First off, I could not care less about being banned from RPG.net. But now, I’m a little angry.
This was posted in the Trouble Tickets forum:
This whole business is beyond the pale.
Understand that what you do on your own websites is your own business. If you do something there that causes discussion here, well, that’s inevitable, because you’re both relatively big names in this community and so whatever you do, it’ll cause discussion here. However, in this case you went beyond that. You deliberately used rpg.net resources in order to further the deception that Memento Mori had been stolen by a third party, without informing moderators and admins. This was outright trolling, and would be rewarded by a permaban if it wasn’t for previous contributions to this forum.
At one point, RPG.net moderators spent time quashing a rumor that Mr. Wick had died in a car crash, which was eventually identified as a vicious hoax. That hoaxster was permabanned. To have Mr. Wick turn around and use the same method to promote a new RPG is particularly offensive.
We are suspending both of you for six months. We are willing to drop the length of the suspension to three months, provided you’re willing to make a public apology, to be stickied at the top of Roleplaying Open for one week and the top of Trouble Tickets for the duration of your suspension. If we see evidence that this apology is less than sincere, the suspension reduction will be negated.
This is most assuredly not an April Fools prank.
Edit: Neither John Wick nor Jared Sorensen have provided us with a valid e-mail address, so they won’t be receiving an e-mail notification of this suspension.
A few things.
As I said, I fully expected to get banned from RPG.net for participating in Jared’s prank and I accept the consequences for doing so. RPG.net is a private website and they are fully within their rights for banning me for assisting in Jared’s prank. As a card carrying member of the Libertarian party, I believe everyone has the full rights to do what they want with their individual business and be willing to face the consequences of doing so. RPG.net has acted on their rights to ban me. Participating in RPG.net is a priviledge, not a right. I’ve had that priviledge revoked and fully accept the consequences.
1) “Neither John Wick nor Jared Sorensen have provided us with a valid e-mail address…”
This is interesting because I was notified about being banned from the Forums for my “personal attacks” with an e-mail sent by Moderator Curt Thompson. I have the e-mails. Thus, they must have my e-mail addy because they’ve already notified me about being suspended once.
This comes across as at least a little petty. I mean, I know they’re pissed at me, but if they’re gonna try acting all professional-like, the least they can do is tell the truth.
Also, by posting it in Trouble Tickets, both Jared and I are unable to see the post: we can’t even know how to “fix things” with RPG.net. It was only because zigguratbuilder posted the thing in Jared’s journal that we even found out about it. Therefore, we are unable to even react to it in any way. I’ve already sent a private e-mail to RPG.net to see what their response may be.
2) Invoking the John Wick is Dead Hoax
That was a malicious and hateful act aimed directly at my head. I appreciate RPG.net banning the guy who posted it. Nothing about Jared’s April Fool’s joke was malicious. And, it was not directed at anyone but himself. The JWiD Hoax was directed at me. The April Fool’s joke was Jared talking about himself. Very different circumstances.
3) A Public Apology
As I’ve stated elsewhere, an apology from me would not be anything remotely resembling sincere. I will not say something I do not mean. Also, as another user mentioned, I will not have myself “paraded around Jerusalem” as an example for others. “Get down from the cross, we can use the wood.” That’s demeaning, petty, and condescending. And, frankly, I expected better.
4) Breaking the Rules
Finally, I do not see any listing of any rule we may have broken. “Trolling” is a highly subjective term and while I still believe RPG.net has the full right to ban me for any reason they see fit, I’d at least like to see the specific rule I violated.
Here are RPG.net’s forum rules. I do not see any rule Jared or myself violated. According to the post above, we were guilty of “trolling.” This term does not occur once in the RPG.net rules document.
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This all seems a little over-reactionary. Lying about my “valid e-mail address” after sending me a 3-day suspension over e-mail, making the improper analogy about the JWiD Hoax, and making this address deliberately impossible for us to see is downright petty.
Shame on you, RPG.net. Shame, shame, shame.