The thread I promised I would make

[Surf314]

As some of you probably know Blues has been banned. This ban will more than likely be permanent. We took a long time coming to this decision and I wanted to wait for Caffeine's input before this post was made. He was banned for repeatedly causing drama for his own amusement and more importantly for targeting some forum members here for continuous harassment. It was a hard decision to come to because Blues did contribute in positive ways, but nothing puts you above the rules.

There were some things we learned from this though and some things the community would do well to learn. A lot of the problems that were caused by him were made worse by people rising to the bait or blowing things out of proportion, it would be nice if everyone tried to avoid drama posts or threads especially if it does not directly concern you. This actually made it take longer for us to ban him than shorter so remember that posting to drama could be counterproductive. We also learned that we may have been too easy on some people and a lot of people are upset about that. Unfortunately me and caff have a faith in people being able to work things out or reform that is not always founded on reality. Expect a post from him later. The last thing is communication should be improved, so if there is any trouble please PM one of the site admins. There are kinks in the report to moderator right now so do not rely on that exclusively.

We have a short list of others that are eligible to be banned if they don't clean up, but you will always be given a fair warning via PM if a warning is warranted. So if you are pushing the line you can take this as a warning that things are getting tougher, if you are getting upset with the drama you can take this as a step in hopefully the right direction. Caffeine will be posting shortly with his message for the community and you are welcome to discuss things there if you keep things mature. I'd prefer it if you don't talk about Blues in particular though because this was a decision for us, it has already been made, and an argument for or against him will muddy the waters. For this reason this thread will be locked. If you want to throw your 2 cents in please do so via PM.

And as a final note, there is a chance that Blues may be allowed back after a time as we gave Zoso one last chance as well (if you were around long enough to remember). Blues' ban will stand at least a month though and there will be some conditions. I would also like to hear from those he harassed first to see how willing you'd be to have him back if he agreed to not target you anymore (targeting you would be one of the things that would get him re-banned). You know who you are, please PM me. The admins will discuss this possibility after a month, but please know this isn't survivor and you can't vote off people you don't like. We will only take into consideration facts.

This community was always intended to be a no-bullshit place to find people to play games with, as finding a good crowd for multiplayer is always the hardest thing for a gamer. We appreciate your help in keeping it that way. You don't have to like everyone here but if you disturb the core principles of this site you might as well show yourself out.

[CaffeinePowered]

Still getting back up to speed but I think something needs to be said regarding this post and that thread in general as well as just spray policy in general. Will post this publicly if no one sees any issues. As well as community issues in general, first sprays.

<wall-of-Important-Text>

Way back in the day we did punish a handful of people for sprays, the issue just hadn't arisen in a long time. We did ban people for a few racist sprays and give some warnings out when someone took time out to notify an admin. As in the more recent case, Kor admin'd remotely, that means that someone took the time to PM him on steam about it. Who or how many doesn't necessarily matter so much as that someone did, a warning was issued and subsequently ignored.

To better articulate spray policy, yes, NSFW sprays _ARE_ allowed, blatantly racist or sprays directed at offending a particular player (or players) are not allowed. There is some gray area where we play it by ear and if something falls into that category it comes down to admin's discretion, and any complaints they received regarding the spray in question. This has always been the policy, I apologize if this has not been clearly communicated as it has only been an issue a small handful of times right when this community was first formed.

Not hearing/seeing a warning is _not_ an excuse, ever, nor is ignorance of the rules, if an admin asks you to stop doing something, stop. If you feel that admin(s) acted unjustly you can always PM myself, surf, Kor, or anyone else on the admin team you feel comfortable talking to, throwing it in someone's face and then crying foul after you get kicked/banned does not help your case.

As for those wondering what process we go through, as while back Surf communicated how we go about discipline in general, it goes first with a warning, then with a temp-ban (3-7 days), and finally a permanent ban. There are obviously differences between how things go in the servers vs. the community in general, and the above applies mostly to the community as a whole. Warnings are issued via PM, usually by Surf, with an explanation as to why you are receiving one. You can dispute these if you feel you should not have received one. Generally a warning is issued for repeat behaviors after someone has been talked to, a warning remains with you until you have either corrected your behavior or if we attach some kind of date to it.

If you've been warned and continue to act irresponsibly, you will be temp-banned from both the forums and the servers. This is the 'time-out', and the last step before you can be removed permanently. If you ever get here its shape-up or ship-out. While we reserve the right in some instances to skip straight to a permanent ban, I would hope with any members that have some time under their belts that we would never have to resort to such measures. People have plenty of chances to take a step back and examine their actions.

When this community was founded it was spun off from another community due to it's lack of moderation, and the vast number of trolls that basically went unpunished. And in co-running this community I feel a kind of empathy to our former parent's admins in how difficult it can be to deal with these issues, we've been slow to act on some things because we would rather see people self-reform and work out any silly drama amongst themselves. However, sometimes even this does not work, and no one, not even myself is above the rules, and if I acted like a complete dick to you I would expect you to "ban me" by voting with your feet and leaving. No, we were never meant to be "serious business" in any way, but a level of respect is expected regardless of how serious (or not) we are taking things when actually playing.

Obviously, we can not wholly please everyone, but I'll be dammed if we don't try out best to do so  :-*

</Wall-of-Important-Text>

If you have any thoughts/questions/concerns, do not hesitate to shoot me a PM.