I have lost all respect for the mods, Max Barry, and this entire site.
The ridiculous and unjust three-day ban that I received on the grounds of “trolling” and the even more ridiculous and highly condescending reply to my appeal are the final straw. Merely telling the truth and stating cold, hard facts isn't "trolling".
I'm putting this out here on NSG where players are most likely to read it because I believe that everyone has a right to know what has happened here and why this site sucks and ask themselves if they still want to be part of such a frankly toxic community.
What the mods did was engage in a completely arbitrary, ideological suppression of ideas, in this particular case, Zionist ideas, by deeming them “too extreme” for civil debate and good-faith discussion in classic SJW style. To this effect, my entire worldview has been arbitrarily labeled “trolling”. This is why leftists dominate this site. The mods are as much a part and parcel of cancel culture as the woke leftist and Muslim players on here. This is entirely on them.
So here’s why I’m quitting NS:
1.
As certain players who have been around for far longer than me have testified, the quality of moderation has deteriorated markedly in recent years. A combination of moderator bias and the existing rule set has, whether intentionally or unintentionally, ensured that right-wing players are far more likely to get warned, banned, and deleted on sight while unironic communists and woke leftists are often able to get away with so much more for years at a time before finding themselves DEATed.
The site rules themselves are problematic. I've been exploring a number of subreddits (some more strict and others more laid-back) recently and their rules with regards to trolling are so much clearer and a lot more concise than this incoherent OSRS drivel, including the rule on trolling, which aligns with the much more clear-cut definition used throughout the rest of the internet. Not to mention that many of these rule sets actually take the time to elaborate on a number of hypotheticals just for the sake of clarity, which the mods here have refused to do, thereby condemning otherwise perfectly decent, rule-abiding players to fall through the cracks. Rules-lawyering doesn't seem to be such a huge problem on Reddit.
It's not as if I made absolutely no effort to follow the rules to the letter. It's not as if I was under the illusion that "certain rules don't apply to me". This is pure BS and the mods know it.
I'd rather not stick around and end up getting banned and eventually deleted over the most arbitrary of reasons. I'd rather not have to verbally castrate myself and conceal my true beliefs just to appease a certain subset of players who are simply unable to handle even the slightest criticism of their religion, culture, or ideology without blowing up in my face. I refuse to allow the mods to have that kind of power over me. I spent years building my nations from scratch and answering countless issues on all of them. Therefore, I intend to quit NS on my own terms and at my own pace. I'll be grieving the loss of my nations and my time spent on NS, but the unjust, three-day ban against me is my cue to walk.
If I'm no longer permitted to debate with certain players without getting banned for my views, then I have no choice but to put them all on ignore. Not that it matters either way since I won't even be around. It's the thought that counts.
2.
As a direct result of reason No. 1, this site is now totally dominated by woke, radical leftists who have managed to bring their real-world political drama and cancel culture mindset with them onto the site and thoroughly ruin what would otherwise have been a far more enjoyable experience. This is the reason I left the WA and ditched gameplay altogether. The constant gloating from a certain subset of players boasting about how they have the ideological upper hand in WA votes simply wasn't worth putting up with. For the same reason, NSG has devolved into an echo chamber where woke leftists pat each other on the back and swiftly rush to dogpile, shout down, guilt-trip, and gaslight more moderate, centrist, or right-wing players such as myself in a concerted attempt to drive us off the site or otherwise drive us completely batshit insane.
I'd rather not have to spend hours of my time on NSG and lose countless good nights of sleep just because someone is wrong on the internet. It's proven hugely disruptive and I honestly have far better things to do.
3.
I'm being canceled for the "crime" of standing up for what's right and just and proper. I'm being canceled for standing up for my sincerely-held beliefs simply because certain groups find those beliefs deeply offensive and their feelings have been deemed way more important than my right to have an honestly-held opinion, however civilly expressed. I grew up in a city whose freedoms are slowly being eroded by communists and I live in an a Muslim country where saying the things I got banned for will land me a years-long prison sentence. This is who you're canceling. It's nice to know the mods would rather side with communists, Islamists, and those unbelievably rich, cancel-culture woke SJWs in Big Tech and muzzle me all over again.
And before you tell me to start a blog or something, think again. It's far too risky for me to do so given where I live and how much I stand to lose. I gave up posting my social and political views on Facebook for the very same reason. I'm not ready to go to jail.
I'm going to have a hard time finding a messageboard that isn't just a left-wing or a right-wing echo chamber, or overly U.S.-centric, where my views won't be received with overwhelming hostility, let alone banned by the mods outright. NSG was the only place I could truly call home, and Facebook before that, even if it wasn't entirely comfortable living. So thank you so much for ensuring that people like me no longer have a voice and that we deserve to suffer in silence while our governments and extremist groups walk all over us and dehumanize us with total impunity. You guys must be so proud of yourselves.
4.
It's one thing to stand my ground at all costs and refuse to be baited, slandered, flamed, dogpiled, and gaslit off the site by certain players operating in obvious bad faith. It's another thing when the mods take it upon themselves to side with these bad actors and force me off the site for several days at a time because their feelings were hurt by my attempts to reason with them and push back against hate. There is nothing I can do to prevent the mods from permanently driving me off the entire site by force. Their arbitrary and unjust ruling against me, along with several others over the past year, have made it virtually impossible for me to remain on NS and impossible for me to honestly state my beliefs and defend them in good faith.
5.
I'd rather not waste time answering NS issues whose outcomes, particularly with respect to civil rights, are hugely unpredictable and guaranteed to get on any reasonable person's nerves and potentially ruin their day. I have great difficulty believing that none of these issues were intended to deceive the player in any way. I call BS.
Some final thoughts before I sign off for good.
To all those players who messaged me in private to let me know that they considered me a role model and a perfect example of someone who stands up to leftist and Islamist insanity, injustice, and cancel culture, I'm not the hero you want me to be and I apologize. I'm just an ordinary guy with strongly-held opinions whom the entire world is conspiring to cancel and shut down along with millions of others just like you and me. If, like me, you feel you have been wronged by the mods, then I would advise you to quit this site altogether, particularly if you're not already deeply invested in other aspects of the site such as issues, RP, GP, nation-building, or something else I haven't thought about. Just #WalkAway and don't let these people control your life.
To the mods, feel free to lock this post and ban me for whatever rules you think I may have inadvertently broken in this post. I won't be around to witness the fallout. This post is actually a shorter version of a much longer draft that has been heavily trimmed and edited for brevity and adherence to site rules.
Finally, some shoutouts are in order. I want to thank Nakena, Fahran, Ostroeuropa, Galloism, -Ra-, Aureumterra, Dumb Ideologies, Nekostan e-Gharbi, Ghost Land, Hirota, Kexholm Karelia, North German Realm, LimaUniformNovemberAlpha, Bombadil, Novus America, West Leas Oros (who did nothing wrong), Tuthina (wonder if she's OK?), and Valentine Z for making NS a better place to hang around, for being generally pleasant people to be around, and for doing a far better job than me of pushing back against the overwhelming tide of leftist and Islamist insanity. I would have you guys know that I added all of you to my Friend List. You people are a voice of reason and you clearly don't need me around to continue doing what you're doing. Good luck, good health, and I bid you all farewell.
This is Glorious Hong Kong (formerly New Bremerton) signing off for the last time.
Peace out.
