Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2016 2:51:49 GMT
Short story: I’m quitting WoD:Souls
Long story:
Disclaimer: This is not in the discussion thread because this isn’t going to be a discussion; what is stated here is my own thoughts, beliefs, opinions, and I doubt anything said will change them.
Disclaimer 2: I have nothing but love for the current staff and have a deep respect for them as individual people. However, I feel like there is a deep-rooted issue with toxicity and double standards that — even when acknowledged — is refused to be addressed.
Request: If you read any further try to read everything first — not make up counter arguments as you read. Try to digest everything I say before anything. AS I said, this isn’t a discussion; it’s simply my thoughts on things.
I’m sure a good deal of you saw this coming, though I know most of the ghosts in the audience knew it was.
I’m quitting WoDSouls for the foreseeable future.
As I stated before there is an undeniable set of double standards that is so deep-rooted within the community that often times, when it is brought up, it is simply turned into memes and dismissed as a whole, instead of being taken as the serious issue it really is.
A few nights(?) (weeks?) ago a user named ‘lol’ came into the Cbox. He/she allegedly was a newcomer that, at a glance, was able to point out a few issues with the site that seems to persistently pop up.
Namely the incessant harassment and the way it is dealt with. ‘Lol’, who from here on out will be referred to as ‘Larry’ had made a few good observations. Larry pointed at the fact that many of the offenders on the warning board were repeat offenders who didn’t seem to learn their lesson.
Despite the way Larry entered the Cbox his concerns quickly led to what (on the surface) seemed like a discussion about how the site deals with harassment. I asked him to type up his concerns on the referral board and promised I would verbatim post his ideas on the suggestion board.
This gesture was made because what he came into the Cbox to say was something that I have had an issue with for a few months now.
Ever since August 16 a chain reaction that can only be described as ‘shit hitting the fan’ has been perpetually occurring — and it has never been a secret. Three cycles have taken place — three times over has the same chain reaction climaxed only to be given a temporary quelling only to surface up again.
Three times.
I have done my best to keep quiet and aloof as to everything — going as far as to ignore and outright block the ex-moderator who has been the root of this never-ending maelstrom of crap. However, I can only stomach so much.
Cycle one: shame on you.
Kaula demodded after a day or two of after I brought my concerns to staff. In the meantime I had:
•Numerous innocuous, every-day messages of mine deleted on the cbox.
•A mountain of — proven — false slender filed against me (by the same person).
•False evidence created against me that earned me a 10% warning.
-I said nothing and kept quiet about this because I didn’t want to further disturb the ecosystem.
•For whatever reason my Grievance against Kaula was removed from the Grievance Board, despite the fact the Grievance that Kaula filed against another member, who from here on out will be referred to as ‘Core’, was kept up. (there may be a good reason for this, but I am unaware of it because I never brought this up to anyone).
Cycle two: shame on me.
•Week or two passed and another false piece of evidence was manufactured, this one aiming to give me yet another 10%.
♦Both evidences were proven false by Cbox history and other methods; Kaula, whose modship was removed, was given a 10% for each of the manufactured evidence.
•Upon returning from time off little changed. Passive aggressive comments, further slander, and other things occurred.
◘Including blatant admission in the cbox to metagame — or at least commit IC actions with very poor reasoning due to OOC issues.
---On the same (or following night):
•Kaula abused moderators with passive aggressive comments within their own shop after a request of their was denied.
•Kaula threw a bf and began begging in the cbox — and skype — as to have their actions looked over and be given a free pass.
•Kaula was awarded a 10% warning.
•I gave a ‘like’ to the two Page #5 Warning posts that regard Kaula. I felt it would be a fine thing to do, mostly because Kaula has liked so many previous posts in the same board.
+However, I was told to take mine down, while to this date their own remains up.
Cycle three: tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ViciousCycle
The 5-day ban Kaula had been earned expired. I wasn’t very surprised to learn that the same passive aggressiveness was still there.
•This time, however, the admission of metagaming were brought to skype; and Kaula began to mess with another member who will not be named or referred to as anything. Said member let things go, as they are a bigger and better person than I am.
Now, the reason this cycle is different is because something was brought up that I wasn’t aware of just yet.
The Kaula behind the this chain reaction apparently has — as Larry had stated — a very long history with this kind of behavior, which stretches back to Page #2 of the Warning Board (Cycle one and two begin and end on page 5).
Keep in mind, this person was a moderator this entire time.
— again, staff, don’t feel as though this is a personal attack on any of you; it’s not.
This person, with their long history of harassment and abuse, has singlehandedly been the cause of a number of exodus from the site.
Another member once told me they “have caused more people to leave Souls than any other person (or reason)”. Which I thought was a joke at the time, but as I came to learn on Cycle #3 there was a reason for this.
There has been admittance and, to some degree, compliance the Kaula has been given a lot of leniency as to their harassment.
And that that is the ultimate reason that I am leaving, and nothing else.
Often the excuse is that Kaula has ‘issues’ or was an amazing moderator who has devoted a lot to time to the staff, so their fits of hysteria are to be treated with less severity.
To me that is like saying a cop shouldn’t be put on trial for murder because he has always been a good cop — or a scientist not held liable for falsifying study results to serve his own political agenda because he was active in the scientific community.
To further elaborate; another ex-moderator, Kizuki, gave his own 2cents on the situation. Their comments resonated with a lot of what I felt (And still feel), but pointed back to the fact that Kaula has done this a lot and was punished disproportionately less than other members who have done the same thing.
I had a long point that I wanted to make using edited quotes, but I’ll keep it short for the sake of not being more blatant about pointing fingers than I already am.
On the same Kaula I was given permission to say this:
"kizuki had admitted to leaving over the stress caused by [Kaula], and her previous intent to metagame the entire AL tournament."
I have fell in love with the systems, mechanics, and people since the day I got here; that hasn’t changed. However, I’m not a strong enough person to keep my head down and silent about things forever.
This isn’t an ultimatum or a bridge-burning. I’m simply trying to speak up about the changes I think need to take place for this place to live up to its full potential, which is namely to treat everyone with the same level of respect or consideration as everyone else.
Earlier I referred as to how some true issues are “turned into memes and dismissed”, so I’ll go ahead and use one of those now.
No one should be untouchable because of their current or previous status as friends of moderators.
Zucceta once gave themselves a 10/20% for breaking a rule, and I think that is exactly the kind of judgement that needs to remain in perpetuity throughout the existence of souls.
I’m no where near the first person that has quit because of Kaula, and I’d wager I’m hardly the last.
I love you guys, my character, the forum, and its systems, but I refuse to be a part of a cycle of ‘abuse, passive aggressiveness, and repeat’ that won’t ever end. I’m tired of OOC bullying that drives people away.
I’ll re-iterate it a final time. Sounding like a broken record, but I feel it’s important: This is not a personal attack on anyone, just a run down or past events and why I’m making the decision to step away.
I know this is all incredibly selfish, as it puts a lot of plots and plans on-hold as well as plenty of unfinished thread. I apologize for that, but I feel like there is nothing I can do.
P.S. I realize this is all in very poor timing, but I assure the readers this has nothing to do with the Turtle Hermit thing.
This has been sporadically edited many times over and I don't have the energy to give this a last revision, so I'm sure there is a lot of grammatical errors or whatever. I'm sure the main message comes across though.
Anyone I'm in a thread with can feel free to hand it in effective immediately.
Long story:
Disclaimer: This is not in the discussion thread because this isn’t going to be a discussion; what is stated here is my own thoughts, beliefs, opinions, and I doubt anything said will change them.
Disclaimer 2: I have nothing but love for the current staff and have a deep respect for them as individual people. However, I feel like there is a deep-rooted issue with toxicity and double standards that — even when acknowledged — is refused to be addressed.
Request: If you read any further try to read everything first — not make up counter arguments as you read. Try to digest everything I say before anything. AS I said, this isn’t a discussion; it’s simply my thoughts on things.
The Core Issue
I’m sure a good deal of you saw this coming, though I know most of the ghosts in the audience knew it was.
I’m quitting WoDSouls for the foreseeable future.
As I stated before there is an undeniable set of double standards that is so deep-rooted within the community that often times, when it is brought up, it is simply turned into memes and dismissed as a whole, instead of being taken as the serious issue it really is.
A few nights(?) (weeks?) ago a user named ‘lol’ came into the Cbox. He/she allegedly was a newcomer that, at a glance, was able to point out a few issues with the site that seems to persistently pop up.
Namely the incessant harassment and the way it is dealt with. ‘Lol’, who from here on out will be referred to as ‘Larry’ had made a few good observations. Larry pointed at the fact that many of the offenders on the warning board were repeat offenders who didn’t seem to learn their lesson.
Despite the way Larry entered the Cbox his concerns quickly led to what (on the surface) seemed like a discussion about how the site deals with harassment. I asked him to type up his concerns on the referral board and promised I would verbatim post his ideas on the suggestion board.
This gesture was made because what he came into the Cbox to say was something that I have had an issue with for a few months now.
Ever since August 16 a chain reaction that can only be described as ‘shit hitting the fan’ has been perpetually occurring — and it has never been a secret. Three cycles have taken place — three times over has the same chain reaction climaxed only to be given a temporary quelling only to surface up again.
Three times.
I have done my best to keep quiet and aloof as to everything — going as far as to ignore and outright block the ex-moderator who has been the root of this never-ending maelstrom of crap. However, I can only stomach so much.
Cycle one: shame on you.
Kaula demodded after a day or two of after I brought my concerns to staff. In the meantime I had:
•Numerous innocuous, every-day messages of mine deleted on the cbox.
•A mountain of — proven — false slender filed against me (by the same person).
•False evidence created against me that earned me a 10% warning.
-I said nothing and kept quiet about this because I didn’t want to further disturb the ecosystem.
•For whatever reason my Grievance against Kaula was removed from the Grievance Board, despite the fact the Grievance that Kaula filed against another member, who from here on out will be referred to as ‘Core’, was kept up. (there may be a good reason for this, but I am unaware of it because I never brought this up to anyone).
Cycle two: shame on me.
•Week or two passed and another false piece of evidence was manufactured, this one aiming to give me yet another 10%.
♦Both evidences were proven false by Cbox history and other methods; Kaula, whose modship was removed, was given a 10% for each of the manufactured evidence.
•Upon returning from time off little changed. Passive aggressive comments, further slander, and other things occurred.
◘Including blatant admission in the cbox to metagame — or at least commit IC actions with very poor reasoning due to OOC issues.
---On the same (or following night):
•Kaula abused moderators with passive aggressive comments within their own shop after a request of their was denied.
•Kaula threw a bf and began begging in the cbox — and skype — as to have their actions looked over and be given a free pass.
•Kaula was awarded a 10% warning.
•I gave a ‘like’ to the two Page #5 Warning posts that regard Kaula. I felt it would be a fine thing to do, mostly because Kaula has liked so many previous posts in the same board.
+However, I was told to take mine down, while to this date their own remains up.
Cycle three: tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ViciousCycle
The 5-day ban Kaula had been earned expired. I wasn’t very surprised to learn that the same passive aggressiveness was still there.
•This time, however, the admission of metagaming were brought to skype; and Kaula began to mess with another member who will not be named or referred to as anything. Said member let things go, as they are a bigger and better person than I am.
Now, the reason this cycle is different is because something was brought up that I wasn’t aware of just yet.
The Kaula behind the this chain reaction apparently has — as Larry had stated — a very long history with this kind of behavior, which stretches back to Page #2 of the Warning Board (Cycle one and two begin and end on page 5).
Keep in mind, this person was a moderator this entire time.
— again, staff, don’t feel as though this is a personal attack on any of you; it’s not.
This person, with their long history of harassment and abuse, has singlehandedly been the cause of a number of exodus from the site.
Another member once told me they “have caused more people to leave Souls than any other person (or reason)”. Which I thought was a joke at the time, but as I came to learn on Cycle #3 there was a reason for this.
There has been admittance and, to some degree, compliance the Kaula has been given a lot of leniency as to their harassment.
And that that is the ultimate reason that I am leaving, and nothing else.
Often the excuse is that Kaula has ‘issues’ or was an amazing moderator who has devoted a lot to time to the staff, so their fits of hysteria are to be treated with less severity.
To me that is like saying a cop shouldn’t be put on trial for murder because he has always been a good cop — or a scientist not held liable for falsifying study results to serve his own political agenda because he was active in the scientific community.
To further elaborate; another ex-moderator, Kizuki, gave his own 2cents on the situation. Their comments resonated with a lot of what I felt (And still feel), but pointed back to the fact that Kaula has done this a lot and was punished disproportionately less than other members who have done the same thing.
I had a long point that I wanted to make using edited quotes, but I’ll keep it short for the sake of not being more blatant about pointing fingers than I already am.
check the warning board.
page 4. 60% to 100%.
On the same Kaula I was given permission to say this:
"kizuki had admitted to leaving over the stress caused by [Kaula], and her previous intent to metagame the entire AL tournament."
In Conclusion
I have fell in love with the systems, mechanics, and people since the day I got here; that hasn’t changed. However, I’m not a strong enough person to keep my head down and silent about things forever.
This isn’t an ultimatum or a bridge-burning. I’m simply trying to speak up about the changes I think need to take place for this place to live up to its full potential, which is namely to treat everyone with the same level of respect or consideration as everyone else.
Earlier I referred as to how some true issues are “turned into memes and dismissed”, so I’ll go ahead and use one of those now.
No one should be untouchable because of their current or previous status as friends of moderators.
Zucceta once gave themselves a 10/20% for breaking a rule, and I think that is exactly the kind of judgement that needs to remain in perpetuity throughout the existence of souls.
tl;dr
I’m no where near the first person that has quit because of Kaula, and I’d wager I’m hardly the last.
I love you guys, my character, the forum, and its systems, but I refuse to be a part of a cycle of ‘abuse, passive aggressiveness, and repeat’ that won’t ever end. I’m tired of OOC bullying that drives people away.
I’ll re-iterate it a final time. Sounding like a broken record, but I feel it’s important: This is not a personal attack on anyone, just a run down or past events and why I’m making the decision to step away.
I know this is all incredibly selfish, as it puts a lot of plots and plans on-hold as well as plenty of unfinished thread. I apologize for that, but I feel like there is nothing I can do.
P.S. I realize this is all in very poor timing, but I assure the readers this has nothing to do with the Turtle Hermit thing.
This has been sporadically edited many times over and I don't have the energy to give this a last revision, so I'm sure there is a lot of grammatical errors or whatever. I'm sure the main message comes across though.
Anyone I'm in a thread with can feel free to hand it in effective immediately.