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ResetEra Discussion -- Stay civil. Don't get personal. Keep it in here.

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MrFunSocks

Banned
NcI6JzB.png


From the ND anti-black thread......
Can't have too much hate and anger directed at their beloved Naughty Gods.

That part where that chick explains titty fucking to that weird virgin guy is so strange. "You can do more than touch em you can titty fuck em too"

Like this guy is nearly 40 and doesnt know about titty fucking? Wherever he stands politically, I now believe the opposite.
Yeah it's a 40 year old virgin making up stories for sure. Next he'll say they felt like a bag of sand.
 

nush

Member
Yeah it's a 40 year old virgin making up stories for sure. Next he'll say they felt like a bag of sand.

I don't think so, he's a clueless unreliable narrator working night shift with some deadbeats who don't have to put in much effort as they have a cushy government job.

The single mum is trying to extort him.
The other work colleague is just teasing him as he's such a clueless virgin just for fun. Except he thinks it's real.

There's more, so much more.
 

betrayal

Banned
I think it is also very obvious that this person has serious psychological problems. These people live in their own distorted world.

If the forum would suddenly cease to exist, you could very safely expect some suicides, countless psychoses and worse. But it would also be a chance for some to start a therapy to finally start living.
 

Freeman76

Member

This is a good one

Poor OP doesnt realise he is surrounded by cancel culture cunts and expects everyone to get the violin out for him 😂😂😂
 

nush

Member
I think it is also very obvious that this person has serious psychological problems.

She made a huge mod post last week that clearly showed she has lost it, it wasnt even funny Ree mod power tripping anymore. It was pure persecution complex paranoia burnout directed at an Asian poster who just disagreed with her.
 
Last edited:
Hello folks, I have not posted on NeoGaf in approximately three years. I joined this website shortly before the schism happened, I was excited about a new gaming community based on values I believe in (tolerance, equality, etc.), and in fact I became a prominent member there, with over 21k posts to boot. I was thrilled about a pro-active staff I've said and done my share of stupid things, antagonized members, lost my cool at times, for which I did catch some warnings and bans - once every couple thousand posts over the span of 3 years is not that bad imho. Never been a role model but I believe I behaved well enough most of the time.

I recently have been permabanned after an escalation of events that, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. I reported several posts in an off-topic community I was involved with that devolved into blatant xenophobia and personal attacks, attacked multiple people trolling, reported people doxxing folks off the website. Pretty much every single one of these reports has been ignored by staff. I don't think it's news for most people that the quality of the discourse has been deteriorating in a variety of areas, but I've never been the kind of person to just shut up about it and suck it up, I demanded positive change, but my many reports, me contacting staff on the website or hitting up moderators I know on Discord or other platforms had exactly 0 results and positive changes. Keep in mind ResetEra bans public discussion on moderation, but if they ignore reports and staff messages, where exactly are you supposed to point out blatant wrongdoing?

So, after yet another discussion arose about moderation, this time in the Xbox studios thread, after other people already spoke up (and got subsequently banned) I explained my case, pointing out the very same things I said here and more: reports and staff messages have been ignored, community issues have not been dealt with, and in fact 2 of the 4 main gaming platforms' communities' core migrated elsewhere, several off-topic communities moved almost exclusively to Discords, several minority communities (one of the bastions of ResetEra, a safe haven for marginalized people) have indeed been chased off thanks to the deaf moderation. Outside of Era, a lot of members expressed gratitude for pointing all this out, risking my account to shed light on something that has been bothering a lot of people. Staff was not amused, and initially issued me a one month ban for, and I quote this directly, "Grossly misappropriating and mischaracterizing minority concerns for the sake of platform warring".

I think anyone who reads that post can comprehend that I pointed out that several communities left due to moderation issues, not that I believe TransEra is facing the exact same issues as Xbox fans or pop music lovers. But all of them inevitably have to deal with the consequences of a staff's moderation that, in the past year or so, has been infamous for some of the following incidents (these are just some that come to my mind and that I can easily find while being banned):
  1. Minutes after Kobe Bryant's death, people who reminded folks he was accused of rape have been banned, with messages insulting these members going unpunished. It's a stance, whether you agree with it or not, pretty strict and clear. Yet, just hours later, staff completely reversed their stance, without changing their prior bans or lack thereof, deciding to immediately ban literally anyone who said it's not really the time to discuss the rape allegations, deciding to instead not moderate anyone who does. Flip-flopping on this hours after a person's death was really in poor taste.
  2. The infamous TransEra incident, where a prominent member was initially permabanned for speaking up against site-wide and staff-wide issues, with the reason for the ban being completely fabricated. After lengthy protests by the users and several self-requested bans, multiple attempts to silence discussions and banning people who brought it up, staff chose to acknowledge the issues and allow severely guidelined discussions of it, discussions that didn't really improve anything. Learning nothing from the incident, staff since chose to once again ban said member for speaking up against staff and, ultimately, permaban them for good altogether for an issue that is certainly marginal compared to everything else that happened. We lost a valued member of the community who contributed greatly to the website, with staff clearly showing they were just waiting for the right moment to silently get rid of an outspoken member.
  3. A similar incident, this time with AsianEra where another prominent member got permabanned for pointing out how staff pretty much handwaved everything the Asian community suggested. Several threads such as this were made in support, all closed down, with once again many self-requested bans from people who rightfully felt to be considered second class citizen by staff. The user got eventually unbanned (after a very long time and after many users have been lost forever), and this incident encouraged the staff to open a suggestions thread.
  4. This suggestion thread is only visible and open to certain members, and it openly threadbans people from discussing bans and specific incidents, so users can only speak very broadly, never able to make proper examples of what's wrong and how to improve. Staff very frequently responds to lengthy questions, criticisms and suggestions with witty one liners and self-pity about how moderators don't have the time or the will to deal with all that stuff. I was excited about the idea of such a thread, but the execution feels like staff just wanting to have a dedicated space for complaints just so that they can contain and ignore them more easily.
  5. And to have a gaming example, this entire year of next-gen discussions has been downright embarassing, thanks to staff choosing to allow blatant fake information to spread from unreliable sources, instead banning folks who choose to doubt these "facts". Starting from verifying and stanning Kleegamefan, whose information turned out to be widely inaccurate; passing by Matt's many false statements, like the one about PS5 having a Smart Delivery system; not forgetting of course the quickly debunked Fable MMO rumors, confirmed even by a moderator only to be debunked by several other more reliable people; or, most recently, how they allowed that batshit insanity of the "Series X is hot!" thing to spread for a day, only stopping it because users were starting to insult each other, not because of, you know, every insider and even the so-called source of the rumor debunking the thesis.
These are just some of the most notable incidents I could think of, but lately there's at least one major community incident with several bans. I'm not gonna play the martyr card, nor claim I've been an unbiased member. I write for Xbox-centric publications, so that is where my main interests and contacts rely, hence it's the gaming theme I am most familiar with and that I can most easily call out bullshit on. Being a minority myself and having been marginalized in my life, I wanted to be part of something great on ResetEra, and when things were falling apart, I wanted to be a part of a positive change to turn the site back into what it was. Which was never perfect, far from it, but in many ways I still preferred it over most gaming communities, even with all the overzelaous banning and some outrage that felt rather fabricated rather than genuine.

Fast forward to our days. After my ban, I decided to contact staff about my month ban, once again pointing out some of the various issues I faced in recent times, including various xenophobic posts' reports that have gone ignored and an increased amount of trolling and ad hominem attacks in a variety of communities I'm involved with. I pointed out that I'm no saint, that I've got my bans for dumb shit, but my worries come from a place of care and passion, and that I want a positive change. I ended my message pointing out that if in this lengthy timeframe of a month my post goes once again ignored or is dismissed in a way that ignores all that I said, I'll probably refrain from posting on the website again.

This was used as a trump card by staff, who after over 3 weeks did get back to me. All my issues, criticism, suggestions and questions were ignored, with the anonymous staff member citing my continued hostility and the fact that I'm kinda planning to leave the site anyway to stealthily change my status to permabanned, without even allowing me to say goodbye to the many communities I was involved with, the OTs I run and so on. To add salt to the wound, my permaban was further justified by staff by citing an incident almost two years earlier in which I posted a meme that, out of context, could be interpreted as transphobic, despite the thread derailing into emoji-filled copy-pastas, including one that mocked an infamous Battlefield V Reddit post which, unlike mine, was clearly interpreted as satire and not a representation of the user's views. A brief look at the threads I make and the interactions I've had in off-topic would clearly reveal to anyone what are my views on social themes, but the staff decided to dunk on me for an extremely old incident to paint me as a transphobe.

I'm not looking for sympathy, for likes, nor I'm trying to get a welcome hug. I have my issues with NeoGAF, and I'm not trying to redeem myself in this community's eyes or be an active part of it. Hell, I expect users to not agree with a variety of things I said, perhaps even mock me for believing in what that website claimed to represent. But I'm writing this because ResetEra ignored my reports, my staff messages, staff I managed to contact on Discord and such was unable/uninterested in helping, most Discords affiliated with the website don't allow discussion on these matters, and they've found a real phony way to stealth permaban me from the website for good, despite being there since day 1 and having contributed to the website in a huge variety of ways. They silenced me, removed from the equation because I dared complain about moderation. I now came here because I looked back in curiosity and seen various great members of Era coming back here after getting banned for the dumbest reasons, people who, like me, got burnt by the fact that the tolerant and respectful policies they like to brag about are totally not what they seem. So, while it's most certainly too late for me to go back (something I would probably not even want to do unless moderation changes drastically), my story being out there can perhaps help initiate a positive change, hopefully even explain better what was the website when it started and how it evolved from the mouth of someone who's been largely present in most of the steps along the way.

Thanks to anyone who decides to read my wall of text. If nothing else, at the very least it's been cathartic to be able to put this out without Era moderation immediately locking the thread and banning anyone who participated.
 
Take a deep breath, allow yourself to decompress and recognise that all that stuff that goes on over there isn't really important. It's a bunch of people locked in a puritanical Charybis spiral, round and round they go, deeper and deeper. But now you're on dry land. Albeit this is Neogaf still so in my metaphor I guess that makes this place Scylla. But whilst Scylla may have her own issues, she probably won't ban you for having an opinion.
 

nush

Member
Hello folks, I have not posted on NeoGaf in approximately three years. I joined this website shortly before the schism happened, I was excited about a new gaming community based on values I believe in (tolerance, equality, etc.), and in fact I became a prominent member there, with over 21k posts to boot. I was thrilled about a pro-active staff I've said and done my share of stupid things, antagonized members, lost my cool at times, for which I did catch some warnings and bans - once every couple thousand posts over the span of 3 years is not that bad imho. Never been a role model but I believe I behaved well enough most of the time.

I recently have been permabanned after an escalation of events that, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. I reported several posts in an off-topic community I was involved with that devolved into blatant xenophobia and personal attacks, attacked multiple people trolling, reported people doxxing folks off the website. Pretty much every single one of these reports has been ignored by staff. I don't think it's news for most people that the quality of the discourse has been deteriorating in a variety of areas, but I've never been the kind of person to just shut up about it and suck it up, I demanded positive change, but my many reports, me contacting staff on the website or hitting up moderators I know on Discord or other platforms had exactly 0 results and positive changes. Keep in mind ResetEra bans public discussion on moderation, but if they ignore reports and staff messages, where exactly are you supposed to point out blatant wrongdoing?

So, after yet another discussion arose about moderation, this time in the Xbox studios thread, after other people already spoke up (and got subsequently banned) I explained my case, pointing out the very same things I said here and more: reports and staff messages have been ignored, community issues have not been dealt with, and in fact 2 of the 4 main gaming platforms' communities' core migrated elsewhere, several off-topic communities moved almost exclusively to Discords, several minority communities (one of the bastions of ResetEra, a safe haven for marginalized people) have indeed been chased off thanks to the deaf moderation. Outside of Era, a lot of members expressed gratitude for pointing all this out, risking my account to shed light on something that has been bothering a lot of people. Staff was not amused, and initially issued me a one month ban for, and I quote this directly, "Grossly misappropriating and mischaracterizing minority concerns for the sake of platform warring".

I think anyone who reads that post can comprehend that I pointed out that several communities left due to moderation issues, not that I believe TransEra is facing the exact same issues as Xbox fans or pop music lovers. But all of them inevitably have to deal with the consequences of a staff's moderation that, in the past year or so, has been infamous for some of the following incidents (these are just some that come to my mind and that I can easily find while being banned):
  1. Minutes after Kobe Bryant's death, people who reminded folks he was accused of rape have been banned, with messages insulting these members going unpunished. It's a stance, whether you agree with it or not, pretty strict and clear. Yet, just hours later, staff completely reversed their stance, without changing their prior bans or lack thereof, deciding to immediately ban literally anyone who said it's not really the time to discuss the rape allegations, deciding to instead not moderate anyone who does. Flip-flopping on this hours after a person's death was really in poor taste.
  2. The infamous TransEra incident, where a prominent member was initially permabanned for speaking up against site-wide and staff-wide issues, with the reason for the ban being completely fabricated. After lengthy protests by the users and several self-requested bans, multiple attempts to silence discussions and banning people who brought it up, staff chose to acknowledge the issues and allow severely guidelined discussions of it, discussions that didn't really improve anything. Learning nothing from the incident, staff since chose to once again ban said member for speaking up against staff and, ultimately, permaban them for good altogether for an issue that is certainly marginal compared to everything else that happened. We lost a valued member of the community who contributed greatly to the website, with staff clearly showing they were just waiting for the right moment to silently get rid of an outspoken member.
  3. A similar incident, this time with AsianEra where another prominent member got permabanned for pointing out how staff pretty much handwaved everything the Asian community suggested. Several threads such as this were made in support, all closed down, with once again many self-requested bans from people who rightfully felt to be considered second class citizen by staff. The user got eventually unbanned (after a very long time and after many users have been lost forever), and this incident encouraged the staff to open a suggestions thread.
  4. This suggestion thread is only visible and open to certain members, and it openly threadbans people from discussing bans and specific incidents, so users can only speak very broadly, never able to make proper examples of what's wrong and how to improve. Staff very frequently responds to lengthy questions, criticisms and suggestions with witty one liners and self-pity about how moderators don't have the time or the will to deal with all that stuff. I was excited about the idea of such a thread, but the execution feels like staff just wanting to have a dedicated space for complaints just so that they can contain and ignore them more easily.
  5. And to have a gaming example, this entire year of next-gen discussions has been downright embarassing, thanks to staff choosing to allow blatant fake information to spread from unreliable sources, instead banning folks who choose to doubt these "facts". Starting from verifying and stanning Kleegamefan, whose information turned out to be widely inaccurate; passing by Matt's many false statements, like the one about PS5 having a Smart Delivery system; not forgetting of course the quickly debunked Fable MMO rumors, confirmed even by a moderator only to be debunked by several other more reliable people; or, most recently, how they allowed that batshit insanity of the "Series X is hot!" thing to spread for a day, only stopping it because users were starting to insult each other, not because of, you know, every insider and even the so-called source of the rumor debunking the thesis.
These are just some of the most notable incidents I could think of, but lately there's at least one major community incident with several bans. I'm not gonna play the martyr card, nor claim I've been an unbiased member. I write for Xbox-centric publications, so that is where my main interests and contacts rely, hence it's the gaming theme I am most familiar with and that I can most easily call out bullshit on. Being a minority myself and having been marginalized in my life, I wanted to be part of something great on ResetEra, and when things were falling apart, I wanted to be a part of a positive change to turn the site back into what it was. Which was never perfect, far from it, but in many ways I still preferred it over most gaming communities, even with all the overzelaous banning and some outrage that felt rather fabricated rather than genuine.

Fast forward to our days. After my ban, I decided to contact staff about my month ban, once again pointing out some of the various issues I faced in recent times, including various xenophobic posts' reports that have gone ignored and an increased amount of trolling and ad hominem attacks in a variety of communities I'm involved with. I pointed out that I'm no saint, that I've got my bans for dumb shit, but my worries come from a place of care and passion, and that I want a positive change. I ended my message pointing out that if in this lengthy timeframe of a month my post goes once again ignored or is dismissed in a way that ignores all that I said, I'll probably refrain from posting on the website again.

This was used as a trump card by staff, who after over 3 weeks did get back to me. All my issues, criticism, suggestions and questions were ignored, with the anonymous staff member citing my continued hostility and the fact that I'm kinda planning to leave the site anyway to stealthily change my status to permabanned, without even allowing me to say goodbye to the many communities I was involved with, the OTs I run and so on. To add salt to the wound, my permaban was further justified by staff by citing an incident almost two years earlier in which I posted a meme that, out of context, could be interpreted as transphobic, despite the thread derailing into emoji-filled copy-pastas, including one that mocked an infamous Battlefield V Reddit post which, unlike mine, was clearly interpreted as satire and not a representation of the user's views. A brief look at the threads I make and the interactions I've had in off-topic would clearly reveal to anyone what are my views on social themes, but the staff decided to dunk on me for an extremely old incident to paint me as a transphobe.

I'm not looking for sympathy, for likes, nor I'm trying to get a welcome hug. I have my issues with NeoGAF, and I'm not trying to redeem myself in this community's eyes or be an active part of it. Hell, I expect users to not agree with a variety of things I said, perhaps even mock me for believing in what that website claimed to represent. But I'm writing this because ResetEra ignored my reports, my staff messages, staff I managed to contact on Discord and such was unable/uninterested in helping, most Discords affiliated with the website don't allow discussion on these matters, and they've found a real phony way to stealth permaban me from the website for good, despite being there since day 1 and having contributed to the website in a huge variety of ways. They silenced me, removed from the equation because I dared complain about moderation. I now came here because I looked back in curiosity and seen various great members of Era coming back here after getting banned for the dumbest reasons, people who, like me, got burnt by the fact that the tolerant and respectful policies they like to brag about are totally not what they seem. So, while it's most certainly too late for me to go back (something I would probably not even want to do unless moderation changes drastically), my story being out there can perhaps help initiate a positive change, hopefully even explain better what was the website when it started and how it evolved from the mouth of someone who's been largely present in most of the steps along the way.

Thanks to anyone who decides to read my wall of text. If nothing else, at the very least it's been cathartic to be able to put this out without Era moderation immediately locking the thread and banning anyone who participated.

Yup, that's Resetera alright. You do know it's actually one of the most hated forums out there right? Welcome to the real world, enjoy your stay.
 

Jezbollah

Member
...Thanks to anyone who decides to read my wall of text. If nothing else, at the very least it's been cathartic to be able to put this out without Era moderation immediately locking the thread and banning anyone who participated.

FairyEmpire, you won't recognise the username (there's a reason for that..) but I am a prominent poster in the OT F1 thread over there. I cant speak elsewhere (as that is literally the only thread I regularly view), but I for one appreciate your contributions, and you're another example of a good poster being chased away by that toxic environment.

You're a great community member and it's obvious from what you posted here that your heart's in the right place. At least now you'll know wherever you go, you'll be properly appreciated.
 
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recma12

Member
Translation: "The other Walgreens cashier called sick today so I have to cover her shift. Please don't do a anti black racism while I'm working becuse I want to be the one to give out the ban/perm and nonsensical mod message on the post. It's all I have to validate my life".

It's such a white people thing to focus on the job they get paid for!
See, this is why we need to overcome white supremacy, so employees can get a few hours off to moderate spicy threads on gaming forums whenever they pop up on short notice.

Nepenthe would really have enjoyed a job at the Stasi, wouldn't she? This "I am watching you" taunting is rally not befitting of a person in power in any way, even if it is just a forum moderator.

Yup. Clearly power tripping. That type of shit turned GAF 1.0 into such a mess. Mods would come into threads and threaten actions for stuff that hadn't even happened yet.
That way you can direct the discussion in a certain way, without even "getting your hands dirty".

Not surprising that nobody really challenged the OP on his accusation.
Keep in mind, Joel, Ellie, Nate etc. are all US citizens and blacks only make up like, what?, 12% of the population.
So there is really nothing forced/evil about not including a black main character in any of those games.
If ND comes up with another 20 new IPs and no black person is to be seen... OP may have a point
 

cormack12

Gold Member

Sometimes it's good to just vent and release. Just chill and stick round. All forums have problems but era's problem is the forum. Time served or contributions over there since day one aren't an indicator of your standing. As you've seen.

giphy.gif


There's a small power group who are in and basically think they're above the entire userbase over there. They 'tolerate' you and if you say somehing they don't like, even if it's in good faith and intelligent you get removed. They don't want searching discussion, they want narrative driven discussion. Look at the Trump thread - it's basically an immensely long twitter thread. I fucking hate the Tories and Johnson but I wasn't rooting for him to die when he was put into hospital with COVID. And I come from places that had fireworks when Thatcher died!!!
 

Redlancet

Banned
Hello folks, I have not posted on NeoGaf in approximately three years. I joined this website shortly before the schism happened, I was excited about a new gaming community based on values I believe in (tolerance, equality, etc.), and in fact I became a prominent member there, with over 21k posts to boot. I was thrilled about a pro-active staff I've said and done my share of stupid things, antagonized members, lost my cool at times, for which I did catch some warnings and bans - once every couple thousand posts over the span of 3 years is not that bad imho. Never been a role model but I believe I behaved well enough most of the time.

I recently have been permabanned after an escalation of events that, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. I reported several posts in an off-topic community I was involved with that devolved into blatant xenophobia and personal attacks, attacked multiple people trolling, reported people doxxing folks off the website. Pretty much every single one of these reports has been ignored by staff. I don't think it's news for most people that the quality of the discourse has been deteriorating in a variety of areas, but I've never been the kind of person to just shut up about it and suck it up, I demanded positive change, but my many reports, me contacting staff on the website or hitting up moderators I know on Discord or other platforms had exactly 0 results and positive changes. Keep in mind ResetEra bans public discussion on moderation, but if they ignore reports and staff messages, where exactly are you supposed to point out blatant wrongdoing?

So, after yet another discussion arose about moderation, this time in the Xbox studios thread, after other people already spoke up (and got subsequently banned) I explained my case, pointing out the very same things I said here and more: reports and staff messages have been ignored, community issues have not been dealt with, and in fact 2 of the 4 main gaming platforms' communities' core migrated elsewhere, several off-topic communities moved almost exclusively to Discords, several minority communities (one of the bastions of ResetEra, a safe haven for marginalized people) have indeed been chased off thanks to the deaf moderation. Outside of Era, a lot of members expressed gratitude for pointing all this out, risking my account to shed light on something that has been bothering a lot of people. Staff was not amused, and initially issued me a one month ban for, and I quote this directly, "Grossly misappropriating and mischaracterizing minority concerns for the sake of platform warring".

I think anyone who reads that post can comprehend that I pointed out that several communities left due to moderation issues, not that I believe TransEra is facing the exact same issues as Xbox fans or pop music lovers. But all of them inevitably have to deal with the consequences of a staff's moderation that, in the past year or so, has been infamous for some of the following incidents (these are just some that come to my mind and that I can easily find while being banned):
  1. Minutes after Kobe Bryant's death, people who reminded folks he was accused of rape have been banned, with messages insulting these members going unpunished. It's a stance, whether you agree with it or not, pretty strict and clear. Yet, just hours later, staff completely reversed their stance, without changing their prior bans or lack thereof, deciding to immediately ban literally anyone who said it's not really the time to discuss the rape allegations, deciding to instead not moderate anyone who does. Flip-flopping on this hours after a person's death was really in poor taste.
  2. The infamous TransEra incident, where a prominent member was initially permabanned for speaking up against site-wide and staff-wide issues, with the reason for the ban being completely fabricated. After lengthy protests by the users and several self-requested bans, multiple attempts to silence discussions and banning people who brought it up, staff chose to acknowledge the issues and allow severely guidelined discussions of it, discussions that didn't really improve anything. Learning nothing from the incident, staff since chose to once again ban said member for speaking up against staff and, ultimately, permaban them for good altogether for an issue that is certainly marginal compared to everything else that happened. We lost a valued member of the community who contributed greatly to the website, with staff clearly showing they were just waiting for the right moment to silently get rid of an outspoken member.
  3. A similar incident, this time with AsianEra where another prominent member got permabanned for pointing out how staff pretty much handwaved everything the Asian community suggested. Several threads such as this were made in support, all closed down, with once again many self-requested bans from people who rightfully felt to be considered second class citizen by staff. The user got eventually unbanned (after a very long time and after many users have been lost forever), and this incident encouraged the staff to open a suggestions thread.
  4. This suggestion thread is only visible and open to certain members, and it openly threadbans people from discussing bans and specific incidents, so users can only speak very broadly, never able to make proper examples of what's wrong and how to improve. Staff very frequently responds to lengthy questions, criticisms and suggestions with witty one liners and self-pity about how moderators don't have the time or the will to deal with all that stuff. I was excited about the idea of such a thread, but the execution feels like staff just wanting to have a dedicated space for complaints just so that they can contain and ignore them more easily.
  5. And to have a gaming example, this entire year of next-gen discussions has been downright embarassing, thanks to staff choosing to allow blatant fake information to spread from unreliable sources, instead banning folks who choose to doubt these "facts". Starting from verifying and stanning Kleegamefan, whose information turned out to be widely inaccurate; passing by Matt's many false statements, like the one about PS5 having a Smart Delivery system; not forgetting of course the quickly debunked Fable MMO rumors, confirmed even by a moderator only to be debunked by several other more reliable people; or, most recently, how they allowed that batshit insanity of the "Series X is hot!" thing to spread for a day, only stopping it because users were starting to insult each other, not because of, you know, every insider and even the so-called source of the rumor debunking the thesis.
These are just some of the most notable incidents I could think of, but lately there's at least one major community incident with several bans. I'm not gonna play the martyr card, nor claim I've been an unbiased member. I write for Xbox-centric publications, so that is where my main interests and contacts rely, hence it's the gaming theme I am most familiar with and that I can most easily call out bullshit on. Being a minority myself and having been marginalized in my life, I wanted to be part of something great on ResetEra, and when things were falling apart, I wanted to be a part of a positive change to turn the site back into what it was. Which was never perfect, far from it, but in many ways I still preferred it over most gaming communities, even with all the overzelaous banning and some outrage that felt rather fabricated rather than genuine.

Fast forward to our days. After my ban, I decided to contact staff about my month ban, once again pointing out some of the various issues I faced in recent times, including various xenophobic posts' reports that have gone ignored and an increased amount of trolling and ad hominem attacks in a variety of communities I'm involved with. I pointed out that I'm no saint, that I've got my bans for dumb shit, but my worries come from a place of care and passion, and that I want a positive change. I ended my message pointing out that if in this lengthy timeframe of a month my post goes once again ignored or is dismissed in a way that ignores all that I said, I'll probably refrain from posting on the website again.

This was used as a trump card by staff, who after over 3 weeks did get back to me. All my issues, criticism, suggestions and questions were ignored, with the anonymous staff member citing my continued hostility and the fact that I'm kinda planning to leave the site anyway to stealthily change my status to permabanned, without even allowing me to say goodbye to the many communities I was involved with, the OTs I run and so on. To add salt to the wound, my permaban was further justified by staff by citing an incident almost two years earlier in which I posted a meme that, out of context, could be interpreted as transphobic, despite the thread derailing into emoji-filled copy-pastas, including one that mocked an infamous Battlefield V Reddit post which, unlike mine, was clearly interpreted as satire and not a representation of the user's views. A brief look at the threads I make and the interactions I've had in off-topic would clearly reveal to anyone what are my views on social themes, but the staff decided to dunk on me for an extremely old incident to paint me as a transphobe.

I'm not looking for sympathy, for likes, nor I'm trying to get a welcome hug. I have my issues with NeoGAF, and I'm not trying to redeem myself in this community's eyes or be an active part of it. Hell, I expect users to not agree with a variety of things I said, perhaps even mock me for believing in what that website claimed to represent. But I'm writing this because ResetEra ignored my reports, my staff messages, staff I managed to contact on Discord and such was unable/uninterested in helping, most Discords affiliated with the website don't allow discussion on these matters, and they've found a real phony way to stealth permaban me from the website for good, despite being there since day 1 and having contributed to the website in a huge variety of ways. They silenced me, removed from the equation because I dared complain about moderation. I now came here because I looked back in curiosity and seen various great members of Era coming back here after getting banned for the dumbest reasons, people who, like me, got burnt by the fact that the tolerant and respectful policies they like to brag about are totally not what they seem. So, while it's most certainly too late for me to go back (something I would probably not even want to do unless moderation changes drastically), my story being out there can perhaps help initiate a positive change, hopefully even explain better what was the website when it started and how it evolved from the mouth of someone who's been largely present in most of the steps along the way.

Thanks to anyone who decides to read my wall of text. If nothing else, at the very least it's been cathartic to be able to put this out without Era moderation immediately locking the thread and banning anyone who participated.
thats a lot text dude, i dont get people who come here to whine about being banned there,you what what a shitole that forum its,its your fault
 

nush

Member
Lockdown, and the amount of time people are spending on the forum, really seems to have accelerated the collapse of Era, as it has clearly affected both the users and the mods. Crazy went up to 11 and doesn't look like dialling back down.

Election month has come early!

Trump survives, goes on to win the election. There's not enough popcorn in the world for that!
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Election month has come early!

Trump survives, goes on to win the election. There's not enough popcorn in the world for that!

As hilarious as that would be for the lulz, I don't think it's a reality is it? I'm not US so can only go on what little coverage we get here. Seems to be relying a lot on defying polls outside error margins? It doesn't sound quite the same as Corbyn/Labour. Thing is, Trump is a fucking idiot but because he pushes back against the media and the bullshit extremists it gets support from those who have principles against this bullshit. And the more extreme they get, the more they turn people away.
 

nush

Member
As hilarious as that would be for the lulz, I don't think it's a reality is it? I'm not US so can only go on what little coverage we get here. Seems to be relying a lot on defying polls outside error margins? It doesn't sound quite the same as Corbyn/Labour. Thing is, Trump is a fucking idiot but because he pushes back against the media and the bullshit extremists it gets support from those who have principles against this bullshit. And the more extreme they get, the more they turn people away.

I'm English, so I don't know either.
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
I wanted to be part of something great on ResetEra, and when things were falling apart, I wanted to be a part of a positive change to turn the site back into what it was.
Oh you sweet summ...

... nah, not gonna do that seriously.
But really, how can so many of you be so blind to what’s going on there, and to what brought to that site’s foundation in the first place? It really is a cult, goddammit. See, the main difference between GAF and Era is that people on GAF were never scared to make fun of the place and recognize its flaws. OldGAF started going to shit when somebody decided that wasn’t allowed anymore.

Era’s (somewhat) sane period lasted a year, to be generous. Ship’s been taking on water for a long while, and anyone can see it if they just allow themselves to watch things from a distance for a day or two.
 

Dick Jones

Gold Member
Hello folks, I have not posted on NeoGaf in approximately three years. I joined this website shortly before the schism happened, I was excited about a new gaming community based on values I believe in (tolerance, equality, etc.), and in fact I became a prominent member there, with over 21k posts to boot. I was thrilled about a pro-active staff I've said and done my share of stupid things, antagonized members, lost my cool at times, for which I did catch some warnings and bans - once every couple thousand posts over the span of 3 years is not that bad imho. Never been a role model but I believe I behaved well enough most of the time.

I recently have been permabanned after an escalation of events that, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. I reported several posts in an off-topic community I was involved with that devolved into blatant xenophobia and personal attacks, attacked multiple people trolling, reported people doxxing folks off the website. Pretty much every single one of these reports has been ignored by staff. I don't think it's news for most people that the quality of the discourse has been deteriorating in a variety of areas, but I've never been the kind of person to just shut up about it and suck it up, I demanded positive change, but my many reports, me contacting staff on the website or hitting up moderators I know on Discord or other platforms had exactly 0 results and positive changes. Keep in mind ResetEra bans public discussion on moderation, but if they ignore reports and staff messages, where exactly are you supposed to point out blatant wrongdoing?

So, after yet another discussion arose about moderation, this time in the Xbox studios thread, after other people already spoke up (and got subsequently banned) I explained my case, pointing out the very same things I said here and more: reports and staff messages have been ignored, community issues have not been dealt with, and in fact 2 of the 4 main gaming platforms' communities' core migrated elsewhere, several off-topic communities moved almost exclusively to Discords, several minority communities (one of the bastions of ResetEra, a safe haven for marginalized people) have indeed been chased off thanks to the deaf moderation. Outside of Era, a lot of members expressed gratitude for pointing all this out, risking my account to shed light on something that has been bothering a lot of people. Staff was not amused, and initially issued me a one month ban for, and I quote this directly, "Grossly misappropriating and mischaracterizing minority concerns for the sake of platform warring".

I think anyone who reads that post can comprehend that I pointed out that several communities left due to moderation issues, not that I believe TransEra is facing the exact same issues as Xbox fans or pop music lovers. But all of them inevitably have to deal with the consequences of a staff's moderation that, in the past year or so, has been infamous for some of the following incidents (these are just some that come to my mind and that I can easily find while being banned):
  1. Minutes after Kobe Bryant's death, people who reminded folks he was accused of rape have been banned, with messages insulting these members going unpunished. It's a stance, whether you agree with it or not, pretty strict and clear. Yet, just hours later, staff completely reversed their stance, without changing their prior bans or lack thereof, deciding to immediately ban literally anyone who said it's not really the time to discuss the rape allegations, deciding to instead not moderate anyone who does. Flip-flopping on this hours after a person's death was really in poor taste.
  2. The infamous TransEra incident, where a prominent member was initially permabanned for speaking up against site-wide and staff-wide issues, with the reason for the ban being completely fabricated. After lengthy protests by the users and several self-requested bans, multiple attempts to silence discussions and banning people who brought it up, staff chose to acknowledge the issues and allow severely guidelined discussions of it, discussions that didn't really improve anything. Learning nothing from the incident, staff since chose to once again ban said member for speaking up against staff and, ultimately, permaban them for good altogether for an issue that is certainly marginal compared to everything else that happened. We lost a valued member of the community who contributed greatly to the website, with staff clearly showing they were just waiting for the right moment to silently get rid of an outspoken member.
  3. A similar incident, this time with AsianEra where another prominent member got permabanned for pointing out how staff pretty much handwaved everything the Asian community suggested. Several threads such as this were made in support, all closed down, with once again many self-requested bans from people who rightfully felt to be considered second class citizen by staff. The user got eventually unbanned (after a very long time and after many users have been lost forever), and this incident encouraged the staff to open a suggestions thread.
  4. This suggestion thread is only visible and open to certain members, and it openly threadbans people from discussing bans and specific incidents, so users can only speak very broadly, never able to make proper examples of what's wrong and how to improve. Staff very frequently responds to lengthy questions, criticisms and suggestions with witty one liners and self-pity about how moderators don't have the time or the will to deal with all that stuff. I was excited about the idea of such a thread, but the execution feels like staff just wanting to have a dedicated space for complaints just so that they can contain and ignore them more easily.
  5. And to have a gaming example, this entire year of next-gen discussions has been downright embarassing, thanks to staff choosing to allow blatant fake information to spread from unreliable sources, instead banning folks who choose to doubt these "facts". Starting from verifying and stanning Kleegamefan, whose information turned out to be widely inaccurate; passing by Matt's many false statements, like the one about PS5 having a Smart Delivery system; not forgetting of course the quickly debunked Fable MMO rumors, confirmed even by a moderator only to be debunked by several other more reliable people; or, most recently, how they allowed that batshit insanity of the "Series X is hot!" thing to spread for a day, only stopping it because users were starting to insult each other, not because of, you know, every insider and even the so-called source of the rumor debunking the thesis.
These are just some of the most notable incidents I could think of, but lately there's at least one major community incident with several bans. I'm not gonna play the martyr card, nor claim I've been an unbiased member. I write for Xbox-centric publications, so that is where my main interests and contacts rely, hence it's the gaming theme I am most familiar with and that I can most easily call out bullshit on. Being a minority myself and having been marginalized in my life, I wanted to be part of something great on ResetEra, and when things were falling apart, I wanted to be a part of a positive change to turn the site back into what it was. Which was never perfect, far from it, but in many ways I still preferred it over most gaming communities, even with all the overzelaous banning and some outrage that felt rather fabricated rather than genuine.

Fast forward to our days. After my ban, I decided to contact staff about my month ban, once again pointing out some of the various issues I faced in recent times, including various xenophobic posts' reports that have gone ignored and an increased amount of trolling and ad hominem attacks in a variety of communities I'm involved with. I pointed out that I'm no saint, that I've got my bans for dumb shit, but my worries come from a place of care and passion, and that I want a positive change. I ended my message pointing out that if in this lengthy timeframe of a month my post goes once again ignored or is dismissed in a way that ignores all that I said, I'll probably refrain from posting on the website again.

This was used as a trump card by staff, who after over 3 weeks did get back to me. All my issues, criticism, suggestions and questions were ignored, with the anonymous staff member citing my continued hostility and the fact that I'm kinda planning to leave the site anyway to stealthily change my status to permabanned, without even allowing me to say goodbye to the many communities I was involved with, the OTs I run and so on. To add salt to the wound, my permaban was further justified by staff by citing an incident almost two years earlier in which I posted a meme that, out of context, could be interpreted as transphobic, despite the thread derailing into emoji-filled copy-pastas, including one that mocked an infamous Battlefield V Reddit post which, unlike mine, was clearly interpreted as satire and not a representation of the user's views. A brief look at the threads I make and the interactions I've had in off-topic would clearly reveal to anyone what are my views on social themes, but the staff decided to dunk on me for an extremely old incident to paint me as a transphobe.

I'm not looking for sympathy, for likes, nor I'm trying to get a welcome hug. I have my issues with NeoGAF, and I'm not trying to redeem myself in this community's eyes or be an active part of it. Hell, I expect users to not agree with a variety of things I said, perhaps even mock me for believing in what that website claimed to represent. But I'm writing this because ResetEra ignored my reports, my staff messages, staff I managed to contact on Discord and such was unable/uninterested in helping, most Discords affiliated with the website don't allow discussion on these matters, and they've found a real phony way to stealth permaban me from the website for good, despite being there since day 1 and having contributed to the website in a huge variety of ways. They silenced me, removed from the equation because I dared complain about moderation. I now came here because I looked back in curiosity and seen various great members of Era coming back here after getting banned for the dumbest reasons, people who, like me, got burnt by the fact that the tolerant and respectful policies they like to brag about are totally not what they seem. So, while it's most certainly too late for me to go back (something I would probably not even want to do unless moderation changes drastically), my story being out there can perhaps help initiate a positive change, hopefully even explain better what was the website when it started and how it evolved from the mouth of someone who's been largely present in most of the steps along the way.

Thanks to anyone who decides to read my wall of text. If nothing else, at the very least it's been cathartic to be able to put this out without Era moderation immediately locking the thread and banning anyone who participated.
Since no one else posted it
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
I don't think it's a reality is it? I'm not US so can only go on what little coverage we get here
Yeah if all you know about America is from the mainstream media then of course you will think like them. You don’t live here so your entire worldview of what America is like is shaped by CNN and MSNBC.

I live here and tell you the media people you are basing your view on are wrong. They were wrong in 2016 and they will be wrong again in a few weeks.

No idea why you think Trump is pushing people away, his numbers have held steady even according to MSM. This narrative doesn’t seem based in any objective reality.

Don’t be so quick to swallow and parrot their narratives.
 
thats a lot text dude, i dont get people who come here to whine about being banned there,you what what a shitole that forum its,its your fault
Exactly. Don't come in here whining about how you've been mistreated after explaining in detail how you yourself are the very epitome of everything wrong with that place. Get the fuck out and grow some balls or whatever made-up shit u people have.
 

Tuff McNutt

Member
It can't be, Bish would never have negotiated that great car loan.

Bishop couldn't even get that car loan. He had to resort to e-begging to raise a few thousand dollars for his coloring book. It's pretty telling that since it came out, he has had pretty much zero interaction on Era. it's obvious he was a power-tripping asshole who acted like some posters were his friends so he could bilk money from them.
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Hello folks, I have not posted on NeoGaf in approximately three years. I joined this website shortly before the schism happened, I was excited about a new gaming community based on values I believe in (tolerance, equality, etc.), and in fact I became a prominent member there, with over 21k posts to boot. I was thrilled about a pro-active staff I've said and done my share of stupid things, antagonized members, lost my cool at times, for which I did catch some warnings and bans - once every couple thousand posts over the span of 3 years is not that bad imho. Never been a role model but I believe I behaved well enough most of the time.

I recently have been permabanned after an escalation of events that, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. I reported several posts in an off-topic community I was involved with that devolved into blatant xenophobia and personal attacks, attacked multiple people trolling, reported people doxxing folks off the website. Pretty much every single one of these reports has been ignored by staff. I don't think it's news for most people that the quality of the discourse has been deteriorating in a variety of areas, but I've never been the kind of person to just shut up about it and suck it up, I demanded positive change, but my many reports, me contacting staff on the website or hitting up moderators I know on Discord or other platforms had exactly 0 results and positive changes. Keep in mind ResetEra bans public discussion on moderation, but if they ignore reports and staff messages, where exactly are you supposed to point out blatant wrongdoing?

So, after yet another discussion arose about moderation, this time in the Xbox studios thread, after other people already spoke up (and got subsequently banned) I explained my case, pointing out the very same things I said here and more: reports and staff messages have been ignored, community issues have not been dealt with, and in fact 2 of the 4 main gaming platforms' communities' core migrated elsewhere, several off-topic communities moved almost exclusively to Discords, several minority communities (one of the bastions of ResetEra, a safe haven for marginalized people) have indeed been chased off thanks to the deaf moderation. Outside of Era, a lot of members expressed gratitude for pointing all this out, risking my account to shed light on something that has been bothering a lot of people. Staff was not amused, and initially issued me a one month ban for, and I quote this directly, "Grossly misappropriating and mischaracterizing minority concerns for the sake of platform warring".

I think anyone who reads that post can comprehend that I pointed out that several communities left due to moderation issues, not that I believe TransEra is facing the exact same issues as Xbox fans or pop music lovers. But all of them inevitably have to deal with the consequences of a staff's moderation that, in the past year or so, has been infamous for some of the following incidents (these are just some that come to my mind and that I can easily find while being banned):
  1. Minutes after Kobe Bryant's death, people who reminded folks he was accused of rape have been banned, with messages insulting these members going unpunished. It's a stance, whether you agree with it or not, pretty strict and clear. Yet, just hours later, staff completely reversed their stance, without changing their prior bans or lack thereof, deciding to immediately ban literally anyone who said it's not really the time to discuss the rape allegations, deciding to instead not moderate anyone who does. Flip-flopping on this hours after a person's death was really in poor taste.
  2. The infamous TransEra incident, where a prominent member was initially permabanned for speaking up against site-wide and staff-wide issues, with the reason for the ban being completely fabricated. After lengthy protests by the users and several self-requested bans, multiple attempts to silence discussions and banning people who brought it up, staff chose to acknowledge the issues and allow severely guidelined discussions of it, discussions that didn't really improve anything. Learning nothing from the incident, staff since chose to once again ban said member for speaking up against staff and, ultimately, permaban them for good altogether for an issue that is certainly marginal compared to everything else that happened. We lost a valued member of the community who contributed greatly to the website, with staff clearly showing they were just waiting for the right moment to silently get rid of an outspoken member.
  3. A similar incident, this time with AsianEra where another prominent member got permabanned for pointing out how staff pretty much handwaved everything the Asian community suggested. Several threads such as this were made in support, all closed down, with once again many self-requested bans from people who rightfully felt to be considered second class citizen by staff. The user got eventually unbanned (after a very long time and after many users have been lost forever), and this incident encouraged the staff to open a suggestions thread.
  4. This suggestion thread is only visible and open to certain members, and it openly threadbans people from discussing bans and specific incidents, so users can only speak very broadly, never able to make proper examples of what's wrong and how to improve. Staff very frequently responds to lengthy questions, criticisms and suggestions with witty one liners and self-pity about how moderators don't have the time or the will to deal with all that stuff. I was excited about the idea of such a thread, but the execution feels like staff just wanting to have a dedicated space for complaints just so that they can contain and ignore them more easily.
  5. And to have a gaming example, this entire year of next-gen discussions has been downright embarassing, thanks to staff choosing to allow blatant fake information to spread from unreliable sources, instead banning folks who choose to doubt these "facts". Starting from verifying and stanning Kleegamefan, whose information turned out to be widely inaccurate; passing by Matt's many false statements, like the one about PS5 having a Smart Delivery system; not forgetting of course the quickly debunked Fable MMO rumors, confirmed even by a moderator only to be debunked by several other more reliable people; or, most recently, how they allowed that batshit insanity of the "Series X is hot!" thing to spread for a day, only stopping it because users were starting to insult each other, not because of, you know, every insider and even the so-called source of the rumor debunking the thesis.
These are just some of the most notable incidents I could think of, but lately there's at least one major community incident with several bans. I'm not gonna play the martyr card, nor claim I've been an unbiased member. I write for Xbox-centric publications, so that is where my main interests and contacts rely, hence it's the gaming theme I am most familiar with and that I can most easily call out bullshit on. Being a minority myself and having been marginalized in my life, I wanted to be part of something great on ResetEra, and when things were falling apart, I wanted to be a part of a positive change to turn the site back into what it was. Which was never perfect, far from it, but in many ways I still preferred it over most gaming communities, even with all the overzelaous banning and some outrage that felt rather fabricated rather than genuine.

Fast forward to our days. After my ban, I decided to contact staff about my month ban, once again pointing out some of the various issues I faced in recent times, including various xenophobic posts' reports that have gone ignored and an increased amount of trolling and ad hominem attacks in a variety of communities I'm involved with. I pointed out that I'm no saint, that I've got my bans for dumb shit, but my worries come from a place of care and passion, and that I want a positive change. I ended my message pointing out that if in this lengthy timeframe of a month my post goes once again ignored or is dismissed in a way that ignores all that I said, I'll probably refrain from posting on the website again.

This was used as a trump card by staff, who after over 3 weeks did get back to me. All my issues, criticism, suggestions and questions were ignored, with the anonymous staff member citing my continued hostility and the fact that I'm kinda planning to leave the site anyway to stealthily change my status to permabanned, without even allowing me to say goodbye to the many communities I was involved with, the OTs I run and so on. To add salt to the wound, my permaban was further justified by staff by citing an incident almost two years earlier in which I posted a meme that, out of context, could be interpreted as transphobic, despite the thread derailing into emoji-filled copy-pastas, including one that mocked an infamous Battlefield V Reddit post which, unlike mine, was clearly interpreted as satire and not a representation of the user's views. A brief look at the threads I make and the interactions I've had in off-topic would clearly reveal to anyone what are my views on social themes, but the staff decided to dunk on me for an extremely old incident to paint me as a transphobe.

I'm not looking for sympathy, for likes, nor I'm trying to get a welcome hug. I have my issues with NeoGAF, and I'm not trying to redeem myself in this community's eyes or be an active part of it. Hell, I expect users to not agree with a variety of things I said, perhaps even mock me for believing in what that website claimed to represent. But I'm writing this because ResetEra ignored my reports, my staff messages, staff I managed to contact on Discord and such was unable/uninterested in helping, most Discords affiliated with the website don't allow discussion on these matters, and they've found a real phony way to stealth permaban me from the website for good, despite being there since day 1 and having contributed to the website in a huge variety of ways. They silenced me, removed from the equation because I dared complain about moderation. I now came here because I looked back in curiosity and seen various great members of Era coming back here after getting banned for the dumbest reasons, people who, like me, got burnt by the fact that the tolerant and respectful policies they like to brag about are totally not what they seem. So, while it's most certainly too late for me to go back (something I would probably not even want to do unless moderation changes drastically), my story being out there can perhaps help initiate a positive change, hopefully even explain better what was the website when it started and how it evolved from the mouth of someone who's been largely present in most of the steps along the way.

Thanks to anyone who decides to read my wall of text. If nothing else, at the very least it's been cathartic to be able to put this out without Era moderation immediately locking the thread and banning anyone who participated.

Ree mods are terrible people. That’s pretty much what it comes down to.
 

dionysus

Yaldog

I'd recommend some introspection. You admit you want Era to increase moderation in the threads you like to create more of a safe space, and then are upset when some of your posts are apparently taken out of context and used against you. To me that is the inevitable consequence of your own desires, you put anonymous and unaccountable people in charge of protecting you from offense. Everyone offends someone pretty much all the time. So they dug up a post from 2 years ago an did to you what you advocated be done to others.

Humans will almost always abuse power, especially over time and if grouped together in organizations. The only answer, and this is often a temporary answer but the best one we have, is to not grant them that power in the first place.
 

Cunth

Fingerlickin' Good!
Hello folks, I have not posted on NeoGaf in approximately three years. I joined this website shortly before the schism happened, I was excited about a new gaming community based on values I believe in (tolerance, equality, etc.), and in fact I became a prominent member there, with over 21k posts to boot. I was thrilled about a pro-active staff I've said and done my share of stupid things, antagonized members, lost my cool at times, for which I did catch some warnings and bans - once every couple thousand posts over the span of 3 years is not that bad imho. Never been a role model but I believe I behaved well enough most of the time.

I recently have been permabanned after an escalation of events that, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. I reported several posts in an off-topic community I was involved with that devolved into blatant xenophobia and personal attacks, attacked multiple people trolling, reported people doxxing folks off the website. Pretty much every single one of these reports has been ignored by staff. I don't think it's news for most people that the quality of the discourse has been deteriorating in a variety of areas, but I've never been the kind of person to just shut up about it and suck it up, I demanded positive change, but my many reports, me contacting staff on the website or hitting up moderators I know on Discord or other platforms had exactly 0 results and positive changes. Keep in mind ResetEra bans public discussion on moderation, but if they ignore reports and staff messages, where exactly are you supposed to point out blatant wrongdoing?

So, after yet another discussion arose about moderation, this time in the Xbox studios thread, after other people already spoke up (and got subsequently banned) I explained my case, pointing out the very same things I said here and more: reports and staff messages have been ignored, community issues have not been dealt with, and in fact 2 of the 4 main gaming platforms' communities' core migrated elsewhere, several off-topic communities moved almost exclusively to Discords, several minority communities (one of the bastions of ResetEra, a safe haven for marginalized people) have indeed been chased off thanks to the deaf moderation. Outside of Era, a lot of members expressed gratitude for pointing all this out, risking my account to shed light on something that has been bothering a lot of people. Staff was not amused, and initially issued me a one month ban for, and I quote this directly, "Grossly misappropriating and mischaracterizing minority concerns for the sake of platform warring".

I think anyone who reads that post can comprehend that I pointed out that several communities left due to moderation issues, not that I believe TransEra is facing the exact same issues as Xbox fans or pop music lovers. But all of them inevitably have to deal with the consequences of a staff's moderation that, in the past year or so, has been infamous for some of the following incidents (these are just some that come to my mind and that I can easily find while being banned):
  1. Minutes after Kobe Bryant's death, people who reminded folks he was accused of rape have been banned, with messages insulting these members going unpunished. It's a stance, whether you agree with it or not, pretty strict and clear. Yet, just hours later, staff completely reversed their stance, without changing their prior bans or lack thereof, deciding to immediately ban literally anyone who said it's not really the time to discuss the rape allegations, deciding to instead not moderate anyone who does. Flip-flopping on this hours after a person's death was really in poor taste.
  2. The infamous TransEra incident, where a prominent member was initially permabanned for speaking up against site-wide and staff-wide issues, with the reason for the ban being completely fabricated. After lengthy protests by the users and several self-requested bans, multiple attempts to silence discussions and banning people who brought it up, staff chose to acknowledge the issues and allow severely guidelined discussions of it, discussions that didn't really improve anything. Learning nothing from the incident, staff since chose to once again ban said member for speaking up against staff and, ultimately, permaban them for good altogether for an issue that is certainly marginal compared to everything else that happened. We lost a valued member of the community who contributed greatly to the website, with staff clearly showing they were just waiting for the right moment to silently get rid of an outspoken member.
  3. A similar incident, this time with AsianEra where another prominent member got permabanned for pointing out how staff pretty much handwaved everything the Asian community suggested. Several threads such as this were made in support, all closed down, with once again many self-requested bans from people who rightfully felt to be considered second class citizen by staff. The user got eventually unbanned (after a very long time and after many users have been lost forever), and this incident encouraged the staff to open a suggestions thread.
  4. This suggestion thread is only visible and open to certain members, and it openly threadbans people from discussing bans and specific incidents, so users can only speak very broadly, never able to make proper examples of what's wrong and how to improve. Staff very frequently responds to lengthy questions, criticisms and suggestions with witty one liners and self-pity about how moderators don't have the time or the will to deal with all that stuff. I was excited about the idea of such a thread, but the execution feels like staff just wanting to have a dedicated space for complaints just so that they can contain and ignore them more easily.
  5. And to have a gaming example, this entire year of next-gen discussions has been downright embarassing, thanks to staff choosing to allow blatant fake information to spread from unreliable sources, instead banning folks who choose to doubt these "facts". Starting from verifying and stanning Kleegamefan, whose information turned out to be widely inaccurate; passing by Matt's many false statements, like the one about PS5 having a Smart Delivery system; not forgetting of course the quickly debunked Fable MMO rumors, confirmed even by a moderator only to be debunked by several other more reliable people; or, most recently, how they allowed that batshit insanity of the "Series X is hot!" thing to spread for a day, only stopping it because users were starting to insult each other, not because of, you know, every insider and even the so-called source of the rumor debunking the thesis.
These are just some of the most notable incidents I could think of, but lately there's at least one major community incident with several bans. I'm not gonna play the martyr card, nor claim I've been an unbiased member. I write for Xbox-centric publications, so that is where my main interests and contacts rely, hence it's the gaming theme I am most familiar with and that I can most easily call out bullshit on. Being a minority myself and having been marginalized in my life, I wanted to be part of something great on ResetEra, and when things were falling apart, I wanted to be a part of a positive change to turn the site back into what it was. Which was never perfect, far from it, but in many ways I still preferred it over most gaming communities, even with all the overzelaous banning and some outrage that felt rather fabricated rather than genuine.

Fast forward to our days. After my ban, I decided to contact staff about my month ban, once again pointing out some of the various issues I faced in recent times, including various xenophobic posts' reports that have gone ignored and an increased amount of trolling and ad hominem attacks in a variety of communities I'm involved with. I pointed out that I'm no saint, that I've got my bans for dumb shit, but my worries come from a place of care and passion, and that I want a positive change. I ended my message pointing out that if in this lengthy timeframe of a month my post goes once again ignored or is dismissed in a way that ignores all that I said, I'll probably refrain from posting on the website again.

This was used as a trump card by staff, who after over 3 weeks did get back to me. All my issues, criticism, suggestions and questions were ignored, with the anonymous staff member citing my continued hostility and the fact that I'm kinda planning to leave the site anyway to stealthily change my status to permabanned, without even allowing me to say goodbye to the many communities I was involved with, the OTs I run and so on. To add salt to the wound, my permaban was further justified by staff by citing an incident almost two years earlier in which I posted a meme that, out of context, could be interpreted as transphobic, despite the thread derailing into emoji-filled copy-pastas, including one that mocked an infamous Battlefield V Reddit post which, unlike mine, was clearly interpreted as satire and not a representation of the user's views. A brief look at the threads I make and the interactions I've had in off-topic would clearly reveal to anyone what are my views on social themes, but the staff decided to dunk on me for an extremely old incident to paint me as a transphobe.

I'm not looking for sympathy, for likes, nor I'm trying to get a welcome hug. I have my issues with NeoGAF, and I'm not trying to redeem myself in this community's eyes or be an active part of it. Hell, I expect users to not agree with a variety of things I said, perhaps even mock me for believing in what that website claimed to represent. But I'm writing this because ResetEra ignored my reports, my staff messages, staff I managed to contact on Discord and such was unable/uninterested in helping, most Discords affiliated with the website don't allow discussion on these matters, and they've found a real phony way to stealth permaban me from the website for good, despite being there since day 1 and having contributed to the website in a huge variety of ways. They silenced me, removed from the equation because I dared complain about moderation. I now came here because I looked back in curiosity and seen various great members of Era coming back here after getting banned for the dumbest reasons, people who, like me, got burnt by the fact that the tolerant and respectful policies they like to brag about are totally not what they seem. So, while it's most certainly too late for me to go back (something I would probably not even want to do unless moderation changes drastically), my story being out there can perhaps help initiate a positive change, hopefully even explain better what was the website when it started and how it evolved from the mouth of someone who's been largely present in most of the steps along the way.

Thanks to anyone who decides to read my wall of text. If nothing else, at the very least it's been cathartic to be able to put this out without Era moderation immediately locking the thread and banning anyone who participated.
It’s just forum though
 

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member

I think getting permabanned is the best thing that could have ever happened to you for your own mental well being if nothing else. The "great migration" was apparently built on lies and it became clear overtime that people left pre-schism GAF for very different reasons. A lot of folks (myself included) definitely weren't looking for "2016 GAF but even more radical" but that's what it became. Plus all the "collective community" bullshit was just a cover to line Cerium's pockets while he sits by as a silent owner. It's easy to pretend like it's the community running things when the owner doesn't really do anything. But make no mistake that the staff there want to keep their authority absolute because at the end of the day they work for Cerium and not the community.

Like D dionysus said, you can't desire super strict moderation and not expect them to also condemn the innocent or well intentioned. On the internet, there is no perfect moderation because everyone's threshold of taking offense is different and it's totally subjective.

What makes post-schism NeoGAF great is that the staff here recognize that subjectivity and instead champion free and open discourse. Plus there's a whole thread where moderation here is discussed and all bans are listed via a link at the bottom if you're worried about transparency.

I'm not sure if NeoGAF is right for you but quality posts do get appreciated here (via the 'like system' if nothing else) so you won't feel like you're just talking into the ether with no feedback.
 
Last edited:

Ymir

Member

giphy.gif


It's time to cancel Naughty Dog.
I don't see the problem, I ALWAYS worry about optics while playing a video game

Personally, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing while I played through this scene. The whole time I was thinking “holy fuck, the optics here are dreadful”
 

benjipwns

Banned
Hello folks, I have not posted on NeoGaf in approximately three years. I joined this website shortly before the schism happened, I was excited about a new gaming community based on values I believe in (tolerance, equality, etc.), and in fact I became a prominent member there, with over 21k posts to boot. I was thrilled about a pro-active staff I've said and done my share of stupid things, antagonized members, lost my cool at times, for which I did catch some warnings and bans - once every couple thousand posts over the span of 3 years is not that bad imho. Never been a role model but I believe I behaved well enough most of the time.

I recently have been permabanned after an escalation of events that, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. I reported several posts in an off-topic community I was involved with that devolved into blatant xenophobia and personal attacks, attacked multiple people trolling, reported people doxxing folks off the website. Pretty much every single one of these reports has been ignored by staff. I don't think it's news for most people that the quality of the discourse has been deteriorating in a variety of areas, but I've never been the kind of person to just shut up about it and suck it up, I demanded positive change, but my many reports, me contacting staff on the website or hitting up moderators I know on Discord or other platforms had exactly 0 results and positive changes. Keep in mind ResetEra bans public discussion on moderation, but if they ignore reports and staff messages, where exactly are you supposed to point out blatant wrongdoing?

So, after yet another discussion arose about moderation, this time in the Xbox studios thread, after other people already spoke up (and got subsequently banned) I explained my case, pointing out the very same things I said here and more: reports and staff messages have been ignored, community issues have not been dealt with, and in fact 2 of the 4 main gaming platforms' communities' core migrated elsewhere, several off-topic communities moved almost exclusively to Discords, several minority communities (one of the bastions of ResetEra, a safe haven for marginalized people) have indeed been chased off thanks to the deaf moderation. Outside of Era, a lot of members expressed gratitude for pointing all this out, risking my account to shed light on something that has been bothering a lot of people. Staff was not amused, and initially issued me a one month ban for, and I quote this directly, "Grossly misappropriating and mischaracterizing minority concerns for the sake of platform warring".

I think anyone who reads that post can comprehend that I pointed out that several communities left due to moderation issues, not that I believe TransEra is facing the exact same issues as Xbox fans or pop music lovers. But all of them inevitably have to deal with the consequences of a staff's moderation that, in the past year or so, has been infamous for some of the following incidents (these are just some that come to my mind and that I can easily find while being banned):
  1. Minutes after Kobe Bryant's death, people who reminded folks he was accused of rape have been banned, with messages insulting these members going unpunished. It's a stance, whether you agree with it or not, pretty strict and clear. Yet, just hours later, staff completely reversed their stance, without changing their prior bans or lack thereof, deciding to immediately ban literally anyone who said it's not really the time to discuss the rape allegations, deciding to instead not moderate anyone who does. Flip-flopping on this hours after a person's death was really in poor taste.
  2. The infamous TransEra incident, where a prominent member was initially permabanned for speaking up against site-wide and staff-wide issues, with the reason for the ban being completely fabricated. After lengthy protests by the users and several self-requested bans, multiple attempts to silence discussions and banning people who brought it up, staff chose to acknowledge the issues and allow severely guidelined discussions of it, discussions that didn't really improve anything. Learning nothing from the incident, staff since chose to once again ban said member for speaking up against staff and, ultimately, permaban them for good altogether for an issue that is certainly marginal compared to everything else that happened. We lost a valued member of the community who contributed greatly to the website, with staff clearly showing they were just waiting for the right moment to silently get rid of an outspoken member.
  3. A similar incident, this time with AsianEra where another prominent member got permabanned for pointing out how staff pretty much handwaved everything the Asian community suggested. Several threads such as this were made in support, all closed down, with once again many self-requested bans from people who rightfully felt to be considered second class citizen by staff. The user got eventually unbanned (after a very long time and after many users have been lost forever), and this incident encouraged the staff to open a suggestions thread.
  4. This suggestion thread is only visible and open to certain members, and it openly threadbans people from discussing bans and specific incidents, so users can only speak very broadly, never able to make proper examples of what's wrong and how to improve. Staff very frequently responds to lengthy questions, criticisms and suggestions with witty one liners and self-pity about how moderators don't have the time or the will to deal with all that stuff. I was excited about the idea of such a thread, but the execution feels like staff just wanting to have a dedicated space for complaints just so that they can contain and ignore them more easily.
  5. And to have a gaming example, this entire year of next-gen discussions has been downright embarassing, thanks to staff choosing to allow blatant fake information to spread from unreliable sources, instead banning folks who choose to doubt these "facts". Starting from verifying and stanning Kleegamefan, whose information turned out to be widely inaccurate; passing by Matt's many false statements, like the one about PS5 having a Smart Delivery system; not forgetting of course the quickly debunked Fable MMO rumors, confirmed even by a moderator only to be debunked by several other more reliable people; or, most recently, how they allowed that batshit insanity of the "Series X is hot!" thing to spread for a day, only stopping it because users were starting to insult each other, not because of, you know, every insider and even the so-called source of the rumor debunking the thesis.
These are just some of the most notable incidents I could think of, but lately there's at least one major community incident with several bans. I'm not gonna play the martyr card, nor claim I've been an unbiased member. I write for Xbox-centric publications, so that is where my main interests and contacts rely, hence it's the gaming theme I am most familiar with and that I can most easily call out bullshit on. Being a minority myself and having been marginalized in my life, I wanted to be part of something great on ResetEra, and when things were falling apart, I wanted to be a part of a positive change to turn the site back into what it was. Which was never perfect, far from it, but in many ways I still preferred it over most gaming communities, even with all the overzelaous banning and some outrage that felt rather fabricated rather than genuine.

Fast forward to our days. After my ban, I decided to contact staff about my month ban, once again pointing out some of the various issues I faced in recent times, including various xenophobic posts' reports that have gone ignored and an increased amount of trolling and ad hominem attacks in a variety of communities I'm involved with. I pointed out that I'm no saint, that I've got my bans for dumb shit, but my worries come from a place of care and passion, and that I want a positive change. I ended my message pointing out that if in this lengthy timeframe of a month my post goes once again ignored or is dismissed in a way that ignores all that I said, I'll probably refrain from posting on the website again.

This was used as a trump card by staff, who after over 3 weeks did get back to me. All my issues, criticism, suggestions and questions were ignored, with the anonymous staff member citing my continued hostility and the fact that I'm kinda planning to leave the site anyway to stealthily change my status to permabanned, without even allowing me to say goodbye to the many communities I was involved with, the OTs I run and so on. To add salt to the wound, my permaban was further justified by staff by citing an incident almost two years earlier in which I posted a meme that, out of context, could be interpreted as transphobic, despite the thread derailing into emoji-filled copy-pastas, including one that mocked an infamous Battlefield V Reddit post which, unlike mine, was clearly interpreted as satire and not a representation of the user's views. A brief look at the threads I make and the interactions I've had in off-topic would clearly reveal to anyone what are my views on social themes, but the staff decided to dunk on me for an extremely old incident to paint me as a transphobe.

I'm not looking for sympathy, for likes, nor I'm trying to get a welcome hug. I have my issues with NeoGAF, and I'm not trying to redeem myself in this community's eyes or be an active part of it. Hell, I expect users to not agree with a variety of things I said, perhaps even mock me for believing in what that website claimed to represent. But I'm writing this because ResetEra ignored my reports, my staff messages, staff I managed to contact on Discord and such was unable/uninterested in helping, most Discords affiliated with the website don't allow discussion on these matters, and they've found a real phony way to stealth permaban me from the website for good, despite being there since day 1 and having contributed to the website in a huge variety of ways. They silenced me, removed from the equation because I dared complain about moderation. I now came here because I looked back in curiosity and seen various great members of Era coming back here after getting banned for the dumbest reasons, people who, like me, got burnt by the fact that the tolerant and respectful policies they like to brag about are totally not what they seem. So, while it's most certainly too late for me to go back (something I would probably not even want to do unless moderation changes drastically), my story being out there can perhaps help initiate a positive change, hopefully even explain better what was the website when it started and how it evolved from the mouth of someone who's been largely present in most of the steps along the way.

Thanks to anyone who decides to read my wall of text. If nothing else, at the very least it's been cathartic to be able to put this out without Era moderation immediately locking the thread and banning anyone who participated.
Just think of all the sleep and meals missed you've caused for the staff with your petitioning for basic information.
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
Woah Nelly, that's a big 'ol wall of text.

Being banned from Era is for the better, trust me!

But hey, I don't know what idea you had, but this thread is for laughing at the inhabitants of the ResetEra Reservation for the Very Much Unwell and the only positive impact that wall of text is going to have is make some of us chuckle.

Welcome to gaf, have a beer and unwind :messenger_sunglasses:
 
Last edited:

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
I'm gonna go ahead and be a judgmental asshole: that lady sounds like a complete waste of time. Mid 20s, has a kid, lives with parents, uneducated. And yet he seems to think she's some prize? Have some self-respect, dude. That whole situation screams dysfunction, co-dependence, and drama.
Has a banging bod would be my guess. I've gone for that despite all the crazy.
 

HotPocket69

Banned
Hello folks, I have not posted on NeoGaf in approximately three years. I joined this website shortly before the schism happened, I was excited about a new gaming community based on values I believe in (tolerance, equality, etc.), and in fact I became a prominent member there, with over 21k posts to boot. I was thrilled about a pro-active staff I've said and done my share of stupid things, antagonized members, lost my cool at times, for which I did catch some warnings and bans - once every couple thousand posts over the span of 3 years is not that bad imho. Never been a role model but I believe I behaved well enough most of the time.

I recently have been permabanned after an escalation of events that, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. I reported several posts in an off-topic community I was involved with that devolved into blatant xenophobia and personal attacks, attacked multiple people trolling, reported people doxxing folks off the website. Pretty much every single one of these reports has been ignored by staff. I don't think it's news for most people that the quality of the discourse has been deteriorating in a variety of areas, but I've never been the kind of person to just shut up about it and suck it up, I demanded positive change, but my many reports, me contacting staff on the website or hitting up moderators I know on Discord or other platforms had exactly 0 results and positive changes. Keep in mind ResetEra bans public discussion on moderation, but if they ignore reports and staff messages, where exactly are you supposed to point out blatant wrongdoing?

So, after yet another discussion arose about moderation, this time in the Xbox studios thread, after other people already spoke up (and got subsequently banned) I explained my case, pointing out the very same things I said here and more: reports and staff messages have been ignored, community issues have not been dealt with, and in fact 2 of the 4 main gaming platforms' communities' core migrated elsewhere, several off-topic communities moved almost exclusively to Discords, several minority communities (one of the bastions of ResetEra, a safe haven for marginalized people) have indeed been chased off thanks to the deaf moderation. Outside of Era, a lot of members expressed gratitude for pointing all this out, risking my account to shed light on something that has been bothering a lot of people. Staff was not amused, and initially issued me a one month ban for, and I quote this directly, "Grossly misappropriating and mischaracterizing minority concerns for the sake of platform warring".

I think anyone who reads that post can comprehend that I pointed out that several communities left due to moderation issues, not that I believe TransEra is facing the exact same issues as Xbox fans or pop music lovers. But all of them inevitably have to deal with the consequences of a staff's moderation that, in the past year or so, has been infamous for some of the following incidents (these are just some that come to my mind and that I can easily find while being banned):
  1. Minutes after Kobe Bryant's death, people who reminded folks he was accused of rape have been banned, with messages insulting these members going unpunished. It's a stance, whether you agree with it or not, pretty strict and clear. Yet, just hours later, staff completely reversed their stance, without changing their prior bans or lack thereof, deciding to immediately ban literally anyone who said it's not really the time to discuss the rape allegations, deciding to instead not moderate anyone who does. Flip-flopping on this hours after a person's death was really in poor taste.
  2. The infamous TransEra incident, where a prominent member was initially permabanned for speaking up against site-wide and staff-wide issues, with the reason for the ban being completely fabricated. After lengthy protests by the users and several self-requested bans, multiple attempts to silence discussions and banning people who brought it up, staff chose to acknowledge the issues and allow severely guidelined discussions of it, discussions that didn't really improve anything. Learning nothing from the incident, staff since chose to once again ban said member for speaking up against staff and, ultimately, permaban them for good altogether for an issue that is certainly marginal compared to everything else that happened. We lost a valued member of the community who contributed greatly to the website, with staff clearly showing they were just waiting for the right moment to silently get rid of an outspoken member.
  3. A similar incident, this time with AsianEra where another prominent member got permabanned for pointing out how staff pretty much handwaved everything the Asian community suggested. Several threads such as this were made in support, all closed down, with once again many self-requested bans from people who rightfully felt to be considered second class citizen by staff. The user got eventually unbanned (after a very long time and after many users have been lost forever), and this incident encouraged the staff to open a suggestions thread.
  4. This suggestion thread is only visible and open to certain members, and it openly threadbans people from discussing bans and specific incidents, so users can only speak very broadly, never able to make proper examples of what's wrong and how to improve. Staff very frequently responds to lengthy questions, criticisms and suggestions with witty one liners and self-pity about how moderators don't have the time or the will to deal with all that stuff. I was excited about the idea of such a thread, but the execution feels like staff just wanting to have a dedicated space for complaints just so that they can contain and ignore them more easily.
  5. And to have a gaming example, this entire year of next-gen discussions has been downright embarassing, thanks to staff choosing to allow blatant fake information to spread from unreliable sources, instead banning folks who choose to doubt these "facts". Starting from verifying and stanning Kleegamefan, whose information turned out to be widely inaccurate; passing by Matt's many false statements, like the one about PS5 having a Smart Delivery system; not forgetting of course the quickly debunked Fable MMO rumors, confirmed even by a moderator only to be debunked by several other more reliable people; or, most recently, how they allowed that batshit insanity of the "Series X is hot!" thing to spread for a day, only stopping it because users were starting to insult each other, not because of, you know, every insider and even the so-called source of the rumor debunking the thesis.
These are just some of the most notable incidents I could think of, but lately there's at least one major community incident with several bans. I'm not gonna play the martyr card, nor claim I've been an unbiased member. I write for Xbox-centric publications, so that is where my main interests and contacts rely, hence it's the gaming theme I am most familiar with and that I can most easily call out bullshit on. Being a minority myself and having been marginalized in my life, I wanted to be part of something great on ResetEra, and when things were falling apart, I wanted to be a part of a positive change to turn the site back into what it was. Which was never perfect, far from it, but in many ways I still preferred it over most gaming communities, even with all the overzelaous banning and some outrage that felt rather fabricated rather than genuine.

Fast forward to our days. After my ban, I decided to contact staff about my month ban, once again pointing out some of the various issues I faced in recent times, including various xenophobic posts' reports that have gone ignored and an increased amount of trolling and ad hominem attacks in a variety of communities I'm involved with. I pointed out that I'm no saint, that I've got my bans for dumb shit, but my worries come from a place of care and passion, and that I want a positive change. I ended my message pointing out that if in this lengthy timeframe of a month my post goes once again ignored or is dismissed in a way that ignores all that I said, I'll probably refrain from posting on the website again.

This was used as a trump card by staff, who after over 3 weeks did get back to me. All my issues, criticism, suggestions and questions were ignored, with the anonymous staff member citing my continued hostility and the fact that I'm kinda planning to leave the site anyway to stealthily change my status to permabanned, without even allowing me to say goodbye to the many communities I was involved with, the OTs I run and so on. To add salt to the wound, my permaban was further justified by staff by citing an incident almost two years earlier in which I posted a meme that, out of context, could be interpreted as transphobic, despite the thread derailing into emoji-filled copy-pastas, including one that mocked an infamous Battlefield V Reddit post which, unlike mine, was clearly interpreted as satire and not a representation of the user's views. A brief look at the threads I make and the interactions I've had in off-topic would clearly reveal to anyone what are my views on social themes, but the staff decided to dunk on me for an extremely old incident to paint me as a transphobe.

I'm not looking for sympathy, for likes, nor I'm trying to get a welcome hug. I have my issues with NeoGAF, and I'm not trying to redeem myself in this community's eyes or be an active part of it. Hell, I expect users to not agree with a variety of things I said, perhaps even mock me for believing in what that website claimed to represent. But I'm writing this because ResetEra ignored my reports, my staff messages, staff I managed to contact on Discord and such was unable/uninterested in helping, most Discords affiliated with the website don't allow discussion on these matters, and they've found a real phony way to stealth permaban me from the website for good, despite being there since day 1 and having contributed to the website in a huge variety of ways. They silenced me, removed from the equation because I dared complain about moderation. I now came here because I looked back in curiosity and seen various great members of Era coming back here after getting banned for the dumbest reasons, people who, like me, got burnt by the fact that the tolerant and respectful policies they like to brag about are totally not what they seem. So, while it's most certainly too late for me to go back (something I would probably not even want to do unless moderation changes drastically), my story being out there can perhaps help initiate a positive change, hopefully even explain better what was the website when it started and how it evolved from the mouth of someone who's been largely present in most of the steps along the way.

Thanks to anyone who decides to read my wall of text. If nothing else, at the very least it's been cathartic to be able to put this out without Era moderation immediately locking the thread and banning anyone who participated.

Wow. Imagine expecting someone to read this shit drivel.

Welcome, I guess
 

mr.dilya

Banned
Hello folks, I have not posted on NeoGaf in approximately three years. I joined this website shortly before the schism happened, I was excited about a new gaming community based on values I believe in (tolerance, equality, etc.), and in fact I became a prominent member there, with over 21k posts to boot. I was thrilled about a pro-active staff I've said and done my share of stupid things, antagonized members, lost my cool at times, for which I did catch some warnings and bans - once every couple thousand posts over the span of 3 years is not that bad imho. Never been a role model but I believe I behaved well enough most of the time.

I recently have been permabanned after an escalation of events that, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. I reported several posts in an off-topic community I was involved with that devolved into blatant xenophobia and personal attacks, attacked multiple people trolling, reported people doxxing folks off the website. Pretty much every single one of these reports has been ignored by staff. I don't think it's news for most people that the quality of the discourse has been deteriorating in a variety of areas, but I've never been the kind of person to just shut up about it and suck it up, I demanded positive change, but my many reports, me contacting staff on the website or hitting up moderators I know on Discord or other platforms had exactly 0 results and positive changes. Keep in mind ResetEra bans public discussion on moderation, but if they ignore reports and staff messages, where exactly are you supposed to point out blatant wrongdoing?

So, after yet another discussion arose about moderation, this time in the Xbox studios thread, after other people already spoke up (and got subsequently banned) I explained my case, pointing out the very same things I said here and more: reports and staff messages have been ignored, community issues have not been dealt with, and in fact 2 of the 4 main gaming platforms' communities' core migrated elsewhere, several off-topic communities moved almost exclusively to Discords, several minority communities (one of the bastions of ResetEra, a safe haven for marginalized people) have indeed been chased off thanks to the deaf moderation. Outside of Era, a lot of members expressed gratitude for pointing all this out, risking my account to shed light on something that has been bothering a lot of people. Staff was not amused, and initially issued me a one month ban for, and I quote this directly, "Grossly misappropriating and mischaracterizing minority concerns for the sake of platform warring".

I think anyone who reads that post can comprehend that I pointed out that several communities left due to moderation issues, not that I believe TransEra is facing the exact same issues as Xbox fans or pop music lovers. But all of them inevitably have to deal with the consequences of a staff's moderation that, in the past year or so, has been infamous for some of the following incidents (these are just some that come to my mind and that I can easily find while being banned):
  1. Minutes after Kobe Bryant's death, people who reminded folks he was accused of rape have been banned, with messages insulting these members going unpunished. It's a stance, whether you agree with it or not, pretty strict and clear. Yet, just hours later, staff completely reversed their stance, without changing their prior bans or lack thereof, deciding to immediately ban literally anyone who said it's not really the time to discuss the rape allegations, deciding to instead not moderate anyone who does. Flip-flopping on this hours after a person's death was really in poor taste.
  2. The infamous TransEra incident, where a prominent member was initially permabanned for speaking up against site-wide and staff-wide issues, with the reason for the ban being completely fabricated. After lengthy protests by the users and several self-requested bans, multiple attempts to silence discussions and banning people who brought it up, staff chose to acknowledge the issues and allow severely guidelined discussions of it, discussions that didn't really improve anything. Learning nothing from the incident, staff since chose to once again ban said member for speaking up against staff and, ultimately, permaban them for good altogether for an issue that is certainly marginal compared to everything else that happened. We lost a valued member of the community who contributed greatly to the website, with staff clearly showing they were just waiting for the right moment to silently get rid of an outspoken member.
  3. A similar incident, this time with AsianEra where another prominent member got permabanned for pointing out how staff pretty much handwaved everything the Asian community suggested. Several threads such as this were made in support, all closed down, with once again many self-requested bans from people who rightfully felt to be considered second class citizen by staff. The user got eventually unbanned (after a very long time and after many users have been lost forever), and this incident encouraged the staff to open a suggestions thread.
  4. This suggestion thread is only visible and open to certain members, and it openly threadbans people from discussing bans and specific incidents, so users can only speak very broadly, never able to make proper examples of what's wrong and how to improve. Staff very frequently responds to lengthy questions, criticisms and suggestions with witty one liners and self-pity about how moderators don't have the time or the will to deal with all that stuff. I was excited about the idea of such a thread, but the execution feels like staff just wanting to have a dedicated space for complaints just so that they can contain and ignore them more easily.
  5. And to have a gaming example, this entire year of next-gen discussions has been downright embarassing, thanks to staff choosing to allow blatant fake information to spread from unreliable sources, instead banning folks who choose to doubt these "facts". Starting from verifying and stanning Kleegamefan, whose information turned out to be widely inaccurate; passing by Matt's many false statements, like the one about PS5 having a Smart Delivery system; not forgetting of course the quickly debunked Fable MMO rumors, confirmed even by a moderator only to be debunked by several other more reliable people; or, most recently, how they allowed that batshit insanity of the "Series X is hot!" thing to spread for a day, only stopping it because users were starting to insult each other, not because of, you know, every insider and even the so-called source of the rumor debunking the thesis.
These are just some of the most notable incidents I could think of, but lately there's at least one major community incident with several bans. I'm not gonna play the martyr card, nor claim I've been an unbiased member. I write for Xbox-centric publications, so that is where my main interests and contacts rely, hence it's the gaming theme I am most familiar with and that I can most easily call out bullshit on. Being a minority myself and having been marginalized in my life, I wanted to be part of something great on ResetEra, and when things were falling apart, I wanted to be a part of a positive change to turn the site back into what it was. Which was never perfect, far from it, but in many ways I still preferred it over most gaming communities, even with all the overzelaous banning and some outrage that felt rather fabricated rather than genuine.

Fast forward to our days. After my ban, I decided to contact staff about my month ban, once again pointing out some of the various issues I faced in recent times, including various xenophobic posts' reports that have gone ignored and an increased amount of trolling and ad hominem attacks in a variety of communities I'm involved with. I pointed out that I'm no saint, that I've got my bans for dumb shit, but my worries come from a place of care and passion, and that I want a positive change. I ended my message pointing out that if in this lengthy timeframe of a month my post goes once again ignored or is dismissed in a way that ignores all that I said, I'll probably refrain from posting on the website again.

This was used as a trump card by staff, who after over 3 weeks did get back to me. All my issues, criticism, suggestions and questions were ignored, with the anonymous staff member citing my continued hostility and the fact that I'm kinda planning to leave the site anyway to stealthily change my status to permabanned, without even allowing me to say goodbye to the many communities I was involved with, the OTs I run and so on. To add salt to the wound, my permaban was further justified by staff by citing an incident almost two years earlier in which I posted a meme that, out of context, could be interpreted as transphobic, despite the thread derailing into emoji-filled copy-pastas, including one that mocked an infamous Battlefield V Reddit post which, unlike mine, was clearly interpreted as satire and not a representation of the user's views. A brief look at the threads I make and the interactions I've had in off-topic would clearly reveal to anyone what are my views on social themes, but the staff decided to dunk on me for an extremely old incident to paint me as a transphobe.

I'm not looking for sympathy, for likes, nor I'm trying to get a welcome hug. I have my issues with NeoGAF, and I'm not trying to redeem myself in this community's eyes or be an active part of it. Hell, I expect users to not agree with a variety of things I said, perhaps even mock me for believing in what that website claimed to represent. But I'm writing this because ResetEra ignored my reports, my staff messages, staff I managed to contact on Discord and such was unable/uninterested in helping, most Discords affiliated with the website don't allow discussion on these matters, and they've found a real phony way to stealth permaban me from the website for good, despite being there since day 1 and having contributed to the website in a huge variety of ways. They silenced me, removed from the equation because I dared complain about moderation. I now came here because I looked back in curiosity and seen various great members of Era coming back here after getting banned for the dumbest reasons, people who, like me, got burnt by the fact that the tolerant and respectful policies they like to brag about are totally not what they seem. So, while it's most certainly too late for me to go back (something I would probably not even want to do unless moderation changes drastically), my story being out there can perhaps help initiate a positive change, hopefully even explain better what was the website when it started and how it evolved from the mouth of someone who's been largely present in most of the steps along the way.

Thanks to anyone who decides to read my wall of text. If nothing else, at the very least it's been cathartic to be able to put this out without Era moderation immediately locking the thread and banning anyone who participated.

what is this, seriously....get a life man. Go outside.
 
Hello folks, I have not posted on NeoGaf in approximately three years. I joined this website shortly before the schism happened, I was excited about a new gaming community based on values I believe in (tolerance, equality, etc.), and in fact I became a prominent member there, with over 21k posts to boot. I was thrilled about a pro-active staff I've said and done my share of stupid things, antagonized members, lost my cool at times, for which I did catch some warnings and bans - once every couple thousand posts over the span of 3 years is not that bad imho. Never been a role model but I believe I behaved well enough most of the time.

I recently have been permabanned after an escalation of events that, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. I reported several posts in an off-topic community I was involved with that devolved into blatant xenophobia and personal attacks, attacked multiple people trolling, reported people doxxing folks off the website. Pretty much every single one of these reports has been ignored by staff. I don't think it's news for most people that the quality of the discourse has been deteriorating in a variety of areas, but I've never been the kind of person to just shut up about it and suck it up, I demanded positive change, but my many reports, me contacting staff on the website or hitting up moderators I know on Discord or other platforms had exactly 0 results and positive changes. Keep in mind ResetEra bans public discussion on moderation, but if they ignore reports and staff messages, where exactly are you supposed to point out blatant wrongdoing?

So, after yet another discussion arose about moderation, this time in the Xbox studios thread, after other people already spoke up (and got subsequently banned) I explained my case, pointing out the very same things I said here and more: reports and staff messages have been ignored, community issues have not been dealt with, and in fact 2 of the 4 main gaming platforms' communities' core migrated elsewhere, several off-topic communities moved almost exclusively to Discords, several minority communities (one of the bastions of ResetEra, a safe haven for marginalized people) have indeed been chased off thanks to the deaf moderation. Outside of Era, a lot of members expressed gratitude for pointing all this out, risking my account to shed light on something that has been bothering a lot of people. Staff was not amused, and initially issued me a one month ban for, and I quote this directly, "Grossly misappropriating and mischaracterizing minority concerns for the sake of platform warring".

I think anyone who reads that post can comprehend that I pointed out that several communities left due to moderation issues, not that I believe TransEra is facing the exact same issues as Xbox fans or pop music lovers. But all of them inevitably have to deal with the consequences of a staff's moderation that, in the past year or so, has been infamous for some of the following incidents (these are just some that come to my mind and that I can easily find while being banned):
  1. Minutes after Kobe Bryant's death, people who reminded folks he was accused of rape have been banned, with messages insulting these members going unpunished. It's a stance, whether you agree with it or not, pretty strict and clear. Yet, just hours later, staff completely reversed their stance, without changing their prior bans or lack thereof, deciding to immediately ban literally anyone who said it's not really the time to discuss the rape allegations, deciding to instead not moderate anyone who does. Flip-flopping on this hours after a person's death was really in poor taste.
  2. The infamous TransEra incident, where a prominent member was initially permabanned for speaking up against site-wide and staff-wide issues, with the reason for the ban being completely fabricated. After lengthy protests by the users and several self-requested bans, multiple attempts to silence discussions and banning people who brought it up, staff chose to acknowledge the issues and allow severely guidelined discussions of it, discussions that didn't really improve anything. Learning nothing from the incident, staff since chose to once again ban said member for speaking up against staff and, ultimately, permaban them for good altogether for an issue that is certainly marginal compared to everything else that happened. We lost a valued member of the community who contributed greatly to the website, with staff clearly showing they were just waiting for the right moment to silently get rid of an outspoken member.
  3. A similar incident, this time with AsianEra where another prominent member got permabanned for pointing out how staff pretty much handwaved everything the Asian community suggested. Several threads such as this were made in support, all closed down, with once again many self-requested bans from people who rightfully felt to be considered second class citizen by staff. The user got eventually unbanned (after a very long time and after many users have been lost forever), and this incident encouraged the staff to open a suggestions thread.
  4. This suggestion thread is only visible and open to certain members, and it openly threadbans people from discussing bans and specific incidents, so users can only speak very broadly, never able to make proper examples of what's wrong and how to improve. Staff very frequently responds to lengthy questions, criticisms and suggestions with witty one liners and self-pity about how moderators don't have the time or the will to deal with all that stuff. I was excited about the idea of such a thread, but the execution feels like staff just wanting to have a dedicated space for complaints just so that they can contain and ignore them more easily.
  5. And to have a gaming example, this entire year of next-gen discussions has been downright embarassing, thanks to staff choosing to allow blatant fake information to spread from unreliable sources, instead banning folks who choose to doubt these "facts". Starting from verifying and stanning Kleegamefan, whose information turned out to be widely inaccurate; passing by Matt's many false statements, like the one about PS5 having a Smart Delivery system; not forgetting of course the quickly debunked Fable MMO rumors, confirmed even by a moderator only to be debunked by several other more reliable people; or, most recently, how they allowed that batshit insanity of the "Series X is hot!" thing to spread for a day, only stopping it because users were starting to insult each other, not because of, you know, every insider and even the so-called source of the rumor debunking the thesis.
These are just some of the most notable incidents I could think of, but lately there's at least one major community incident with several bans. I'm not gonna play the martyr card, nor claim I've been an unbiased member. I write for Xbox-centric publications, so that is where my main interests and contacts rely, hence it's the gaming theme I am most familiar with and that I can most easily call out bullshit on. Being a minority myself and having been marginalized in my life, I wanted to be part of something great on ResetEra, and when things were falling apart, I wanted to be a part of a positive change to turn the site back into what it was. Which was never perfect, far from it, but in many ways I still preferred it over most gaming communities, even with all the overzelaous banning and some outrage that felt rather fabricated rather than genuine.

Fast forward to our days. After my ban, I decided to contact staff about my month ban, once again pointing out some of the various issues I faced in recent times, including various xenophobic posts' reports that have gone ignored and an increased amount of trolling and ad hominem attacks in a variety of communities I'm involved with. I pointed out that I'm no saint, that I've got my bans for dumb shit, but my worries come from a place of care and passion, and that I want a positive change. I ended my message pointing out that if in this lengthy timeframe of a month my post goes once again ignored or is dismissed in a way that ignores all that I said, I'll probably refrain from posting on the website again.

This was used as a trump card by staff, who after over 3 weeks did get back to me. All my issues, criticism, suggestions and questions were ignored, with the anonymous staff member citing my continued hostility and the fact that I'm kinda planning to leave the site anyway to stealthily change my status to permabanned, without even allowing me to say goodbye to the many communities I was involved with, the OTs I run and so on. To add salt to the wound, my permaban was further justified by staff by citing an incident almost two years earlier in which I posted a meme that, out of context, could be interpreted as transphobic, despite the thread derailing into emoji-filled copy-pastas, including one that mocked an infamous Battlefield V Reddit post which, unlike mine, was clearly interpreted as satire and not a representation of the user's views. A brief look at the threads I make and the interactions I've had in off-topic would clearly reveal to anyone what are my views on social themes, but the staff decided to dunk on me for an extremely old incident to paint me as a transphobe.

I'm not looking for sympathy, for likes, nor I'm trying to get a welcome hug. I have my issues with NeoGAF, and I'm not trying to redeem myself in this community's eyes or be an active part of it. Hell, I expect users to not agree with a variety of things I said, perhaps even mock me for believing in what that website claimed to represent. But I'm writing this because ResetEra ignored my reports, my staff messages, staff I managed to contact on Discord and such was unable/uninterested in helping, most Discords affiliated with the website don't allow discussion on these matters, and they've found a real phony way to stealth permaban me from the website for good, despite being there since day 1 and having contributed to the website in a huge variety of ways. They silenced me, removed from the equation because I dared complain about moderation. I now came here because I looked back in curiosity and seen various great members of Era coming back here after getting banned for the dumbest reasons, people who, like me, got burnt by the fact that the tolerant and respectful policies they like to brag about are totally not what they seem. So, while it's most certainly too late for me to go back (something I would probably not even want to do unless moderation changes drastically), my story being out there can perhaps help initiate a positive change, hopefully even explain better what was the website when it started and how it evolved from the mouth of someone who's been largely present in most of the steps along the way.

Thanks to anyone who decides to read my wall of text. If nothing else, at the very least it's been cathartic to be able to put this out without Era moderation immediately locking the thread and banning anyone who participated.
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