fenirs guild from WoW/Diablo, PLUS all the new features coming live soon... we're going to be bigger, better and more entertaining than ever.
I leave you with this final comment, there will be Pony Trolling!
Each of these characteristics embody who the Dark Angels are, with a twist of Emo Secrecy 
unfortunately, the reason we are here is because I failed, and will learn from my error the hard way with the loss of a friend.
