NationStates

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The player behind the nation of Spyri was apparently allowed back on the site about 5 months ago, may we know the reasoning behind this?

For the record, I deleted a previous reply, because I hadn't noticed the nation's forum signature.

The player "Rifty" had their DOS status rescinded in May 2022, following a request from the player, which included acceptance of their previous poor behaviour, and an apology, as well as further information it wouldn't be appropriate for us to disclose. The mod team assessed the request and felt it was worth giving the player another chance on the site.

Okay, I have now removed a reply from a different player that contained a serious accusation that is completely inappropriate to post here. If there is information of that nature that you want us to consider, please submit a Getting Help Request.

Sedgistan wrote:Okay, I have now removed a reply from a different player that contained a serious accusation that is completely inappropriate to post here. If there is information of that nature that you want us to consider, please submit a Getting Help Request.

Really wish I got to see it.

Sedgistan wrote:For the record, I deleted a previous reply, because I hadn't noticed the nation's forum signature.

The player "Rifty" had their DOS status rescinded in May 2022, following a request from the player, which included acceptance of their previous poor behaviour, and an apology, as well as further information it wouldn't be appropriate for us to disclose. The mod team assessed the request and felt it was worth giving the player another chance on the site.

As Sedge mentioned the DOS was lifted in May of 2022. I didn't return until the creation of this account in May following stumbling across some NS shitpost on youtube and In truth didn't even notice it had been lifted until early 2023. I greatly appreciate that the Mod team considered what I said and lifted my DOS status.

I had rather an extensive history primarily of flaming/flamebaiting; When I look back at it Mods were very clear with what was acceptable and I consistently pushed that bar deliberately and then rattled up some BS arguments as to why it's okay for me to call someone a "cunt" because "im Australian" or some other deranged position was to why it was okay for me and not others. The site was effectively used as a playground for a very angry teenager and that just wasn't right.

Ontop of that we have the Forum destruction - which was hotheaded, over the top and probably one of the most vindictive things I've ever done. If I could go back and undo it, I would in a heartbeat.

I'm truly surprised I didn't receive the DOS status earlier as looking back I'm surprised with the extensive history and multiple puppet sweeps. I also didn't think the DOS would ever get lifted. The mod team made very clear it wasn't a fresh slate and if there was a return to previous behaviors then id be returned to being DOS. (see below)

Your request to return to the site has been considered by the Moderator team, and we have decided to lift your DoS status and allow you to return to the site. Please note that this is conditional on your good behaviour, and that if your old conduct returns you will be swiftly and permanently removed from the site. Please use this chance to return sensibly.

The site has changed a ton and it was really cool to return and see all the new things. Stuff like Policies, Cards and N-Day. I'm not all that interested in returning to R/D as I can see the culture around it has shifted and appears to be far more ideological these days and ima pass on that.

I'm just glad to be back and any wrongdoing people felt was targeted at them - I am very sorry.

Cute edit to your signature about being banned from Discords. Want to include for context the part where your profile pic is porn and your pronouns are set to ask to be shown tits? Even without your history, that would have gotten you banned on sight.

Someone with no interest in gameplay regions and a supposedly sincere apologetic stance probably shouldn't be ringing in their ban reversal announcement by trolling every GP region they can find a link to.

Ever-Wandering Souls wrote:Cute edit to your signature about being banned from Discords. Want to include for context the part where your profile pic is porn and your pronouns are set to ask to be shown tits? Even without your history, that would have gotten you banned on sight.

Someone with no interest in gameplay regions and a supposedly sincere apologetic stance probably shouldn't be ringing in their ban reversal announcement by trolling every GP region they can find a link to.

Not sure if this is turning into spamming moderation but if it is - Lock it down please

Well the context you're speaking of wasn't shared with me by a single person. Never would have thought that would lead to being denied access but hey if but a single person had said that is why to me - id gladly have corrected it for the server. I've never had issues with the profile pic or pronouns. I don't genuinely think that's why tho - but i'll take your advice, make a new discord for NS, make it as tame as possible and see if i'm welcome there

I'm sorry you've perceived it as trolling; wasn't my intention and in truth I don't think I have. My extent on discord so far has been literally joining a server, doing the onboarding, disclosing who I am and said "hello everybody". Not a single thing more has been done in any servers. I genuinely don't know what you could be perceiving as trolling.

Either way, I'm glad to be back and it's nice to see you're still around keeping well

Spyri wrote:

Ever-Wandering Souls wrote:Cute edit to your signature about being banned from Discords. Want to include for context the part where your profile pic is porn and your pronouns are set to ask to be shown tits? Even without your history, that would have gotten you banned on sight.

Someone with no interest in gameplay regions and a supposedly sincere apologetic stance probably shouldn't be ringing in their ban reversal announcement by trolling every GP region they can find a link to.

Not sure if this is turning into spamming moderation but if it is - Lock it down please

Well the context you're speaking of wasn't shared with me by a single person. Never would have thought that would lead to being denied access but hey if but a single person had said that is why to me - id gladly have corrected it for the server. I've never had issues with the profile pic or pronouns. I don't genuinely think that's why tho - but i'll take your advice, make a new discord for NS, make it as tame as possible and see if i'm welcome there

I'm sorry you've perceived it as trolling; wasn't my intention and in truth I don't think I have. My extent on discord so far has been literally joining a server, doing the onboarding, disclosing who I am and said "hello everybody". Not a single thing more has been done in any servers. I genuinely don't know what you could be perceiving as trolling.

Either way, I'm glad to be back and it's nice to see you're still around keeping well

You're sorry that it was perceived as trolling, so your solution is to go back into these places that you now know for a fact you are not welcome in under a new identity, making those same people worry that they're unknowingly harboring you? That does not sound very atoning to me, it sounds like you're still causing harm to our communities all this time later. Please take the hint and stick to NSG or somewhere you don't have a history of hurting people who are still playing and don't want you around.

The fact that they’re wearing their former DOS status in their signature as a badge of honour and threatening to violate bans imposed on them by individual region admins offsite in this very thread says everything the mod team should need to know about the authenticity of their remorse.

The willingness of the moderators to remove a DOS on the basis that “they said sorry” is extremely concerning to me.

Sedgistan wrote: The mod team assessed the request and felt it was worth giving the player another chance on the site.

“Worth it” for who exactly?

Two simple questions from me, really.

1. Is moderation confidently aware of Rifty's offsite stuff, its extent, etc?

2. If yes, was that a factor in rescinding the DoS?

Simply put, while I get staff is very reluctant to take offsite matters into account, there are often cases where a player finally slips up and gets the boot on-site, after years of offsite torment and nonsense, and we all breathe a sigh of relief. Mauroa, for example, had his issues onsite but finally bit the dust over a commercialization violation, you know, after nearly 5 years of harassing the shit out of me and others to call us slurs or whatever else. If he comes back in a few years and gets off the hook because he simply atones to staff satisfaction for his onsite stuff, that would be absurd. Such seems to be the actual case here.

Quebecshire wrote:Two simple questions from me, really.

1. Is moderation confidently aware of Rifty's offsite stuff, its extent, etc?

No player has actively submitted anything more than what amounts to hearsay via GHR. If you happen to have actual logs, etc, of information that would constitute a serious accusation, as Sedge mentioned earlier, please submit a GHR.

Quebecshire wrote:1. Is moderation confidently aware of Rifty's offsite stuff, its extent, etc?

Heck even id like to know what I did offsite because i'm drawing a blank here. Very few people I've even interacted with during my absence from this site.

Numero Capitan wrote:The fact that they’re wearing their former DOS status in their signature as a badge of honour

Badge of honor? I'm being honest about who I am. No one had issues with me prior to being upfront. It really feels like everyone would rather had me lie about who I am...

Numero Capitan wrote:threatening to violate bans imposed on them by individual region admins offsite in this very thread says everything the mod team should need to know about the authenticity of their remorse.

As souls said - I was removed from discords because of my PFP (which was tame, cropped Rule-34 art inwhich contained zero explicit content and has been there for 2 years) and my pronouns (which were she/them/tiddies). I'm saying i'll correct the issues and make a new discord so I can continue to keep my main how I like it and not infringe on discord server rules.

Now we all know this isn't why i'm allowed in - however I just want to be sure that is why i'm not welcome so I'll double check in every other discord and see if I still get the boot.

Outside of Bhang Bhang Duc stating his opinon and being clear as to why I'm not welcome within The West pacific - no one else has provided me any level of information other than Souls. Of course I won't attempt to rejoin TWP's discord as they don't want me there for reasons other than my pfp and pronoun. Reasons I respect and people are welcome to have. I don't expect people to treat me like I'm absolved of my sins but a bit of a backbone to be able to say "we don't want you here" would have been nice.

Numero Capitan wrote:The willingness of the moderators to remove a DOS on the basis that “they said sorry” is extremely concerning to me.

Brother It has been 8 years since I was declared DOS. 2 Years since I've been able to return. I've been back 5 months without a return to form so I think they made a good call on this one.

There was a bit more to it than just saying sorry - I've served my time and I'm glad the mods saw it the same way.

Ambroscus Koth wrote:You're sorry that it was perceived as trolling, so your solution is to go back into these places that you now know for a fact you are not welcome in under a new identity, making those same people worry that they're unknowingly harboring you?

I know for a fact I'm not welcome in TWP because of who I am. That's the only fact I know. Every other server i'm going of what people who have remained on this site in my absence are telling me is why.

Not suggesting I make it so people unknowingly harbor me. I have been nothing but upfront about who I am with my entry into every single discord. I again would be doing the same but correcting the issues souls advised me were why I wasn't welcome in any discord.

Ambroscus Koth wrote:That does not sound very atoning to me, it sounds like you're still causing harm to our communities all this time later.

I don't need to atone; I've served my time. I need to act like a decent human being and not abuse people on the forums is what I need to do.

Numero Capitan wrote:The willingness of the moderators to remove a DOS on the basis that “they said sorry” is extremely concerning to me.

This is a misrepresentation of what was said.

The further speculation and commentary on a player's status on the site is not appropriate, and the thread is therefore being locked. Please refer to above comments from myself and Aav regarding GHRs if people have information they want us to consider about a player that is not appropriate for forum posting.

Earlier in this thread, we invited players to file a Getting Help Request if they had reason to suspect that the player "Rifty" had acted in a way that would give cause for us to prevent them from being part of NationStates. In the weeks that followed, we received several reports which contained enough information where we could investigate. These reports can be summarised by the assertion that Rifty harassed another player to the point of instructing them to commit suicide, which that player later acted on, ending their life. At least insofar as what has been reported to us, this appears to be the primary basis on which the concern with Rifty rests.

In the several months that followed, we investigated this matter to the fullest extent possible for an event that took place ten years prior. We reached out to a variety of sources, direct and indirect, for key information and context, before performing our own digging into the available data in the game itself. We determined that the nation of the player who allegedly committed suicide was named "Thalsyer". We also determined that the primary source of the information about that player's alleged suicide came from the nation "Ryanimus". However, we know that these two nations are controlled by the same player, both being puppets of the nation "Parxland". Any player who received these allegations was, therefore, deceived and manipulated.

As an additional point of clarification, it seems to have been often-cited in various off-site chats that the incident with Thalsyer preceded a similarly-themed incident baiting Festavo. In reality they took place in the opposite order and it's possible, though conjecture, that Festavo's baiting (which exists in our evidence locker) was the foundation of making the Thalsyer conspiracy more convincing when it was constructed some months later, as it would have been an escalation in a pattern of behaviour.

We are choosing to make the details on the above public, due to the seriousness of the allegations and their widespread nature, and because our evidence conclusively proves them to be false. We're grateful for the players who took the time to make reports with detailed evidence that allowed us to proceed with this investigation, and found those reports to have been made in good faith.

Nevertheless, an unfortunate aspect of the internet is that people do occasionally fake their own deaths -- sometimes to escape a community, sometimes for manipulative reasons. Among the many allegations communicated to us was one that Rifty had "committed an act of murder", including from players who did not join NationStates until many years after the event. In these cases, it's worth highlighting the dangers of misinformation, and the necessity for being discerning in the face of widespread assumption.

Any other concerns about this or another player can always be submitted with evidence via GHR, and we will investigate within our abilities to keep players safe. For now, however, this case appears to be concluded.