Seeing this topic inundated with drunken posts, bad-blood accusations, and now supposed "leaks" regarding how staff talks to each other, is very disheartening, if one is to take any sort indication on how ready the forum is to utilize this new section we created.
This is now the
second time this thread has gotten hijacked by an unrelated issue than the topic of the OP. And the grievance that has been brought up here has taken a significant portion of this thread, thus by its very nature demands a response other than the usual call to return on topic. Because there are
serious distortions of the matter that demand a response. Distortions being made due to there being a lack of context or understanding from both parties and perspectives. This is a gonna be a long post, so bear with me here.
The beginning of this issue started with the report of
Ryu's post in the FOREVER ALONE thread. Looneymoon reported this post because she and two other anonymous members took offense to this post and brought the issue to our attention requesting us to do something about this. This in turn brought up a long, and thorough discussion amongst staff in regards to how we are to handle such issues in terms of staff intervention and policy enforcement.
There were two other similar instances of member offense that played into the discussion and handling of this current situation. One involving Omega and him receiving (a now reversed) infraction in the same thread, and one involving a joke told by myself, that resulted in no infraction. The chief concerns were consistency, precedence, and enforcement. An accusation of Ryu's joke being a rape joke was chiefly discussed and how the joke and its infraction would set a precedent in terms of what we would and would not allow as jokes on this forum. Because when we
do decide to act on behavior that's outside of the established rules or norm, that essentially means we're setting a new standard of allowable behavior and rule enforcement.
There were accusations that Ryu's reported post was a joke condoning or speaking of rape and it being outright morally wrong. In discussing the severity of the joke, its context, and how it stacked amongst the recently reported posts, Ryu asked members of the IRC channel if the joke he said in question was a joke that had any connotations of rape.
No disclosure of who made the report was stated and no one was further dragged into the issue aside from that questioning. The questioning of the IRC chat was to determine if any construing of rape or sexual violence was apparent in the text of that post.
The reports, and the reporters, were never made public. Let me repeat. The only factor that was made available to any non-moderator members was the post that was questioned in the first place, and how it sounded in terms of its content. The post that could be seen publicly on the forum by any member here.
Next, the issue regarding how staff responded and discussed said report(s). Staff did not discuss this issue and report in a vacuum. Again, we looked at several factors. Namely precedent, consistency, and impact on the speech we'd allow here. It's no secret that if we disallowed and infracted these posts we had reported, a significant amendment to the rules would be required, changing the entire atmosphere and level of allowable discussion. Especially considering what we have allowed in the past. The ambiguous nature of the reported post involving Omega, and the context of why it was reported, were made privy to us and changed our perspective on the matter. The consensus was that this issue was one that certainly needed to be dealt with, but on a personal level involving said complainants and the one who made the offending post, Ryu.
The reason for that decision was because there is a serious lack of consistency in regards to how one joke here is interpreted over a period of time, and other factors like who posts it, why, and the relationship between the joker and who actually sees the joke. Given how this is for all intents and purposes completely subjective and inconsistent how the heck could we ever moderate such an issue fairly, or make it a steadfast rule? One day staff might let one post fly by one member, but then the next day it could become gobsmackingly offensive because 2 or 3 people perceive it as such because a different member said it. We can mediate and encourage a discussion (which is one of main reasons this new section was created in the first place) but unless the posts are so jaw-dropping and unequivocally offensive that one cannot help but notice it, (e.g. Wander and Sylvie's unrepentant trolling of Travon Martion or Nikkolas advocating pedophilia and Holocaust Denial) us intervening would be extremely difficult to justify.
There has to be an obvious lack of good faith and/or intentionality to warrant us actually infracting a member for such conduct. Since that would fall under egregious trolling. We can foster and encourage dialogue between the members to hash it out, but that's about how far we can go. Because in the end we cannot solve that personal issue.
The person who posted the secret
on actually speaking openly with the member you have an issue with like a human being, and letting them know respectfully why, was definitely on to something in terms of dealing with these type of sensitive and hard to pin down issues. Staff can only do so much in regards to ironing out personal grudges and making us all get along. We're not licensed counselors. We can give the tools and means to do it, but expecting us to magically fix it is an unrealistic expectation. This new member feedback section is a tool to hopefully enact this type of resolution and allow ALL members here the opportunity to understand and listen to each other.
Lastly, insulting/mocking members. I have
no idea what's been told or said, but I find it interesting that they would go the route of painting us as "The Man Show" back behind closed doors and not giving any fucks regarding the issues we handle. We get into
very long t;dr debates regarding the reports we have come across our laps and sometimes things get heated between all of us. Most of us have known each other for a long time, and since we're in the comfort, privacy and (now unjustly) assumed confidentiality of each other's company, we drop the formality and speak casually, because we assume our fellow staffers will know what we mean, and if it really becomes an issue. They'll kindly tap us on the shoulder and tell us so.
I swear and use hyperbolic speech regularly, especially when in heated debates and dialogue. Especially in staff. Especially in situations like these. Hell, Tennyo had to slap me and get me in line in regards to how I was talking about this, and I apologized and appreciated it. When discussing sensitive and personal issues, sometimes we take things personally. And I'm
not the only one. Context goes a
long way in understanding what's being discussed, and how
we talk to each other in that section. Twisting how we act in the comfort and confidentiality of friends/co-workers and parsing it as if it were something else is a low and manipulative means of portraying someone negatively in the context of an argument. It's fallacious and doesn't help solve or lead to solutions in terms of amending any misunerstandings or conflicts. So I have to wonder the actual intentions of said "leaker" and those touting what they've been told regarding the situation. Because airing the discussion(s) of another and claiming they represent the entirety of staff or their level of care is just asinine and untrue.
Like I said, this whole tangent discussion warranted an in-depth and honest response regarding the accusations and misunderstandings in this thread. So I definitely felt the need to post and "say something" regarding this. I can only hope this offers some actual, tangible results and understandings. Because the amount of vitriol and accusations is certainly not conducive of any healing or open communication atmosphere at all.
Ive been high as a kite wired on cocaine for many of my posts early on in this forum as well as several on FCF (Also Tony when we played dofus together I was strung out most of the time, sorry pal). Because of that most of you from what I can tell dont really know me, and because of it Im still trying to make amends for all the stupidity (iirc I was actually good friends with omega and Dacon once upon a time 
). 
