Just a not to forum Administration/Moderation

[Romanoffia]

Just a brief note and statement concerning a recent post by Flemingovia which was apparently reported by madjack in which Flemingovia referred to me in a rather obscene term. This is not the first time he has done so and is not the first time I have chosen to laugh it off. But it is the last time I will laugh it off.

It has become quite clear that these insults by Flemingovia (usually using terms reserved for certain portions of the female and male genitalia but in the crudest street language vulgarity) are going beyond IC and are obviously now becoming quite personal and obviously beyond the scope of IC.

Now, I know the admin team will do nothing at all to put a lid on one of their own, but should this practice on Fleminingovia's part happen again, I will request he be removed from Administration, and failing any action on that part, I will file a TOS violation complaint with the forum host.

I hate to take it to this point, but I think the piling on is getting a bit beyond the pale.

We've gone through this once before concerning a particular board member and I hope that a TOS complaint (the posts in question have been screen-shot for future reference should they be needed) will not become necessary.

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

It is being discussed, but there is no consensus at this point, and was noted long ago, you can't issue warnings to admin.

 

[Flemingovia]

It is being discussed, but there is no consensus at this point, and was noted long ago, you can't issue warnings to admin.

I have noted no lack of consensus.

And although you cannot issue warnings to admins I will willingly edit posts or apologise if required by the admin team.

 

[Romanoffia]

It is being discussed, but there is no consensus at this point, and was noted long ago, you can't issue warnings to admin.

It's not a warning. It's a heads up about my course of action. You can delete the posts in question but they have been documented and will exist on the server regardless of deletion. It does not negate the facts or history.

And there will never be a 'consensus' considering I am Roman and we know that Roman is the whipping boy and the Admins will CYA every time and that it overlaps into IC game play.

Editing doesn't matter. You took this to the point of being personal about it. I let is slide. I will not let it slide again.

It is being discussed, but there is no consensus at this point, and was noted long ago, you can't issue warnings to admin.

I have noted no lack of consensus.

And although you cannot issue warnings to admins I will willingly edit posts or apologise if required by the admin team.

I don't know what's happened to your style of IC gameplay, but it has taken a turn for the worse. You were never like this before. Your wit and humor was an enjoyment. Instead, it has taken a turn for the ugly.

I admit, I can push the envelope from time to time but I never, ever pushed it to the point of blatant obscenity. In the game you claim that you are working for integrity and fairness but, for God's sake, you look all the part of Saul Alinsky with a four letter vocabulary. And it is totally undignified and unworthy of the person I thought you were.

Your use of such terminology in the context of gameplay and in the context of this forum raises the bar on what people can get away with, and thus diminishes the quality of this forum. If you had a 14 year old daughter, would you want them to partake in a forum where people can freely use such words? This is exactly the crap that kills games like NationStates or any other game for that matter. It certainly kills the region of TNP if the associated forum involves such abusive use of language and such general behavior.

I've been in NS and TNP since the beginning in one form or another and I have never been called those two words, ever. Ever.

The longer I think about it, the more irate I become. I can be pretty rude but at least I don't resort to bathroom banty.

Apologies being irrelevant at a certain point, I don't treat you with that level of disrespect due to any person, I expect the same from you.

 

[Flemingovia]

in part I think there is a transatlantic issue here: the terms I used are quite mild on this side of the pond. over here "crap" (the term you used) is on a par with "twat", for example - and both are considered mild.

But if you were hurt by my use of them, naturally I apologise for offence caused. I understand that you have said this is irrelevant, but I wanted to say it anyway.

 

[Romanoffia]

I have nothing more to say at this point.

 

[Crushing Our Enemies]

I have nothing more to say at this point.

 

[Former English Colony]

I have no clue what the little interjection from Chas is about, but apparently that's resolved?

In response to Roman, first off, I have read the reported post authored by flem, and while I agree, I would not utter it in my classroom of 15/16 year olds, would I be mortally offended if they heard it on the street or out in public? No.

I'm curious what terms of service you think have been violated. I'm going to assume you think it's one or more of the following 3? Probably the first one?

• Abusive, threatening, defamatory, racist, or obscene Content
• False information or libel
• Excessive profanity

The defamatory part is in regards to your performance as a judge of a game, as is the false info or libel, so I doubt Zetaboards really cares about that or that you'd have a legal leg to stand on there. And excessive profanity is really not allowed or was used either. So it seems to come down to what you define as obscene. And I don't think any of us moderating or adminning the board think that the language was obscene.

I have now read over the trial thread, Motion to Recall Romanoffia and the Peanut Gallery thread since those are the 3 places I have seen referenced in various threads and complaints. I had not previously read any of them in depth, and apologies if any of those are technically RA eyes only, but this has become an admin issue.

I saw nothing there that required moderation in the sense of warnings. We do not hand out warnings for people posting questions and disagreements in trial threads or questioning your bias as you requested here. You were told you had the ability to moderate and control posting but YOU chose a different route. If you truly had technical issues exercising your abilities as a moderator, then you could have said so and we would have fixed it.

In the peanut gallery, people posted defamatory content, but about your role as a NS judge. Noone's post really crosses over into a RL attack on your character to the extent of a warning. In the Motion to Recall, flem's post (as I already mentioned above) was not great, but neither was your response.

 

[Romanoffia]

In response to Roman, first off, I have read the reported post authored by flem, and while I agree, I would not utter it in my classroom of 15/16 year olds, would I be mortally offended if they heard it on the street or out in public? No.

And that reduces this forum to the equivalent of being on the street. Nice.



This whole thing is getting pointless. Forget I even mentioned it. At this point, I really don't give a damn.

If this is the type of game play that people want, I can play that game too.

 

[Crushing Our Enemies]

And that reduces this forum to the equivalent of being on the street. Nice.

Uhh, what exactly would you liken it to? This is a public forum. It's not unreasonable to hold it to similar standards of conduct as in public places.

 

[mcmasterdonia]

Whatever FEC says I agree with. She can be my proxy on this silliness.

 

[Romanoffia]

And that reduces this forum to the equivalent of being on the street. Nice.

Uhh, what exactly would you liken it to? This is a public forum. It's not unreasonable to hold it to similar standards of conduct as in public places.

Heh.

And when that happens you end up with riots in the streets (metaphorically speaking, that is) and a lot of broken windows.

If that's what you think this forum should be - a market place for obscenity laden acts of the art of the tactics of personal destruction, then you make your own bed to sleep in.

Either way, at this point in the matter. I don't care. In fact, I even less than don't care.

 

[Former English Colony]

If that's what you think this forum should be - a market place for obscenity laden acts of the art of the tactics of personal destruction, then you make your own bed to sleep in.

Either way, at this point in the matter. I don't care. In fact, I even less than don't care.

Just.... stop. My advice, in all seriousness, is to walk away for a few days and just go calm down.

Noone has suggested that we degenerate down to constant name calling and swearing. Although you're driving *me* to that point. If you decide to go down the route of insulting everyone randomly, it *will* backfire, and anyone that was supporting you will cheer as you accrue warnings and an eventual warning. However, I don't think anyone really wants that to happen; TNP would lose something to lose you.