Its been brought to my attention that a friend of mine has been permanently banned for being a dumbass ban evader on the forums. The reasoning to his original ban should immediately be brought into question right off the bat. He was banned by a Forum Janitor for Calling someone the letter "N" Theres no context here, theres no way any person can know the meaning behind using the letter N. You can claim all you want that you have some sort of sort of godly level of foresight and you're able to read a persons mind through a computer screen, I'm gonna say this is real life and not some sort of reboot of an obscure Marvel Hero's story. If you are somehow an omnipotent savant, why are you a Maplestory private server janitor. The original ban should be dropped and for whatever overzealous asshat GM did the ban in the first place to apologize and we all move on with our lives. When he told me it was permanent, i nearly choked on my own spit. After re-reading myself with the supreme mandate of MapleRoyals I found the following A ban evasion of the forums is listed as a "Serious" offense an is a permanent ban Any sort of ban evasion of an ingame offense is just a doubling of the original ban duration. How is a ban evasion on the forums a more serious offense than one of the in game variety? Each of the below Rules are less of a ban than ban evading a forum Moderate Infractions: Staff Impersonation - The act of expressing, implying, or otherwise stating that you or your actions are endorsed by MapleRoyals staff, that you are a part of our administration or staff team when you are not, claiming privileges or rights by association to staff, or misleading players to believe any of the above. Punishment: First offense - 7 day ban, Second offense - Permanent ban. Solicitation - The act of advertising or soliciting any sort of commercial opportunities of any nature, including chain letters, pyramid schemes, investment opportunities or commercial advertising, or additionally providing access to any location that does the above. Punishment: First offense - 7 day ban, Second offense - Permanent ban. Information Harvesting (Stalking) - The act of collecting any information about the game or any individual associated with the game, including players, ownership or any involved third-parties, without their expressed consent, regardless of the location of the act. Punishment: First offense - 7 day ban, Second offense - Permanent ban. Glitch Abuse - The act of exploiting any errors in game design or any features or bugs, documented or otherwise, that are not meant to be available in order to gain any sort of competitive advantage. Punishment: First offense - 14 day ban, Second offense- Permanent ban. Robotic Play - The act of engaging in robotic or automatic play which allows any character you own to function autonomously or affect any portion of the game without your presence. Punishment: First offense - 7 day ban, Second offense - Permanent ban. Vote Abuse - The act of attempting to, or successfully, bypassing the restrictions of voting no more than once per 24 hours. Punishment: First offense - 14 day ban, Second offense - Permanent ban. Please be aware that, in cases of severe abuse as per discretion of staff, we reserve the right to respond with a permanent ban regardless of if it is your first offense. Minor Infractions: Objectionable Behavior (Harassment) - The act of engaging in any sort of rude, harassing, vulgar, obscene, hateful, threatening or abusive discourse with another player, or alternatively in a setting in which unintended audiences may be present such as all publically transmitted chat or serverwide messages. This includes persistent badgering, flaming, mass defamation or disruption of another player. Punishment: First offense - 3 day ban, Second offense, 7 day ban, Third offense - Permanent ban. Objectionable Behavior (Disruption) - The act of engaging in any sort of action that is deemed to be excessively disruptive to the individuals around you, including spamming or flooding chat or skills. Punishment: First offense - 3 day ban, Second offense, 7 day ban, Third offense - Permanent ban. Hate Speech - The act of transmitting any sort of content or acting out any scenario which could be perceived as derogatory or otherwise prejudiced towards any group of people based on their race, sex, gender, life choices, or any other division. Punishment: First offense - 3 day ban, Second offense - 7 day ban, Third offense - Permanent ban. Inappropriate Content - The act of transmitting any sort of inappropriate content, including vulgar, obscene, fraudulent, threatening, libelous or sexually explicit materials, or alternatively transmitting any content that is privately owned. Punishment: First offense - 3 day ban, Second offense - 7 day ban, Third offense - Permanent ban. Kill-stealing - The act of attacking bosses or monsters on a map persistently without the system designation of ownership via the /mapowner in-game command, or alternatively last-hitting any bosses or monsters on a map without that same designation, without the expressed permission of the player who does have that designation. Punishment: First offense - 3 day ban, Second offense - 7 day ban, Third offense - Permanent ban. Map Looting - The act of looting one or more items dropped from a boss monster, regular monster or other map element without the system designation of ownership via the /mapowner in-game command, or alternatively without the expressed permission of the player who does have that designation. Punishment: First offense - 3 day ban, Second offense - 7 day ban, Third offense - Permanent ban. Edit: For those who are wondering its @Aerith whose been perma forum banned
Given the slight insult and wording littered through this- I am locking this. I have personally tagged the admins in the discord to respond to this- above the GMs or janitors. Leaving this open for discussion will just invite argument and I think it's best to let the admins respond.
1. People trying to walk on thin ice and referring to the n-word while they are aware its something we don't tolerate can and will be issued warning points. We don't have to envision or guess the meaning behind their choice of writing just 'N'. They are fully aware of what they are doing taunting the system and they get burnt. In this case 20 warning points (3 day temporary ban). We will not be apologizing for upholding a standard where we don't tolerate the use or the reference to the N-word nor will we accept excuses like the referral of 'N' in the given context coming from these specific people could be to any other word. You're all adults fully capable of spelling out any word starting or containing an 'N'. If you deliberately choose not to do so and try to walk on a fine line we will have to assume it refers to something that shouldn't be fully spelled out. 2. Your friend is permanently banned from the forums because they made multiple new forum accounts while they were fully aware that it's not allowed for 'trolling' purpose. Warnings didn't help, temporary bans didn't help, it seems like the only way they will learn is a permanent ban. You will find that this is in-line with our other offenses where a third strike is out (permanently) as it was in your friends' case.
Tim i always find you as the most reasonable of the gms. But I absolutely and unequivocally disagree with the original ban here. I find the line of thinking here incredibly Orwellian. I wanna make sure its known im not arguing that you should be allowed to use racially offensive language. I'm arguing that by assuming that a letter a simple single individual letter stands for something malicious, that even if you THINK it stands for something your accusing someone of a thought crime which can be oh so destructive to just the normal welfare of our community. You've now set a precident that you will have no choice but to ban any person who types Thanks (enter any single letter in the alphabet here) as almost every letter can have a bad offensive word attached to it. You have a rule against Circumventing the slur filter which covers using numbers or using symbols to bypass the filter. Lets leave the rule at that. Nobody in their right mind would understand that rule to ALSO cover writing a single letter.
While we're at it can you explain to me how the below warrants a ban? Someone has literally typed their Forum ID and a GM gave them 20 WP's and a 3 day ban for it is
That message is the "default" quote if you WP someone in their profile instead of from a specific post.
I'm not sure why the letter N constitutes a ban here. It can mean many different things so why it is only specific individuals are being targeted? I saw many people drop just the letter N, why aren't the others banned instead? I've always respected the hard work being put in by GMs into making this game a better place, but some individuals in Staff are just dropping warning points and forums bans onto specific people.
Writing N can be anything. Nessi, Nate, Noob, No. Saying “Thanks N” and getting banned, is it because the one who felt that is offensive is actually a racist? Isn’t that like pot calling kettle black? Even though if he is trolling, he did not mention what is it. He has friends who he has called N for so long. But one day he got caught and locked up because someone is sensitive and salty? He evaded the forum ban but who lit the fire by not making sense from the beginning of the point? Aren’t we supposing playing this game for fun? Why the world this server has turned to some people starts picking up everyone’s trouble just because he is being hated by some people? Is it fair to him? ******* Edit 01 : Yes, we are adult enough to think through what is happening. Thus, we know what is right and what is not. So we are voicing out here. I do think admins can handle these situations in better and more professional way. ****** Edit 02 : “You don’t know me but I am nice.” This sentence applies to these people who got banned too. You don’t know them well, you never try to understand nor communicate with them. That’s why you think that they are not nice.
Because those specific individuals are continuously and repeatedly bending, pushing, and breaking the rules. Oh and by the way, targeting me specifically in response to these forum bans is wrong, as we all discuss these reports and issues. Just because I am the only clicking the button that gives Warning Points does not mean I am acting alone.
The people in question known very well what they are typing and why they are typing it the way they do. They can't feign ignorance. None of them would be able to look me straight into the eyes and say they have a vastly different reason for writing 'N' other than playing games with their friends and/or the fine line they are walking on regarding our rules against the N-word. If they have any other word on their mind they can simply write it out in full. Your example of Thanks -any letter- makes no sense as we haven't and arent planning to give people warning points for writing 'Thanks G' or anything along that line. We're making this assumption with 'N' in the given context on these posts because you and your friends known what they are doing and are getting enjoyment out of one-upping each other by testing the rules. These same people used to familiarize themselves with writing 'my n-word' on each others' replies until we clarified that wasn't allowed. So here we clarified that the next abbreviation they used isn't condoned either. If they truly don't have any ill intend then get rid of all the attention they attract to themselves by continuing to dabble around the rules and write out what they want to write in full. Evan explained that MrKaren wasn't given warning points for just writing his name. its for a comment made on his own profile. The automated warning point messenger just notes it down as what your screenshot shows. People don't just randomly get warning points for writing the letter 'N' somewhere. Everything has a history and a context.
I don't know what gave you the idea that I am targeting you specifically. I have in no way accused you of doing so, it's just your assumption. Just like how you assumed what the letter N meant in that context.
Where does this eventually stop then? Were down to banning a letter in an attempt to ban a bad abbreviation of a bad word from being said. Someones gonna go on to use a different offensive word and well go down the same path as we just have. If its not the n word then itll be the f word if not that its the c word. We could just worry about banning the word and any attempts to subsitute letters with numbers or symbols and be done with this whole thing
I was only responding to your post with my first statement. The second paragraph was to the group that is blaming me solely for these events.
How about: just don't use any bad words or their abbreviations on a public forum where you are a guest to their services thus their rules or accept the consequences.
i don't know if you guys have lost your logic due to bias from your friend being banned or if that's how you truly see things but you're arguing that the letter n that was used 'could be anything', portraying unrelated scenarios where the letter would be used to make this case and ban seem ridiculous despite a gm having stated there being a history, context, warnings and bans given. your friend having not said the full word gives you guys all the right and reason to argue in a literal manner, similar to how people with no objective evidence or proof against them don't have to admit to anything though the accusations against them may be almost undeniable. not only that some of your points express the insignificance of the term and your frustration at the people who feel some type of way when they notice somebody use it. i personally don't care when people say it around me but i know not to use it myself. i can't say that a permanent ban is what they deserved but them having knowingly broken the rules and then for you to argue not the severity of their ban but what they had done not being an offence seems wrong to me though i understand
Pretty sure the N in this context is the ethnic slur against black people Out of 26 alphabets, from A to Z, we know why N was used I do hope any of the memers will not be perma forum banned just for such silly thing & also avoid stepping on such thin ice anymore to challenge the system
I am quite interested in this new precedent thats seemingly taken over regarding "history and context" for these types of abuses. Hopefully I don't sound too out of line with this post, but know that I have the utmost respect for Tim and staff for your contributions to the server. Its obvious to just about all of us that these certain individuals are purposely doing questionable acts and walking on thin ice regarding the rules for fun. I completely understand the lengths they've gone to and the punishments they were given. I'm not here to argue against that. Instead, I would like to know if this precedent of "history and context" will carry over to other acts as well, such as RWT abuse? It's no secret to a large portion of the community that some individuals have still been walking even though there is obvious "history and context" behind them committing such acts. I'll even name drop Anapaula since practically everyone here knows by now. There are several others of course, but the point here isn't to just drop names. And even though some of these cases are as obvious as can be, many reports are met with a "not enough evidence" attitude. But if we look at this case, sure its obvious to all of us what these guys are doing with the N word, but they can also pull up the "lack of evidence" card since many RWT abusers seem to be using such loopholes to get away with it for a while. Lets revisit Hitta's ban appeal, what was he banned for? Major vote abuse. is that the real depths of his crime even though a good deal of individuals were pretty much aware of what was going on? Lets look at Crowleys case. Now this case is a frustrating one personally because there were quite a number of us who knew what he was doing, but our reports were constantly met with a "lack of evidence" response from staff and it took literally months to finally remove him from the server. These are just some prime examples of individuals that were left to commit such acts right under our noses, and continually do so because of "lack of evidence", even though there existed a lot of history and context within the knowledge of the community. Basically what I'm trying to say is, that while you can see how obvious it is what they're doing with the N word and such, certain other individuals seem to get away with much worse and if we're going to follow this new precedent, its fair that this be carried over to other types of abuse. If we're going to use context and history as a basis for bans from now on it makes sense to crack down on certain individuals with that same attitude. In case I'm not being clear and this gets interpreted a certain way, I'm not suggesting we can accuse just about anyone for abuse with no evidence. But like this case, if there is enough context and history behind it, surely in every case that should be enough reason correct?
This does already happen for other things though, does it not? Past actions are essentially a reference point and addition evidence towards the new one, if someone, for example, was accused of RWT and won their ban appeal, but later on was accused again and had to go through a ban appeal, it would most definitely be in the context of the player's history. Unless I'm completely misunderstanding what you mean
That isn't what I mean. You described Crowley's case but what I'm referring to are individuals like Anapaula whom practically the whole community knows to be an obvious RWTer that walks freely still because of supposedly lacking evidence. This is to compare with what is going on among this whole borderline racial slur debacle.
