The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

Let me run you over some of the logs you've clearly ignored in your blind rage of getting all of those people banned.



Akrinor-Yesterday at 12:11 PM
Actually, in a way it is part of exactly the can of worms we're about to open. But I agree with not putting the convo on board.

palindromordnilap-Yesterday at 11:32 AM
You should probably censor July's name and face.

Ekyl-Yesterday at 12:11 PM
If July wanted her real name known on the board, she would go by it.

Granz-Yesterday at 12:11 PM
We could quote the conversation.
Instead of using the screenshot.

Matt Cipher-Yesterday at 12:12 PM
I agree that showing face and real name is not cool and disrespectful. (...)

SkarmorySilver-Yesterday at 12:10 PM
And IMHO, putting that chat screencap in public view would be extremely disrespectful to all parties involved, which won't help anybody's case.

The only time you see Silenthunder joining that specific convo is when she says she agrees that the whole policy should be changed. Not even once does she say anything about JulyFlame or the screenshot.


But I guess it's easier to say all of them are guilty. Whatever. If you feel better about yourself, go ahead. Do your worst and ban me.

Everyone right now is very tense due to this. I would recommend waiting a few days before implementing those actions.

I wasn't, not with work, but I feel it's high time to get some writing done. I'm going to try to finally, once and for all, take out My Little Unicorn: Magic is Believing. Or, you know, some smaller badfic if that one proves to be a bit much right now.

As I am sure you are all well aware, recently I have been distant from the PPC. My job and it's fluctuating hours are in large part to blame for this, as with other real life commitments. By no means was this because I care for the community any less than I ever have. However, clearly I have not been nearly as approachable, nor as good of a friend as I would have liked to be. I have been supposedly active during a number of instances where I should have been a a friend, a means of support, but I was gone. I am so sorry Ix. I should have been a better friend. I don't even know if I deserve that title. I can only hope to be better in the future. I'm so sorry. Truly, I am.

That. All. Being. Said.

Guys.

What are we doing.

I don't like to sick my head into drama. It gets nasty, and I feel this community often guides itself towards the right path sooner or later. However, this time, there has been a while lot of yelling, and not a lot of action. So. Here I am to try and throw my voice in.

First, and foremost, accusations of harassment are extremely serious, and should be treated as such. Our reaction process has been slow in the past, mostly due to inaction on members of the community. I am part of this problem. As stated, I stay out of drama, as I trust cooler heads to judge. So, I feel that we need swifter action to examine and, if necessary, punish those who are harassing other members of this community. Clearly, asking for board-wide approval takes far, far too long for any feeling of closure. For the Discord, this is simple: mods need to bring down kicks harder and sooner. Not necessarily bans, but make it very clear when people have been out of line. Hit them with a warning. Second offense, a kick. Third, a temp ban, potentially permanent depending on severity. Also depending on severity, might skip the warning and jump straight to kicking. Needs to be done, needs to have been done a while ago.

However, for board, and community-wide response, this is trickier. My initial reaction is to have a panel of judges, to overview and determine:
1. Is there a case of wrongdoing
2. How we respond
The natural candidates for these judges are Permission Givers. We already, as a community, trust them to determine who can write in our shared universe. However, my hesitation towards giving them this extra responsibility is that it would put too much onto the plates of these select people. When they signed up for the job, all they asked for was to read stories and say if the author could write reasonably well. Now, we would be asking them to become effectively moderators. We have resisted the use of moderators on the Board for a long time, for many valid reasons. However, I think it has been clearly shown that we need faster, more decisive judgement. Moderators seem to be the best way of doing that.

Now, onto the issue of banning people right now. In my view, there is only one person who should possibly, maybe, be banned, and that is Tomash. Now, in my view, he has been shamed enough, has been shown quite thoroughly the error of his ways, and has profusely apologized for what he has done. Do not take this to mean I endorse what he did. It was a despicable act, and I do not blame those who want to see him banned. But, in my view, he has gone though enough. Consider this a NO BAN vote, but I will not object if we rule to ban.

However, the others on Desdendelle's little list: under no circumstances should they be banned at all. If I believe Tomash has received enough of a beating, lord knows I am not in favor of harsh punishment towards those members of the community either. Now, let me make this very, very clear. If you stood by while somebody was doxxed, or heaven help me, endorsed it at the time, you were in the severe wrong. What was done was immoral to a high degree, and may in fact be illegal. Shame on you. However, that is all that reprimand that should be done on these members. I feel this extreme outburst we have had as a community shows how we feel about the subject: we do not approve, and will not allow it to happen again. If it does, for any reason, to anybody, after this little debacle? I might be less forgiving. However, for now, we as a community need to heal. And we don't heal and repair by banning half the user base.

So, in conclusion, I feel it is high time this community has official moderators, who are elected to judge and enforce rules on behalf of the community at large. We have been too slow before. It is time to change it. Other then that, no changes needed to the Constitution. I feel that particular document is very, very clear and very well-written. Far more so than any other online community I can think of. We just need people to enforce it.

Anyone interested in a game of D&D over discord? If i get enkugh players I'll make a discord in a month or so when i'm done with my exams.

You do realize you're demanding an apology in response to an apology? I advise that you refrain from posting until you're less angry.

"It seems to me that what I'm seeing is someone who feels harassed finally snapping and asking the community at large to actually investigate the accusations, giving credence to both sides and deciding who did what."

But it's only fair to investigate what people actually did, rather than how strongly Iximaz reacted to what they did. As Neshomeh rather excellently explained here, Iximaz's reactions and choices belong to her and only her.

I think everyone involved in this fracas is genuinely trying to do the best that they know how, for their friends and for the Board. Everyone is just colliding up against each other like drifting continents.

-Kaitlyn, sad

Well, I'm doing it when I manage to get enough time to do it, so it's sporadic at best. I'm also thinking abouut my next solo mission, or cowrite, after publishing one at the very end of February.

Oh, and Tomash, there is something I have been thinking about for a while after I got your feedback for this last mission. Could I get your mail to discuss about it?

I believe you, but might as well have it out there.

* A Star Wars mission I actually have plotted out to some extent, I just haven't written the bloody thing.

* A co-write that stopped being a thing ages ago I might just take over and finish myself if Cassie OKs it.

* Finally starting that DIA-based spinoff I hinted at with "DIA: Introductions" six and a half years ago(!!!)

* A Firefly mission

* An interlude set in the Pennacook Club

* A different one set in Rudi's

* A Mysterious Project I'm not going to tell any of you about because it's supposed to be a surprise...

Posting for the third time now, I want everyone who is part of the PPC to not post anything on the board related to the incident that happened. What everyone needs to do is cool down and rethink and let the emotions subside.




I am only posting this because I have seen multiple people post on the board expressing their disgust and using words most commonly used in desperation or when the person is not thinking straight.

There are approximately four matches to Orwell, aka Toroll. There are many matches to Data Junkie.

Orwell is a banned user. So far as I recall, Data Junkie has not been banned, but has stated that they were leaving.

It is up to the community to decide whether Data Junkie and Toroll aka Orwell are identical. If they are, Data Junkie should be considered a banned user and their posts deleted on sight.

A screenshot of the search results will be posted on request.

She left because this community clearly supports bullies and bigots, but will deny it to the death. And it will eventually be the death of the community with Crow's blessing, as she would say.

Having heard that Iximaz believed people didn't care, you chose to involve her when you emailed me asking me to self-incriminate. Did you not consider, even briefly, that taking someone who has already told you they want to leave into a conversation where one possible answer was "I know, I don't think it's serious", was a terrible idea? That it could lead directly to Iximaz being harmed by my words?

You had the full story. You brought Iximaz into that situation. And as a result, there's a full paragraph in her leaving post based on a mental-illness-distorted reading of my emails.

You have not acted reasonably. Your decisions have been harmful from the very start.

hS

You do not have to distrust live chat rooms because of this incident, yes the incident is overkill, but we need to cool off for a few days. Right now, emotions are on the fly.

July's name and face are, if not public then easily accessed but at least a quarter of the board. I just checked, and I still have her name, email address, an old picture, and a bunch of other stuff from ages ago when we were friends. She's never been shy about it.

And I'm insulted by the idea that I might possibly be Desdendelle. To dispel this notion I have no problem unmasking. While I find this whole thread wildly amusing, mostly because Data was right about July being a bully and Des being a fool the whole time, I have not been involved lately because honestly you lot aren't worth my time anymore since Data left.

Also, don't bother banning this IP, though I'm sure you will anyway. This is a 24-our coffee shop several miles from my home.

I've got a rather bad habit of not speaking and avoiding problems when I face them. And could barely see both Discord and the Board at all during the last days, since I was at work, had to go to sleep early (10 PM here in Europa), and time zones are there.

This whole quagmire felt and feels incredibly wrong to me, both the issues raised, and the sheer explosion caused, meaning I barely posted because I thought the Board and Discord were too hostile for me.

The only moment I was resent on Discord and able to say something... Well first that was to ask for the situation. Then there was the... duck subtlety, stalinian process against July.

Unless my memory is driving me nuts, I spoke only twice during this whole debacle, and I was aiming for Aegis to calm down.

Des was telling him on all the tones what he was doing wasn't a good idea in any univrse, and Aegis didn't bulge. One of my two interventions was bouncing off on a reply Nyme had posted to stress the just wrong aspects of his demarch and got him to think really hard before doing it.

He said he would take time to calm down, so that somewhat worked, and didn't did anything more, both for a lack of time and a no envy at all to go in a discussion which showed all signs of going to total toxicity.

I didn't posted here when I could have the time here before that because of said bad habit of not wanting to be near violent discussions. That's all. I guess that's weakness and a default, but approbation for toxic self-destruction it's not. At all.

These thoughts might not mean all that much to most of you, as I have largely receded into semi-lurker status, but I need to express them regardless. Good job, folks. You've really ticked me off.

First off, Iximaz? I am sorry for everything you are going through. It's obviously a difficult time for you, and you have my sympathy. Get well soon.

Now then, as for those involved in the railroading of JulyFlame… screw you. Screw you all. Sorry, I tried to think of something diplomatic to say, but I'm coming off of a nasty illness and pretty much coughed up the last of my available diplomacy this morning. What on Earth possessed you all to do something so craven, so stupid, so… very much against the spirit of this community? I certainly see a lot of excuses being cited by those involved: fear, anger, good intentions. Great, yeah. Acting on those has never backfired on anyone ever.

But I'm sure most of you just wanted what was best for your friend. Fair enough. I would hope that you all learn a lesson from this. If nothing else, you might learn to stop before you do something and consider how what you say, or what you write, might hurt someone. Maybe not the person you're talking to, but someone. Somewhere. Remember, this is the Internet.

On a personal note, I would like to share with you all how utterly disappointed I am to see the community as it is now. There are a couple of unnamed people in this thread whose actions and excuses have downright disgusted me. I would hope that those people come to their senses, but I sincerely doubt they will.

Regarding the open Discord mod positions, I say this: I will oppose the appointment or election of anyone to that position who was involved in this incident. And it will be a vocal opposition.

Sometime tomorrow morning, I will be posting a revised ban proposal. It will not be as… dramatic as Desdendelle's, but it will exist and it will be serious. What occurred was a violation of privacy, of confidentiality, of trust. Some sort of corrective action needs to be taken.

I was barely present during this discussion, mainly because I found it disturbing, and my only interventions wer about calming down and thinking hard before doing something really harsh.

Not that I expected anyone to take that seriously, but if this isn't the Board on fire, I don't know what is.

Look. I agree that Tomash must go up for a ban. I say this with deep regret, because I have always liked and respected Tomash up til now, I'd miss him, and I recognize that losing him likely means losing T-Board as well, but if anyone with a lesser reputation had done this thing, and if the victim had been anyone less controversial than July, it would not even be a question; it would be done. It cannot be overstated that this indiscretion is potentially life-threatening to July, who is active in the military, which does have enemies. The rules for her are not the same as for someone who is a private citizen. This is no mere hypothetical situation; this is not just "Internet drama." This is f**king serious, and if I could swear properly, I would, so that you would know I mean it.

The rest, though? I don't know. My gut instinct says it's overkill, but I haven't had time to go through the logs, because sometimes I have to work during the day and keeping up with the Board has been hard enough.

Don't get me wrong, I am extremely disappointed in a lot of you, and I find myself distrusting live chatrooms again, seeing as this is the second time I've seen one apparently become an echo chamber where a subsection of the community worked itself into a frenzied mob bent on persecuting one certain member on dubious charges.

I find it somewhat ironic that people in this thread were crying for more aggressive censure of wrongdoers, and then the minute Des tests that resolve to its natural extent, he gets such fierce backlash.

I'll try to get properly caught up tomorrow. Just... for f**k's sake, you guys, this is beyond stupid. I know you know that, I just need to say it for me.

~Neshomeh