Greetings to everyone from The Escapist!

[Arnox]

I was summoned by a quote! How's that ironic? This post marks the first time I've acknowledged the ban, I found the topic distasteful. I was most certainly not talking shit on someone not around to respond.

The issue here isn't that Houseman isn't on the Escapist to respond, but that Houseman CAN'T be on the Escapist to respond because they deliberately banned him from ever being on.

I just found it kinda ironic that you got after us for talking a bit of shit about Saelune (when Saelune was never banned once around here) and then the Escapist community (generally speaking) goes ahead and does the exact same thing you were talking about against someone who was banned from the site.

 

[Elijin]

I think it's crappy to take shots at someone who isn't around to respond(choice or ban), I maintain that stance.

I used to read this place for a while, then I lost my bookmarks and googling intosanctuary only ever brang up nature foundations.

 

[Arnox]

I think it's crappy to take shots at someone who isn't around to respond(choice or ban), I maintain that stance.

I used to read this place for a while, then I lost my bookmarks and googling intosanctuary only ever brang up nature foundations.

Well you know what, motherfucker?

I'm glad you're here regardless. And I'm glad we can ALL have this conversation in a place that isn't fucked over with shitty moderation and/or stupid-ass upvote-downvote systems and/or retweets and/or etc. Where we can all have conversations face to face and decide for ourselves whether we like someone's position on an argument or not and not have it decided for us.

To all that are new and sort of new, I hope you will stick around.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Okay!

You know what's messed up? The way the 'contact us' button disappears once you're banned. I had to clear my browser to send in an appeal.

 

[Arnox]

You know what's messed up? The way the 'contact us' button disappears once you're banned. I had to clear my browser to send in an appeal.

The everything button disappears once you're banned. Yeah, XF is super harsh by default against banned members unfortunately. If I had to guess, it's probably due to security reasons. Perhaps the strict bans are also designed to stop any and all exploits that require a user account.

 

[Elijin]

I don't remember ever having a problem with you specifically, if anything I read these forums for a while out of curiosity at your intentions to create content and run gaming stuff. Just none of it ever really bisected with my interests. Plus, the edgy cool kids were a bit on the nose.

 

[Houseman]

I was summoned by a quote! How's that ironic? This post marks the first time I've acknowledged the ban, I found the topic distasteful. I was most certainly not talking shit on someone not around to respond.

Oh sweet, you're here too! Howdy!

I know we had our differences, but thank you, that shows good character. Now that we're both here though, feel free to tell it to my face!

 

[Drathnoxis]

You know, it's really annoying not being able to respond to people talking about you.

I wasn't hoping to get anybody banned. I just wanted to point out past actions for certain users so the mods could keep it in mind when they deal with them in the future. Because when you see the posts in isolation you might not think anything of it, but to see them all together it says something about the poster. Preferably the mods would have used that information to give them a warning. Turns out the Escapist doesn't do warnings anymore, which was a surprise.

 

[Houseman]

Yeah, that's a point I'm going to cover in my video. Why do some users get 0 warnings while others can get up to six without getting banned?

 

[Houseman]

You know, it's really annoying not being able to respond to people talking about you.

I wasn't hoping to get anybody banned. I just wanted to point out past actions for certain users so the mods could keep it in mind when they deal with them in the future. Because when you see the posts in isolation you might not think anything of it, but to see them all together it says something about the poster. Preferably the mods would have used that information to give them a warning. Turns out the Escapist doesn't do warnings anymore, which was a surprise.

Congrats, you've been unbanned! And now other users like Elvis are questioning whether or not there's a statute of limitations on posts, as they should!

Nick also said "Spamming our reports is not the way to go about talking about someone was banned and requesting a second look / appeal on their behalf."

Did you say that's what you were doing, or was that just what he assumed?

 

[Drathnoxis]

Congrats, you've been unbanned! And now other users like Elvis are questioning whether or not there's a statute of limitations on posts, as they should!

Nick also said "Spamming our reports is not the way to go about talking about someone was banned and requesting a second look / appeal on their behalf."

Did you say that's what you were doing, or was that just what he assumed?

Yeah, that was kind of the jist of what I was doing. He must have read my appeal.

 

[Houseman]

It's nice that at least you get an appeal, while mine gets ignored.
Man, the evidence for double-standards and selective treatment of users just keeps piling up in my favor.

Also, I like how all the mods say "we can't discuss another user's ban", but Nick is free to blab about everything, in both of our cases. Perks of being the boss, I guess?

 

[Drathnoxis]

It's nice that at least you get an appeal, while mine gets ignored.
Man, the evidence for double-standards and selective treatment of users just keeps piling up in my favor.

Also, I like how all the mods say "we can't discuss another user's ban", but Nick is free to blab about everything, in both of our cases. Perks of being the boss, I guess?

Maybe he didn't see it? Have you tried sending it again?

Honestly, though, I don't think you have much hope. You've been labeled as a troll so any appeal you make will labour under the presumption that you are being disingenuous. It's a bad situation.

Personally I'd let you back in if were up to me. It's nice having some contrary opinions around to challenge convention.

 

[Houseman]

Maybe he didn't see it? Have you tried sending it again?

Yes, I've replied to the same thread that he emailed me on after he walked-back the Capitol Riot ban, twice, and also filled out the contact form.
I have to assume he's intentionally ignoring me, even though it explicitly states in the CoC that users are "entitled to appeal".

Honestly, though, I don't think you have much hope.

Me neither.

Too bad I'm not one of those users like Revnak who have had 6 formal warnings and still aren't banned.

But I'll go over that in my video :)

 

[Yoshi]

Turns out the Escapist doesn't do warnings anymore, which was a surprise.

the health bar system on the V1 Escapist was so much better than the shitty V2 website now anyway.

 

[Arnox]

the health bar system on the V1 Escapist was so much better than the shitty V2 website now anyway.

You know what's hilarious? They can have the health bar system again really easily. The only reason why they don't is either

A. They like their totalitarian paradise
B. They're too lazy to change it
C. They're too incompetent to change it

Seriously, this thread just keeps on giving.

 

[Houseman]

the health bar system on the V1 Escapist was so much better than the shitty V2 website now anyway.

I would say that actually having a clearly-defined procedure, which is actually followed, is better than the arbitrary system of "What does Nick feel like today?"

So yes, I agree.

You know what's hilarious? They can have the health bar system again really easily. The only reason why they don't is either

A. They like their totalitarian paradise
B. They're too lazy to change it
C. They're too incompetent to change it

Seriously, this thread just keeps on giving.

Speaking of inconpetence and/or laziness, in my research, I found that they actually have two different code of conducts, each with different wording.

 

[Yoshi]

You know what's hilarious? They can have the health bar system again really easily. The only reason why they don't is either

A. They like their totalitarian paradise
B. They're too lazy to change it
C. They're too incompetent to change it

Seriously, this thread just keeps on giving.

lol i know right. i'm only here cause Houseman contacted me on easyallies.
it's nice having a thread to shit on that pos forum for a change.

 

[Houseman]

I made the video. Also the data is included in the description.

- YouTube

Bekijk je favoriete video's, luister naar de muziek die je leuk vindt, upload originele content en deel alles met vrienden, familie en anderen op YouTube.

youtu.be

 

[Drathnoxis]

I made the video. Also the data is included in the description.

- YouTube

Bekijk je favoriete video's, luister naar de muziek die je leuk vindt, upload originele content en deel alles met vrienden, familie en anderen op YouTube.

youtu.be

Personally I think the mods were responsible for my ban and then Nick walked it back when I appealed. The mods must have the ability to ban people or they couldn't take care of spam. I just don't think Nick is nearly as involved with the forum as you seem to think. The forums don't make any money, and he's responsible for organizing and editing the content producing side of the Escapist, so that's where his time is probably going. I figure that if somebody appeals, or the mods bring a user to his attention he'll make the final call, but that's probably the extent of his involvement. It just makes more sense that way than Nick reversing his own decisions all the time.

I think Nick also stated they sometimes have been using V1 behavior as justification for bans, which helps explain some of the bans with fewer warnings.

I really would prefer them not to use a 3-strike system really. That kind of sucks with no amnesty system in place. I don't really want to see anybody get permabanned.

 

[Yoshi]

I think Nick also stated they sometimes have been using V1 behavior as justification for bans

not really a very good justification when they're the ones that made the V1 rules in the first place.

and having 6 months no infractions, removing an infraction is a fair and reasonable thing to do. why punish someone for something they said 5 years ago?

 

[bluegate]

I really would prefer them not to use a 3-strike system really. That kind of sucks with no amnesty system in place. I don't really want to see anybody get permabanned.

Not that I care one way or another, but banning away their user base has been the name of the game for these past 5-6 years on the Escapist, you ought to be used to it by now.

Personally I'm more a fan of extended time-out systems, but that conversation is neither here nor there.

 

[Houseman]

Personally I think the mods were responsible for my ban and then Nick walked it back when I appealed. The mods must have the ability to ban people or they couldn't take care of spam. I just don't think Nick is nearly as involved with the forum as you seem to think. The forums don't make any money, and he's responsible for organizing and editing the content producing side of the Escapist, so that's where his time is probably going. I figure that if somebody appeals, or the mods bring a user to his attention he'll make the final call, but that's probably the extent of his involvement. It just makes more sense that way than Nick reversing his own decisions all the time.

You're probably right. After I was banned on the 6th, I thought it was a rogue mod that did it.

I blame Nick because he is ultimately the boss and takes responsibility for all these things. He is also the only one with the power to fix it.

But you're still probably right.

I think Nick also stated they sometimes have been using V1 behavior as justification for bans, which helps explain some of the bans with fewer warnings.

Could be.

 

[Houseman]

Responding to Nick here:

Yes, I've seen the video. He made sure to directly tag me with it on Twitter. Interestingly he has the same name as Yoshi who last year went and dug up my personal Facebook account to start interacting with me there on my actual profile and not through DMs.

Just a coincidence, I'm sure. My youtube, twitter account, and the gmail account linked to those two all use the same made-up name.
But just go ahead and dox @Yoshi , why don't you? Was banning him not enough? Now you need drop hints that his name can be found by searching Twitter?

I'm not gonna get into it. As I've explained before, we're lax with the moderation rules here because we think most people can handle themselves decently enough.

The issue is that you are selectively lax with certain users, but not others.

He also put way more effort in his video than we do when it comes to tracking warnings and such...I have a million things to do, it's not exactly high on my priority list I'll be honest.

And that explains so much.

You are doing the community a disservice by not giving it the care and attention that it deserves. Maybe hire or seek a volunteer community manager or something. Someone should be putting in more effort than I did!

Do you even care?

Like I said before, the mod team and I agreed he was arguing in bad-faith more often than not, just playing devil's advocate to get a rise out of people, and it's not like you guys didn't see right through that in most cases, even more so when it became unavoidable after he admitted he doesn't even vote...

Actually, what you said before was that I had been given "multiple warnings". But now that claim is suspiciously absent here, after I was able to tell my side of the story.

Also, again with this "he doesn't even vote" thing. Yes, people can have opinions about things without voting. Just like people can be black and have favorable opinions about the police. Just because I don't adhere to your views about what opinions I should have, based on my voting history and race, it doesn't mean I'm arguing in bad faith.

But hey, I'm not trying to appeal my ban, I'm only pointing out the fact that people like Revnac have six warnings, and I, and others like me, got far fewer than that.

That's the main point of the video.
That's the point that nobody wants to directly address.

 

[Houseman]

Responding to Xprimentyl,

I finished the video because why not, and apparently, he just wants the rules applied "objectively," no regard for each individual user's track record; one infraction/warning is such, and three is a ban.

No, I don't want that. I'm saying that's what is stated in their rules. I'm saying they should adhere to their own rules, regardless of what they are.
I also say that I don't like the three strike rule, think it's too harsh, and would expect the mods to be reasonable and compassionate in certain situations.

I'm just calling them out on not following their own stated procedure.

Oh, and he finishes, after dragging Nick and his moderation standards through the mud, saying how he respects and appreciates what Nick does and how he [Nick] is risking the integrity and fate of the site by holding relentless, perpetual offenders to different standards than those users who have the occasional, minor infraction, because we all know it's the former that are the backbone of this site's existence, right?

You mean users like Revnac, who have 6 formal warnings, and said "I genuinely don't care if I get banned from this site"?
People like him are the real "backbone" of the site, right? He isn't a perpetual offender?
He deserves upwards of six chances?

The data makes it clear which users are the relentless, perpetual offenders.