I apologise for not going into too much detail about Decay's interaction with me firsthand. I didn't expect it to become a central topic of discussion, so allow me to elaborate on that story.
I (jokingly) pledged to free Sgt. Mark IV in that Fun & Games thread, and I was mistaken about him still being banned today, so Decay corrected me like so. This happened at OFTC's #doomtwid, which is Doomworld's IRC mainstay:
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[16:29:29] <Decay_> Zakken i understand you are brazilian
[16:29:32] <Decay_> and thus retarded
[16:29:38] <Decay_> but sgt mark iv is already unbanned
[16:29:45] <Decay_> and has been for 2 and half years
[16:30:34] <Zakken> Idk why you're getting so angry over a Fun & Games post :(
[16:31:01] <Decay_> i'm not angry
[16:31:04] <Decay_> just stating facts
[16:31:09] <Zakken> uh huh
Take from it what you will. I'm not saying I'm against his unbanning only because he was grossly insulting to me a number of times aside from this. I stated that, from my perspective, I had serious doubts that he would've changed his behaviour that prompted his ban to begin with. This mentality that "even if he hasn't changed at all, we should give him another chance and see what happens" is a dangerous one, because doing that would show that we've learned nothing from past repeat offenders who never learned their lesson in spite of all of the evidence that those people never had any intentions to better themselves.
Mobius wrote:I'm just going to notice the obvious first that this is the first post you've made since last year during the Best Ever incident which PROVES my point completely. Most of your post was also directed at Decay. I don't even need to address how suspiciously awkward it is that you say you aren't here for Decay but then don't post unless it pertains to him.
He posted because you dropped his name early on in the thread, as anybody who feels compelled to defend themselves after being called out would've done. The subject of discussion pertains to Decay, but his reasoning for posting is mainly because you brought him up.
Mobius wrote:I dispute that. I don't think Decay has acquired 27 warnings nor the most banned person in Zandronum. I'll wager he has been banned at least 1 time less than I have and I was only banned under 5 times. It just seems like my bans are numerous because of how long they were (2 years each). Do you mind if you post factual numbers on the amount of bans/warnings he has gotten?
Even if TTA is statistically inaccurate with his statement, the fact stands that he wasn't an exemplary user and accrued many warnings, suspensions, etc.
WhiteAce wrote:I've said this before and I'll say it again, most forums thrive from drama, it's how some of them are still kept alive today you can't always have order because there has to be a balance between order and chaos
No offence, but this "order and chaos go hand-in-hand" rhetoric is simply a delusional D&D-esque ideal that has no bearing on how reality works. In the end, you're merely advocating for more drama with a pseudo-axiom.
There are also three different counter-arguments I'd like to debunk.
Dynamo wrote:That said, I suppose a little less obsession over personal matters, as our friend Leonard showed in that 2016 post, would ultimately be healthier for the entire community.
"Some people (like Leonard) only want Decay to stay banned because they have personal vendettas against him"
This is false. Again, Leonard only came around to post here because he was mentioned earlier in the thread, which really doesn't show this "Decay obsession" narrative that's being thrown around. Decay's ban was conducted by the staff, so obviously there are more people who wanted (or at least benefited) from his banning. It appears to me that Leonard and Jwarrier in particular are being blamed for Decay's ban because they've been absent for a long while and, therefore, are easy targets to pin such a nonsensical blame on. Decay only has himself to blame for getting banned, so I'd appreciate it if you left Leonard & co. out of this.
Mobius wrote:It doesn't pertain to you and if you had read what I said to Alexmax is doesn't even matter because it is Zakken. I don't want to derail this topic for what that implies but honestly you should probably reexamine your position [...]
"Whatever Decay did to Zakken doesn't matter because Zakken was involved"
Honestly, this is not even an argument, but a thinly veiled personal attack while you're pretending to be the better man by refraining from explaining why my word doesn't matter. So, why does my word not matter? If you can't explain that, then you don't have an argument.
I'm nice to anybody who didn't treat me like trash numerous times in the past, and even still, Decay's attacks on me are unwarranted, considering I was merely mistaken about a minor fact in a joke thread. I'm not out here trying to make enemies, nor am I trying to instigate anything. Simply stating my experiences with a problematic banned user in a Doom-themed place when the OP question asks if he should be unbanned shouldn't be considered instigative.
Mobius wrote:Ru5tK1ng wrote:^At that point, you might as well collect criminal files on everyone.
That's legitimately
what this post is about. I suppose Zandronum needs a STASI intelligence agency in which activity is monitored to best described what the current player's dossier will look like.. you know, for better moderation.
"What Decay does outside of Zandronum shouldn't matter in Zandronum"
I agree with the core idea of this, but this hyperbole seems like a desperate attempt to shut this argument down. There are two reasons why said hyperbole isn't valid:
1. This happened at the Doomworld IRC. While it may not be Zandronum, it's still a neighbouring community who does have a relatively above-average overlap in members with Zandronum. We've consulted staff from the ZDoom forums about troublemakers in the past, so there is no reason why we shouldn't have this level of communication with the people at Doomworld as well.
2. We never stopped to ask
why Decay approached me like that at Doomworld IRC in the first place. That channel sees very little activity, yet Decay chose that place in particular to harass me about things unrelated to Doomworld. He's not banned from Zandronum IRC, and he could very well have joined any of the channels I don't have operator powers in to do that, or he could've PM'd me about it at whatever IRC we're both in, so why didn't he? My only guess is that he's trying to get away with saying dislikeable stuff to me in public while keeping his actions relatively hidden from Zandronum staff, which would be really shady and dishonest to our staff, and would be counter-intuitive to any pledges to free him if true.