Thank You for 10 Years NationStates!

[Saint Block]

Just never mind.

[Reventus Koth]

Glad you're over the grudges, not like you had any right to perpetuate them. Maybe in time, the hurt you caused will fade and people might learn to forgive you.

Probably not though, so I'm not sure why you keep trying.

[Saint Block]

Thank you Koth. For what it’s worth, I never bode you any ill will. I hope you’ve been doing well.

[Reventus Koth]

I honestly, legitimately don't care. It was never about what you thought about me, you never hurt me like you hurt others. Maybe before I banned you from the TBH server, you were trying to make amends with Souls. Maybe you seriously believe this time you can clear your name and turn over a new leaf.

How many times will we have to go through this? You're a wolf that can't fit into the sheep's clothing anymore, man. That's not me trying to shit on you, I've already paid the price on this very forum for doing that. I'm just sick of seeing you do the good boy act again, getting back into everyone's good wills again, and then going off the rails, again. I would feel irresponsible letting you do that to people yet another time. This isn't about grudges.

I've been doing well, and I hope you're able to do well anywhere else but here.

[Saint Block]

Oh you’re mistaken. I’m not trying to get into anyone’s good graces. I’ve been doing the native thing. But yes, I was trying to talk to Souls about OOC things, and I still hope to. Things are going well for me a around, and I’m glad things are going well for you old friend.

[Cormactopia Prime]

You didn't do as much to me as others, just some hurtful words here and there, but for whatever it's worth I forgive you for those. I can't forgive you for anything you did to anyone else, because that's not my place or anyone else's to forgive. I wish you well though and I'm glad you seem to be doing better.

That said, I earnestly believe you shouldn't be involved in gameplay again, and I hope you're not going to try to be. But I wish you the best in real life.

[Saint Block]

Thank you Cormac. We never really interacted much. You did ride with that old Osiris crew that I never really got along with though. I’m really sorry for the hurtful words I said. I don’t expect to be allowed into the main gameplay regions any more. I’ve probably had more chances than anyone in this game, and like I said, I’m left with nothing but ashes. I have friends everywhere though. But even they won’t allow me in their regions. I can understand though. I’m a nice guy except for when I’m not. I’m actively working on reigning that in. The first step I took was leaving The Phere of players where I had surrounded myself with people I now understand I shouldn’t have. I did some self reflection, and I’m giving this a solid go somewhere obscure so I can enjoy the game and hopefully make a difference. As far as getting into R/D, that will probably never happen. My schedule no longer really allows for it. Plus the game has changed so much I can no longer keep up in the battlefield. Raiding used to be a lot simpler.

As far as real life goes, it’s going great! When I was started this game, II was two years away from getting my GED. After that, I worked everywhere from construction, to retail and fast food. Now I work at a facility making nuclear fuel. And I’m still happily married and all that too. I hope life has been good to you too, Cormac. I’ve always enjoyed watching the way you play. You’re one of the few who keep the game interesting.

[Armaros]

I don't really know you, the only thing I remember you from was my first week or two in TI. Anyways, best of luck with what you're doing, and I'm happy that things are going well for you. Hope it keeps going that way.

[Saint Block]

Thank you Jo. I’m glad to see you ended up in Unknown. You have a great and storied region there. I’m sure you’ll do great things for them to add to the Cruor Pantheon.

[Tim-Opolis]

Gameplay would be better off without you, as would the community.

Koth hit the nail on the head with the statement that you're a wolf who doesn't fit his sheep's clothing anymore. Why don't you go back to trying to sneak in with aliases again, your main isn't going to become welcome.

[Saint Block]

My longest rival. Thank you for chiming in, Tim. Hope you’ve been well.

[General Knot]

I even knew that Ivo who was from spiritus was counter spying on me in Project Soul. Which interestingly enough, turns out I led Ivo who later became known as Knot on his first raids.

Nonsense. You only knew after I told you about it way after.

I know you've got some good things going in your life. I'd rather you focus on those things rather than this dumb game, but hey, live your life. Good luck.

[Saint Block]

I knew! I totally knew! You made it obvious by telegraming me in order to change the WFE of Project Soul, since it was patterned after Spiritus.

Things are going really well, and I hope they are for you as well.

As far as why I’m still here in the game, there’s still some things I’d like to accomplish one day.

[RiderSyl]

I don't think you've really changed, Block. I think you're just putting on a facade. I hope I'm wrong.

[Wycliffe]

I didn't want to have to come back here, but it's important to me that people don't forget the horrible things Block has done and the complete insincerity of everything he is trying to make up for here.

The contributions Block has made to the toxicity of Gameplay are innumerable and unforgivable. This is a character who has, repeatedly, at every turn, squandered every chance for rehabilitation given to him by the people in GP. Despite every offer of forgiveness, open-mindedness and good will, he has unfailingly rejected any lasting chance to be civil. To say that he 'made mistakes' in Grand Central is a vast understatement. The kind of behavior he exhibited is the one of the largest reasons I left in the first place. Block was the sole and undisputed provocateur of bullying, infighting, toxicity, name-calling, and what can only be described on-site as borderline harassment. His actions were extremely hurtful to the point where many citizens of Grand Central, a modestly active and prosperous region, quit the government and eventually the region because they couldn't stand to deal with him anymore. In PMs, the exchanges were nasty, because he never hesitated to say the most hurtful things possible- to my memory, strong and harmful transphobia, intentional provoking of various individuals with short tempers into flame battles, the vicious and repeated engagements with citizens with the express intent of frustrating them to the point of quitting. Among other things. And this isn't to mention the crude nature of the political arguments he would start, intentionally baiting people with loaded questions in order to sling ad hominem attacks at them and escalate tension far beyond a breaking point.

When a consensus was reached that these actions were no longer tolerable, which took excruciatingly long due to the reticence of Grand Central's old guard, he resorted to impersonation. With the aid of the then-leader of the Kingdom of Great Britain, he disguised himself as another player and exerted his influence within the region, becoming an administrator on the forums- after we had tried so hard to move on from his harmful tenure as root admin of the GC forum. This was eventually unmasked, thanks largely in part to investigative efforts on the part of, if I recall correctly, Tom and Sygian, among others.

There were many times- and I mean many times- where we, or I personally, had private conversations with Block to try and make him understand that his behavior was completely unacceptable for our community, and of course for NS as a whole. At times, he seemed to acknowledge what we were trying to convey to him, but within days or weeks it always devolved into more toxicity. Block's many infractions nearly led to his permanent banning from the site, and no one would have been surprised had that eventually transpired. Later on, he was complicit in the infamous and equally toxic trainwreck that was the Invaders in 2017, alongside Drunken Conquerors.

I was informed, in my private conversations with others, that Block has had many points in his NS career where things settled down, and he was able to function normally. And yet, every time, he has found a way to ostracize himself from mainstream gameplay with his divisive rhetoric, toxic behaviors and problematic attitudes. I didn't intend to be making any more posts on the forums, but to me, it is very important that people in GP don't forget the insidious past Block has, and his long history of apologizing, appearing to redeem himself and utilizing that forgiveness to turn around and continue harming the gameplay community. It is simply unacceptable what he has done, for which he has never shown any serious shred of remorse, even though his actions have led to actual emotional harm upon the players with whom he was involved. It would appall me to see him accepted back into the fold of Gameplay with yet another snide letter and a completely uncaring attitude towards the things has done and the people he has hurt. I hope everyone who reads this understands the kind of player we are dealing with, and why any attempted comeback or reintegration into the GP community can only end in more harm. Block should do himself a favor and keep to himself and the life he leads outside of NS, instead of trying to get involved again so we arrive at the same inevitable result in a few months.

As an aside, I do not claim to have a flawless memory of the events which occurred in 2016, but regardless I stand by the specific incidents I have mentioned.

- Ikania

[Saint Block]

Oh hey Ike, good to see my old Canadian buddy is still around and kicking.

Ah Syl! Oh I’ve missed your style of gameplay. Keep it up!

[Wycliffe]

True to form.

[Saint Block]

How’s Grand Central been doing since I left it in your capable hands?

[Klaus Devestatorie]

Things certainly were interesting back then. What I had left out was that Avakael helped convince me to shut down the forums. He was my friend and I trusted him. He had started just a couple months before me on NationStates. He told me that it would be an interesting and effective way to get Grand Central going again. What I didn’t know was his annimosty towards St. Mason who was in The Brotherhood of Blood which was the precursor to Unknown.

I used to hoard logs the way a crazy old lady hoards dead cats. I've still got the relevant ones for this, too. What a load of shit.



We hadn't discussed Grand Central once in the preceding two months. When we had discussed Grand Central at all in the entire preceding YEAR, it was either you flat out trying to poach me for Grand Central, me talking about the grudge I used to have against St Mason, me helping you with graphics or forum administrative stuff, or you complaining about how clashing with Tim was making Grand Central so not-fun for you. You know, the real reason why you deleted everything.

By the way, you're accusing me, of that? Of all people? In 2012, of all years? I made ending this kind of stuff my mission on this site, remember? When I was completely and truly obsessed with doing nothing less than putting Gerzam and Rougiers in the ground for good? You nuked Grand Centrals forums LESS THAN A WEEK after the forums of Ravenstadt were deleted in an effort to frame me. The absolute peak of that stupid moral crusade.

And you know what? I went into bat for you, later, over this. I was the ONLY PERSON who went into bat for you so you could return to mainstream gameplay. There was a different class of people doing that crap back then, a class of player that doesn't exist anymore today. People who took some sort of diabolical professional pride in forum destruction, people who were actually scary to deal with if you didn't know how to deal with them or what to look for. You, on the other hand, actually seemed to realise that you'd fucked up, and were completely miserable about it, and wanted to make amends, and I'd never seen that before. I copped a lot of shit over this, even years later standing up for you against Tim and Cormac and others.

And to blame the motive on St Mason? Dude. He was DEAD. DEAD IN THE REAL WORLD. He'd been dead a year already. Why didn't we like each other? He threw an incredibly irritating and cringe worthy, multi-months long tantrum over access to The Commonwealth's recruitment tools, and screenshots leaked from Grand Central's original forum by me displaying his contempt for The Commonwealth were the reason why he lost that access. We didn't know how to have a civil conversation. We were NOT mortal enemies. I avoided fighting with him at Savaer's request, because of his history in The Brotherhood of Blood. You think I'd salt a real world grave with a pair of dead forums? If I was actually FUCKED IN THE HEAD enough to take that kind of revenge, there was a dozen less convoluted ways to do it, like pushing Grand Central to a refound, hawking the place off you and sticking up a Commonwealth flag. Not brainwashing you into doing it.

[Klaus Devestatorie]

And while I think of it, you bloody well better not be the jackass who showed up a couple weeks ago and started impersonating St Mason. When reported, moderation told me that this was not actionable. I cannot possibly fucking fathom why.

[Cormactopia Prime]

Well, if there was any question about whether Block had really turned over a new leaf, I think Avakael's posts answered it. He hasn't.

[RiderSyl]

And while I think of it, you bloody well better not be the jackass who showed up a couple weeks ago and started impersonating St Mason. When reported, moderation told me that this was not actionable. I cannot possibly fucking fathom why.

Ugh. Whether it's Block or not, moderation shouldn't be letting someone impersonate an individual that's presumed dead IRL.

[Klaus Devestatorie]

And while I think of it, you bloody well better not be the jackass who showed up a couple weeks ago and started impersonating St Mason. When reported, moderation told me that this was not actionable. I cannot possibly fucking fathom why.

Ugh. Whether it's Block or not, moderation shouldn't be letting someone impersonate an individual that's presumed dead IRL.

Apparently, it was approved as a "memorial". This is extremely confusing, because we went to every single TBOB member still active in the game, and all of them said it wasn't them.

[Saint Block]

Those are some nice logs you have there. I’m glad to see that you’re still great at photoshop, pal.

[Haselandt]

W h e w, the angst and emotional baggage dredged up by this thread is something else. And the title sounded so cheerful, too.