[Nico]

easter egg

[vyper]

How random.

Anyway, I think this is all rather deja-vu-ish. an0n's been banned before, he's been unbanned before, Razor's  been a pain before, he's vanished for a while before. So the circle of hlp life continues. Its not as if the fs2 community is so massive as it is, I doubt anyone would be kicked out permanently.

[J.F.K.]

Originally posted by CP5670
Hemaroid Frog Butt on the VBB (anyone remember that guy? ).

I don't even know what the VBB is, but his name makes me laugh

[Fineus]

I think it's fairly simple - though I speak for myself - it seems to have turned out thus:

Regardless of what people may have done for the community, some of them have insisted on being assholes for some time now. A lot of this can be overlooked because it's not worth the trouble to go into some major punishment every time it happens - however it's happened so much now that the staff are just plain tired of it. Those who've acted this way can forget their nice cushy punishment system - regardless of how minor the final act may be - if they insist on acting like 10 year olds then they'll get sent straight to Ban 'o rama for it without any kind of hearing. The length of time is at the staffs discretion. It might not seem fair to someone who just comes along and sees the end of the story - but it's a hell of a lot less hassle than trying to knock some sense into some of these kids.

And of course, those who insist on coming back despite not being wanted around do have ISPs, it doesn't take very long to contact them and inform them of abusive behaviour - believe me

The short version? Act like a dick : get treated like a dick and get shoved in some dark hole. Act like a normal human being : we'll get along fine. Simple.

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by Kalfireth
The short version? Act like a dick : get treated like a dick and get shoved in some dark hole. Act like a normal human being : we'll get along fine. Simple.

Sound's like good 'ol common sense to me.

[Styxx]

KT, I don't want to have to ban anyone else, so stop with the insults. I don't care who you're insulting, or what you think of him, or what you think the rest of the forum members think of him.

Also, we don't like having banned members returning with alternate nicknames. I didn't want to have to resort to IP banning - I hoped an0n would keep to himself and try to behave until his account was returned to normal (which wouldn't have taken long) - but it seems I have little choice.

[diamondgeezer]

Well obviously you won't value my opinion (which is odd since this 'community' you keep refering to consists of over one thousand registered members and not just half a dozen admins), but I must say that IP banning an0n would suck eggs. I wouldn't stick my nose in to admin buisness but for the fact that I've always been taught to stand up and say something if I percieve an injustice.

[Fineus]

Well, you can say why - but there's no garuntee it'll change anything. You seem to be forgetting something - as you say there's one hell of a lot of people here, and only a few people with admin powers. Therefore the admins can't be everywhere at once and so if things were left unchecked then god knows what would happen - it's a sad fact that there are some people that stupid around here who can't do things by the rather un-strict rules. an0n is just one such person and because he keeps pushing his luck, his time has come. Don't say he hasn't had ample chance to change his ways!

[diamondgeezer]

Oh no, I appreciate that you keep giving him 'chances' backed up with threats of banishment. But have you noticed that the harder you push, the harder he pushes back? Maybe the solution is to ask him, privately, to have more tolerence for... well, I'm going to have to say it, idiots. Perhaps you already have and he simply refuses to sort himself out, I dunno. In anycase, I for one feel most strongly that his positive influences around here far outweigh his negative qualities. The community would be a poorer place without him.

[Grey Wolf]

This is a bit OT, but I thought we only had about 500 people active.

[Martinus]

Originally posted by diamondgeezer
Oh no, I appreciate that you keep giving him 'chances' backed up with threats of banishment. But have you noticed that the harder you push, the harder he pushes back? Maybe the solution is to ask him, privately, to have more tolerence for... well, I'm going to have to say it, idiots. Perhaps you already have and he simply refuses to sort himself out, I dunno. In anycase, I for one feel most strongly that his positive influences around here far outweigh his negative qualities. The community would be a poorer place without him.

[color=66ff00]We have.
Personally I weighed the positive influence he has against the negative and I agree with the banning, he did more damage than good. Just because you do constructive things on occasion does not mean that you have licence to be an abusive, negative influence.
[/color]

[Nico]

damn, then, there goes my plan of turning to pure evil.

[diamondgeezer]

Forgive my ignorance, but what kind of damage did he actually do? Just flaming? Was there anything else (apart from the portscan thing which we all know he'd never actually bother to do)?

[Stunaep]

Originally posted by diamondgeezer
Oh no, I appreciate that you keep giving him 'chances' backed up with threats of banishment. But have you noticed that the harder you push, the harder he pushes back? Maybe the solution is to ask him, privately, to have more tolerence for... well, I'm going to have to say it, idiots. Perhaps you already have and he simply refuses to sort himself out, I dunno. In anycase, I for one feel most strongly that his positive influences around here far outweigh his negative qualities. The community would be a poorer place without him.

I think you miss the point of why he was banned. The way I see it, An0n was banned because he flamed Razor and got caught with it. He was then banned, because the overall level of flaming and chaos in the forums had reached a certain distinct point. He was banned, I assume, because it was necessary to show the rest of the forumites, that Admins are still looking over us, and more importantly to discourage the rest of the flamers not to repeat that mistake. Death penalty is useless, unless it is enforced on someone. If you know that even though it exists, you're never going to be electrocuted, you still act as if it didn't exist. If you see that people are electrocuted for being tards, you don't. If Thunder had just told him to lay off, it wouldn't have had the effects it did on the entire community. Or that's how I understand it.

And also, he's been banned before. Why did you get so upset now?

[Nico]

no. he's been banned coz he pissed of the admins, pissed them off again, then again, then again, and after some times, anybody would reach the limit and make the troublemaker pay for it. I would. Altho I actually have nothing against An0n, I guess not having to deal with his beahviour kind of helps. That's not the same for admins. Anyway, I don't see the point in arguing about that, HLP is not our place, after all, we're just welcome here. The owners make the rules.

[diamondgeezer]

Originally posted by Stunaep
And also, he's been banned before. Why did you get so upset now?

In my own warped fashion, it seemed to me that an0n was one of the most mature and well-balanced people around here. When he flamed, he usually just stated the truth without all the rubbish the rest of us come up with. He never sugar coated anything, or held anything back - as far as I can see his 'flaming' was basically him speaking his mind, something most of us won't do becuase of the politics around here. And he got banned for it. If I started telling certain members what I really thought of them like an0n did, I'd prolly get the boot too.

[Stryke 9]

So... basically, an0n helps forum out, doesn't suck Razor's cock enough for some whiny peoples' tastes, admins feel inadequate (because of a surfeit of flaming that nobody except the people who alwyas ***** and moan about how the forum's going to hell in a handbasket anyway can see- aside from being in a bad mood that one day when I flamed just about everyone who looked at me funny, I've seen maybe eight actual flames in the past month), admins need to find a scapegoat to "punish" to fill that empty hole in their lives, admins let Razor back and ban anyone who touches the putz.

Well isn't that grand.



You know, I'm suddenly reminded of why I left here for HOTU that time back in the first place. Being treated as personal property by a bunch of guys who hardly take the time to help the community beyond harassing those they consider lesser beings isn't a good trip, and I very seriously doubt it's a coincidence that an0n's one of the few people who do more for the community as a whole than the admins and everyone knows it- whether they'll admit it to themselves (let alone anyone else) or not, there were plenty of people far more bannable (such as, well, I've said it before, and the guy who starts with an "R" and ends with an "azor" is only one of a list that includes me and, at times, certain admins), and there was an agenda here. See y'all when you guys let some actual adults run the place.

[kasperl]

to be honest, an0n getting banned wasn't a suprise for me, him getting banned for "flaming" razor, was.

basicly because it wasn't a flame, and even if it was, it was completely asked for. also, threateniong with portscans is rather small. i mean, who would actually go to all the trouble?

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by Stunaep
...Death penalty is useless, unless it is enforced on someone. If you know that even though it exists, you're never going to be electrocuted, you still act as if it didn't exist. If you see that people are electrocuted for being tards, you don't...

Wow, HLP's a pretty important place if you equate a banning to the death penalty.

Originally posted by diamondgeezer

In my own warped fashion, it seemed to me that an0n was one of the most mature and well-balanced people around here. When he flamed, he usually just stated the truth without all the rubbish the rest of us come up with. He never sugar coated anything, or held anything back - as far as I can see his 'flaming' was basically him speaking his mind, something most of us won't do becuase of the politics around here. And he got banned for it. If I started telling certain members what I really thought of them like an0n did, I'd prolly get the boot too.

Don't assume that you're the only one who sees things that way. Personally, I did not mind an0n's very open and blunt way of saying things, but I also realize that that's because I live in the Middle-East, where such behavior is the norm - although perhaps not quite to the (c)rude extent that an0n took it at times.

But whether I can take it or not, or even whether Razor deserved it or not, isn't the issue. The issue is that he persisted in behavior after having been warned multiple times, both in public and via PM, to tone himself down below "highly offensive" to something approximating "blunt and honest". He didn't.

[Fineus]

How come I miss all the comedy when I'm away at work? It's never fair...

The following stands apart from anything any other admin or whoever has said - I'm merely addressing what's happened and trying to get the point across. I'll ramble - but at least it's there to be read. Ignorance of what's been said is not reason to neglect it.

Also, I say "the admins" but I include myself in that since I still have admin rights. Lets not get into the "but you're not an admin" debate here.

diamondgeezer, sorry but you're not getting the same end of things as the admins are. Yes, an0n has done good for the community and it's a shame to have to ban him from the forums. But as it's already been pointed out:

Doing some good is not a voucher to be an asshole the rest of the time.

And yeah, call it speaking your mind if you like. But this is an online community that only functions because people do their best to get on. You may not agree with everything that everyone says - but most people don't make provocative comments to people - certainly not in the manner that an0n and certain others around here have. It's not needed. Whenever anyone gets annoyed or in some kind of arguement around here - there's typically a handful of people involved. A handful out of how many hundreds of people who've registered here?

The admins just don't need this hassle. Has it ever occured to some of you that one of the reasons that things don't always get done around here is because they're to busy looking after a few people who can't play nice? It takes time to go through the vB logs and find peoples IPs to ban them, it takes time to make posts to tell them to shut up because if their stupidity. All of this could be put to better use in improving the site but because a few people feel the need to conduct themselves in the manner of 12 year olds (in the guise of free speach, speaking their mind, not sugar coating things or whatever), the admins have to drop what they're doing and go and take care of the forums AGAIN. And they do have to take care of them - because if they didn't all these little flame wars would become big flame wars. The forum would go the way of the VBB and that would be that.

an0n was not banned for this latest little hiccup alone. He was banned because he kept on pushing. Every individual little thing is nothing major - something that an admin would overlook in a heartbeat with the comment "there's no need for that" and that would be all. But it's not just one, it's one after another after another and collectively the admins have just had enough. HLP was not created to babysit people who want to provoke others - there's a hundred and one other forums you could go to for that. HLP is about Freespace, modding, keeping the community together. If people keep pushing their luck then they'll be treated as little children and forced to leave the proverbial table. Good ridence to them.

Stryke, you of all people have come up with some pretty funny stuff. an0n is not alone in the "people pushing their luck" stakes. He merely went to far - but don't think he can or will be the only one. If you don't like things around here, you don't have to be here. By coming here you submit yourself to how things are run - and most people have gotten by fine. As I said earlier, a handful of people can't play by the rules - and now one of them has been punished and people are getting upset about it. To late now kids, he - and you - should have thought about it before it went to far.

Now, this can go two ways.

1) Be nice to eachother, avoid the flaming and the stupidity. Don't get punished and generally enjoy HLP for the reasons it was created. I go with this option.

2) Be unpleasent, keep flaming... pushing your luck... just to see if the admins can take it. Get banned. Whine about how unjust it is that you got banned. Keep pushing it and get banned permenantly. Whatever.

It's all up to you guys. I keep saying that the admins don't enjoy banning people. Seriously, there's a heck of a lot that needs doing and banning people just takes up time. But if you can't be sensible then you'll get banned - one way or another. It's up to you.