Originally Posted by llamabeast (Post 807908)

Uh, I don't really want to get involved in this (since, as I hope you understand, I have no power in the matter). But perhaps I should answer some of Executor's questions with *my understanding* of Shrapnel's actions.

-Why exactly was Cal banned?

I believe his signature was a direct insult of Bat/man. I don't remember it though.

-Why no warning but a perma ban after nearly two months?

The rationale is that it wasn't a slip-up, it was obviously a deliberate attempt to be aggressive towards another forum user. Warnings are apparently offered at Shrapnel's discretion when they believe users may change their ways.

As for the nearly two months - it's not really fair to expect Shrapnel staff to read the forums every day. Really that should be (for example) my job. But I am not much of an enforcer.

-Why didn't you check up on the whole matter?

I think they didn't think Calahan was likely to reform having so explicitly gone against forum rules.

-Is it really harassment to report rule violations? (multiple accounts) If so, are you sane?

Well I think Calahan called him a douchebag or something (not sure), rather than merely reporting it.

-If Bat/man is a double account, why isn't CrisP banned as well? Violation of your own rules again

ChrisP was banned as well, I believe.

-Did you only take someones word on it and ban the guy for no reason if he's not really CrisP?

Shrapnel did check - the two email addresses were the same(!).

-Do you even bother to check when someone reports something?

Yep, they do.

-Why are you such hypocrites?

Er...

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I will repeat that this was not my doing - I'm just trying to explain my perception of Shrapnel's perception. Personally I'm very sorry that Calahan has been banned.

Originally Posted by Executor (Post 808019)

Edi, there are no relevant threads regarding this. Just a sudden decision to ban Calahan for his sig (he put it up about two months ago) which was followed by Bat/man being banned.
Now you know as much as we do.

Originally Posted by Fantomen (Post 807999)

Calling them out for their multiple accounts is to show the hypocrisy in banning other major contributors thoughtlessly. If we can overlook the faults of some, and we should, then we could also forgive the faults of Calahan and Sombre.

Originally Posted by Wendigo_reloaded (Post 808030)

This is wrong, the rules have to be the same for everybody: Nobody can get a free pass to harass/abuse other posters just because of who he is. You might discuss the degree of the punishment, but not that there should be a punishment.

This is just a forum about a game of pixel soldiers, and getting banned is not a big deal: the owners have said themselves they have no problem with banned posters coming back under a new identity, if that means they behave properly from then onwards. All the hair pulling in this thread is out of place, getting banned is not the end of the world.

Also, you cannot justify insulting others just by saying that you also insult your buddies (let's be honest, there's a serious difference between friendly poking between peers and the abuse that gets thrown to the ones that are disliked by the hive mind). The mood in the Invision forums is like that of an old boys club: with insiders getting a free pass & outsiders being the target of the real abuse. It's as if you people were back in high school.

I happen to think that our community would be a better place if we all tried to show a minimum respect for each other, including those we do not like.

Young males have always got into fights for the silliest reasons, been there and done it myself, but they are expected to mature and learn sooner or later that their freedom, including their freedom of speech, ends up at that place where it collides with some other people's freedom. If they do not, they will be corrected by their elders or by those that hold the power in their society, as has been the case here.

Originally Posted by Amhazair (Post 807667)

I also won't argue that Calahan can be quite rude at times.

Originally Posted by Executor (Post 808037)

Posted at the behest of Calahan;

So I see some of my critics are coming out of the woodwork on Shrapnal now that it's safe to have a go at me just because I can't respond to them directly (how brave of them). Can someone do me a favour and offer my critics this challenge...

Originally Posted by Wendigo_reloaded (Post 808045)

If someone makes a mistake, you are welcome to correct him/her, but not insult & belittle. You go too far.