Regional Protection Party

[afleitch]

Statement from the Chair

Folks, frankly they say people mess with those in power.  When the RPP began, conservatives had no voice in Atlasia.  Myself and a few others decided we were fed of being pushed around and we took a gamble that very well may have cost of any chance of winning in this game.  However, the adverse 
occured.  We gave conservatives a voice, we actually gave them more than a voice.  Over the course of a few months, we have become the most powerful party in Atlasia.  While some will deny it, it really is becoming near impossible to win elections without gaining support from the RPP.  We have a strangehold on the Dirty South and hold an elected office in every region but the Pacific.

With great power comes great enemies.  This is what is threatening our party and we must resist or fall victim to what has happened to many of Atlasia's most powerful parties.  We cannot allow division, we cannot allow a collapse.  We have a moderator overstepping his bounds and threatening one of the party's founders and we have an egotistical maniac 14-year-old pulling the strings on many of Atlasia's finest.

So I call upon my party to not allow distractions to get in the way.  As SPC said on the second page of this thread when that moderator called us "jokes" and "frauds", "first they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."  At the time it seemed to be not relevant, but at this moment it is moreso than ever.  Today I call upon the RPP to stand strong and show Atlasia what organization and ideas can bring.

The moderator was not overstepping the mark - you cannot make baseless accusations on this Forum as someone did, and expect us to be happy with that. And remember that this is just a game on that forum and can easily be shut down if McCarthyist nonsense takes hold. Understood?

[DownWithTheLeft]

The only McCarthyist non-sense going on this forum is that questioning the motives behind the actions of some people is becoming a bannable offense. 

Please stop playing stupid.  Al continually refers to Duke as a rapist, certainly a worse claim that Duke saying Lewis may be being influenced by Xahar.  Absurdity at its finest

[afleitch]

The only McCarthyist non-sense going on this forum is that questioning the motives behind the actions of some people is becoming a bannable offense. 

Please stop playing stupid.  Al continually refers to Duke as a rapist, certainly a worse claim that Duke saying Lewis may be being influenced by Xahar.  Absurdity at its finest

By the tone of your last two posts I'm beginning to wonder whether you're intentionally trying to heighten the atmosphere on here.

You can't make accusations and expect to get away with it, whether or not the accused makes a formal complaint. This forum should be safe and people here should be made to feel safe. Making baseless personal accusations on the forum in my book is just as bad at attempting to hack the forums. If Duke feels Al is being unfair to him or saying things he shouldn't he should report it to the mods. These are the only people who can deal with these matters - you don't take them into your own hands.

[Countess Anya of the North Parish]

Statement from the Chair

Folks, frankly they say people mess with those in power.  When the RPP began, conservatives had no voice in Atlasia.  Myself and a few others decided we were fed of being pushed around and we took a gamble that very well may have cost of any chance of winning in this game.  However, the adverse occured.  We gave conservatives a voice, we actually gave them more than a voice.  Over the course of a few months, we have become the most powerful party in Atlasia.  While some will deny it, it really is becoming near impossible to win elections without gaining support from the RPP.  We have a strangehold on the Dirty South and hold an elected office in every region but the Pacific.

With great power comes great enemies.  This is what is threatening our party and we must resist or fall victim to what has happened to many of Atlasia's most powerful parties.  We cannot allow division, we cannot allow a collapse.  We have a moderator overstepping his bounds and threatening one of the party's founders and we have an egotistical maniac 14-year-old pulling the strings on many of Atlasia's finest.

So I call upon my party to not allow distractions to get in the way.  As SPC said on the second page of this thread when that moderator called us "jokes" and "frauds", "first they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."  At the time it seemed to be not relevant, but at this moment it is moreso than ever.  Today I call upon the RPP to stand strong and show Atlasia what organization and ideas can bring.

to me it sounds like you are trying to take over the game. I also think you are trying to avoid the fact that you may be in the wrong.

Lastly I think you need to not insult others. When you can make a speech without belittling someone else just cause you don't agree with them, then you can be seen as a higher figure. But I think you need to learn to sound humble.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Look, my accusations weren't very fair, but Al's conduct with me in the past has been nothing but unprofessional. Referring to me as a rapist, a fraud, or a joke is just as out of line as what I did, or worse. It also seems to go unnoticed that the reason I made the statement in the first place was because Lewis was making BASELESS claims that the RPP was somehow trying to take over the game and that I was manipulating Franzl behind the scenes. I didn't just start throwing that out.

Al threatening to ban me and telling me I committed the worst case of abuse in quite some time is simply ludicrous. We have people unfairly attacked on this forum by BRTD and the like constantly to the point where they run them away from the forum.

I have sent a complaint in to another moderator. I won't make accusations anymore, but I also expect fair treatment. If I'm going to be banned for asking Lewis if he was influenced by Xahar, then I expect a whole host of other posters to go along with me.

[Marokai Backbeat]

You have my support, Duke.

[DownWithTheLeft]

By the tone of your last two posts I'm beginning to wonder whether you're intentionally trying to heighten the atmosphere on here.

You can't make accusations and expect to get away with it, whether or not the accused makes a formal complaint. This forum should be safe and people here should be made to feel safe. Making baseless personal accusations on the forum in my book is just as bad at attempting to hack the forums. If Duke feels Al is being unfair to him or saying things he shouldn't he should report it to the mods. These are the only people who can deal with these matters - you don't take them into your own hands.

All I ask that if you are going to call out Duke for questioning, not stating, that someone may be involved with Xahar, it is unfair not to call out Al for blatently calliing Duke a rapist.  Especially a mod, who conceivably, should be held to a higher standard.

[afleitch]

By the tone of your last two posts I'm beginning to wonder whether you're intentionally trying to heighten the atmosphere on here.

You can't make accusations and expect to get away with it, whether or not the accused makes a formal complaint. This forum should be safe and people here should be made to feel safe. Making baseless personal accusations on the forum in my book is just as bad at attempting to hack the forums. If Duke feels Al is being unfair to him or saying things he shouldn't he should report it to the mods. These are the only people who can deal with these matters - you don't take them into your own hands.

All I ask that if you are going to call out Duke for questioning, not stating, that someone may be involved with Xahar, it is unfair not to call out Al for blatently calliing Duke a rapist.  Especially a mod, who conceivably, should be held to a higher standard.

Actually I was calling you out as well over accusing a Bulgarian based poster of coercion

I am not aware of what Al has or hasn't called Duke (as I only really speak to Duke on the Atlasia forums and Al on the main forums) but if Duke finds something offensive he can report it. However don't expect anything more than a 'word in your ear' (which from what I know is all Al gave to Duke) I've reported people for using the world 'f--got' but don't expect anything more than an aside.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

We have a moderator overstepping his bounds and threatening one of the party's founders

Hilarious.

For the record, all I did was send Duke a sharply-worded warning (and then a further clarification) informing him of what would likely happen to him if he continued to act in a way that made a mockery of the ToS.

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Words fail.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Look, my accusations weren't very fair, but Al's conduct with me in the past has been nothing but unprofessional.

I resent the charge that I've acted in an unprofessional manner over this. I sent you a sharply-worded warning (of the sort I've sent out to other people in the past, actually) and then, when you indicated that you didn't understand why you had been warned in such a way, I sent you a message further clarifying the situation.

My personal dislike of you did not come into it at all. As you (and others) have noted, I can be very rude when I want to be. I was not rude in those warnings.

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Don't think I've ever called you that. I believe the insult in question is Duke Raper of Rapington. Crude, I admit.

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Don't lie.

1. I did not threaten to ban you. I merely informed you that such a thing might happen in the future unless you change(d) your behavior.

2. I did not tell you that you had committed the worst case of abuse in quite some tie. I wrote:

one of the worst cases of abusive, threatening bullying (frankly) seen on this place for quite a while (to say nothing of the poisonous subtext).

Which is quite different.

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I don't think that's true. You've had fair treatment and didn't like it. You mean that you want (perhaps even expect) to be treated softly.

---

Just to make something in your (apparently) paranoid mind clear; I am not lobbying behind the scenes to have you banned. The point of the warning was to shock some sense into you as well as to make it very clear that certain sorts of behavior are just not allowed here.

[dead0man]

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Don't think I've ever called you that. I believe the insult in question is Duke Raper of Rapington. Crude, I admit.

How the hell is that not referring to him as a rapist?  Are you 7?

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Don't lie.

1. I did not threaten to ban you. I merely informed you that such a thing might happen in the future unless you change(d) your behavior. [/quote]You can't see how that would be perceived as a threat?  Seriously?

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[/quote]How is what he did worse than what Xahar did and continues to do?  I suppose you have an out with the "one of the" phrase.

[Hash]

As moderator, Al is extremely competent.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

How the hell is that not referring to him as a rapist?

Because it isn't. It's a reference to an especially disgusting example of his "humour" from a while back. That, and the fact that there used to be a Congresscritter with the middle name (I think it was the middle name, yes) "Raper" and I found out about that at the same time...

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I make no apologies for the quality (or otherwise) of my sense of humour.

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Depends.

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What Xahar was banned for was not really "abusive, threatening bullying". And I'm not suggesting that Duke has done anything to compare. Besides I'm not sure if this new tendency to appeal to the apparent inherent evil of Xahar in all things even remotely related to forum policing or this damn game is especially helpful.

[Meeker]

We're going to need a Godwin's Law for Xahar pretty soon.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Anyway, there seems to be some confusion here, and I'd like to clear it up.

The warnings I sent to Duke were only incidentally related to fantasyland; if the same sort of thing had happend elsewhere (unlikely as that is) I would have reacted in the same way. It was an issue of forum administration and its only link to fantasyland politics was the fact that it related to messages posted in the fantasyland forum.

Now, you can reject that, if you like. You can assume that there's some grand and sinister plot to bring down the RPP and that my actions are the first shots from the Aurora... to which I reply with this:



This place here is just a game. It is not reality. Treating it as seriously as some here do is not healthy (and, yes, I know a lot here are very young and when you're that age your priorities are a little different. Not the point though). To see where that leads, I think we only have to look at a random sample of recent threads here. Or remember what Snowball Xahar actually did and why he was banned.

And, once again...

"Can't you hear yourselves, though?"

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I'm not asking for soft treatment. I want fair treatment. If I am going to get a warning and a threat of bannishment, I expect others to receive the same when they attack someone or bully them. Tell me, was Ebowed reprimanded for his conduct?

You're right. If it benefits your guy, who the  cares! Let everyone and their dog vote!

If this was a Republican leaning group doing it, you'd all be claiming we were stealing yet another election.

Whoa... aren't you the guy who opposes government handouts, unless you're about to lose your trust fund?

Talk about hypocrisy.

What on earth does voter fraud have to do with the bailout? You're really grasping at straws. It's kind of sad.

Earlier in this thread, you were bitching about wealth redistribution.

Apparently the only people who don't need to take responsibility for their financial well-being are the people who are already rich.

And until you can explain this discrepancy, I won't stop bringing it up.

P.S. Dumbass rapist.

And BRTD? Why is he given immunity just because he was 41,000 posts?

I'm really shocked. Palin has turned out to be a genius move!

This has nothing to do with that.

You think McCain would be leading by 10 if Mitt Romney was chosen as VP? No way.

It's called a "convention bounce". Romney? Probably not. Pawlenty or anyone else without sky-high disapprovals? Probably, (though "leading by 10 is quite misleading)

Of course it's a convention bounce. Why can't the Democrats get something called a bounce?

Holy f**k is the idiot rapist saying Obama didn't get a bounce post-convention?

But Palin has energized this ticket. Pawlenty and Romney would not have come close to doing that.

So people who were going to vote for McCain anyway like her. OK.

Probably SPC's. I'm almost certain obebo is still a republican and posts to make a mockery of the far left. It's implausible that someone makes as big a shift as he made as fast as he did. It would be like me adopting former poster Bob Dole's views overnight.

It didn't happen overnight you rapist joke, there was a transition period of about 2 months or so. He was an economically right-wing Democrat for awhile.

Or maybe even yourself?

Duke is an obvious troll and an obvious fraud.

I just want fair treatment. If some members, like yourself, are allowed to run around name calling, creating threads that ridicule certain members (do you just ignore BRTD's bullying of Constine, JJ, Josh22, etc), and engaging baseless accusation, as you stated was the reason for my warning, then I shouldn't be given a serious warning for asking Lewis if he was involved with Xahar. I am positive if I mentioned Lewis's possible involvement with Xahar in every thread as BRTD does with Ben's political views or JJ's predictions or whatever, I'd be banned in a heartbeat.

Don't go whining about how I am the one wanting special treatment when certain posters on this forum are allowed to get away with just about anything. Until BRTD is banned, I think most of the forum would agree that no one else should be booted for any sort of "harassment."

Also, in response to your signature, if you can provide us with quotes where any of us use harsh character assassinations to attack members unprovoked, then I'll accept that. And please, don't tell me that episode where I foolishly had to defend myself against BRTD with the rape thing, which was a joke blown out of proportion, is justification for it to be used as an attack on me months afterwards.

[Hash]

It's hard to believe that this thing called "Atlasia" is just a game. Really. I'm not lying. It's a game.

[Purple State]

...

I think he just owned you guys. You should all probably take some time to think about what you've done.

It's hard to believe that this thing called "Atlasia" is just a game. Really. I'm not lying. It's a game.

Agreed. This is a simulation game for elections. Although I guess that is why we shouldn't be surprised that we get personal attacks like this. Welcome to politics. I guess the only reason that it's (somewhat) gentler in real life is that they have to look each other in the eyes at some point, whereas online it's just a screen so "no harm done."

You all really need to chill though.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

LOL, I love how Duke just owned himself by quoting old posts in which he claimed Palin was a genius move and apparentely a fantastic pick.

[Verily]

People commenting on the rape comments should really make themselves aware of the context in which they were made. And, really, defending your own behavior by comparing to BRTD's is rather stupid. BRTD has been banned before, recall?

That it is very difficult to get Dave to ban someone is not reason for the Moderators to not make it clear that your actions violate the ToS, which includes stating that you risk being banned. If you don't understand why your behavior was problematic, Duke, it doesn't matter what other people have done. You have a problem.

But there are plenty of other people in Atlasia with problems. One is the President, although I think his problematic behavior has taken place primarily elsewhere on the forums. This doesn't excuse anything.

Finally, Xahar-baiting is moronic. He has no influence anywhere. If he's ever unbanned he will continue to be a joke. Stop mentioning his name, period.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Duke is starting to remind me of some 2nd grader on the playground who keeps getting scolded by teachers and then starts crying and pointing fingers "Oh, but he did it too!". And then raving about some kid who's suspended and of no relevance to the school anymore.

[Gustaf]

Sigh. Listen to Hashemite.

Anyway, Duke. Ebowed I am fairly certain has been warned in the past. He has certainly been discussed several times. So has BRTD, of course.

As opposed to these kind of name-calling threads we moderators generally try to keep the work more or less private. If someone does something wrong the usual procedure is to PM that person a warning. The matter may be discussed among moderators. If the person in question does not make it public it won't be public. So just because there is not a public thread with a lot of people bitching about it doesn't mean that no action was taken.

[dead0man]

Can I ask one thing?  The next time Duke needs to be "Moderated", can somebody else do it?



(and Xahar would be mentioned a lot less if he was appropriately punished for his actions)

[DownWithTheLeft]

(and Xahar would be mentioned a lot less if he was appropriately punished for his actions)

This is key. 

Verily, how can you say Xahar will continue to be a joke when banned?  We have at least 2 people who have openly admitted they have proposed ideas on behalf of Xahar and a few more who admit contact with him.

The RPP really feels two things are necessary to keep this game civil and smooth:
1.) A full ban of Xahar
2.) Al either being held to moderator standards or unable to moderate RPP member posts

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I'm not asking for soft treatment. I want fair treatment. If I am going to get a warning and a threat of bannishment, I expect others to receive the same when they attack someone or bully them.

The sort of behavior that got you the charming letter that you're very happy with is, or at least was, pretty rare here. But, from what I'm aware, when it has been drawn to our attention it has always been acted on.

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See what Gustaf wrote.

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Oh for God's sake! You weren't yelled at for mockery or name calling. You were warned because you decide to engage in some pretty serious harassment; the sort of thing that can actually get you in a hell of a lot of trouble out in the real world (you know, like losing your job). I cannot believe that you don't understand this; are you so used to getting your own way that you are incapable of understanding that you crossed some pretty big red lines?

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There is only one poster on this forum who is apparently allowed to get away with "just about anything" and it is not BRTD.

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You aren't still trying to defend that? Hells Teeth.