Firstly, I'd just like to say that I am not in any way opposed to the punishments that were handed out. Rules were broken and the punishments were both fair and consistent with what had happened in the past.
What I am concerned about (as are many others) is the way in which the sharing of the news was handled. Firstly, Reppy gave the names of all of those who'd been DEAT'd. That in itself should be raising red flags, given that there have been many times when Moderation has declined to comment on deletions. Since this is such a sensitive matter (there's not exactly any shame associated in being deleted for flaming), I find it really inappropriate to post the names of those involved. It's already cutting it really close to shaming, but then you consider what else was said in Reppy's statement.
Thanks to this investigation, I now have far more insight and information than I ever needed or wanted to know regarding, among other things: My Little Pony cybersex, various non-heteronormative kinks and fetishes, Tokyo Ghoul cybersex, a colorful assortment of incest fetishes, furry porn, and scaly porn. Probably other flavors of badly-written cybersexing as well; I have had to read a lot of erotic RP telegrams in the past four months and it does all start to run together into one giant mass of penises, vaginas, breasts, tentacles, dildos, bodily fluids and so on.
This was certainly not necessary, as there's no reason to give an explanation as to what went on in the TG's. As one poster pointed out, a mere "They were deleted for sharing adult material via telegrams" would have sufficed. However, Reppy felt the need to go more in depth.
Reploid Productions wrote:I will note that this investigation was the first and only time in more than ten years of modding that I seriously, absolutely NEEDED a drink. Achievement bloody unlocked, Nationstates, drove a mod to drink. (Only one cider, though.)
Reploid Productions wrote:It was like wading through fanfiction.net back before they tried to kick all the NC-17 rated stuff off of it.
I'm quite sure it wasn't necessary to detail out how disgusting this process was. It only contributes to the atmosphere of shame.
Following on this, many posters in the thread echoed feelings like this, saying how this was "disgusting", "creepy" and "abnormal." The mods have never (or very rarely) entertained mass discussions on a ruling before (or at least discussions that have nothing productive to offer), so why now?
To illustrate how the thread is basically just a platform to shame those who were DEAT'd, I'd like to provide some quotes from those in question.
Miraaki wrote:Well, a little piece of me died today...
I'll be back to normal eventually, but I'm never going to be the same person again
Rioghachd na h-Alba wrote:Miraaki wrote:Well, a little piece of me died today...
I'll be back to normal eventually, but I'm never going to be the same person again
Likewise. Perhaps an appeal might work, though I doubt it.
For a bit, I was seriously contemplating using one of the assorted bladed weapons around in my house. Not on anyone else, of course.
Now, I understand there are two sides to this argument. The first being the idea that moderation would be spammed with requests for information, people would want to know why others are gone. Thing is, more often than not, it isn't there business. If they were close to the DEATd or DOSd individual, they can reach out to them off site. If they weren't, its usually just people looking for some juicy forum gossip, something I, and I would presume most other people, don't think the Mod team should be facilitating. And again, there's always the simple "They were deleted for sharing adult material via telegrams", though we're a bit past that.
Another argument is that this is an example for those who would do it again. I'd say just make the rules more clear. Write it out in bright red letters, so that nobody can miss it again. I'm not defending those who thought their actions were permissible, but it's clear that the rules could have been communicated better. I think doing that would prove a better dissuader than posting the names of everyone involved.
As a last note, I do hope this thread won't be locked, as the complaints that were brought up in the initial thread were largely ignored or glossed over. I think this issue does need to be addressed by the mods and this complaint warrants a second thread.
In conclusion, all I'd like to see is the original thread quietly taken down, and for the moderation team to put more thought and concern in the way they go about rulings and the atmosphere that creates. Thank you for reading.
edit: Thanks for sorting this out quickly and cleanly. Much appreciated.