Suspension of MadJack/St George as RP Moderator

The Administration Team has received a complaint regarding a recent post made by MadJack (AKA St George) in the Roleplay Discord Server. In this public post, MadJack pinged several users and asked them to sign up for a third-party ad watching site. The link MadJack provided contained a referral code that would financially benefit him. MadJack additionally promised to compensate individuals for signing up, by offering up Discord Nitro subscriptions. The website itself appears to be promoting a pyramid scheme based on paid advertisement viewing, and is of, at best, questionable trustworthiness, especially considering that it solicits information for payment services.

This is not acceptable conduct, especially for a moderator. The actions of moderators set standards of community behavior for those watching, so moderators have a special obligation to set a good example. MadJack’s above-mentioned actions constitute a serious breach of ethics that needs to be addressed immediately. For this reason, and pending further review, the Administration Team has decided to suspend MadJack from his role as Lead Roleplay Moderator in The North Pacific Roleplay Server, and as Moderator in The North Pacific Server. Prydania will serve as the interim Lead Roleplay Moderator until the completion of our review.

First and foremost, I would like to say that Madjack's intentions here were not malevolent in any way. He did not force anyone to sign up for anything. He did not try to lure us into a scam. Those of us who attempted to assist Madjack in trying to ascertain the authenticity of said third party site knew what we were getting into. Madjack also took as many steps as he possibly could to seriously mitigate any potential digital harm that may have been cause by said third party site. The community members who were present for the incident know quite well that there was no ill intent behind Madjack's actions. Was it the proper place to conduct such a test? Possibly not. But any participants, including myself, were willing volunteers, and to the best of my knowledge, nobody was offered any sort of incentive to sign up for the site.

Madjack has also served his role as a moderator quite well, and to my knowledge, has never abused his position before, nor used it for any sort of personal gain. I strongly believe he should be shown some sort of leniency in regards to this incident.

-Em.

As an eyewitness to the incident, I agree with Em to the fullest extent and can corroborate his assertion regarding the community members present when the incident happened. I do not believe MJ's intentions were malicious in any way. Knowing what I do about MJ, (to protect his privacy I won't say it in public here but it has to do with RL) it makes complete sense that he would be attracted to that sort of site in desperation. Ultimately I believe it was a simple lapse in judgement on his part.

He has many friends among the community who would love to help him, and this is why I believe he made the ping he did. When the ping was made, said friends did help him, one way or another. The community came together to make the status of this website clear to anyone who saw the ping. The site's dubious nature was found out relatively quickly, and no one who witnessed the incident or since has suffered any adverse consequences from the site. MJ's ping did not cause any harm to the TNPRP community; in fact, I would argue it did the reverse.

I further agree with Em that MJ has been a very good moderator, has never abused his power, and has not used it for personal gain. It must further be stated that the state of TNPRP can largely be attributed to his longtime service, a service that is greatly appreciated by the community he helped to create. I strongly believe that MJ should be shown leniency in regards to this incident and I just as strongly hope such leniency is the result of this investigation. MJ is a pillar of this community who, in my opinion, made a simple mistake with no real negative impact.

Though I was not present for the incident itself when it originally transpired, in no way does this mishap lead me to believe that MadJack’s actions were intentionally malicious. I too know MadJack, as he’s the one who brought me here to the North Pacific. But I’m not going to come to his defense solely off of that basis, because what’s more important and of greater note then personal friendship is the overall lasting effect that his contributions have had on our regional RolePlay community. I don’t have to be RolePlaying on the forums each week to grasp the positive developments that MadJack oversaw during his time as Lead RolePlay Moderator. Heavens knows I don’t, and that’s okay. While some may label me strictly a gameplayer I too have a great affinity for RolePlayers and everything they do for the regions they’re apart of.

If I’m being honest, I think that MadJack is a fantastic North Pacifican citizen and friend to many. His dedication to this community is unwavering and his recent behavior (although misguided) should not be a mitigating factor in reflecting on all the good he’s procured for TNPRP. I wholeheartedly agree with Em and Syrixia, and while I’m glad to see Prydania stepping up to the plate in this time of need it is quite bittersweet I must say.

Nonetheless, the administrative team made a fantastic choice in having Prydania be the Interim Lead RolePlay Moderator. He’s another friendly face who’s done a plethora of good for the RolePlay community and I know he’s adored by TNPRP regulars. I’m happy for him and congratulate him on his promotion, but MadJack’s time shouldn’t be remembered just by this and luckily I don’t presume that it will be.

Although I was not present for this event, nor am I a holder of any position other than citizen in the TNP, but I believe and agree with Robespierre, Syrixia, and Em. MadJack has always been a helpful mod and is the go-to person for help with almost everything TNP related for me. I have never seen MadJack abuse his powers in my time in the TNP and the TNP role-play servers. In no way do I believe that MadJacks actions were malicious in anyway. Other than that I have nothing more to say because everything I wanted to say was already said by Robespierre, Syrixia, and Em.

-Truavania

While I was not a witness to the event by all accounts it was not a malicious act and sounds more like a simple mistake.

MJ has been a great boon to the North pacific and has always been helpful and supportive of the community.

I believe it would be wrong for a simple mistake like this to be punished harshly and hope that MJ is granted leniency and support.

As someone who not only witnessed the incident but also communicated during the incident, I can confirm that MJ had no malicious intent when he made this post. It was simply a lapse of judgement on his part and while yes, I do recognize the risk associated with what he did, I also urge the admins to take into consideration MJ's lasting contributions to the betterment of the RP community and the fact that he has never once committed any ill attempt or abuse of power before.

As someone who was present during the incident in question, I can say with the upmost confidence that St George/MadJack did not attempt to scam or cause any sort of harm intentionally. I believe like everyone else that this was simply a poorly thought out mistake, and firmly believe that something like this won’t happen again.

MadJack is not only a valuable administrative figure, but he is also, personally, THE best person whom could ever have been to help build the roleplay community, and I hope that the admin team will take the numerous testimonies from the community into account when making their decision.

I was once the roleplay discord's most prolific shitposter. I made a lot of acquaintances there, one of whom was MadJack/Saint George. Now, granted we had our disagreements, but believe me when I say that MJ is a hard worker and someone who does his job because it's his job, not for power or let alone money. In fact I fully admit that I would get annoyed with him precisely because he couldn't be swayed by popularity or any sort of bribe. Knowing MJ decently well, I do not believe that there was any financial motive or any other sort of personal gain behind this. No, I wasn't there, but that's just it. I don't need to have been there to know that MJ was not being any sort of crook. Personally, after reviewing the facts, I believe he was simply trying to help others make their discord experience more convenient, because that's what the MJ I know would do in this sort of situation. Perhaps it was a poor choice, but anyone who expects complete perfection from anyone in this life is fooling only himself. Please be lenient on MJ.

The Administration Team has concluded its review of the complaint involving MadJack (AKA St George) and a public post he made in the RolePlay Discord Server in mid-December. While MadJack’s actions do not appear to have been malicious in nature, they seriously violated the ethical standards expected of our moderators. We have therefore decided to remove MadJack from his positions as Lead RP Moderator and TNP General Discord Server Moderator, as well as suspend him from the role of RP Moderator for a period of 4 months. Prydania will serve as the new Lead RP Moderator. While MadJack is able to apply and be appointed in this year's RP Moderator application cycle, he will not be allowed to resume this role until April 19, 2020. Additionally, we expect Madjack to issue a formal apology to the community regarding this incident.

I would like to thank the Administrators for the trust put in me. I'll do my best in this role until such time as my services in it are no longer needed.

I'd like to deeply apologise to the community for my ping and actions with regards to a public post I made in December. It fell well short of the standards expected by TNP moderators and whilst I there was nothing in my actions that was done with the intention to cause issues or damage anyway, they were wrong of me. I will do better in the future.

I'd like to thank those who spoke in my defence here and elsewhere, as well as offered me advice and encourage during this period. The punishment handed down by admin to me is what they consider fair and I accept that, and will endeavour to meet their standards in the future.