- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Countblanc posted:
Unsticky this thread. Maybe try Roleplaying instead of Rollplaying next time, OP.
Go back to YCS and stay there. *ptoo*
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Mar 16, 2009 06:40
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May 10, 2024 14:58
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Oligopsony posted:
Today I was going to do a classic rant on account that its the day The Wench heads back to Canada. But I decided that instead I'd be writing about a fairly classic topic, something I haven't ranted about in a long time: RPG.net.
RPG.net has changed a lot in the past year or so; they've moderated considerably their moderation policy (pardon the pun) and they've gotten rid of some of the worst offenders of the modclique; the clique's power has been broken, it would seem, largely because they saw people leaving the site in droves. In some part it was due to theRPGsite, and the fact that we demonstrated that you can have intelligent discussion that is MORE interesting by virtue of being unmoderated. But it was also, and much more directly, due to the fact that people were just sick and fed up with the atmosphere of total repression on there, where you couldn't say anything meaningful about anything without someone reporting it as a "group attack" or a "hurt my feelings attack", nor could you express any opinion contrary to the "mainstream" (the "mainstream" for RPG.net, namely its modclique) without the modclique coming down on you for being "intentionally obtuse" or a "disruptive influence" that hurts their "emotionally safe environment". In other words, you dared to disagree, so you're going to be banned.
Those times have passed, mostly, and so there's been less reason to write about RPG.net in recent days. But they're in the process of purging a ton of their old Tangency threads, and that creates some interesting historical information. It gives us a chance to see how the gently caress RPG.net got to where it got with the modclique, how it went so horribly wrong.
Because there was a time when RPG.net was essentially unmoderated, and where the general atmosphere was one of open flame-wars unlike anything theRPGsite has ever seen. And somehow it went from that to the police state we know now. The question "how did that happen?", how did it get subverted into a place where a tiny minority were in total control of the discussion, the opinion, and the atmosphere of the place come to pass?
Threads like the "no report pledge" thread where Gareth Michael-Skarka was trying to fight against the rising of the tide present a very clear indication of how things fell apart. By the time that was posted, admins like Cessna had managed to allow themselves to buy into the idea that they needed to bring in people like Darren or Eric Brennan into mod status, and that measures had to be taken to make RPG.net into an "emotionally safe environment".
So things changed from where people would work things out among themselves by argument or discourse into a situation where "reporting" had become the main past-time of a significant group in the board. This group had influenced things to make it that you could report another poster for hurting your feelings, and they had worked it out so that there would be moderators friendly to them in place to ban said people.
And then, of course, they set about to using the Report function. By tattling on everyone they didn't like, as often as they possibly could, they were making a concerted effort to purge the boards of their ideological opponents, while those who were believers in free speech were not inclined to report anyone.
That meant that the free-speech advocates were automatically at a disadvantage of massive proportions; unwilling to report others, they were being reported on by those who hated them for not wanting the board to be moderated. It was only a matter of time until all of these people were hounded out.
Cessna and Darren have posted to the "No Report Pledge" thread as if it somehow vindicates their moderation policies, Cessna pointing out that allegedly, GMS himself reported a dozen people from that pledge.
Well, for starters, I'd say that this thread pretty well DAMNS you, Cessna. It shows with such clarity how assholes from what was to become the modclique came in, provoked those who were advocates of free speech, tried to disrupt an effort to speak out against their pogroms and secret policing, and generally tried every trick in the book to manipulate or intimidate those who didn't want RPG.net to turn into what it eventually turned into. It was nothing short of visionary, that thread, in that GMS was trying to argue against a future that most definitely came to pass, one where in the name of "security" NO ONE on RPG.net could safely speak about ANYTHING, unless they had a Mod badge on.
And then you have the gall to point out that GMS was reporting people? This was like tying one hand behind his back and going out and telling him to fight; then accusing him of dirty tactics because he wasn't standing still when they beat him.
His reports weren't an effort to tattle, they were self-defense, trying to shout out against the system.
Finally, theRPGsite, just as it played a part in bringing the Modclique down, has served to vindicate not just all those who were banned in RPG.net but all of those who were argued down with the claim that moderation and reporting and banning were required to create a site where people could have interesting conversations; or where it was claimed that people are incapable of policing themselves and needed a system of reporting and punishment.
Those who argued this were wrong, and many of them were more than wrong, they were intentionally lying about their motives and how far they wanted it to go, as part of an effort to take over RPG.net. TheRPGsite is our revenge against them and how they ruined what was once a fine and free discussion forum.
Incidentally, if anyone notes any other threads that make a good historical accounting for how RPG.net turned fascist, please point them out.
thats way too many words from a bitter dude but the lovely moderation over there is in fact why every other copy paste in this thread exists
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Mar 16, 2009 23:47
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Dammit Who? posted:
Didn't take skill focus: loving the dog? Well you can't be the dog fucker.
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May 20, 2009 12:28
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Hermetic posted:
I think we have the new TGD Slogan, people.
Agreed. I am making bumper stickers with this word phrase on it if any yall want to buy it. Fives in everyones face.
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May 21, 2009 09:15
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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cbass close this thread asap.
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Jun 5, 2009 07:38
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Who'd win in a Real Life fight a farmer or an Orc. Find that out. Then make the game simulate it. This isn't Brain Science idiot...
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Jul 22, 2009 22:47
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Ground Smoke, Dragon 326. Might need a tiny bit of tweaking, but you might be able to enchant the powder with it, make smokeless powder. Not that it would burn any better, it just wouldn't smoke, or would at least just trickle out of the barrel and make a cool dry-ice effect.
Also, the guy that tried to grind up his powder real fine actually got off lucky with complete explosive death. In the first book of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, finely-ground powder is used to sabotage several cannons, causing them to explode due to the higher explosive force. A real sadistic DM might let him get away with the grinding, then have the gun blow up when he tries to fire it, and go "You want realism? Here, roll... *rolls* 7 times on this random hit location table. Oooh, eye? Yeah, that's gone. Oh god, groin! Darwin Award for you, my boy. Also, roll 7 Fort saves versus gangrene. And don't forget to roleplay this, it's realistic. No, no, be more realistic, you just had your hand blown off, and it's only eclipsed by the pain in your eye and nuts. You're covered in blood and don't know what to grab! Mwahahahaha! Squeal, piggy, squeal!"
...I headtrip about that sort of thing occasionally. I fear what I would become should I actually do any of it. The realism player and the adversarial DM are also on my shitlist.
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Aug 21, 2009 07:38
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Some players need to learn that in a war of escalation with the person running the game they literally cannot win: the only way to win the war is not to fight it.
Either they get the message and we all play like gentlemen and ladies, or they learn to fear the wrath of the adversarial GM.
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Aug 21, 2009 07:48
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Baggy Arse orange pants with a big blue belt? Uh. Not in my weight and watch. Harden the gently caress up, mate. - goon legend "Reinhold Messer"
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Aug 28, 2009 07:33
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Rpg net doesnt have any built in way to tell who a mod is. But all of the mods change their avatars to a black circle and use big red text if they're mad at you.
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Aug 28, 2009 07:42
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Like if you're arguing with a mod about a roleplaying game and that dude has had enough he'll make his post big and red and then at the end of it demand that you not address him anymore.
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Aug 28, 2009 07:43
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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shotgunbadger posted:
And no one say GBS.
Have you tried the traditional games discussion subforum on the something awful forums man.
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Aug 28, 2009 07:45
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Evil Mastermind posted:
No more than this place, really.
I don't really like this forum somethingawful.com very much but its better than rpg.net if only because the avatars aren't 125 by 125
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Aug 28, 2009 07:49
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Speaking as an Atheist. I support 3.0
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Oct 26, 2009 07:59
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May 10, 2024 14:58
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- AsexualAtheistAnime
- Sep 11, 2001
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by Peatpot
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Mikan posted:
Too soon, Executus.
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Mar 7, 2010 00:05
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Mar 16, 2009 06:40
because it made people too angry
