22 replies to this topic

[Zero]

Last week the Inner Council reached an overwhelming decision to permanently ban Gerhart, the long-time Leader of the Crimson Fists from the Gothic Wars community. Regrettably, we have been forced to examine the activities of yet more members, and must now announce that five more users will be banned. This decision was based upon the actions these members took during the past week following the original announcement, we expected there to be some resistance to banning Gerhart, but the sheer level of immaturity astounded us. The persons in question, and the reasons for banning them, are as follows:

• Brother White
  • Multiple Accounts.
  • Allowing a banned user access to his account.
  • Abuse of Moderator Powers.
  • Flaming / Baiting.
  • Excessive abuse of the Report Post System.
• Sammael
  • Making false embezzlement accusations.
  • Flaming / Baiting.
  • Excessive abuse of the Report Post System.
  • Circumventing the Word Filter.
• Angry Comedian
  • Multiple Accounts
  • Flaming / Baiting.
  • Excessive abuse of the Report Post System.
• Hudson
  • Making false embezzlement accusations.
  • Flaming / Baiting.
• DARKWAR PALADIN
  • Flaming / Baiting.
  • Acting as a proxy for a banned user & spamming the forum with his message.
  • Circumventing the Word Filter.

Spiny accepts full responsibility for his actions and for the effects of his decision to leave the threads that became known as the Trollympics active. If they had been locked many of the people within would not have been led into the temptation of countertrolling, however he felt that it was necessary to release the pent up steam at the individuals responsible. Therefore he will be taking a temporary demotion from Admin and as a result no one else will be punished for the trolling. Those who used this as an opportunity to flame will still receive warnings as usual.

I would like to stress to everyone that this decision was not made lightly. During the past week the Inner Council has reviewed each member that we have named and debated what actions were appropriate. In several cases we chose that issuing a ban was the best option going forward, in others we felt that only a warning would be necessary, and in a few cases we decided no action was required. Whether we chose to issue a ban or just a warning came to down to what we believe to be the severity of each offense.

During the last announcement some of you were concerned about the lack of evidence presented to you. As such we have chosen to present a sample of the evidence that the Inner Council reviewed. You will find a small sample of the evidence along with our reasons for why the bans were necessary below. I should also mention that we detected multiple-accounts as coming from the same IP address as the existing accounts within a time frame which left no doubt. To that extent, we have merged the accounts into the main account and banned the single main account.

 
[spoiler=Brother White]

This image shows that Brother White logged in from the same IP used by Gerhart, proving that he gave a banned user access to his account.
 

This image shows that 'Grinning Murdered' was registered from the same IP used by Brother White. (Note that this IP is different than the one used by Gerhart)
 

This image shows that Gerhart then logged into the account provided by Brother White & used it troll, flame, & harass the community.
 

This image shows Brother White opening a thread that was closed by a moderator due to reports of flaming. He then deleted several posts and taunted the moderation team.
 

This image shows the deleted post made by the moderator, and Brother Whites response.
 

Small sample of the 50+ illegitimate reports filed by Brother White.
[/spoiler]
 
[spoiler=Sammael]

Fun Fact: Joker is from Birmingham, and will die alone, forgotten and having never touched a v'agina.

Fun Fact: V'agina is censored? Seriously? Cru has some unresolved daddy/mommy issues.

Circumventing the word filter & flaming/baiting Joker2610
 

Fun Fact: Romulous looks like a shitty, white, broke Mr. T

Flaming/baiting Master Romulous.
 

Fun Fact: Crucias once used site funds donated by members to buy school books. This is true. And wrong.

Making false embezzlement accusations.
 

Small sample of the 50+ illegitimate reports submitted by Sammael.
[/spoiler]
 
[spoiler=Angry Comedian]

This image shows that both grinning eversor & righteous dorn were registered from the same IP that Angry Comedian was logged in from.
 

Small sample of the 40+ reports made by Angry Comedian across multiple accounts.
[/spoiler]
 
[spoiler=Hudson]

Nox although I truly apperciate the hard work you put into this . After the events that happened today i can not support this site.


I mean the first campaign raised enough money to pay for someones school books. I wouldnt want the same to happen again

Making false embezzlement accusations.
[/spoiler]
 
[spoiler=DARKWAR PALADIN]
See the 'Dern Spam' thread.
Spamming, baiting staff / community, acting as a proxy for a banned user.
 

cant i report u for baiting-blah i wont tho-im no p.u.s.s.y.

Baiting & circumventing the word filter.
[/spoiler]

 

Additionally I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the 'Report Post' system should only be used to report posts that are actually breaking the rules. Reporting posts because you do not like that person is not permitted and may result in warning depending on the severity of the abuse. Similarly reporting any post by a staff member that was made in an official capacity will also be considered abuse. (For example a moderator posting saying that he has locked a thread due to reports.)

Thank you for reading this, and I hope you understand why we felt that it was necessary to take those actions. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them in this thread or via PM with a member of the Inner Council.

-Inner Council

 

EDIT: Not all of the warnings for those who were found to be flaming during the above mentioned "Trollympics" have been issued yet.
EDIT2: Please do not troll, flame, or attempt to derail this thread.

[Dragon-Silver]

Excellent work Inner Council.
I fully support all decisions made.

[Prosperan Son]

Let's not go into debate about it, lest it cause more trouble.

[Armoured Priest]

As it has been said, any flaming, trolling, and derailment will be dealt with appropriately.

[Thugren]

You can disagree and voice an opinion without trolling or flaming.

Once you choose either of those methods is when it's shut down

[Simonbarsinistr]

Who will be XO for the Crimson Fists now?

[Thugren]

im guessing that will be you alls to decide.

[Simonbarsinistr]

We've decided that will do. What do I have to do to make the switch official?

[CruciasNZ]

We've decided that will do. What do I have to do to make the switch official?

Support Ticket is the usual way to go about getting official things done

[Simonbarsinistr]

Alright, I'll submit a ticket for faction leader here.

[REAPER xDAx]

I would like to thank the inner council for allowing the community to see the evidence that lead to this decision. Hopefully this will limit the backlash that the inner council will take for there decision.

[Simonbarsinistr]

Sorry, just another quick question, I saw the pm for when the ticket is in work. Is there another pm for when the resolution is reached?

[CruciasNZ]

You get a PM for initial reply and for closing. In tickets there's a "+" symbol that will expand a reply checkbox. I only close tickets when 7 days has passed since last reply, I'm told to, or there's no reasonable chance of a reply being required.

[Danguinius]

Would it be considered bad taste to request a username change to "NOT Gerhart" ?

[Authrix]

Once again, the Inner Council proves its worth.

[Domine Nox]

I wish to ask about one of these, only one.

Hudson
Making false embezzlement accusations.
Flaming / Baiting.

The first point is pretty cut and dry, so that's what have you. But that means that in essence his only other crime is flaming and baiting? Either the embezzlement accusation is considered of tremendous degree and that alone merited extreme attention, or else he should be considered no worse off than say Romulus who has been equally flaming and baiting the Fists, or some of the other posts that have shown up of an inflammatory nature. I also concur there were some innocent bystanders that deserve just minor warnings.

I question the 'no punishment at all' part though. A rule is a rule, yes? If one person flames, and a second party flames back, they are both guilty regardless of who cast the first stone. You don't get to 'flame in self defense.'

Just my thoughts on the matter. Take them as you will.

[Angron767]

I have to say I disagree with Hudson's ban, but the others seem to be spot on.

[Lord Ariok]

whether you agree/disagree is erelovant the mod team saw him as a protential problem to the site from the reports they got about him and with all the evidance inhand they saw fit to ban him for our benefit

[Domine Nox]

whether you agree/disagree is erelovant the mod team saw him as a protential problem to the site from the reports they got about him and with all the evidance inhand they saw fit to ban him for our benefit

It is not necessarily irrelevant. Being as this is a community site, input from the community is a required aspect. If the voice of the community is not allowed to be taken in consideration then this has ceased to be a community. Do they have to do what the nay sayers want? No, but they are required to take note of disagreements to their decision and consider that for future dealings.

To shoot somebody down for disagreeing is bad form. You are entitled to your opinion, and Angron is entitled to his.

[Smasher225]

Rom has and probably will continue to troll as hard or even harder than the Crimson Fists and nothing was done about him. Yes Batman is saying for the same merit that Gerhart was banned Rom should be as well because in his eyes its the same crime. So why is there different treatment for the same crime. If you are punishing people you have to give them the same punishment for the same crime not just say oh hey because we like you or because of this reason we will let you stay. There goes to prove that this site could in fact have a double standard against either Gerhart or against Rom. It proves there is a problem to me at least there is a problem with the leadership here and you need a wide varriety of opinions on the council not just opinions that match the others so certain things just get done. 
I would also expect a warning to be given to Danfz for trolling because his post is in really bad taste and its Trolling and Flaming.