https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/17mz4v5/subreddit_rule_changes_blacklisted_creators/
On the one hand, it's primarily this general subreddit. But on the other, it's a pretty big subreddit for rpgs more generally, and part of a larger trend. Apparently it's not just him but any "blacklisted creator" who cannot be discussed from here on in. Zak S is another one, and currently I think the list is just those two. But in theory the mods are the ones who arbitrarily decide from here on in who gets blacklisted and must not be named within an rpg context.
IDK, maybe this isn't really super newsworthy, or should be in the political subforum. That said, I figure that this could be argued in a sense emblematic of prior corporate and anti-free-speech trends within rpgs, TTRPGs, and the hobby more broadly.
Reddit is a mess so this surprises me none at all.
I mean theres an anti-D&D hate group hanging out on there that just exists to fuck with people and Reddits like "thats not a problem!"
Yep...r/osr as well after someone freaked over someone else (not Alexander) marketing his KS for ACKS II.
That was enough for me and I left both. I was more active in r/rpg than r/osr, but if I can't discuss some of my favorite games (and I'm sure more will be added) what's the point of being there. They want to be TBP, not my problem.
Yeah I dropped both RPG and OSR subs after that.
After you strip away all the fluff, the mods' core argument is "We don't want to moderate the mess that discussion of these creators causes here."
Ok, so you can't be arsed to mod when you're a mod, so resign. Nah! Let's just ban stuff.
Somehow I think if I got a group of people to start shit every time D. Vincent Baker (for example) came up in r/rpg they'd decide to moderate it by banning me, not discussion of Baker.
It's an excuse, not the real motivation. Which is another reason it is turning into TBP.
So they are banning the founder of the Escapist when it was was a good site, who put out a new game system because he's what left of FDR but not left of Stalin or what?
Yeah it's pretty cringe. I got banned from OSR because I said ACKS. Can't believe there left that ended up ushering in the real 1984 censorship and Right Think nonsense. I'm embarrassed to call myself Left leaning anymore because of shit like this.
What is the leftards issue with ACKS?
Quote from: honeydipperdavid on November 30, 2023, 06:08:33 PM
What is the leftards issue with ACKS?
It always goes back to gamergate.
Quote from: Monero on November 30, 2023, 06:11:25 PM
Quote from: honeydipperdavid on November 30, 2023, 06:08:33 PM
What is the leftards issue with ACKS?
It always goes back to gamergate.
The year is 2675 humanity is on the brink of extinction. A survivor of the robot apocalypse is captured. A single word flashes across the unfeeling screens of the robot faces as they take the man to be put in the pods: "GAMERGATE".
I mean, I'm not a fan of broad topic bans. But to all the people saying, what's wrong with Macris, I'm like, are you for real? He's a Milo guy.
Quote from: pawsplay on December 01, 2023, 12:23:23 AM
I mean, I'm not a fan of broad topic bans. But to all the people saying, what's wrong with Macris, I'm like, are you for real? He's a Milo guy.
I don't agree with him politically on a fair amount of stuff. (The same can be said for most folks on this site, and honestly probably most people in general.) And I'm not at all a fan of
Trump at the Rubicon. That said, I will give him this: When Milo had alt-right ties exposed, he resigned as CEO without compensation. That, and he makes legitimately good games that aren't particularly preachy from a political perspective.
Milo was always terrible. He got thrown under the bus when he left the receipts on the couch. There was never any reason to work for him. That said, kudos for Macris not actively championing such a terrible person when the messaging supported some of the nastiest parts of the alt-right.
Quote from: pawsplay on December 01, 2023, 12:23:23 AM
I mean, I'm not a fan of broad topic bans. But to all the people saying, what's wrong with Macris, I'm like, are you for real? He's a Milo guy.
I wonder what type of squeletons one could find if one knew your real name and could go over your past associations?
But I'm sure that in YOUR case claiming ignorance is good enough, just not for us peasants.
Quote from: GeekyBugle on December 01, 2023, 02:12:47 AM
I wonder what type of squeletons one could find if one knew your real name and could go over your past associations?
Well I've been a member on this board since 2007 and I've posted before in the self-promotion subforum, so the information is available if you're motivated.
Quote from: KindaMeh on November 30, 2023, 03:25:11 PM
https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/17mz4v5/subreddit_rule_changes_blacklisted_creators/
On the one hand, it's primarily this general subreddit. But on the other, it's a pretty big subreddit for rpgs more generally, and part of a larger trend. Apparently it's not just him but any "blacklisted creator" who cannot be discussed from here on in. Zak S is another one, and currently I think the list is just those two. But in theory the mods are the ones who arbitrarily decide from here on in who gets blacklisted and must not be named within an rpg context.
IDK, maybe this isn't really super newsworthy, or should be in the political subforum. That said, I figure that this could be argued in a sense emblematic of prior corporate and anti-free-speech trends within rpgs, TTRPGs, and the hobby more broadly.
If you cared to read the post that you linked you should have found this at line 6 (yes, 6 full lines of text to read, what a shame):
Quote
Furthermore, the mod team here has seen evidence of vote manipulation and collusion from the ACKS discord channel to promote ACKS here beyond what is permitted by reddit.
That's the reason for banning discussions on Macris' works, not because r/rpg is "anti-free-speech" or "woke": there was direct evidence of violation of reddit's rules, and in these cases a mod team
must act or reddit will act for them (usually by closing the sub). Same thing for r/osr: they were brigaded.
Quote from: pawsplay on December 01, 2023, 12:23:23 AM
I mean, I'm not a fan of broad topic bans. But to all the people saying, what's wrong with Macris, I'm like, are you for real? He's a Milo guy.
I don't give a fuck.
Maybe it's because I've had some personal interactions with him and he seemed pretty solid to me, but mostly because he makes good products.
Reddit is a hellhole. In other news, water is wet.
This sort of thing is a good example of how deeply, reflexively authoritarian these people are. They don't like this guy. They don't like people he has associated with. What's their immediate response? To not talk about them? To not buy his products or talk about him. No. Their immediate response is to ban discussion of him or his products by anyone. Their immediate response is authoritarian in nature. I don't like this therefore no one can discuss it at all. Their response to a lot of things is authoritarian in nature.
Quote from: honeydipperdavid on November 30, 2023, 06:08:33 PM
What is the leftards issue with ACKS?
They hate Macris, and will never not.
Honestly, the problem isn't with having haters, it is with such haters having pushed themselves into positions of power. Like the idea that /r/rpg and /r/osr are helping their userbase by banning you for mentioning anything Autarch is obviously crap, and leading up to the ban a bunch of socialist-subreddit-bros would swarm on in and shit all over the place. Instead of those guys being banned for shitting everywhere, they got everything they wanted instantly- meaning that
this was probably the point from the start.Anyway, unlike a lot of bad reddit ideas, this one is currently localized to a few groups of moderators. There's a /r/theosr that was made back when they were trying to demonize everyone whose games had evil races, and that allows discussion of Autaurch- but of course, there's very little traffic there by comparison. Further, it looks like much of the discussion got sponged into some discord (that was also advertised here), which is just fine if you want stuff on Discord but it does mean that there's almost no presence on more open forums.
Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on December 01, 2023, 03:27:50 AM
Quote from: KindaMeh on November 30, 2023, 03:25:11 PM
https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/17mz4v5/subreddit_rule_changes_blacklisted_creators/
On the one hand, it's primarily this general subreddit. But on the other, it's a pretty big subreddit for rpgs more generally, and part of a larger trend. Apparently it's not just him but any "blacklisted creator" who cannot be discussed from here on in. Zak S is another one, and currently I think the list is just those two. But in theory the mods are the ones who arbitrarily decide from here on in who gets blacklisted and must not be named within an rpg context.
IDK, maybe this isn't really super newsworthy, or should be in the political subforum. That said, I figure that this could be argued in a sense emblematic of prior corporate and anti-free-speech trends within rpgs, TTRPGs, and the hobby more broadly.
If you cared to read the post that you linked you should have found this at line 6 (yes, 6 full lines of text to read, what a shame):
Quote
Furthermore, the mod team here has seen evidence of vote manipulation and collusion from the ACKS discord channel to promote ACKS here beyond what is permitted by reddit.
That's the reason for banning discussions on Macris' works, not because r/rpg is "anti-free-speech" or "woke": there was direct evidence of violation of reddit's rules, and in these cases a mod team must act or reddit will act for them (usually by closing the sub). Same thing for r/osr: they were brigaded.
Yeah, okay, so ban the users doing the brigading.
Banning all discussion of a creator and his past and future work is something else.
Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on December 01, 2023, 03:27:50 AM
Quote from: KindaMeh on November 30, 2023, 03:25:11 PM
https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/17mz4v5/subreddit_rule_changes_blacklisted_creators/
On the one hand, it's primarily this general subreddit. But on the other, it's a pretty big subreddit for rpgs more generally, and part of a larger trend. Apparently it's not just him but any "blacklisted creator" who cannot be discussed from here on in. Zak S is another one, and currently I think the list is just those two. But in theory the mods are the ones who arbitrarily decide from here on in who gets blacklisted and must not be named within an rpg context.
IDK, maybe this isn't really super newsworthy, or should be in the political subforum. That said, I figure that this could be argued in a sense emblematic of prior corporate and anti-free-speech trends within rpgs, TTRPGs, and the hobby more broadly.
If you cared to read the post that you linked you should have found this at line 6 (yes, 6 full lines of text to read, what a shame):
Quote
Furthermore, the mod team here has seen evidence of vote manipulation and collusion from the ACKS discord channel to promote ACKS here beyond what is permitted by reddit.
That's the reason for banning discussions on Macris' works, not because r/rpg is "anti-free-speech" or "woke": there was direct evidence of violation of reddit's rules, and in these cases a mod team must act or reddit will act for them (usually by closing the sub). Same thing for r/osr: they were brigaded.
Somehow his manipulation of the gamification system of Reddit is bad and all the other people doing it to aren't? This smacks deeply of hypocrisy and double standards for enforcement.
Quote from: rytrasmi on December 01, 2023, 09:10:40 AM
Yeah, okay, so ban the users doing the brigading.
Banning all discussion of a creator and his past and future work is something else.
The only working strategy (in an effectively anonymous space like reddit) for blocking a massive influx of bad faith actors that try to game the system is blocking
the arguments they make, not the users.
Same thing here: talking of politics
outside the scope of gaming is forbidden. It's a rule meant to avoid bad faith discussions from the grounds up.
Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on December 01, 2023, 10:19:32 AM
Quote from: rytrasmi on December 01, 2023, 09:10:40 AM
Yeah, okay, so ban the users doing the brigading.
Banning all discussion of a creator and his past and future work is something else.
The only working strategy (in an effectively anonymous space like reddit) for blocking a massive influx of bad faith actors that try to game the system is blocking the arguments they make, not the users.
Same thing here: talking of politics outside the scope of gaming is forbidden. It's a rule meant to avoid bad faith discussions from the grounds up.
I don't agree but for sake of argument let's say I agree. Like you say: Block the
arguments, it's the only way!
New Post: Hey does anyone know of any cool custom character sheets for ACKS?
[This post has been deleted]
They didn't ban users or arguments - they forbid all mention of the guy and his work.
The no-politics rule here is not personal. It applies to everyone. That's an essential and obvious difference.
Quote from: rytrasmi on December 01, 2023, 10:39:32 AM
Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on December 01, 2023, 10:19:32 AM
Quote from: rytrasmi on December 01, 2023, 09:10:40 AM
Yeah, okay, so ban the users doing the brigading.
Banning all discussion of a creator and his past and future work is something else.
The only working strategy (in an effectively anonymous space like reddit) for blocking a massive influx of bad faith actors that try to game the system is blocking the arguments they make, not the users.
Same thing here: talking of politics outside the scope of gaming is forbidden. It's a rule meant to avoid bad faith discussions from the grounds up.
I don't agree but for sake of argument let's say I agree. Like you say: Block the arguments, it's the only way!
New Post: Hey does anyone know of any cool custom character sheets for ACKS?
[This post has been deleted]
They didn't ban users or arguments - they forbid all mention of the guy and his work.
The no-politics rule here is not personal. It applies to everyone. That's an essential and obvious difference.
I find this whining weirdly amusing, keep on please.
Quote from: rytrasmi on December 01, 2023, 10:39:32 AM
Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on December 01, 2023, 10:19:32 AM
Quote from: rytrasmi on December 01, 2023, 09:10:40 AM
Yeah, okay, so ban the users doing the brigading.
Banning all discussion of a creator and his past and future work is something else.
The only working strategy (in an effectively anonymous space like reddit) for blocking a massive influx of bad faith actors that try to game the system is blocking the arguments they make, not the users.
Same thing here: talking of politics outside the scope of gaming is forbidden. It's a rule meant to avoid bad faith discussions from the grounds up.
I don't agree but for sake of argument let's say I agree. Like you say: Block the arguments, it's the only way!
New Post: Hey does anyone know of any cool custom character sheets for ACKS?
[This post has been deleted]
They didn't ban users or arguments - they forbid all mention of the guy and his work.
The no-politics rule here is not personal. It applies to everyone. That's an essential and obvious difference.
More specifically, it's about keeping the gaming thread on the topic of gaming. You can discuss how politics affects gaming to your heart's content on the gaming board. For politics unrelated to gaming there's a separate board where the only requirement is "Pundit must find it interesting or it will be locked."
The only thing 100% across the board banned are promotion of antisemitism or fascism; which are pretty clearly defined and pretty easy to discern when someone is espousing them.
Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on December 01, 2023, 11:00:48 AM
I find this whining weirdly amusing, keep on please.
Sure thing buddy. It's odd that you're concerned about bad faith actors when you are one. There's a word for that.
Quote from: rytrasmi on December 01, 2023, 11:10:13 AM
Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on December 01, 2023, 11:00:48 AM
I find this whining weirdly amusing, keep on please.
Sure thing buddy. It's odd that you're concerned about bad faith actors when you are one. There's a word for that.
Never said that I'm concerned, I've said that the only way to block them (especially on reddit) is to block the topics that attract them.
I also asked to keep on whining about violated freeze peach or whatever you think happened on r/rpg, but you disappointed me...
Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on December 01, 2023, 11:47:20 AM
Quote from: rytrasmi on December 01, 2023, 11:10:13 AM
Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on December 01, 2023, 11:00:48 AM
I find this whining weirdly amusing, keep on please.
Sure thing buddy. It's odd that you're concerned about bad faith actors when you are one. There's a word for that.
Never said that I'm concerned, I've said that the only way to block them (especially on reddit) is to block the topics that attract them.
I also asked to keep on whining about violated freeze peach or whatever you think happened on r/rpg, but you disappointed me...
So you're not concerned with bad faith actors. Thanks for clarifying.
Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on December 01, 2023, 03:27:50 AM
Quote from: KindaMeh on November 30, 2023, 03:25:11 PM
https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/17mz4v5/subreddit_rule_changes_blacklisted_creators/
On the one hand, it's primarily this general subreddit. But on the other, it's a pretty big subreddit for rpgs more generally, and part of a larger trend. Apparently it's not just him but any "blacklisted creator" who cannot be discussed from here on in. Zak S is another one, and currently I think the list is just those two. But in theory the mods are the ones who arbitrarily decide from here on in who gets blacklisted and must not be named within an rpg context.
IDK, maybe this isn't really super newsworthy, or should be in the political subforum. That said, I figure that this could be argued in a sense emblematic of prior corporate and anti-free-speech trends within rpgs, TTRPGs, and the hobby more broadly.
If you cared to read the post that you linked you should have found this at line 6 (yes, 6 full lines of text to read, what a shame):
Quote
Furthermore, the mod team here has seen evidence of vote manipulation and collusion from the ACKS discord channel to promote ACKS here beyond what is permitted by reddit.
I actually did read through the whole thing. As well as some of the actual threads in question. I didn't really think to go into it, because anything that results in the creation of a blacklisted creators list and a unique banning of products and discussion content across multiple major subreddits seems sketchy to me in and of itself, but I think their ruling reasoning was pretty damn sketchy as well.
For context, I do know that brigading is defined roughly as follows: "A term that originated on Reddit, Brigading is when a group of users, generally outsiders to the targeted subreddit, "invade" a specific subreddit and flood it with downvotes in order to damage karma dynamics on the targeted sub;
spam the sub with posts and comments to further their own agenda; or perform other coordinated abusive behaviour such as insulting or harassing the subreddit's users in order to troll, manipulate, or interfere with the targeted community." In this instance it was seemingly stated that self-promotion and the bolded part were the alleged primary issues at hand. (For voting manipulation, neither multiple accounts nor soliciting seemed in play. At best you could maybe argue group voting in that via Discord or non-reddit sites one would be solicited to upvote ACKS2 stuff. They don't appear to have been very successful if so, since by far the most negative comments about Macris seem to have done the best vote-wise, and those comments defending him seem mostly low count by comparison.) On which note, I don't see how promoting the works of others because you're a fan counts as self-promotion. This in turn causes me to be wary of their analysis in and of itself, especially given the context that the other infraction was apparently using posts or comments to make an argument for a game they must have genuinely liked in order to bother. Likewise, the actual conversations I saw honestly had more people and posts that hated or disliked Macris than supporters, so I don't see how they could have been spamming. Most threads turned into an excuse to hate on that guy, all told. At best, some of the people posting may have previously coordinated via discord servers or the like to spread kickstarter news in relevant forums and internet locations, which seems relatively reasonable on my end. I saw no solid evidence presented of them being bad faith actors, and I think rystrasmi makes good points about how that kind of thing would be handled properly in a different manner even if it were a genuine thing. (Not least because the way it went down ended such that someone who wasn't even accused of being one of the posters got banned as a discussion topic, alongside all his games. Likewise, collective punishment was enacted on anyone who likes any of his games, rather than just those who posted. And the topic of ACKS2 being launched was generalized to canceling the person and all his games, and paving the way for other creators and their products to be similarly canceled via the creation of a
blacklisted [their term, not mine] creators rule.)
Also, if all that was really so "bad" Reddit would have stepped in (which I doubt, because there apparently do exist one or more subforums like r/theosr where they didn't go for that approach and everything was fine), and the subforums were scared of Reddit's intervention, but it doesn't give 2 shits about the current fallout... I think that would say more about the company and corporate censorship than anything else.
Quote from: rytrasmi on December 01, 2023, 09:10:40 AM
Yeah, okay, so ban the users doing the brigading.
Banning all discussion of a creator and his past and future work is something else.
So the mod line- that there was something organized in Macris's discord to "brigade" the subreddits- is
probably a lie, and definitely not actually
truth. I saw a couple threads about it on /r/osr, because there's a new version on kickstarter. This didn't even make me blink, because, like, remember
all the fucking Shadowdark threads? Like every game of note gets a bunch of threads.
Maybe, if you go into Macris's discord and swear the fascist blood oath, you get a hayle hortler notsticka with only three and a half arms as a tattoo, and then you get into the secret BRIGADE CHANNEL. But I was there in that discord reading along because I'm actually cross about stuff Macris is doing and I was looking to maybe pick a fight with someone, and I never saw any fucking "brigade" forming. Then all the reddit bitches start acting like the fact that some of the thousands of ACKS players might be interested in talking about a new version and this was UNSATISFACTORY in their slow moving /r/OSR subreddit that is pretty constantly filled with people actually self promoting various projects (which I hasten to add, is exactly what you would expect out of a
design school forum), and then suddenly there were threads like ALEXANDER MACRIS IS A SUPER DOUBLE NAHTZEE WHO ALL OF US SERIOUS SOCIAL POSTERS ARE HERE ORGANICALLY TO COMPLAIN ABOUT, and then it was added to rule 6.
Don't believe a word of those mods, or their activist allies. It's all bullshit at best, and probably outright lies.
Quote from: Venka on December 01, 2023, 02:17:57 PM
Quote from: rytrasmi on December 01, 2023, 09:10:40 AM
Yeah, okay, so ban the users doing the brigading.
Banning all discussion of a creator and his past and future work is something else.
So the mod line- that there was something organized in Macris's discord to "brigade" the subreddits- is probably a lie, and definitely not actually truth. I saw a couple threads about it on /r/osr, because there's a new version on kickstarter. This didn't even make me blink, because, like, remember all the fucking Shadowdark threads? Like every game of note gets a bunch of threads.
Maybe, if you go into Macris's discord and swear the fascist blood oath, you get a hayle hortler notsticka with only three and a half arms as a tattoo, and then you get into the secret BRIGADE CHANNEL. But I was there in that discord reading along because I'm actually cross about stuff Macris is doing and I was looking to maybe pick a fight with someone, and I never saw any fucking "brigade" forming. Then all the reddit bitches start acting like the fact that some of the thousands of ACKS players might be interested in talking about a new version and this was UNSATISFACTORY in their slow moving /r/OSR subreddit that is pretty constantly filled with people actually self promoting various projects (which I hasten to add, is exactly what you would expect out of a design school forum), and then suddenly there were threads like ALEXANDER MACRIS IS A SUPER DOUBLE NAHTZEE WHO ALL OF US SERIOUS SOCIAL POSTERS ARE HERE ORGANICALLY TO COMPLAIN ABOUT, and then it was added to rule 6.
Don't believe a word of those mods, or their activist allies. It's all bullshit at best, and probably outright lies.
That was my reaction. I think it's possible that a brigade formed, but I have no evidence aside from moderator claims, claims that serve their own biases and interests. And I've seen this tactic of weaponizing victimhood before. So I take their claim of brigading with a mountain of salt.
Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on December 01, 2023, 03:27:50 AM
Quote from: KindaMeh on November 30, 2023, 03:25:11 PM
https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/17mz4v5/subreddit_rule_changes_blacklisted_creators/
On the one hand, it's primarily this general subreddit. But on the other, it's a pretty big subreddit for rpgs more generally, and part of a larger trend. Apparently it's not just him but any "blacklisted creator" who cannot be discussed from here on in. Zak S is another one, and currently I think the list is just those two. But in theory the mods are the ones who arbitrarily decide from here on in who gets blacklisted and must not be named within an rpg context.
IDK, maybe this isn't really super newsworthy, or should be in the political subforum. That said, I figure that this could be argued in a sense emblematic of prior corporate and anti-free-speech trends within rpgs, TTRPGs, and the hobby more broadly.
If you cared to read the post that you linked you should have found this at line 6 (yes, 6 full lines of text to read, what a shame):
Quote
Furthermore, the mod team here has seen evidence of vote manipulation and collusion from the ACKS discord channel to promote ACKS here beyond what is permitted by reddit.
That's the reason for banning discussions on Macris' works, not because r/rpg is "anti-free-speech" or "woke": there was direct evidence of violation of reddit's rules, and in these cases a mod team must act or reddit will act for them (usually by closing the sub). Same thing for r/osr: they were brigaded.
And we know this is true how? Oh, right the mods said so...
Fuck off you feckless cunt.
Quote from: honeydipperdavid on November 30, 2023, 06:08:33 PM
What is the leftards issue with ACKS?
Their issue is with the game's creator, and not the game.
Quote from: Jam The MF on December 01, 2023, 06:03:30 PM
Their issue is with the game's creator, and not the game.
And the lies they repeat about him.
I think claiming something on Reddit did NOT occur because of brigading might have the heavier burden of proof.
Quote from: pawsplay on December 01, 2023, 06:53:47 PM
I think claiming something on Reddit did NOT occur because of brigading might have the heavier burden of proof.
I think those making a positive claim have a burden of proof and not the ones saying "I don't believe you".
So, do you have ANY proof of such claim?
I didn't engage in or organize any brigading.
If the mods had actual evidence I engaged or organized brigading, I am pretty certain they'd have published it and banned *me*. But they didn't. Even today I'm not banned on those channels, because I didn't do anything wrong.
In actuality, I did the *opposite* of brigading: I told people on my Discord "I don't go where I'm not wanted" and "I don't need you to defend my life choices." I believe the mods simply didn't want to have to enforce their rules on no politics, and it was easier to ban discussion of me. I get it; I have been in similar situations in the past and made the same choice they did.
But "brigading"? No, that was a pretext for wanting to curtail troublesome discussions.
Those who don't want to support me because I worked for Milo, supported Trump, or sided with gamers during Gamergate -- I have no real issue with them. They are entitled to spend their money on whomever they prefer, and I'm an adult who takes responsibility for my life choices, good, bad, and mediocre as they might be. Those who attempt to harm me by lying about what I actually believe, in order to paint me as some reincarnation of Hitler, them I take issue with. I extend to them the contempt and disgust worthy of such immoral and dishonest dastards.
This kind of proves my point. The man has integrity, regardless of if your political coordinates align. And he treats you with integrity even if you don't agree with him. Likewise, the brigading claims and general justifications for blacklisting seem to have been bullshit.
I'd actually say we should maybe consider looking into his games if we haven't yet already. As a way to counter overt censorship within the hobby. I for one love Ascendant, and will be not only continuing to purchase there, but also consider looking into ACKS as a result of this incident. So hopefully there may be a silver lining of sorts to all this mess, in that we know what's being done, and we can choose to make at least a small difference to the contrary should we wish to.
Quote from: amacris on December 01, 2023, 07:51:37 PM
I didn't engage in or organize any brigading.
That's certainly plausible. And as you note, it's not you personally that was sanctioned.
Quote from: Kiero on December 01, 2023, 06:28:45 PM
Quote from: Jam The MF on December 01, 2023, 06:03:30 PM
Their issue is with the game's creator, and not the game.
And the lies they repeat about him.
If his game is good, without crappy agendas in it; then I am all for ACKS. I don't need to know all the details about his personal life. I just like good products.
Quote from: Jam The MF on December 02, 2023, 02:17:46 AM
If his game is good, without crappy agendas in it; then I am all for ACKS. I don't need to know all the details about his personal life. I just like good products.
I don't know, do you consider having a semi-assumed setting based on antiquity rather than the Medieval era and a detailed system for building plausible economies an "agenda"? Because if he is trying to push any message, I didn't get it from the books.
Quote from: Jam The MF on December 01, 2023, 06:03:30 PM
Quote from: honeydipperdavid on November 30, 2023, 06:08:33 PM
What is the leftards issue with ACKS?
Their issue is with the game's creator, and not the game.
Of course, because they don't actually play anything.
Quote from: rytrasmi on November 30, 2023, 04:22:57 PM
Yeah I dropped both RPG and OSR subs after that.
After you strip away all the fluff, the mods' core argument is "We don't want to moderate the mess that discussion of these creators causes here."
Ok, so you can't be arsed to mod when you're a mod, so resign. Nah! Let's just ban stuff.
This is what allways bugs the absolute hell out of me. People create and moderate these places and then cant be fucked to actually police them and either do nothing and just let the harassment go on, or appoint moderators who they then say "Not my problem" when the mods abuse their position, or just ban stuff so they do not have to deal with it. Or worse case scenario is they support the troublemakers.
Quote from: Kiero on December 02, 2023, 06:20:23 AM
Quote from: Jam The MF on December 02, 2023, 02:17:46 AM
If his game is good, without crappy agendas in it; then I am all for ACKS. I don't need to know all the details about his personal life. I just like good products.
I don't know, do you consider having a semi-assumed setting based on antiquity rather than the Medieval era and a detailed system for building plausible economies an "agenda"? Because if he is trying to push any message, I didn't get it from the books.
That doesn't sound like an agenda, to me? I'm not an ACKS hater. Everything I hear about the game, is positive. All the hate, seems to just be personal attacks on the creator. It's a shame.
Quote from: Jam The MF on December 02, 2023, 01:16:23 PM
That doesn't sound like an agenda, to me? I'm not an ACKS hater. Everything I hear about the game, is positive. All the hate, seems to just be personal attacks on the creator. It's a shame.
What I think is worth pointing out is that /r/rpg and /r/osr both shut down discussion of a popular and very well regarded OSR product, deliberately, to fuck with the kickstarter, for no reason at all except that they are leftwing activists who will do anything to hurt the people that they hate. That assuredly include Macris, but honestly, it probably includes most people here- they just don't have a button to press to fuck with us, as they do with him.
This is why I say the OSR is not the unassailable bastion of free thinking some keep claiming it is.
It is being progressively infiltrated and twisted by the Woke and gaining control of fora like Reddit allows them to further control the narrative and start pushing things towards their own hateful agendas.
Quote from: Omega on December 02, 2023, 06:39:02 PM
This is why I say the OSR is not the unassailable bastion of free thinking some keep claiming it is.
It is being progressively infiltrated and twisted by the Woke and gaining control of fora like Reddit allows them to further control the narrative and start pushing things towards their own hateful agendas.
Reddit is a bigger hive of scum and villainy than the cantina at Mos Eisley.
Quote from: Omega on December 02, 2023, 06:39:02 PM
This is why I say the OSR is not the unassailable bastion of free thinking some keep claiming it is.
It is being progressively infiltrated and twisted by the Woke and gaining control of fora like Reddit allows them to further control the narrative and start pushing things towards their own hateful agendas.
Who is the pope of the OSR?
Who is the one that can decide what everybody else must do?
Reddit is irrelevant, the pressure comes from the twitteraty.
Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on December 01, 2023, 03:27:50 AM
That's the reason for banning discussions on Macris' works, not because r/rpg is "anti-free-speech" or "woke": there was direct evidence of violation of reddit's rules, and in these cases a mod team must act or reddit will act for them (usually by closing the sub). Same thing for r/osr: they were brigaded.
And I'm sure that
never happened with any other fanbase.
And it's not ACKS or the ACKS KS that is banned, but anything associated with him.
Again, it's an excuse, not a reason.
So there's direct evidence that Macris was behind the brigading? Let's see it.
Quote from: Jam The MF on December 02, 2023, 01:16:23 PM
That doesn't sound like an agenda, to me? I'm not an ACKS hater. Everything I hear about the game, is positive. All the hate, seems to just be personal attacks on the creator. It's a shame.
Game? You think the haters even have the first idea what ACKS is?
They're moronic bandwagon-jumpers, someone else told them to hate Macris, so they do. Most of them don't even play RPGs anyway.
Quote from: yosemitemike on December 02, 2023, 11:50:52 PM
So there's direct evidence that Macris was behind the brigading? Let's see it.
Dude, there's not even evidence of said brigading.
However you slice it, Macris has been unfairly targeted.
All because once upon a time he quit working for someone that they don't like.
His KS did around 300K, but it should have been over 400.
These unfair attacks do make a difference IMO...
They will do anything, and make up anything to hurt him. All because they have decided that he is the Enemy...
It's Sad, and I'm glad it's being called out in this thread.
The best part is, there was anti-ACKS brigading from the other side. Arguably more, as the pro-brigading was in response to the brigading being done first against the Kickstarter. But it was only the pro side that got banned.
That said I never saw any actual evidence of this pro ACKS brigading, it was more like people just excited to talk about and defend the Kickstarter against people's anti-Macris grudge.
I can't emphasize enough that a disturbingly high number of Reddit admins & mods have been exposed as paedophiles & other deviants and criminals. Similar problem afflicts Discord.
There really isn't a solution to this problem aside from refusing to use these websites and letting others know that these websites are extremely scummy. It's a big reason why I prefer a private forum run by an actual person or company (like this one).
QuoteTo reflect this, we have established a new Rule 6: No Blacklisted Creators.
I remember when blacklists were considered a bad thing, and being on one was considered an honor (though it was small compensation to someone whose career and life was ruined).
Quote from: GeekyBugle on December 02, 2023, 09:16:48 PM
Who is the pope of the OSR?
Who is the one that can decide what everybody else must do?
This is why I like Judaism, there's no Pope, no final authority, just a bunch of experienced and learned guys arguing amongst themselves, and people follow some individual if they want to, while most of us just ignore it all and pick and choose what we want to do.
If it works for a religion it'll work even better for some geekery.
Quote from: pawsplay on December 01, 2023, 12:23:23 AM
I mean, I'm not a fan of broad topic bans. But to all the people saying, what's wrong with Macris, I'm like, are you for real? He's a Milo guy.
How many Jews did Milo shove into the ovens? Just curious.
Quote from: Kyle Aaron on December 03, 2023, 08:16:20 PM
This is why I like Judaism, there's no Pope, no final authority, just a bunch of experienced and learned guys arguing amongst themselves, and people follow some individual if they want to, while most of us just ignore it all and pick and choose what we want to do.
If it works for a religion it'll work even better for some geekery.
I would point out the majority of Christians don't recognize the Pope even if he heads the largest communion. No other large communion has such a head (the Orthodox have patriarchs but they are equals within communions and they lack the kind of authority the Pope has even within their own churches).
Quote from: Brad on December 03, 2023, 08:36:54 PM
Quote from: pawsplay on December 01, 2023, 12:23:23 AM
I mean, I'm not a fan of broad topic bans. But to all the people saying, what's wrong with Macris, I'm like, are you for real? He's a Milo guy.
How many Jews did Milo shove into the ovens? Just curious.
None, but given what we've seen over the past two months from the Left if he had they'd probably think he was okay.
Quote from: PulpHerb on December 04, 2023, 09:53:03 AM
Quote from: Brad on December 03, 2023, 08:36:54 PM
Quote from: pawsplay on December 01, 2023, 12:23:23 AM
I mean, I'm not a fan of broad topic bans. But to all the people saying, what's wrong with Macris, I'm like, are you for real? He's a Milo guy.
How many Jews did Milo shove into the ovens? Just curious.
None, but given what we've seen over the past two months from the Left if he had they'd probably think he was okay.
Only if he started calling himself Al Udabi Milo first. Remember, white people cannot do anything but lick the soles of feet but an Islamist can commit genocide in the name of Allah because we need to respect other cultures.
Quote from: PulpHerb on December 04, 2023, 09:53:03 AM
Quote from: Brad on December 03, 2023, 08:36:54 PM
Quote from: pawsplay on December 01, 2023, 12:23:23 AM
I mean, I'm not a fan of broad topic bans. But to all the people saying, what's wrong with Macris, I'm like, are you for real? He's a Milo guy.
How many Jews did Milo shove into the ovens? Just curious.
None, but given what we've seen over the past two months from the Left if he had they'd probably think he was okay.
We've gotten to the point where the fact that I co-published a book with an Israeli game designer (Omer Joel, Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu) would probably be used as further evidence that I'm a Nazi. "See? Working with Israel -- he supports Palestinian genocide - Nazi!"
Pawsplay -- I am many things but I am not a "Milo guy". I worked with him for one year in a 22-year career and quit. He and I haven't spoken in 4 years. I spent far more time working for left-wing Hollywood at Defy Media. Given how much money I earned from Defy, you'd more plausibly call me a "lackey of the Hollywood oligarchs."
Quote from: amacris on December 04, 2023, 03:04:16 PM
Quote from: PulpHerb on December 04, 2023, 09:53:03 AM
Quote from: Brad on December 03, 2023, 08:36:54 PM
Quote from: pawsplay on December 01, 2023, 12:23:23 AM
I mean, I'm not a fan of broad topic bans. But to all the people saying, what's wrong with Macris, I'm like, are you for real? He's a Milo guy.
How many Jews did Milo shove into the ovens? Just curious.
None, but given what we've seen over the past two months from the Left if he had they'd probably think he was okay.
We've gotten to the point where the fact that I co-published a book with an Israeli game designer (Omer Joel, Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu) would probably be used as further evidence that I'm a Nazi. "See? Working with Israel -- he supports Palestinian genocide - Nazi!"
Pawsplay -- I am many things but I am not a "Milo guy". I worked with him for one year in a 22-year career and quit. He and I haven't spoken in 4 years. I spent far more time working for left-wing Hollywood at Defy Media. Given how much money I earned from Defy, you'd more plausibly call me a "lackey of the Hollywood oligarchs."
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Of course those rules never apply to them, only to us notzees.
Hmm. I think I need to repost this on r/RPGDesign after letting the r/RPG NPCs cooldown.
I am active on Reddit, and I used to mod RPGDesign. Reddit is a deeply flawed platform. You have to actively dodge the hate-mobs, and sometimes there's nothing you can do about them besides wait until the weekend has passed and the slactivists shrivel up and die in the light of a Monday morning work day.
What really concerns me about this is that within four posts of the top, the dude is getting fetish-shamed by someone who clearly has no way of knowing it. I can practically guarantee you that someone bought upvotes (yes, that's a thing on Reddit; Reddit itself doesn't offer it officially that I know of, but there are a variety of places which offer it as a business to business service) to put that comment as close to the top as possible. In other words, this is deliberate character assassination and the mods of RPG are just rolling over because mods on Reddit habitually lack spines.
Reddit has always been an echo chamber due to its design, and it's worse now because they've hidden the sort by controversial button. You can still get it by adding "/controversial" to the URL, but few people will do that.
Blacklisting creators for any reason is petty, lazy, and shortsighted. They've taken one step closer to TBP.
I don't need some internet rando telling me what subjects I can and cannot talk about. Nobody with any self respect should put up with that.
Quote from: amacris on December 04, 2023, 03:04:16 PM
Pawsplay -- I am many things but I am not a "Milo guy". I worked with him for one year in a 22-year career and quit. He and I haven't spoken in 4 years. I spent far more time working for left-wing Hollywood at Defy Media. Given how much money I earned from Defy, you'd more plausibly call me a "lackey of the Hollywood oligarchs."
And I get the distinct feeling you'd have more to say if not for those non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements ...
It may have already been said, but one of the main reasons Alex is banned is because the Woke Cult will call him a Nazi, he's been literally accused of being an alt-right terrorist who is responsible for hundreds of death by the raving lunatic Frank Trollman.
As a result, he will sue people for libel/defamation if they make such accusations or allow them on their site, so to avoid having to mod their users and remind them how delusional they are, they simply do not allow conversation on him, or ZakS, who has has sued and won several such lawsuits.
I'm pretty sure it was less "allow them on their site" and more just the former part of "make such [false and defamatory] accusations". Also doing so as formal site representatives, for the rpg.net incident that is the only real controversy there that can be referenced. And he didn't even threaten to sue I don't think, he just called people he thought he knew and had previously supported and asked if they would stop said representatives from continuing doing something obviously sketchy and wrong. To which they responded by accusing him on the internet of planning to sue and banning the discussion of both him and his games from the site. Because apparently they couldn't be assed to correct issues nor could they trust their own ACTUAL site representatives (not regular posters, but accredited mods and blah) not to also do something morally wrong to begin with for which they would be theoretically answerable in court. Or more likely because they wanted to damage him and his business with no real repercussions and then cry victim.
Relatively confident I'm right on this?
Quote from: crkrueger on December 04, 2023, 05:08:46 PM
raving lunatic Frank Trollman.
So ban the unhinged liars.
Quote from: KindaMeh on December 04, 2023, 05:24:31 PM
nor could they trust their own ACTUAL site representatives (not regular posters, but accredited mods and blah) not to also do something morally wrong to begin with for which they would be theoretically answerable in court.
If you can't trust those mods, get rid of them.
Quote from: yosemitemike on December 04, 2023, 09:57:54 PM
Quote from: KindaMeh on December 04, 2023, 05:24:31 PM
nor could they trust their own ACTUAL site representatives (not regular posters, but accredited mods and blah) not to also do something morally wrong to begin with for which they would be theoretically answerable in court.
If you can't trust those mods, get rid of them.
That's my point, for sure. They weren't even willing to correct issues within the representation of their own site's authority. But I kinda doubt those jerks even saw that defamatory content as an issue. Hence why I think it was ultimately just an excuse to screw him over.
Quote from: amacris on December 04, 2023, 03:04:16 PM
Pawsplay -- I am many things but I am not a "Milo guy". I worked with him for one year in a 22-year career and quit. He and I haven't spoken in 4 years.
Well, some people are okay with Milo, and that's one level. Some people actually like him, or at least did, at one time. Working for the guy is next level.
It reminds me of the old joke:
So a man walks into a bar, and sits down. He starts a conversation with an old guy next to him. The old guy has obviously had a few. He says to the man:
"You see that dock out there? Built it myself, hand crafted each piece, and it's the best dock in town! But do they call me 'McGregor the dock builder'? No! And you see that bridge over there? I built that, took me two months, through rain, sleet and scoarching weather, but do they call me 'McGregor the bridge builder'? No! And you see that pier over there, I built that, best pier in the county! But do they call me 'McGregor the pier builder'? No!"
The old guy looks around, and makes sure that nobody is listening, and leans to the man, and he says:
"But you fuck one sheep..."
Quote from: pawsplay on December 05, 2023, 12:44:39 AM
Quote from: amacris on December 04, 2023, 03:04:16 PM
Pawsplay -- I am many things but I am not a "Milo guy". I worked with him for one year in a 22-year career and quit. He and I haven't spoken in 4 years.
Well, some people are okay with Milo, and that's one level. Some people actually like him, or at least did, at one time. Working for the guy is next level.
It reminds me of the old joke:
So a man walks into a bar, and sits down. He starts a conversation with an old guy next to him. The old guy has obviously had a few. He says to the man:
"You see that dock out there? Built it myself, hand crafted each piece, and it's the best dock in town! But do they call me 'McGregor the dock builder'? No! And you see that bridge over there? I built that, took me two months, through rain, sleet and scoarching weather, but do they call me 'McGregor the bridge builder'? No! And you see that pier over there, I built that, best pier in the county! But do they call me 'McGregor the pier builder'? No!"
The old guy looks around, and makes sure that nobody is listening, and leans to the man, and he says:
"But you fuck one sheep..."
Hardly anybody but pearl clutching leftards even know who Milo is, much less care about who associated with him.
It's some mighty weak tea to justify a blacklist/topic ban.
Quote from: pawsplay on December 05, 2023, 12:44:39 AM
Quote from: amacris on December 04, 2023, 03:04:16 PM
Pawsplay -- I am many things but I am not a "Milo guy". I worked with him for one year in a 22-year career and quit. He and I haven't spoken in 4 years.
Well, some people are okay with Milo, and that's one level. Some people actually like him, or at least did, at one time. Working for the guy is next level.
It reminds me of the old joke:
So a man walks into a bar, and sits down. He starts a conversation with an old guy next to him. The old guy has obviously had a few. He says to the man:
"You see that dock out there? Built it myself, hand crafted each piece, and it's the best dock in town! But do they call me 'McGregor the dock builder'? No! And you see that bridge over there? I built that, took me two months, through rain, sleet and scoarching weather, but do they call me 'McGregor the bridge builder'? No! And you see that pier over there, I built that, best pier in the county! But do they call me 'McGregor the pier builder'? No!"
The old guy looks around, and makes sure that nobody is listening, and leans to the man, and he says:
"But you fuck one sheep..."
Although I am the butt of this joke, I admit, it made me laugh. Fair enough, really. If someone wants to disassociate from me because I worked with Milo, I can at least respect them for having an actual reason. It is altogether another thing to claim that I am (as Frank Trollman claimed) personally responsible for the deaths of dozens to hundreds of people, or that I am a Nazi, and so on. The former is a fact, the latter is a lie.
PS to be clear, I worked *with* Milo, not *for* him. I was hired by an investment group to manage him so that he could become a respectable Republican comedian version of Bill Maher. In the ostensible corporate hierarchy, he worked for me! In actual practice, Milo proved beyond my skills to manage, and obviously the move to being a respectable Republican didn't happen. I've come to terms with my failure in this regard. But it's simply not true that (a) I worked for Milo or (b) that I funded or invested in Milo. He never signed my paychecks, full stop. I was a hired gun for the venture capitalists who set up MILO Inc, to whom I fulfilled my 1-year obligation, and to whom I remain bound by non-compete, non-disclosure, and more.
Quote from: pawsplay on December 05, 2023, 12:44:39 AM
Quote from: amacris on December 04, 2023, 03:04:16 PM
Pawsplay -- I am many things but I am not a "Milo guy". I worked with him for one year in a 22-year career and quit. He and I haven't spoken in 4 years.
Well, some people are okay with Milo, and that's one level. Some people actually like him, or at least did, at one time. Working for the guy is next level.
It reminds me of the old joke:
So a man walks into a bar, and sits down. He starts a conversation with an old guy next to him. The old guy has obviously had a few. He says to the man:
"You see that dock out there? Built it myself, hand crafted each piece, and it's the best dock in town! But do they call me 'McGregor the dock builder'? No! And you see that bridge over there? I built that, took me two months, through rain, sleet and scoarching weather, but do they call me 'McGregor the bridge builder'? No! And you see that pier over there, I built that, best pier in the county! But do they call me 'McGregor the pier builder'? No!"
The old guy looks around, and makes sure that nobody is listening, and leans to the man, and he says:
"But you fuck one sheep..."
So, since Robert Carlyle Byrd (longest serving Democratic senator) WAS a member of the KKK AND Friend and Mentor to Hillary Clinton, you wouldn't dream on voting for a Democrat EVER and we can find pages upon pages of you denouncing the Democratic Party for their long association with the KKK (it wasn't only Byrd), right?
No, because it's six Degrees of Kevin Bacon for everybody else but your side.
Quote from: KindaMeh on December 04, 2023, 05:24:31 PM
I'm pretty sure it was less "allow them on their site" and more just the former part of "make such [false and defamatory] accusations". Also doing so as formal site representatives, for the rpg.net incident that is the only real controversy there that can be referenced. And he didn't even threaten to sue I don't think, he just called people he thought he knew and had previously supported and asked if they would stop said representatives from continuing doing something obviously sketchy and wrong. To which they responded by accusing him on the internet of planning to sue and banning the discussion of both him and his games from the site. Because apparently they couldn't be assed to correct issues nor could they trust their own ACTUAL site representatives (not regular posters, but accredited mods and blah) not to also do something morally wrong to begin with for which they would be theoretically answerable in court. Or more likely because they wanted to damage him and his business with no real repercussions and then cry victim.
Relatively confident I'm right on this?
That's absolutely correct. The idea that I "threatened to sue RPG.net" is just another lie. What I did was point out to a business contact that his subordinates were libeling me and asked him to take care of it.
Via The Escapist, I had been a sponsor of RPG.net for many years and had been on good terms with its owner. When the moderators began to libel me, I went directly to him and politely asked him to put a stop to it. His moderators would not desist, so he instead made me a banned topic. I emailed him afterwards to say that his solution was acceptable to me and that my intent was to live and let live, and he agreed. He even updated his post about me to reflect my response to his moderators. I have not, and do not speak, ill of him for this reason, and as far as I know he has also never commented on me again.
Anyone who doesn't believe me is welcome to DM me for the proof. I have all the receipts on this.
Quote from: crkrueger on December 04, 2023, 05:08:46 PM
It may have already been said, but one of the main reasons Alex is banned is because the Woke Cult will call him a Nazi, he's been literally accused of being an alt-right terrorist who is responsible for hundreds of death by the raving lunatic Frank Trollman.
As a result, he will sue people for libel/defamation if they make such accusations or allow them on their site, so to avoid having to mod their users and remind them how delusional they are, they simply do not allow conversation on him, or ZakS, who has has sued and won several such lawsuits.
Frustrating, really. If I were actually a terrifying supervillain with the blood of hundreds on my hands, at least I could exact a bloody vengeance on these curs in the years until SEAL Team Six raids my secret compound, captures me, and forces me to play story games in Gitmo.
Oh well.
Quote from: amacris on December 05, 2023, 01:23:35 AM
That's absolutely correct. The idea that I "threatened to sue RPG.net" is just another lie. What I did was point out to a business contact that his subordinates were libeling me and asked him to take care of it.
Who are you saying, is saying that?
The topic ban on RPG.net states
Quote
I have at this point twice received emails from Alexander Macris, the designer of ACKS and the owner of Autarch, that I personally took as legal threats because of his status as a lawyer and the language he used, which included words like "defamation" and "reputational harm". The posts that Macris was responding to were made by RPGnet volunteers who were acting in their personal capacity as regular posters to this board; they offered their personal opinions on Macris' political allegiances primarily based on his association with Milo Yiannopoulos and used that to suggest that gamers shouldn't support Macris' roleplaying concerns.
which sounds pretty much what you said.
Quote from: Kiero on December 03, 2023, 07:07:14 AM
Game? You think the haters even have the first idea what ACKS is?
They're moronic bandwagon-jumpers, someone else told them to hate Macris, so they do. Most of them don't even play RPGs anyway.
BGG is made of this. I lost count of the threads where someone was bitching incessantly about this or that game or RPG or designer because someone told them to. The woke are made of this as well. Cattle.
Quote from: amacris on December 05, 2023, 01:25:54 AM
Frustrating, really. If I were actually a terrifying supervillain with the blood of hundreds on my hands, at least I could exact a bloody vengeance on these curs in the years until SEAL Team Six raids my secret compound, captures me, and forces me to play story games in Gitmo.
Oh well.
It's super lame this isn't real because that'd be a lot better than some hand-wringing moronic bullshit over asking some messageboard mods to stop making up stories about your associations with people who they don't like.
Quote from: pawsplay on December 05, 2023, 02:42:35 AM
which sounds pretty much what you said.
"Stop making up crap about me. Thanks."
"OMG THREATENING LAWSUIT!"
Sure
I can pretty much confirm this is the case. Alex actually posted the letter on his Discord before he sent it. To see the way it was (to me) twisted on RPG.net was very eye-opening, and actually marked the last time I ever logged on to the site.
It's kind of similar to the whole Hobbs situation, in which he praised ACKS then quickly backtracked when he was embattled by the woke (and to protect his chances at an Ennie I'd wager). It particularly pissed me off because he was participating on the Discord and talking to Alex directly, yet he didn't once try to verify or discuss the situation in any manner. I tried to ask Hobbs about that afterwards and he blocked me on all social media. Pathetic.
Quote from: amacris on December 05, 2023, 01:23:35 AM
Quote from: KindaMeh on December 04, 2023, 05:24:31 PM
I'm pretty sure it was less "allow them on their site" and more just the former part of "make such [false and defamatory] accusations". Also doing so as formal site representatives, for the rpg.net incident that is the only real controversy there that can be referenced. And he didn't even threaten to sue I don't think, he just called people he thought he knew and had previously supported and asked if they would stop said representatives from continuing doing something obviously sketchy and wrong. To which they responded by accusing him on the internet of planning to sue and banning the discussion of both him and his games from the site. Because apparently they couldn't be assed to correct issues nor could they trust their own ACTUAL site representatives (not regular posters, but accredited mods and blah) not to also do something morally wrong to begin with for which they would be theoretically answerable in court. Or more likely because they wanted to damage him and his business with no real repercussions and then cry victim.
Relatively confident I'm right on this?
That's absolutely correct. The idea that I "threatened to sue RPG.net" is just another lie. What I did was point out to a business contact that his subordinates were libeling me and asked him to take care of it.
Via The Escapist, I had been a sponsor of RPG.net for many years and had been on good terms with its owner. When the moderators began to libel me, I went directly to him and politely asked him to put a stop to it. His moderators would not desist, so he instead made me a banned topic. I emailed him afterwards to say that his solution was acceptable to me and that my intent was to live and let live, and he agreed. He even updated his post about me to reflect my response to his moderators. I have not, and do not speak, ill of him for this reason, and as far as I know he has also never commented on me again.
Anyone who doesn't believe me is welcome to DM me for the proof. I have all the receipts on this.
Wait, wait, wait. Via the Escapist? Is the Escapist funding TBP?
Quote from: Brad on December 05, 2023, 09:21:44 AM
"Stop making up crap about me. Thanks."
"OMG THREATENING LAWSUIT!"
Sure
Quote
What I did was point out to a business contact that his subordinates were libeling me and asked him to take care of it.
It does look like he is accusing people of a specific, actionable crime and cause for civil action.
Quote from: pawsplay on December 06, 2023, 01:27:12 AM
It does look like he is accusing people of a specific, actionable crime and cause for civil action.
He also just stated he's not a supervillain, but if he was he'd kill all of them, so obviously you should call the FBI for his terroristic threats against so many POCs and trannies.
Quote from: pawsplay on December 06, 2023, 01:27:12 AM
Quote from: Brad on December 05, 2023, 09:21:44 AM
"Stop making up crap about me. Thanks."
"OMG THREATENING LAWSUIT!"
Sure
Quote
What I did was point out to a business contact that his subordinates were libeling me and asked him to take care of it.
It does look like he is accusing people of a specific, actionable crime and cause for civil action.
Show us on the doll where the bad man touched you.
Quote from: Brad on December 06, 2023, 04:50:12 AM
Quote from: pawsplay on December 06, 2023, 01:27:12 AM
It does look like he is accusing people of a specific, actionable crime and cause for civil action.
He also just stated he's not a supervillain, but if he was he'd kill all of them, so obviously you should call the FBI for his terroristic threats against so many POCs and trannies.
He's not a supervillain, but he is a lawyer. If Lex Luthor said, if I were a supervillain, I'd kill you, I would call the cops.
Quote from: pawsplay on December 06, 2023, 06:37:53 PM
Quote from: Brad on December 06, 2023, 04:50:12 AM
Quote from: pawsplay on December 06, 2023, 01:27:12 AM
It does look like he is accusing people of a specific, actionable crime and cause for civil action.
He also just stated he's not a supervillain, but if he was he'd kill all of them, so obviously you should call the FBI for his terroristic threats against so many POCs and trannies.
He's not a supervillain, but he is a lawyer. If Lex Luthor said, if I were a supervillain, I'd kill you, I would call the cops.
So someone who asks politely to have their subordinates cease criminal activity is a supervillain now? If he was such a dick why didn't he just sue them without warning? This is exactly why you cannot play nice or give so much as an inch to fucking leftists. No good turn goes unpunished.
Quote from: Exploderwizard on December 07, 2023, 12:22:29 PM
So someone who asks politely to have their subordinates cease criminal activity is a supervillain now? If he was such a dick why didn't he just sue them without warning? This is exactly why you cannot play nice or give so much as an inch to fucking leftists. No good turn goes unpunished.
I didn't say that. Can you explain to me what you mean, so we can resolve this misunderstanding?
Quote from: Exploderwizard on December 07, 2023, 12:22:29 PM
Quote from: pawsplay on December 06, 2023, 06:37:53 PM
Quote from: Brad on December 06, 2023, 04:50:12 AM
Quote from: pawsplay on December 06, 2023, 01:27:12 AM
It does look like he is accusing people of a specific, actionable crime and cause for civil action.
He also just stated he's not a supervillain, but if he was he'd kill all of them, so obviously you should call the FBI for his terroristic threats against so many POCs and trannies.
He's not a supervillain, but he is a lawyer. If Lex Luthor said, if I were a supervillain, I'd kill you, I would call the cops.
So someone who asks politely to have their subordinates cease criminal activity is a supervillain now? If he was such a dick why didn't he just sue them without warning? This is exactly why you cannot play nice or give so much as an inch to fucking leftists. No good turn goes unpunished.
If you just go straight to suing without making that kind of attempt first, you're probably not going to win. You need to show you made some effort to resolve the situation without a lawsuit before resorting to one.
Quote from: migo on December 08, 2023, 05:37:08 AM
Quote from: Exploderwizard on December 07, 2023, 12:22:29 PM
Quote from: pawsplay on December 06, 2023, 06:37:53 PM
Quote from: Brad on December 06, 2023, 04:50:12 AM
Quote from: pawsplay on December 06, 2023, 01:27:12 AM
It does look like he is accusing people of a specific, actionable crime and cause for civil action.
He also just stated he's not a supervillain, but if he was he'd kill all of them, so obviously you should call the FBI for his terroristic threats against so many POCs and trannies.
That is exactly what reasonable people do.
He's not a supervillain, but he is a lawyer. If Lex Luthor said, if I were a supervillain, I'd kill you, I would call the cops.
So someone who asks politely to have their subordinates cease criminal activity is a supervillain now? If he was such a dick why didn't he just sue them without warning? This is exactly why you cannot play nice or give so much as an inch to fucking leftists. No good turn goes unpunished.
If you just go straight to suing without making that kind of attempt first, you're probably not going to win. You need to show you made some effort to resolve the situation without a lawsuit before resorting to one.
That is exactly what reasonable people do.
Quote from: amacris on December 01, 2023, 07:51:37 PM
I didn't engage in or organize any brigading.
If the mods had actual evidence I engaged or organized brigading, I am pretty certain they'd have published it and banned *me*. But they didn't. Even today I'm not banned on those channels, because I didn't do anything wrong.
In actuality, I did the *opposite* of brigading: I told people on my Discord "I don't go where I'm not wanted" and "I don't need you to defend my life choices." I believe the mods simply didn't want to have to enforce their rules on no politics, and it was easier to ban discussion of me. I get it; I have been in similar situations in the past and made the same choice they did.
But "brigading"? No, that was a pretext for wanting to curtail troublesome discussions.
Those who don't want to support me because I worked for Milo, supported Trump, or sided with gamers during Gamergate -- I have no real issue with them. They are entitled to spend their money on whomever they prefer, and I'm an adult who takes responsibility for my life choices, good, bad, and mediocre as they might be. Those who attempt to harm me by lying about what I actually believe, in order to paint me as some reincarnation of Hitler, them I take issue with. I extend to them the contempt and disgust worthy of such immoral and dishonest dastards.
I've been creeping on your website waiting for a reprint of ACKS core rules for a while now, and now with seeing how unfairly you have been treated, I decided to buy Ascendant and the screen from your site directly, as well as a PDF from DTRPG. Definitely going put a video about the game on my channel.
You have character, and the courage of your convictions. Libel is never pleasant, but to be libeled by nameless keyboard cowboys, shouting about topics in bumper sticker slogans, and parroting their favorite commentators chosen slurs against people that have a difference of opinion politically is the worst. I've dealt with some forms of this as well, though certainly not to the degree that you have. Thanks for making excellent games, but more so, thanks for not bowing before the angry mob.
Sincerely,
Justin from Books, Bricks and Boards