Banned Users

[Majorharper]

Wow has anyone noticed? A lot of the old banned members have been un-banned: Cell, Tasdik, Crumpets and others too...

Whats going on?

[inky]

The Walking Dead...

[CrimsonNuker]

After Ru's resignation and the unbanning, it's starting to paint a very dark picture...:S

All these banned members being unbanned, the nostalgia is hitting me hard

[Vaya]

Someone should tell them that they're unbanned.

[Majorharper]

The Walking Dead...

Funny, I just started watching that show last night, ate through the first 2 seasons so far, shat brix a lot haha

[iSinnnn]

glad to see this finally happen, though it might be too late

[woutR]

Spoiler!

"My name is Maximus Tasdikus Retardius, commander of the Spammers of the North, General of the Troller Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Ryoko. Father to a banned son, husband to a permabanned wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

[Fiction]

So... is it safe to admit to botting yet, or will I still get banned? lol Good old witch hunts, who doesn't love em.

--I know not everyone got banned for that, but a lot did.

[Ryoko]

The goal of any forum is to retain active users, acquire new users and have users create content. A perma ban is pretty serious. I'd rather suspend people for some amount of time repeatedly than axe active users. Some people don't have the patience for that.

Complain about a dying forum... then ban active users from that forum. Hum.

In the case of Mr Tasdik specifically, the nail in the coffin was commentary about the staff. This I don't necessarily agree with, and I will tell you why.

1. There should be open communication between the users and staff without fear of ultimate bannination or having every other thread in site discussion locked when someone gets the last word. This is going to change.

2. The person who banned Tasdik for being disrespectful, posted disrespectful things in site discussion regarding other staff members shortly after. This doesn't make disrespect tolerable, but it does make it seem personal.

3. I believe some people through the years were banned because of personal dislike.

Im in a rare position. I am in a position where I am the only administrator at this time. Its been a very long time since that has happened. Expect changes. Some of them you might like, others you might not. But by all means, feel free to discuss it in site discussion.

I most certainly plan to have some policy or plea request the for unbanning of users.

I plan to have some type of 3 point suspension system rather than just banning people outright. This is harder to do, so bear with me.

As said, open communication in site discussion. In a respectful manor, people should be able to talk to the staff without fear of ban or having staff members lock every other thread. If you have qualms about actions taken or questions about why we do things, site discussion is the place to do it. I can't promise people will always like the answer they get, nor does everything I do "make sense"

See also: My beloved Crumpets.

Last but not least, I absolutely hate the EB forum and everything it stands for.

So... is it safe to admit to botting yet, or will I still get banned? lol Good old witch hunts, who doesn't love em.

--I know not everyone got banned for that, but a lot did.

That is so bright of you to say. Do you know what I hate more than people botting? Its banning people because they can't keep it off the forum >_>

After Ru's resignation and the unbanning, it's starting to paint a very dark picture...:S

All these banned members being unbanned, the nostalgia is hitting me hard

timeline.php

=(

[Majorharper]

Last but not least, I absolutely hate the EB forum and everything it stands for.

Then remove it from the forum, its your forum, you pay, you decide. Do it if you want, I doubt anyone will be sad.

[Ryoko]

I wish everything was that simple. =) More than likely my next magic trick.

[cpinney]

I pretty much agree with everything with Ryoko just said, but as being a mod i feel as i didn't have much say in the matter so i didn't say anything on the forums about it. Hopefully we can make some changes as Ryoko said to bring new life into the forum

[Squirt]

Cell and Tasdik are back.

[Ryoko]

I have done nothing with user account "Cell" unless you call him by a different name nowadays.

[[SD]Master_Wong]

I dunno be nice to see old faces back again but in saying that i hope the fox dont return he was super annoying

[cin]

nice to hear about the unbans.
too bad my 'old' cin account cannot be recovered :|

[Key-J]

This is Interesting.

It is sad to see RuYi go, but she did fight for the forums on the rules that were left for her to follow. I know i've banned Friends off this site because i was following the same rules, like Vandango, TwelveEleven or countless members from the Babel days or [SRForce] Euro days on Hercules.

Some of the old Members were big with the Community, and like many around me i have long stopped playing iSRO or any SRO for that matter, but still visit SRF because of the places like OTL, OG, and AC.

Do i feel it's right to un-ban someone merely because the Admin who banned them is no longer here? No. It's nothing against you Tasdik, and it's understandable that you ended up doing it Ryoko, i understand the need for the community. I just feel it's a swift kick in the butt on that Admin's way out the door.

Anyway, i know i always lurk, and still hold a place here in SRF, so i look forward to some of these Changes. To the Mod team, i know what it's like on that side, and it's not always an easy time. So thanks again.

[*BlackFox]

Damn... that's cool!

[Ryoko]

This is Interesting.

It is sad to see RuYi go, but she did fight for the forums on the rules that were left for her to follow. I know i've banned Friends off this site because i was following the same rules, like Vandango, TwelveEleven or countless members from the Babel days or [SRForce] Euro days on Hercules.

I am regretful RuYi did not leave you all a pleasant note regarding her status change. Its unfortunate you had to find out through a "WTF?" type threads in the off-topic lounge, which are apparently more focused on this other individual here

Do i feel it's right to un-ban someone merely because the Admin who banned them is no longer here? No. It's nothing against you Tasdik, and it's understandable that you ended up doing it Ryoko, i understand the need for the community. I just feel it's a swift kick in the butt on that Admin's way out the door.

I know that for face value, it might seem like that. This has been the topic of my inbox since it occured. At the end of the day, Tasdiks ban was reduced to a ~2 month suspension, time being served.

[Love]

I like these changes.

[RuYi]

I am regretful RuYi did not leave you all a pleasant note regarding her status change.

It took you nearly a week to remove me from the staff, Ryoko. I wasn't going to F5 the site 24/7, and the reasons for my resignation are not pleasant at all.
Besides that, everyone's applauding for the new.. forum improvements, and enjoying their 'freedom' because of my resignation, but fine, I'll do you this one last favour.

I was only a few days short of being a part of the moderation team for five years.
For nearly five years I've devoted some of the little free time I had to this forum, on a voluntary base.
I started out as a Global Moderator with many others after SuicideGrl asked me to join the team. We had too many cooks in the kitchen then, but people resigned and others were banned for their own reasons. Not many were left. There was a lot of pressure on me, as one of the few active staffmembers, to keep the forums in a decent state. No meant no again, and though it might not have been pleasant all the time, you guys knew the consequences of breaking the rules.
Who stuck to them, had nothing to fear.
As a staffmember, I had to put my own feelings aside, banning and warning people who, in several cases, were my friends. But rules were rules, and I did what I had to do.
Yes, I warned and banned my fair share of people, but because I did what I thought was right for SRF at that time.

The fact you're unbanning them all right after I leave is something I could consider as a slap in the face.
But it's your forum, Ryoko. It's not my problem anymore, the fact that you need to bring these individuals back to boost forum activity says enough, and you and me both know that I'm not the blame. In fact, several times I have suggested improvements that could have made SRF more popular, and I warned you over a year ago to take action before it was too late.

So let everyone cheer about how SRF's 'tyrant' finally left.

• But who brought back the signature wars?
• Who made sure the SRF news was updated by implementing Heralds?
• New location flags, let's turn it into a little design contest so the community can make and choose the flag for their forums.
• A new forum for Other SRO versions because everyone was annoyed by all those threads being posted in General Discussion.
• And when there was a disgruntled ex-SRFer who kept making new accounts to post pornographic images for several days, was it not me who stayed up late and skipped lunchbreaks at work so I could go home to check on SRF?
• And how many times did I not post and e-mail you new ideas. "Ryoko, someone posted this suggestion in Site Discussion, maybe we can give them that feature?" "Ryoko, the moderation team had an idea that could be a nice addition to the forum, what are your thoughts?" If I had not implemented some of them myself, SRF wouldn't have had improvements for a long time.
• When there was a serious issue with SRF, was it not me who took the time and effort to contact you by phone, Ryoko, because you had stopped visiting SRF without ever leaving a notification?

In the end I just stopped asking you for help. Instead, I asked Ghan, who always managed to respond within 24 hours, while this isn't even his forum.

Early August 2012 I made the last thread with ideas and suggestions on how to improve SRF.
I was surprised you even joined in this time, but it's a shame things were never getting done again.
In the end, out of frustration, I deleted the thread, and implemented the things I could. New forum sections for the games, new location flags, updating the guild forums.
Tried to get that chatbox back, I also got those profiles that people had been asking for. Couldn't implement them. Only you could. But you weren't there.

I'm not perfect. I've tried my best, but surely I made mistakes.
For those that, despite my flaws, appreciated my efforts and expressed so, I thank you.
Your kind words of support and encouragement, amongst all the insults and slander I received, were always very much appreciated, and it's you who made SRF worth moderating for nearly five years.

To the others, here's your pleasant note.
I've probably wasted my time writing it, because it's more important to disregard all that I did for SRF, because you guys didn't agree with some of the choices I made.

Ru Yi

[omier]

I had a feeling this could happen as the mods kept disappearing. RuYi wasn't going to be able to keep this going pretty much alone. And as soon as I saw Tasdik back, I thought, isn't this a bit disrespectful?(Nothing against you Tas.) I wasn't really active back then when a lot of the banning was done so I didn't even know anyone here. The only time I didn't agree with your choice was wen Tasdik was banned, but only before you explained what had happened. I don't feel this unbanning is going to help as the people who were banned a long time ago have probably forgotten about SRF and wouldn't even notice their unban. Even if they would, I doubt they'd want to come back.
Anyways, will you still keep browsing these forums, RuYi?

[Fiction]

So... is it safe to admit to botting yet, or will I still get banned? lol Good old witch hunts, who doesn't love em.

--I know not everyone got banned for that, but a lot did.

That is so bright of you to say. Do you know what I hate more than people botting? Its banning people because they can't keep it off the forum >_>

lol This was just sarcasm based off of all the stuff I used to see years back in GD. I didn't know this thread was gonna escalate so quickly, so forgive me for the less serious comment.

[BuDo]

Its not easy to manage the working relationship of a group over the web so leadership and direction will be lacking from time to time and it's easy for some team members with authority to become overzealous if not kept in check....Looking for causes of the problem? blame yourselves....all of you.... and at the same time....none of you......because managing working relationships from a distance isn't easy....All of you staff members have lives with far more important stuff going on...(unless SRF is the most important thing in your lives...which would be weird..)

[Melez]

1. There should be open communication between the users and staff without fear of ultimate bannination or having every other thread in site discussion locked when someone gets the last word. This is going to change.

I agree with this.

3. I believe some people through the years were banned because of personal dislike.

will the persons getting unbanned be only the people who you miss having around, or is everyone getting unbanned, regardless of if it was a botter or a gore spammer? picking either is unfair and ban loses weigh. seriously, what does a ban worth if you decide you miss someone and suddenly it's all ok and we can all hang together again since ru's gone now lul. is blackfox getting unbanned by the way?
it's a pretty desperate decision, but it will probably prolong the existence of this forum without shedding much effort, which makes it a good decision. as you said, some will like it, some will not.

but to avoid situations like this in the future, please don't make a permanent ban the only punishment one can get. official warnings, one day long, week long, month long and so forth, along with permanent bans make sense, in my mind at least. :d

[Gaigemasta]

I'm sure I can speak for most forum members here but we appreciated what you did Ru Yi. Everyone disagrees with everyone and that's how it goes. We are especially thankful for your hard work as a staff member of the forums. I don't you want you leaving staff thinking what you've done over these past years was a waste because it kept the forum clean and proper. I had a few clashes with you in the past when I was younger which was obviously my fault and I'm sorry for that. I've said a few things about your decisions under my breath but your decisions were in the right.
So personally I thank you for working so hard on these forums with the other staff members and keeping this place going.

[MrTwilliger]

It's sad to see RuYi go, she was one of the few people who upheld the rules regardless of bias. I'm sorry to see you go and I really don't agree with what's happening atm.

[Ryoko]

will the persons getting unbanned be only the people who you miss having around, or is everyone getting unbanned, regardless of if it was a botter or a gore spammer? picking either is unfair and ban loses weigh. seriously, what does a ban worth if you decide you miss someone and suddenly it's all ok and we can all hang together again since ru's gone now lul.

While you have valid points the situation is oversimplified. This action upset people. The bigger problem being that it wasn't open for discussion. It was met with "How dare you?" and a thread lock. That in itself upset people - now they can't even talk about what happened.

Things like this do happen. They will always happen. But when we can't discuss it or review something of this nature without fear that someone will just get pissed off more so than they already are, or they'll just up and leave, little options are available except "Sit around for a while and tell people you understand their concerns, because there's not a whole lot I can do about it either and I'm least of favorites myself."

and ban loses weight.

What warrants a ban, and what warrants a vacation from the forum? How many disciplinary actions should end in ban? Food for thought.

but to avoid situations like this in the future, please don't make a permanent ban the only punishment one can get. official warnings, one day long, week long, month long and so forth, along with permanent bans make sense, in my mind at least. :d

Yes, this. Giving people a clear guideline on actions taken eliminate gray area and inconsistencies. Something Pinny and I are trying to hammer out before making further staff changes.

[*BlackFox]

Not much to say, but I'll say it anyway. I have to admit "you was a great admin" @RuYi
no doubt about it!... Well But, in some cases, you was too harsh.

[Aristocrat]

well wouldnt be anything bad in unbanning everyone, few ppl play legit, or at all, it's a nice community here of nostalgic memories, not like ppl got a grudge if someone botted 5yrs ago anymore, it's a good way to get the activity up in here