65 replies to this topic

[CruciasNZ]

Our normal procedure for dealing with these accusations is to handle it in tickets and the Inner Council, where confidentiality can be respected so that no individual or groups names can be muddied unjustly.

However, thanks to a very public post initially by the accuser, this matter was thrust into the limelight; therefore the resolution will be announced here in order to justly balance out the matter.

Adikuss was unable to provide evidence other than a single thread name because the offending threads where in the private and leadership areas of the Black Legion. A friend let him in on their profile, and he used his knowledge of passwords from his time in the BL to gain further access. That friend was dishonourably discharged from the Black Legion, resulting in the inability to recheck for thread names and URLs deemed evidence.

WarmasterSinn transferred the thread Adikuss named, plus all that mentioned Adikuss, into a special transfer forum which was then whisked into The Inner Council. The Inner Council read through all threads, even that bloody 35 page one, and voted their decision.

We found that there was no posts that justified the accusations made. The only references and mentions to Adikuss were in retaliation for comments he made earlier in those thread, or smacking him down when he overstepped his authority - plus a few personal opinions related to his participation in the other threads. There was no direct attack on him that would constitute bullying, only mild (by GWRS standards) personal opinion and trash talking.

I want to take the time here to point out that in the future Staff will IGNORE all accusations based off threads glimpsed without permission from private forums of factions you are not a part of. Factions have the right to vent and voice their personal opinions about people in private, and if you are not a member of that faction you have no right being in there and therefore it cannot be logically considered bullying. We dealt with it this time because it was the first time and we did not have an established and debated procedure.

Our (Staff and IC) thanks to the Black Legion leader who fully cooperated with us in this matter, and our apologies that your name was dragged through the dirt unjustly.

Finally, I'd like to say that there is a very fine grey line between trash-talking and bullying. We will take accusations seriously and investigate them, but we will also take it seriously if they are deemed Category 3 (ie a malicious waste of time - which the above accusation was not). This is a video-gaming website, thick skins and senses of humor comes with the territory.

Now get back to killing each other in a myriad of inventive and violent ways

Update: Please read post 5 in this thread regarding the formal complaint for spying in a private area of a chapter Adikuss was no longer part of. <-- this red text is a link

[WarmasterSinn]

thank you for this cru hopefully my legions name was not disdained too much as for my own reputation i couldnt care. all in all im glad the matter has been resolved maturely

[ABBADONtheDESPOILER]

well thats good glad thats solved.

[Dragon-Silver]

And this is exactly why I respect the forum staff so much.

[God I sound like an ass-kisser don't I?]

[CruciasNZ]

A formal complaint was lodged by WarmasterSinn regarding Brother Adikuss accessing his private (BL) area after being discharged from that chapter. Sinn also DD'd the offending profile that let him in (is it a chicken or a duck - aka Duck for this thread).

During the subsequent Inner Council investigation and debate regarding this ticket we stumbled across something interesting. It appears that Duck was registered to an IP address that Adikuss himself posted from less than 24 minutes later.

In most countries (including Ireland) public Routers and Modems lease their IP address for 24 hours, so if you're disconnected from the network you will still have the same IP when you reconnect. Considering other posts before and after this 24 minute period had matching IP addresses, we know that the "Duck" profile was registered from the same device as Adikuss was posting from. The "Duck" profile has also never posted from a device from outside Adikuss's home network.

For those not quite understanding yet, this means that Duck was a "spy" account left in the Black Legion when Adikuss was dishonourably discharged the first time. We cannot tell who approved the accounts application, but since Adikuss held the BL XO position for awhile, he was capable of doing it himself.

This act alone is against the forum rules, and combined with the illegal entrance to the BL forums, were the reasons given by all Inner Council members (bar Metal as he is Adikuss' current chapter master and could not vote) for voting to permanently ban Adikuss and this duplicate profile.

You are all more than welcome to remain friends with this member, and staff wish him all the best for his future, but he is not allowed to participate in any GWRS events such as our tournaments on penalty of faction disqualification (as per our policy on all banned members).

[CruciasNZ]

And this is exactly why I respect the forum staff so much.

Inner Council was the group which voted and investigated, 6 Leaders, 3 Directors, 2 Admins, 2 Senior Mods. So 6 Leaders and 6 Staff right now. It was a smooth process and there were many wide views injected into the debate, I'm glad to see it exceeding my personal expectations as to it's performance.

[God I sound like an ass-kisser don't I?]

yes, yes you do

[Dragon-Silver]

Uch...Spy accounts.
I had enough of those on previous forums.
Is there some way that the admins can put in place some sort of 'filter' to stop that sort of thing from happening again?

[Zero]

Uch...Spy accounts.
I had enough of those on previous forums.
Is there some way that the admins can put in place some sort of 'filter' to stop that sort of thing from happening again?

I'm sure it's possible, but there are some legitimate reasons to have a two accounts on the same IP address. They just need to make sure that they've received prior approval from the staff.

For now we'll just have to make do with checking things manually.

[CruciasNZ]

Uch...Spy accounts.
I had enough of those on previous forums.
Is there some way that the admins can put in place some sort of 'filter' to stop that sort of thing from happening again?

No, because it would stop flatmates and family from registering. I'm afraid it will always be a case of we have to notice them. I can say that if Leaders regularly prune inactive or low activity members, AND only give passwords to trusted officers and then change them when they dismiss officers, it shouldn't be a problem.

[Dragon-Silver]

What kind of legitimate reasons?

[Doomdrinker1]

If family members join or friends log in at your house they will all have come from one IP address

[Dragon-Silver]

Yeah, forgot about that.

[CruciasNZ]

What kind of legitimate reasons?

As mentioned, family and loved ones. Catty and Iron will have the same IP for example.

Also some Leaders request a second profile so they can keep an eye on what is visible to whom within their private sections. This is particularly useful inside the factions who have upwards of five sectioned areas within their private area.

[Dragon-Silver]

Ah.
That makes sense.

[Warmonger]

I am very sad to see how this played out, even more remorseful to find out that he would use spy accounts sometimes I cannot understand the way people work.  
Also is there some way a filter can be used which flags users who have the same IP at one time? And then when a mod/staff member has checked they could gain something attached to their profile(s) which stops that filter flagging them for that share again?

(the last part was for the likes of catty and iron, as otherwise the filter would flag them up every time they were both online and that would be very annoying?)

[WarmasterSinn]

i have came up with a method in which spy accounts cannot be placed in a legion and its quite simple, DO NOT accept requests from accounts you dont know and always make sure you know the account name of new recruits before accepting them, so basically just be carrful of who you accept and then some little toe bag wont have access to your forums

[CruciasNZ]

Sinn speaks right, the guide for applying states you should make a post about it saying hi rather than just hit the apply button. Not compulsory and all factions can run things as they wish, but this did outlie a serious point to consider

[WarmasterSinn]

there is always ways to get a "spy" account in but just being careful males ot a whole lot harder

[Doomdrinker1]

look these are all good points but the best way i beleave to stop someone spying on realy private matters than do not post about them in the sons we have the crimson counsel which is comlyed of 5 members and thats were we discuss all sensitive matters

[Chaoslord1977]

Aye let us now head back to our drop ships not as enemies but as brothers (Ok, brothers that shoot the crap out of each other on a regular basis but chaos is a fickle master lol) I think the best course of action now would be to let us talk no more of this and return to the eye for soultea n warpdust scones ... mmm warpdust scones