Dear MCME Staff and Community
I'd like to start by stating that despite all this drama, all this side taking, I certainly hope and believe that this server and community can overcome this obstacle, new ideas and perspectives can be learned, and healing can take place. This post (hopefully) will be brief. This post is merely a combination of my opinions and thoughts about recent events, and in no way is an official statement. I think I'd like to accomplish or discuss four distinct topics in this post. In the order of blame, perspective, reasoning and reflection. We'll start with blame.
Blame
I'll start by saying, obviously I'm not without it. As our charming Yomama627 brought up, yes, I was the subject of a ban in 2012 during which I was an Officer (Enforcer) of the server. I deserved the ban, I breached public trust and acted in an unprofessional means. That was many years ago, and I have atoned for those misdeeds. Those events are completely irrelevant to these current events. The events of 2012 have more to do with immaturity on my part, cursing language and helping an OB (My brother), not some grand "abuse of power" or "power trip" like many of the banned individuals are stating. They cannot be compared.
I won't lie, I feel targeted. As Fireinferno suggested, it seems more "scapegoate-y" than anything. The decision to ban Eaglz, Kiso and Yomama was not mine alone. While it was true, the leaked screenshots where reported to me, the conversation and decision to act was shared by myself, Dynodaring and Mandolore. The conversation lasted a good moment before the appropriate reaction was met. I should not be crucified solely for typing in the /ban command, as any of the 3 could have and would have.
Perspective
It's very clear to me that a number of you continue to suggest I have no sense of humor, and that I cannot take a "meme". It's also clear to me that a majority of you don't live in the United States and are shocked that Ol' Delmana would freak out over a few funny memes. It's also clear other than perhaps Iru, I'm the only Law Enforcement Officer on the server. I see things a bit differently.
Let me shed light into the Law Enforcement hiring process, at least in my state. I formerly worked in the Jail Division, to go into the Road Division of any Department, one must pass a length hiring process. For example, The Indiana State Polices' (ISP) hiring process is the most thorough and examining. ISP requires you log every alias during the process, that would include online gamer tags like "Delmana". ISP thoroughly searches all known aliases to look for incriminating information on the internet, including Facebook and your most used websites. ISP requires signed permission to have free access to all phones, computer systems and electronics devices, even inside your home. ISP requires you unlock your phone, so they may look through your pictures, private messages to loved ones, and so on. ISP may show up to your house and inspect the premises. Hopefully you understand the picture, they're thorough. If you deny them access, you are immediately disqualified. Having my personal pictures taken from my Facebook...to make me look like a pedophile, released or not, is a significant and real threat to my livelihood, all it would take is them to be released.
Furthermore, in my state of Indiana and in my profession, we have two very large databases that we make use of. These databases are the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) and IDACS (Indiana Data and Communications System). NCIC is primarily used for documenting and classifying criminal information records and charges. I want to focus on IDACS, as believe it or not, it applies to this situation. IDACS works with the International Justice and Public Safety Network (Nlets) and contains specific information on citizens of my state. Addresses, pictures galore, DNA, personal statistics and more are all comprised in this database. Information about Law Enforcement officers (me) are also here. IDACS stores images forever, if my edited "memes" where found, they would be logged, forever, and available for anyone I intend to get a job for later. Regardless of who made them or why, I could be dismissed from a hiring process simply for having them associated with me.
Finally, my last point on perspective. If the above seems far fetched and dubious, fear not, I have a real world example! My mother is a nursing professor at our local University. In the Spring of 2014 she encountered a mutual young friend of mine on Facebook and got into an argument with him over something stupid. This student, took it upon himself to take her professional work photos and edited them in a way that defamed her, and made her look unprofessional. I believe they photo-shopped a joint in her mouth and a scumbag hat on her head, and changed the background to pot leaves . University Police where at our house in 24 hours, she had a length conversation with the CEO and Officers, and was almost fired.
I take this seriously. What is a "funny meme" to some, isn't to others.
Reasoning
I'm just posting, from my understanding as an Enforcer, why the below mentioned where banned.
1. Commandotrigger - Continual cursing and abusive language, advertised Ardacraft. Whether or not the advertising was a joke or not, I don't believe it matters. Everyone knows stirring up tension is not welcomed on MCME. The Cursing despite being warned seemed reason enough for a ban, given that the user was previously OB'd. Note I didn't handle this ban.
2. Atlantispy- Easy. Player admittedly has been banned and unbanned 6 times. Zero excuses. Was ultimately banned for calling people autistic and cursing heavily. Note I didn't handle this ban.
3. Volcrest - Allegedly copying a build? Found to be untrue and unbanned at the time of this post. Note I didn't handle this ban. See more in Reflections section below.
4. Glov- Warned multiple times to stop posting politically in chat, as per ToS. Refused to stop, banned. Was allowed to appeal and was denied by me for finding a Twitter allegedly made by Glov. Was later found to NOT be made by Glov. See more in Reflections section below.
5. Eaglz, Kiso and Yomama- This situations was tricky. Eaglz and Kiso are known to be edgy and push language boundaries. If my memory serves me right, the night of the ban Eaglz was going off, cursing as always. I had been speaking to Mando about it when the leaked screenshots where sent to me. At that point I got the 3 Enforcers together and considering we couldn't decide whom in the Discord had made the edited photos, a blanket ban would be applied to the 3 most probable, due to the nature of the screenshots. An investigator was hoping to be planned to take an in depth look at the situation and find who actually was at fault. I have no doubt in my mind that if the 3 in question would have waited and not responded in such a way, those not in immediately involvement with the edited picture would've been unbanned after the investigation. However, before an investigation could even take place, they erupted in anger and trollish retaliation, essentially sealing their fate. Before the events of their consecutive bans I held no dislike or personal problems with any of the 3. Kiso uses a headset I bought him, with my own money, and shipped to him, as an act of friendship. Not a week before the bans took place I spoke to Eaglz and expressed I thought he was "my favorite Designer". My point is, the bans where made with no malice aforethought, and where made on a strict professional level.
Reflection
This might surprise you. I think the Enforcers made errors, serious errors. I think communication could have solved this issue immensely. I believe the treatment of Eaglz, Yomama and Kiso after their ban was unjustified and showed serious lack of tact on behalf of the Enforcement team. I believe they where due a more honest and timely explanation to their ban, and in us Enforcers not providing that, inadvertently added fuel to the fire and fed their aggression and feelings of betrayal by the services Enforcement. We should have explained the situation better. By no means am I saying I don't believe the bans where wrong, I believe they where, I just think we could've gone about it in a way that doesn't insight more drama than need be.
As for Glov and Volcrest, your bans either should not have happened, or should've been able to be appealed. I apologize for my part in Glov's ban. I did not handle it with respect, I should have contacted you about the twitter and allowed you to speak for yourself. I hope you accept my apology, and will certainly petition to allow your ban to be appealed.
Whether as an Enforcer, or a humble server member, I'm going to attempt to suggest or implement some procedural changes to how Enforcer document infractions and handle communication of Infraction to the affected players. Regardless, change is on the horizon.
This thread will now be locked. To those mentioned and affected, if you wish to contact me, please do. I will accept Discord friendship request and would be more than happy to talk to any of you.
Regards,
Delmana
I'd like to start by stating that despite all this drama, all this side taking, I certainly hope and believe that this server and community can overcome this obstacle, new ideas and perspectives can be learned, and healing can take place. This post (hopefully) will be brief. This post is merely a combination of my opinions and thoughts about recent events, and in no way is an official statement. I think I'd like to accomplish or discuss four distinct topics in this post. In the order of blame, perspective, reasoning and reflection. We'll start with blame.
Blame
I'll start by saying, obviously I'm not without it. As our charming Yomama627 brought up, yes, I was the subject of a ban in 2012 during which I was an Officer (Enforcer) of the server. I deserved the ban, I breached public trust and acted in an unprofessional means. That was many years ago, and I have atoned for those misdeeds. Those events are completely irrelevant to these current events. The events of 2012 have more to do with immaturity on my part, cursing language and helping an OB (My brother), not some grand "abuse of power" or "power trip" like many of the banned individuals are stating. They cannot be compared.
I won't lie, I feel targeted. As Fireinferno suggested, it seems more "scapegoate-y" than anything. The decision to ban Eaglz, Kiso and Yomama was not mine alone. While it was true, the leaked screenshots where reported to me, the conversation and decision to act was shared by myself, Dynodaring and Mandolore. The conversation lasted a good moment before the appropriate reaction was met. I should not be crucified solely for typing in the /ban command, as any of the 3 could have and would have.
Perspective
It's very clear to me that a number of you continue to suggest I have no sense of humor, and that I cannot take a "meme". It's also clear to me that a majority of you don't live in the United States and are shocked that Ol' Delmana would freak out over a few funny memes. It's also clear other than perhaps Iru, I'm the only Law Enforcement Officer on the server. I see things a bit differently.
Let me shed light into the Law Enforcement hiring process, at least in my state. I formerly worked in the Jail Division, to go into the Road Division of any Department, one must pass a length hiring process. For example, The Indiana State Polices' (ISP) hiring process is the most thorough and examining. ISP requires you log every alias during the process, that would include online gamer tags like "Delmana". ISP thoroughly searches all known aliases to look for incriminating information on the internet, including Facebook and your most used websites. ISP requires signed permission to have free access to all phones, computer systems and electronics devices, even inside your home. ISP requires you unlock your phone, so they may look through your pictures, private messages to loved ones, and so on. ISP may show up to your house and inspect the premises. Hopefully you understand the picture, they're thorough. If you deny them access, you are immediately disqualified. Having my personal pictures taken from my Facebook...to make me look like a pedophile, released or not, is a significant and real threat to my livelihood, all it would take is them to be released.
Furthermore, in my state of Indiana and in my profession, we have two very large databases that we make use of. These databases are the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) and IDACS (Indiana Data and Communications System). NCIC is primarily used for documenting and classifying criminal information records and charges. I want to focus on IDACS, as believe it or not, it applies to this situation. IDACS works with the International Justice and Public Safety Network (Nlets) and contains specific information on citizens of my state. Addresses, pictures galore, DNA, personal statistics and more are all comprised in this database. Information about Law Enforcement officers (me) are also here. IDACS stores images forever, if my edited "memes" where found, they would be logged, forever, and available for anyone I intend to get a job for later. Regardless of who made them or why, I could be dismissed from a hiring process simply for having them associated with me.
Finally, my last point on perspective. If the above seems far fetched and dubious, fear not, I have a real world example! My mother is a nursing professor at our local University. In the Spring of 2014 she encountered a mutual young friend of mine on Facebook and got into an argument with him over something stupid. This student, took it upon himself to take her professional work photos and edited them in a way that defamed her, and made her look unprofessional. I believe they photo-shopped a joint in her mouth and a scumbag hat on her head, and changed the background to pot leaves . University Police where at our house in 24 hours, she had a length conversation with the CEO and Officers, and was almost fired.
I take this seriously. What is a "funny meme" to some, isn't to others.
Reasoning
I'm just posting, from my understanding as an Enforcer, why the below mentioned where banned.
1. Commandotrigger - Continual cursing and abusive language, advertised Ardacraft. Whether or not the advertising was a joke or not, I don't believe it matters. Everyone knows stirring up tension is not welcomed on MCME. The Cursing despite being warned seemed reason enough for a ban, given that the user was previously OB'd. Note I didn't handle this ban.
2. Atlantispy- Easy. Player admittedly has been banned and unbanned 6 times. Zero excuses. Was ultimately banned for calling people autistic and cursing heavily. Note I didn't handle this ban.
3. Volcrest - Allegedly copying a build? Found to be untrue and unbanned at the time of this post. Note I didn't handle this ban. See more in Reflections section below.
4. Glov- Warned multiple times to stop posting politically in chat, as per ToS. Refused to stop, banned. Was allowed to appeal and was denied by me for finding a Twitter allegedly made by Glov. Was later found to NOT be made by Glov. See more in Reflections section below.
5. Eaglz, Kiso and Yomama- This situations was tricky. Eaglz and Kiso are known to be edgy and push language boundaries. If my memory serves me right, the night of the ban Eaglz was going off, cursing as always. I had been speaking to Mando about it when the leaked screenshots where sent to me. At that point I got the 3 Enforcers together and considering we couldn't decide whom in the Discord had made the edited photos, a blanket ban would be applied to the 3 most probable, due to the nature of the screenshots. An investigator was hoping to be planned to take an in depth look at the situation and find who actually was at fault. I have no doubt in my mind that if the 3 in question would have waited and not responded in such a way, those not in immediately involvement with the edited picture would've been unbanned after the investigation. However, before an investigation could even take place, they erupted in anger and trollish retaliation, essentially sealing their fate. Before the events of their consecutive bans I held no dislike or personal problems with any of the 3. Kiso uses a headset I bought him, with my own money, and shipped to him, as an act of friendship. Not a week before the bans took place I spoke to Eaglz and expressed I thought he was "my favorite Designer". My point is, the bans where made with no malice aforethought, and where made on a strict professional level.
Reflection
This might surprise you. I think the Enforcers made errors, serious errors. I think communication could have solved this issue immensely. I believe the treatment of Eaglz, Yomama and Kiso after their ban was unjustified and showed serious lack of tact on behalf of the Enforcement team. I believe they where due a more honest and timely explanation to their ban, and in us Enforcers not providing that, inadvertently added fuel to the fire and fed their aggression and feelings of betrayal by the services Enforcement. We should have explained the situation better. By no means am I saying I don't believe the bans where wrong, I believe they where, I just think we could've gone about it in a way that doesn't insight more drama than need be.
As for Glov and Volcrest, your bans either should not have happened, or should've been able to be appealed. I apologize for my part in Glov's ban. I did not handle it with respect, I should have contacted you about the twitter and allowed you to speak for yourself. I hope you accept my apology, and will certainly petition to allow your ban to be appealed.
Whether as an Enforcer, or a humble server member, I'm going to attempt to suggest or implement some procedural changes to how Enforcer document infractions and handle communication of Infraction to the affected players. Regardless, change is on the horizon.
This thread will now be locked. To those mentioned and affected, if you wish to contact me, please do. I will accept Discord friendship request and would be more than happy to talk to any of you.
Regards,
Delmana