It's Trans Awareness Week! (Nov 13th -19th)

[Bio]

Staff: A couple of you have come in here, belatedly, lamenting the otherization of the staff by the community, and talking about how you're normal people with everyday lives (that, needless to say, come before volunteering on Era), but here's the thing:

The community doesn't want and has never wanted to "otherize" you. The habit — or, according to SweetNicole, the policy (?!) — of not engaging actively with the community otherizes yourselves. As the LGBT+ community well knows, visibility is crucial to the public acknowledging you as human. (And by engagement, I don't mean trotting out a singular relevant minority to act as the "face" of the staff, in a performance of ostensible diversity. That's not what being transparent looks like, and it's not what serving in a community should either.)

Be visible. (And by visibility, I don't mean towing the administrative line in intimidating or authoritative fashion.) Yes, that's scary, particularly when the community sentiment is boiling over — perhaps it wasn't even allowed, since Nepenthe had to make her case to appear at all — but proactive engagement can only democratize the forum and stymie said boiling in the first place. Yes, engagement comes with accountability for your visible words, but such is the burden of assumed responsibility, voluntary or no.

[Example: If Royalan had stayed in here, apologized, explained that he'd learned after his past comments, his name and calls for his banning might not be at the fore of this emotional boil over. It would still be prudent for him to resign as a moderator, not because past mistakes are unforgivable, but because his past acephobic comments made him a uniquely unqualified person to have the role he did in Ketkat's banning and the previous thread's locking.]

Since Era's founding, much of the community's adversarial relationship with the staff has — and I know you don't want to hear this — come from top-down policy decisions, as well as the virtual invisibility of the administrators, sans SweetNicole, who is now absent and whose role (even then, not enough) continues to be vacant. Era's community has its fair share of toxicity, but the staff's passivity and its policies' inadequacies have allowed it to grow.

One of Era's founding tenets was transparency, but literally the only meaningful and consistent example of it has been the public banners explaining warnings/bans... which, as seen in Ketkat's case, can be manipulatively abused (or at least appear to be, from the perspective of the public). That lack of transparency needs to change, as it has ever been at the fore of the community's disgruntlement with the staff.

Official reviews of situations, longform responses, and eventual policy changes take time. Everyone accepts that. But what's unacceptable — and what indicates severe mismanagement — is how many hours this thread went without any staff communicating, and that's being charitable and including Nepenthe's personal apology.

Regarding Ketkat: As Nicole said, enough is enough. The situation has reached a point where it no longer matters what she did or did not do, because as has been demonstrated constantly, she was a pillar of the community and multiple crucial sub-communities. I understand that her alleged actions make staff uncomfortable, but (1) she needs to be able to relay her side of the story, (2) the community comes first. Full stop.

Ketkat's banning may have been voted by staff majority — which I somehow doubt, due to its haste, and due to dissenters being less comfortable speaking up — but the bottom line is this: the community's voice has unanimously voted the opposite, and ResetEra is fundamentally the community, lest anyone forget how we clung together in our flight from GAF. Staff have come in here speaking of their humanity, of forgiveness, of sympathy, yet none of that is extended to Ketkat, whose offending post itself was made in unequivocal good faith for the betterment of the community? Unacceptable and hypocritical.

If there are individuals amongst the staff who aren't comfortable serving with Ketkat unbanned, then I remind them that their position is voluntary, and while I hope they stay in the community, their official capacity can be replaced from within the community. If pride gives anyone pause in doing so, perhaps replacement is all the better. Once again, communication is vital to health and longevity.

The LGBTIA+ community, the mental health community, the Era community: the confidence, comfortability, and support of all these people should come before staff wishes in this case of conflict. Period. Or else you aren't serving the community at all.

Click to shrink...

Seriously great post.

 

[FleenerW]

Where is Cerium? did he ever give a response to this whole situation? some communication would be nice

Click to shrink...

Here's his post from when Ket was banned:

The ban in question involves the abuse of a personal relationship between the poster in question and a former moderator. This is now a private matter and not for public discussion. It has nothing to do with the valid feedback in the rest of the post.

Click to shrink...

Wouldn't be surprised if most of the staff is complicit. Personally I think all members of staff should be chosen and voted on by the community and Era's surplus revenue donated to charity, heh.

 

[Deleted member 60096]

Staff: A couple of you have come in here, belatedly, lamenting the otherization of the staff by the community, and talking about how you're normal people with everyday lives (that, needless to say, come before volunteering on Era), but here's the thing:

The community doesn't want and has never wanted to "otherize" you. The habit — or, according to SweetNicole, the policy (?!) — of not engaging actively with the community otherizes yourselves. As the LGBT+ community well knows, visibility is crucial to the public acknowledging you as human. (And by engagement, I don't mean trotting out a singular relevant minority to act as the "face" of the staff, in a performance of ostensible diversity. That's not what being transparent looks like, and it's not what serving in a community should either.)

Be visible. (And by visibility, I don't mean towing the administrative line in intimidating or authoritative fashion.) Yes, that's scary, particularly when the community sentiment is boiling over — perhaps it wasn't even allowed, since Nepenthe had to make her case to appear at all — but proactive engagement can only democratize the forum and stymie said boiling in the first place. Yes, engagement comes with accountability for your visible words, but such is the burden of assumed responsibility, voluntary or no.

[Example: If Royalan had stayed in here, apologized, explained that he'd learned after his past comments, his name and calls for his banning might not be at the fore of this emotional boil over. It would still be prudent for him to resign as a moderator, not because past mistakes are unforgivable, but because his past acephobic comments made him a uniquely unqualified person to have the role he did in Ketkat's banning and the previous thread's locking.]

Since Era's founding, much of the community's adversarial relationship with the staff has — and I know you don't want to hear this — come from top-down policy decisions, as well as the virtual invisibility of the administrators, sans SweetNicole, who is now absent and whose role (even then, not enough) continues to be vacant. Era's community has its fair share of toxicity, but the staff's passivity and its policies' inadequacies have allowed it to grow.

One of Era's founding tenets was transparency, but literally the only meaningful and consistent example of it has been the public banners explaining warnings/bans... which, as seen in Ketkat's case, can be manipulatively abused (or at least appear to be, from the perspective of the public). That lack of transparency needs to change, as it has ever been at the fore of the community's disgruntlement with the staff.

Official reviews of situations, longform responses, and eventual policy changes take time. Everyone accepts that. But what's unacceptable — and what indicates severe mismanagement — is how many hours this thread went without any staff communicating, and that's being charitable and including Nepenthe's personal apology.

Regarding Ketkat: As Nicole said, enough is enough. The situation has reached a point where it no longer matters what she did or did not do, because as has been demonstrated constantly, she was a pillar of the community and multiple crucial sub-communities. I understand that her alleged actions make staff uncomfortable, but (1) she needs to be able to relay her side of the story, (2) the community comes first. Full stop.

Ketkat's banning may have been voted by staff majority — which I somehow doubt, due to its haste, and due to dissenters being less comfortable speaking up — but the bottom line is this: the community's voice has unanimously voted the opposite, and ResetEra is fundamentally the community, lest anyone forget how we clung together in our flight from GAF. Staff have come in here speaking of their humanity, of forgiveness, of sympathy, yet none of that is extended to Ketkat, whose offending post itself was made in unequivocal good faith for the betterment of the community? Unacceptable and hypocritical.

If there are individuals amongst the staff who aren't comfortable serving with Ketkat unbanned, then I remind them that their position is voluntary, and while I hope they stay in the community, their official capacity can be replaced from within the community. If pride gives anyone pause in doing so, perhaps replacement is all the better. Once again, communication is vital to health and longevity.

The LGBTIA+ community, the mental health community, the Era community: the confidence, comfortability, and support of all these people should come before staff wishes in this case of conflict. Period. Or else you aren't serving the community at all.

Click to shrink...

This is a good post, mods/admins please take note

 

[TheMrPliskin]

Staff: A couple of you have come in here, belatedly, lamenting the otherization of the staff by the community, and talking about how you're normal people with everyday lives (that, needless to say, come before volunteering on Era), but here's the thing:

The community doesn't want and has never wanted to "otherize" you. The habit — or, according to SweetNicole, the policy (?!) — of not engaging actively with the community otherizes yourselves. As the LGBT+ community well knows, visibility is crucial to the public acknowledging you as human. (And by engagement, I don't mean trotting out a singular relevant minority to act as the "face" of the staff, in a performance of ostensible diversity. That's not what being transparent looks like, and it's not what serving in a community should either.)

Be visible. (And by visibility, I don't mean towing the administrative line in intimidating or authoritative fashion.) Yes, that's scary, particularly when the community sentiment is boiling over — perhaps it wasn't even allowed, since Nepenthe had to make her case to appear at all — but proactive engagement can only democratize the forum and stymie said boiling in the first place. Yes, engagement comes with accountability for your visible words, but such is the burden of assumed responsibility, voluntary or no.

[Example: If Royalan had stayed in here, apologized, explained that he'd learned after his past comments, his name and calls for his banning might not be at the fore of this emotional boil over. It would still be prudent for him to resign as a moderator, not because past mistakes are unforgivable, but because his past acephobic comments made him a uniquely unqualified person to have the role he did in Ketkat's banning and the previous thread's locking.]

Since Era's founding, much of the community's adversarial relationship with the staff has — and I know you don't want to hear this — come from top-down policy decisions, as well as the virtual invisibility of the administrators, sans SweetNicole, who is now absent and whose role (even then, not enough) continues to be vacant. Era's community has its fair share of toxicity, but the staff's passivity and its policies' inadequacies have allowed it to grow.

One of Era's founding tenets was transparency, but literally the only meaningful and consistent example of it has been the public banners explaining warnings/bans... which, as seen in Ketkat's case, can be manipulatively abused (or at least appear to be, from the perspective of the public). That lack of transparency needs to change, as it has ever been at the fore of the community's disgruntlement with the staff.

Official reviews of situations, longform responses, and eventual policy changes take time. Everyone accepts that. But what's unacceptable — and what indicates severe mismanagement — is how many hours this thread went without any staff communicating, and that's being charitable and including Nepenthe's personal apology.

Regarding Ketkat: As Nicole said, enough is enough. The situation has reached a point where it no longer matters what she did or did not do, because as has been demonstrated constantly, she was a pillar of the community and multiple crucial sub-communities. I understand that her alleged actions make staff uncomfortable, but (1) she needs to be able to relay her side of the story, (2) the community comes first. Full stop.

Ketkat's banning may have been voted by staff majority — which I somehow doubt, due to its haste, and due to dissenters being less comfortable speaking up — but the bottom line is this: the community's voice has unanimously voted the opposite, and ResetEra is fundamentally the community, lest anyone forget how we clung together in our flight from GAF. Staff have come in here speaking of their humanity, of forgiveness, of sympathy, yet none of that is extended to Ketkat, whose offending post itself was made in unequivocal good faith for the betterment of the community? Unacceptable and hypocritical.

If there are individuals amongst the staff who aren't comfortable serving with Ketkat unbanned, then I remind them that their position is voluntary, and while I hope they stay in the community, their official capacity can be replaced from within the community. If pride gives anyone pause in doing so, perhaps replacement is all the better. Once again, communication is vital to health and longevity.

The LGBTIA+ community, the mental health community, the Era community: the confidence, comfortability, and support of all these people should come before staff wishes in this case of conflict. Period. Or else you aren't serving the community at all.

Click to shrink...

Great post that I hope the Staff actually take to heart.

 

[Bio]

Great post that I hope the Staff actually take to heart.

Click to shrink...

Unfortunately I have a feeling that no one with any real authority is even listening at this point. When is the last time an admin, any admin, even responded to any of these threads? As best I can recall it was Cerium and that was six days ago.

 

[BigDes]

Unfortunately I have a feeling that no one with any real authority is even listening at this point. When is the last time an admin, any admin, even responded to any of these threads? As best I can recall it was Cerium and that was six days ago.

Click to shrink...

Hecht was either in here or the other thread a few hours ago at least.

 

[Bio]

Hecht was either in here or the other thread a few hours ago at least.

Click to shrink...

Did they have anything of substance to say?

 

[BigDes]

Did they have anything of substance to say?

Click to shrink...

I believe the jist of it was that the admins and mods that need to be talked to were in bed, and that everyone should have patience.

So, no. Not really.

 

[Deleted member 203]

Staff: A couple of you have come in here, belatedly, lamenting the otherization of the staff by the community, and talking about how you're normal people with everyday lives (that, needless to say, come before volunteering on Era), but here's the thing:

The community doesn't want and has never wanted to "otherize" you. The habit — or, according to SweetNicole, the policy (?!) — of not engaging actively with the community otherizes yourselves. As the LGBT+ community well knows, visibility is crucial to the public acknowledging you as human. (And by engagement, I don't mean trotting out a singular relevant minority to act as the "face" of the staff, in a performance of ostensible diversity. That's not what being transparent looks like, and it's not what serving in a community should either.)

Be visible. (And by visibility, I don't mean towing the administrative line in intimidating or authoritative fashion.) Yes, that's scary, particularly when the community sentiment is boiling over — perhaps it wasn't even allowed, since Nepenthe had to make her case to appear at all — but proactive engagement can only democratize the forum and stymie said boiling in the first place. Yes, engagement comes with accountability for your visible words, but such is the burden of assumed responsibility, voluntary or no.

[Example: If Royalan had stayed in here, apologized, explained that he'd learned after his past comments, his name and calls for his banning might not be at the fore of this emotional boil over. It would still be prudent for him to resign as a moderator, not because past mistakes are unforgivable, but because his past acephobic comments made him a uniquely unqualified person to have the role he did in Ketkat's banning and the previous thread's locking.]

Since Era's founding, much of the community's adversarial relationship with the staff has — and I know you don't want to hear this — come from top-down policy decisions, as well as the virtual invisibility of the administrators, sans SweetNicole, who is now absent and whose role (even then, not enough) continues to be vacant. Era's community has its fair share of toxicity, but the staff's passivity and its policies' inadequacies have allowed it to grow.

One of Era's founding tenets was transparency, but literally the only meaningful and consistent example of it has been the public banners explaining warnings/bans... which, as seen in Ketkat's case, can be manipulatively abused (or at least appear to be, from the perspective of the public). That lack of transparency needs to change, as it has ever been at the fore of the community's disgruntlement with the staff.

Official reviews of situations, longform responses, and eventual policy changes take time. Everyone accepts that. But what's unacceptable — and what indicates severe mismanagement — is how many hours this thread went without any staff communicating, and that's being charitable and including Nepenthe's personal apology.

Regarding Ketkat: As Nicole said, enough is enough. The situation has reached a point where it no longer matters what she did or did not do, because as has been demonstrated constantly, she was a pillar of the community and multiple crucial sub-communities. I understand that her alleged actions make staff uncomfortable, but (1) she needs to be able to relay her side of the story, (2) the community comes first. Full stop.

Ketkat's banning may have been voted by staff majority — which I somehow doubt, due to its haste, and due to dissenters being less comfortable speaking up — but the bottom line is this: the community's voice has unanimously voted the opposite, and ResetEra is fundamentally the community, lest anyone forget how we clung together in our flight from GAF. Staff have come in here speaking of their humanity, of forgiveness, of sympathy, yet none of that is extended to Ketkat, whose offending post itself was made in unequivocal good faith for the betterment of the community? Unacceptable and hypocritical.

If there are individuals amongst the staff who aren't comfortable serving with Ketkat unbanned, then I remind them that their position is voluntary, and while I hope they stay in the community, their official capacity can be replaced from within the community. If pride gives anyone pause in doing so, perhaps replacement is all the better. Once again, communication is vital to health and longevity.

The LGBTIA+ community, the mental health community, the Era community: the confidence, comfortability, and support of all these people should come before staff wishes in this case of conflict. Period. Or else you aren't serving the community at all.

Click to shrink...

Fantastic. I really admire posts like this by people who can channel their anger/frustration in constructive ways. I hope the right eyes read this.

 

[FormatCompatible]

Staff: A couple of you have come in here, belatedly, lamenting the otherization of the staff by the community, and talking about how you're normal people with everyday lives (that, needless to say, come before volunteering on Era), but here's the thing:

The community doesn't want and has never wanted to "otherize" you. The habit — or, according to SweetNicole, the policy (?!) — of not engaging actively with the community otherizes yourselves. As the LGBT+ community well knows, visibility is crucial to the public acknowledging you as human. (And by engagement, I don't mean trotting out a singular relevant minority to act as the "face" of the staff, in a performance of ostensible diversity. That's not what being transparent looks like, and it's not what serving in a community should either.)

Be visible. (And by visibility, I don't mean towing the administrative line in intimidating or authoritative fashion.) Yes, that's scary, particularly when the community sentiment is boiling over — perhaps it wasn't even allowed, since Nepenthe had to make her case to appear at all — but proactive engagement can only democratize the forum and stymie said boiling in the first place. Yes, engagement comes with accountability for your visible words, but such is the burden of assumed responsibility, voluntary or no.

[Example: If Royalan had stayed in here, apologized, explained that he'd learned after his past comments, his name and calls for his banning might not be at the fore of this emotional boil over. It would still be prudent for him to resign as a moderator, not because past mistakes are unforgivable, but because his past acephobic comments made him a uniquely unqualified person to have the role he did in Ketkat's banning and the previous thread's locking.]

Since Era's founding, much of the community's adversarial relationship with the staff has — and I know you don't want to hear this — come from top-down policy decisions, as well as the virtual invisibility of the administrators, sans SweetNicole, who is now absent and whose role (even then, not enough) continues to be vacant. Era's community has its fair share of toxicity, but the staff's passivity and its policies' inadequacies have allowed it to grow.

One of Era's founding tenets was transparency, but literally the only meaningful and consistent example of it has been the public banners explaining warnings/bans... which, as seen in Ketkat's case, can be manipulatively abused (or at least appear to be, from the perspective of the public). That lack of transparency needs to change, as it has ever been at the fore of the community's disgruntlement with the staff.

Official reviews of situations, longform responses, and eventual policy changes take time. Everyone accepts that. But what's unacceptable — and what indicates severe mismanagement — is how many hours this thread went without any staff communicating, and that's being charitable and including Nepenthe's personal apology.

Regarding Ketkat: As Nicole said, enough is enough. The situation has reached a point where it no longer matters what she did or did not do, because as has been demonstrated constantly, she was a pillar of the community and multiple crucial sub-communities. I understand that her alleged actions make staff uncomfortable, but (1) she needs to be able to relay her side of the story, (2) the community comes first. Full stop.

Ketkat's banning may have been voted by staff majority — which I somehow doubt, due to its haste, and due to dissenters being less comfortable speaking up — but the bottom line is this: the community's voice has unanimously voted the opposite, and ResetEra is fundamentally the community, lest anyone forget how we clung together in our flight from GAF. Staff have come in here speaking of their humanity, of forgiveness, of sympathy, yet none of that is extended to Ketkat, whose offending post itself was made in unequivocal good faith for the betterment of the community? Unacceptable and hypocritical.

If there are individuals amongst the staff who aren't comfortable serving with Ketkat unbanned, then I remind them that their position is voluntary, and while I hope they stay in the community, their official capacity can be replaced from within the community. If pride gives anyone pause in doing so, perhaps replacement is all the better. Once again, communication is vital to health and longevity.

The LGBTIA+ community, the mental health community, the Era community: the confidence, comfortability, and support of all these people should come before staff wishes in this case of conflict. Period. Or else you aren't serving the community at all.

Click to shrink...

This is a truly great post, thank you.

 

[TheMrPliskin]

Unfortunately I have a feeling that no one with any real authority is even listening at this point. When is the last time an admin, any admin, even responded to any of these threads? As best I can recall it was Cerium and that was six days ago.

Click to shrink...

As was pointed out there were some posts from Hecht earlier that at least stated they were listening. I also think it's blown up enough at this point where they have no choice but to listen, especially when the attempts to stamp out discussion failed.

I just don't have any faith that the right level of action will be taken. I feel like I've read numerous posts from the mod team that have stated they'll do better in the future when it comes to moderation or engaging with the community and yet here we are.

 

[jviggy43]

If the majority of mods agreed to the Ketkat ban then this forum needs a more serious enema that I supposed.

Name them and release them from service. They have no business here.

Click to shrink...

I mean just look at the amount of mods in that thread gaslighting the issue into one about privacy over the content of why that channel was being brought up. Look at some of their responses after pages in these threads where they came in and tried to turn it back on the community while arguing about some nebulous unnamed posters working against whats best for the community.

Its obviously a wide spread problem or at best, a click of people who above all are going to stan for eachother over legitimate issues of acephobia and silence anyone who speaks up about it.

 

[Bio]

As was pointed out there were some posts from Hecht earlier that at least stated they were listening. I also think it's blown up enough at this point where they have no choice but to listen, especially when the attempts to stamp out discussion failed.

Click to shrink...

I think it is all too easy for them to simply ride this out until all the "troublemakers" either leave the forum in frustration or quit fighting because of fatigue. It would not surprise me at all if they simply ran the numbers and decided it was easier to lose a few dozen or even a hundred members rather than actually address anything on a systemic level.

I know that sounds cynical but at this point they haven't given anyone any reason to believe otherwise. Entire wars have begun and ended in the time it's taken the admins to actually respond to this issue in a substantive way, so I find it hard to believe that they're still trying to "figure things out" rather than just trying to ride out the storm.

 

[Deleted member 15737]

Staff: A couple of you have come in here, belatedly, lamenting the otherization of the staff by the community, and talking about how you're normal people with everyday lives (that, needless to say, come before volunteering on Era), but here's the thing:

The community doesn't want and has never wanted to "otherize" you. The habit — or, according to SweetNicole, the policy (?!) — of not engaging actively with the community otherizes yourselves. As the LGBT+ community well knows, visibility is crucial to the public acknowledging you as human. (And by engagement, I don't mean trotting out a singular relevant minority to act as the "face" of the staff, in a performance of ostensible diversity. That's not what being transparent looks like, and it's not what serving in a community should either.)

Be visible. (And by visibility, I don't mean towing the administrative line in intimidating or authoritative fashion.) Yes, that's scary, particularly when the community sentiment is boiling over — perhaps it wasn't even allowed, since Nepenthe had to make her case to appear at all — but proactive engagement can only democratize the forum and stymie said boiling in the first place. Yes, engagement comes with accountability for your visible words, but such is the burden of assumed responsibility, voluntary or no.

[Example: If Royalan had stayed in here, apologized, explained that he'd learned after his past comments, his name and calls for his banning might not be at the fore of this emotional boil over. It would still be prudent for him to resign as a moderator, not because past mistakes are unforgivable, but because his past acephobic comments made him a uniquely unqualified person to have the role he did in Ketkat's banning and the previous thread's locking.]

Since Era's founding, much of the community's adversarial relationship with the staff has — and I know you don't want to hear this — come from top-down policy decisions, as well as the virtual invisibility of the administrators, sans SweetNicole, who is now absent and whose role (even then, not enough) continues to be vacant. Era's community has its fair share of toxicity, but the staff's passivity and its policies' inadequacies have allowed it to grow.

One of Era's founding tenets was transparency, but literally the only meaningful and consistent example of it has been the public banners explaining warnings/bans... which, as seen in Ketkat's case, can be manipulatively abused (or at least appear to be, from the perspective of the public). That lack of transparency needs to change, as it has ever been at the fore of the community's disgruntlement with the staff.

Official reviews of situations, longform responses, and eventual policy changes take time. Everyone accepts that. But what's unacceptable — and what indicates severe mismanagement — is how many hours this thread went without any staff communicating, and that's being charitable and including Nepenthe's personal apology.

Regarding Ketkat: As Nicole said, enough is enough. The situation has reached a point where it no longer matters what she did or did not do, because as has been demonstrated constantly, she was a pillar of the community and multiple crucial sub-communities. I understand that her alleged actions make staff uncomfortable, but (1) she needs to be able to relay her side of the story, (2) the community comes first. Full stop.

Ketkat's banning may have been voted by staff majority — which I somehow doubt, due to its haste, and due to dissenters being less comfortable speaking up — but the bottom line is this: the community's voice has unanimously voted the opposite, and ResetEra is fundamentally the community, lest anyone forget how we clung together in our flight from GAF. Staff have come in here speaking of their humanity, of forgiveness, of sympathy, yet none of that is extended to Ketkat, whose offending post itself was made in unequivocal good faith for the betterment of the community? Unacceptable and hypocritical.

If there are individuals amongst the staff who aren't comfortable serving with Ketkat unbanned, then I remind them that their position is voluntary, and while I hope they stay in the community, their official capacity can be replaced from within the community. If pride gives anyone pause in doing so, perhaps replacement is all the better. Once again, communication is vital to health and longevity.

The LGBTIA+ community, the mental health community, the Era community: the confidence, comfortability, and support of all these people should come before staff wishes in this case of conflict. Period. Or else you aren't serving the community at all.

Click to shrink...

Awesome post, sums up my displeasure, especially regarding visibility and transparency.

Getting banned, not understanding why, asking for an explanation from various avenues, not receiving one. The ban messages haven't been helpful at all in helping me curb whatever the problematic behaviour that's led to my bans is. Not getting an explanation after several attempts really just makes a member feel worthless and like they arent wanted.

Is the staff implementing punishments that help those acting in good faith (who want to discuss and engage) correct their behavior? Are warnings being given enough? Do better options exist? I always thought thread bans/timeouts would be the best solution.

If someone is derailing or is getting too worked up, the ability to warn/ban/timeout by thread might be really useful. Dont know if others agree or if its feasible.


Also, has royal apologized/talked about the GAF post going around? I'm surprised hes not banned yet, that was some TERF-like nonsense. If that's the sort of talk they need staff discord for, we need new staff lol.

 

[Kyuuji]

Fantastic post Disclaimer, thank you. Appreciate you grounding the issue within a wider context and in such an effective manner.

Official reviews of situations, longform responses, and eventual policy changes take time. Everyone accepts that. But what's unacceptable — and what indicates severe mismanagement — is how many hours this thread went without any staff communicating, and that's being charitable and including Nepenthe's personal apology.

Click to shrink...

I just want to expand on this point for others reading, as I think it's important to also consider the timeline of the thread in which the ban happened:

https://www.resetera.com/threads/we-need-to-talk-about-responding-to-trans-related-issues.151194/

It was started by someone (Xaszatm) outside of the trans community who had noticed the months of trans threads and growing discontent with how they always go. It was asked that the thread be stuck, or how the staff might remedy the situation and suddenly - no staff to be seen. It took 10 days for a staff post to be added, and even then it didn't acknowledge the months of inaction or speak to the frustration the community had felt through it. Half of it focused on the feelings of the staff, having been made to feel upset over our growing discontent.

That is what compounds the situation as well, leading into Ketkat being banned for her response. Her response was given within that context and despite that was still civil, measured and detailed. She was banned immediately, the thread completely reappropriated to not only be about moderator concerns but also enacting the very scenarios and messages the thread itself was created to address. Then it was locked.

That context is important in appreciating a lot of the emotion at play both in that thread, this and the other. A sentiment that people have been made to feel guilty for expressing then and now.

 

[Rover]

I think it is all too easy for them to simply ride this out until all the "troublemakers" either leave the forum in frustration or quit fighting because of fatigue. It would not surprise me at all if they simply ran the numbers and decided it was easier to lose a few dozen or even a hundred members rather than actually address anything on a systemic level.

Click to shrink...

Sure, but that's a big hole in the woke facade of this place.

The standard is often set by the smallest example, not the biggest.

 

[Bio]

Sure, but that's a big hole in the woke facade of this place.

The standard is often set by the smallest example, not the biggest.

Click to shrink...

Oh I agree. I'm not saying it's a smart, ethical move on their part. I just think that's what's happening.

 

[VeePs]

I really feel like this site isn't going to change. Shades of GAF.

 

[Deleted member 4532]

Staff: A couple of you have come in here, belatedly, lamenting the otherization of the staff by the community, and talking about how you're normal people with everyday lives (that, needless to say, come before volunteering on Era), but here's the thing:

The community doesn't want and has never wanted to "otherize" you. The habit — or, according to SweetNicole, the policy (?!) — of not engaging actively with the community otherizes yourselves. As the LGBT+ community well knows, visibility is crucial to the public acknowledging you as human. (And by engagement, I don't mean trotting out a singular relevant minority to act as the "face" of the staff, in a performance of ostensible diversity. That's not what being transparent looks like, and it's not what serving in a community should either.)

Be visible. (And by visibility, I don't mean towing the administrative line in intimidating or authoritative fashion.) Yes, that's scary, particularly when the community sentiment is boiling over — perhaps it wasn't even allowed, since Nepenthe had to make her case to appear at all — but proactive engagement can only democratize the forum and stymie said boiling in the first place. Yes, engagement comes with accountability for your visible words, but such is the burden of assumed responsibility, voluntary or no.

[Example: If Royalan had stayed in here, apologized, explained that he'd learned after his past comments, his name and calls for his banning might not be at the fore of this emotional boil over. It would still be prudent for him to resign as a moderator, not because past mistakes are unforgivable, but because his past acephobic comments made him a uniquely unqualified person to have the role he did in Ketkat's banning and the previous thread's locking.]

Since Era's founding, much of the community's adversarial relationship with the staff has — and I know you don't want to hear this — come from top-down policy decisions, as well as the virtual invisibility of the administrators, sans SweetNicole, who is now absent and whose role (even then, not enough) continues to be vacant. Era's community has its fair share of toxicity, but the staff's passivity and its policies' inadequacies have allowed it to grow.

One of Era's founding tenets was transparency, but literally the only meaningful and consistent example of it has been the public banners explaining warnings/bans... which, as seen in Ketkat's case, can be manipulatively abused (or at least appear to be, from the perspective of the public). That lack of transparency needs to change, as it has ever been at the fore of the community's disgruntlement with the staff.

Official reviews of situations, longform responses, and eventual policy changes take time. Everyone accepts that. But what's unacceptable — and what indicates severe mismanagement — is how many hours this thread went without any staff communicating, and that's being charitable and including Nepenthe's personal apology.

Regarding Ketkat: As Nicole said, enough is enough. The situation has reached a point where it no longer matters what she did or did not do, because as has been demonstrated constantly, she was a pillar of the community and multiple crucial sub-communities. I understand that her alleged actions make staff uncomfortable, but (1) she needs to be able to relay her side of the story, (2) the community comes first. Full stop.

Ketkat's banning may have been voted by staff majority — which I somehow doubt, due to its haste, and due to dissenters being less comfortable speaking up — but the bottom line is this: the community's voice has unanimously voted the opposite, and ResetEra is fundamentally the community, lest anyone forget how we clung together in our flight from GAF. Staff have come in here speaking of their humanity, of forgiveness, of sympathy, yet none of that is extended to Ketkat, whose offending post itself was made in unequivocal good faith for the betterment of the community? Unacceptable and hypocritical.

If there are individuals amongst the staff who aren't comfortable serving with Ketkat unbanned, then I remind them that their position is voluntary, and while I hope they stay in the community, their official capacity can be replaced from within the community. If pride gives anyone pause in doing so, perhaps replacement is all the better. Once again, communication is vital to health and longevity.

The LGBTIA+ community, the mental health community, the Era community: the confidence, comfortability, and support of all these people should come before staff wishes in this case of conflict. Period. Or else you aren't serving the community at all.

Click to shrink...

I'm just waking up now and this was the first post I saw... what else needs to be said? Excellent post.

 

[SpaceCrystal]

Staff: A couple of you have come in here, belatedly, lamenting the otherization of the staff by the community, and talking about how you're normal people with everyday lives (that, needless to say, come before volunteering on Era), but here's the thing:

The community doesn't want and has never wanted to "otherize" you. The habit — or, according to SweetNicole, the policy (?!) — of not engaging actively with the community otherizes yourselves. As the LGBT+ community well knows, visibility is crucial to the public acknowledging you as human. (And by engagement, I don't mean trotting out a singular relevant minority to act as the "face" of the staff, in a performance of ostensible diversity. That's not what being transparent looks like, and it's not what serving in a community should either.)

Be visible. (And by visibility, I don't mean towing the administrative line in intimidating or authoritative fashion.) Yes, that's scary, particularly when the community sentiment is boiling over — perhaps it wasn't even allowed, since Nepenthe had to make her case to appear at all — but proactive engagement can only democratize the forum and stymie said boiling in the first place. Yes, engagement comes with accountability for your visible words, but such is the burden of assumed responsibility, voluntary or no.

[Example: If Royalan had stayed in here, apologized, explained that he'd learned after his past comments, his name and calls for his banning might not be at the fore of this emotional boil over. It would still be prudent for him to resign as a moderator, not because past mistakes are unforgivable, but because his past acephobic comments made him a uniquely unqualified person to have the role he did in Ketkat's banning and the previous thread's locking.]

Since Era's founding, much of the community's adversarial relationship with the staff has — and I know you don't want to hear this — come from top-down policy decisions, as well as the virtual invisibility of the administrators, sans SweetNicole, who is now absent and whose role (even then, not enough) continues to be vacant. Era's community has its fair share of toxicity, but the staff's passivity and its policies' inadequacies have allowed it to grow.

One of Era's founding tenets was transparency, but literally the only meaningful and consistent example of it has been the public banners explaining warnings/bans... which, as seen in Ketkat's case, can be manipulatively abused (or at least appear to be, from the perspective of the public). That lack of transparency needs to change, as it has ever been at the fore of the community's disgruntlement with the staff.

Official reviews of situations, longform responses, and eventual policy changes take time. Everyone accepts that. But what's unacceptable — and what indicates severe mismanagement — is how many hours this thread went without any staff communicating, and that's being charitable and including Nepenthe's personal apology.

Regarding Ketkat: As Nicole said, enough is enough. The situation has reached a point where it no longer matters what she did or did not do, because as has been demonstrated constantly, she was a pillar of the community and multiple crucial sub-communities. I understand that her alleged actions make staff uncomfortable, but (1) she needs to be able to relay her side of the story, (2) the community comes first. Full stop.

Ketkat's banning may have been voted by staff majority — which I somehow doubt, due to its haste, and due to dissenters being less comfortable speaking up — but the bottom line is this: the community's voice has unanimously voted the opposite, and ResetEra is fundamentally the community, lest anyone forget how we clung together in our flight from GAF. Staff have come in here speaking of their humanity, of forgiveness, of sympathy, yet none of that is extended to Ketkat, whose offending post itself was made in unequivocal good faith for the betterment of the community? Unacceptable and hypocritical.

If there are individuals amongst the staff who aren't comfortable serving with Ketkat unbanned, then I remind them that their position is voluntary, and while I hope they stay in the community, their official capacity can be replaced from within the community. If pride gives anyone pause in doing so, perhaps replacement is all the better. Once again, communication is vital to health and longevity.

The LGBTIA+ community, the mental health community, the Era community: the confidence, comfortability, and support of all these people should come before staff wishes in this case of conflict. Period. Or else you aren't serving the community at all.

Click to shrink...

Amen to this post!

This site needs to ease up on bans & learn on how to handle different opinions. People shouldn't have to be silenced & have to run over to different gaming messageboards or blogs such as GameFAQs, Discord or Reddit for that.

It's both sad, & ridiculous. Just sad.

 

[Deleted member 203]

Amen to this post!

This site needs to ease up on bans & learn on how to handle different opinions. People shouldn't have to be silenced & have to run over to different gaming messageboards or blogs such as GameFAQs, Discord or Reddit for that.

It's both sad, & ridiculous. Just plain sad.

Click to shrink...

That's where people are going to talk about LGBTQ issues? man I've been missing out!

alt post: when you definitely can read the room

 

[Theswweet]

Staff: A couple of you have come in here, belatedly, lamenting the otherization of the staff by the community, and talking about how you're normal people with everyday lives (that, needless to say, come before volunteering on Era), but here's the thing:

The community doesn't want and has never wanted to "otherize" you. The habit — or, according to SweetNicole, the policy (?!) — of not engaging actively with the community otherizes yourselves. As the LGBT+ community well knows, visibility is crucial to the public acknowledging you as human. (And by engagement, I don't mean trotting out a singular relevant minority to act as the "face" of the staff, in a performance of ostensible diversity. That's not what being transparent looks like, and it's not what serving in a community should either.)

Be visible. (And by visibility, I don't mean towing the administrative line in intimidating or authoritative fashion.) Yes, that's scary, particularly when the community sentiment is boiling over — perhaps it wasn't even allowed, since Nepenthe had to make her case to appear at all — but proactive engagement can only democratize the forum and stymie said boiling in the first place. Yes, engagement comes with accountability for your visible words, but such is the burden of assumed responsibility, voluntary or no.

[Example: If Royalan had stayed in here, apologized, explained that he'd learned after his past comments, his name and calls for his banning might not be at the fore of this emotional boil over. It would still be prudent for him to resign as a moderator, not because past mistakes are unforgivable, but because his past acephobic comments made him a uniquely unqualified person to have the role he did in Ketkat's banning and the previous thread's locking.]

Since Era's founding, much of the community's adversarial relationship with the staff has — and I know you don't want to hear this — come from top-down policy decisions, as well as the virtual invisibility of the administrators, sans SweetNicole, who is now absent and whose role (even then, not enough) continues to be vacant. Era's community has its fair share of toxicity, but the staff's passivity and its policies' inadequacies have allowed it to grow.

One of Era's founding tenets was transparency, but literally the only meaningful and consistent example of it has been the public banners explaining warnings/bans... which, as seen in Ketkat's case, can be manipulatively abused (or at least appear to be, from the perspective of the public). That lack of transparency needs to change, as it has ever been at the fore of the community's disgruntlement with the staff.

Official reviews of situations, longform responses, and eventual policy changes take time. Everyone accepts that. But what's unacceptable — and what indicates severe mismanagement — is how many hours this thread went without any staff communicating, and that's being charitable and including Nepenthe's personal apology.

Regarding Ketkat: As Nicole said, enough is enough. The situation has reached a point where it no longer matters what she did or did not do, because as has been demonstrated constantly, she was a pillar of the community and multiple crucial sub-communities. I understand that her alleged actions make staff uncomfortable, but (1) she needs to be able to relay her side of the story, (2) the community comes first. Full stop.

Ketkat's banning may have been voted by staff majority — which I somehow doubt, due to its haste, and due to dissenters being less comfortable speaking up — but the bottom line is this: the community's voice has unanimously voted the opposite, and ResetEra is fundamentally the community, lest anyone forget how we clung together in our flight from GAF. Staff have come in here speaking of their humanity, of forgiveness, of sympathy, yet none of that is extended to Ketkat, whose offending post itself was made in unequivocal good faith for the betterment of the community? Unacceptable and hypocritical.

If there are individuals amongst the staff who aren't comfortable serving with Ketkat unbanned, then I remind them that their position is voluntary, and while I hope they stay in the community, their official capacity can be replaced from within the community. If pride gives anyone pause in doing so, perhaps replacement is all the better. Once again, communication is vital to health and longevity.

The LGBTIA+ community, the mental health community, the Era community: the confidence, comfortability, and support of all these people should come before staff wishes in this case of conflict. Period. Or else you aren't serving the community at all.

Click to shrink...

All that needs to be said. Far, far too many people have been banned that haven't deserved it, and the complete lack of ACTUAL transparency has gone on long enough. There are plenty of people that should be unbanned, plenty of people that shouldn't have been perma'd, and more than a few members of staff that really need to step down.

 

[FormatCompatible]

Amen to this post!

This site needs to ease up on bans & learn on how to handle different opinions. People shouldn't have to be silenced & have to run over to different gaming messageboards or blogs such as GameFAQs, Discord or Reddit for that.

It's both sad, & ridiculous. Just sad.

Click to shrink...

This is your takeway? On the trans awareness week thread of all places?

 

[Nepenthe]

One thing I want to remind people of as we're airing grievances.

ERA is in a unique position regarding our genesis as a community and the minority demographics we wish to serve. As we continue discussing our failings, keep in mind we are surrounded by the active Internet at large that is looking for this community to become unrecoverable specifically because we ever had the desire to be be inclusive to the marginalized in the first place. I wish that we keep this thread and every other focused specifically on issues regarding Ketkat, the LGBTQ+ community, staff members, and the relationships therein. Unrelated staff actions about The Last Jedi, or Activision-Blizzard- trivial media entities- or even just ill-thought posts about the mundane, on ERA or elsewhere are irrelevant; staff have been told not to make this about them, and I agree wholeheartedly. But you also owe it to the LGBTQ+ community to not make this about personal grievances. We all need to focus on what's important.

In short, I want to mend things and get ERA back on the right track. I don't want to give the alt-right watching us right now any more ammo, and the way we do that is by allowing them the room to intervene and feed off of you guys' anger for their own benefit. You deserve a better community to feel protected in, and that sure as shit can not and will not include having your opportunity to strengthen ERA going forward taken away from you by gaslighting.

Be angry. Whether it's to me or all of us. Be angry. But focus that anger on what matters to ERA so as to not open the door for people who are only interested in our failure simply because I, you, and many others are marginalized. I can take your frustration, because I've been there. But I'm not going to let opportunistic grifters any leeway though. This is our community. Not theirs.

 

[SpaceCrystal]

That's where people are going to talk about LGBTQ issues? man I've been missing out!

alt post: when you definitely can read the room

Click to shrink...

This is your takeway? On the trans awareness week thread of all places?

Click to shrink...

Guys, be serious. I was saying that posters on here should say on what they want to say without feeling the need to be demonized on here, or on anywhere else on this entire site. It's happened plenty of times already. Enough is enough.

I agree with Theswweet on this matter.

 

[Royalan]

Also, has royal apologized/talked about the GAF post going around?

Click to shrink...

I haven't said anything publicly yet. I've been given permission to speak openly and honestly now, and respond to people.

But first, an apology.

To the Resetera community at large; I am sorry.

To the Resetera Mod team who are now being held responsible for my words; I am sorry.

To the NB/Asexual/Trans community that has been made to feel devalued and erased by my words; I am sorry.

To the Black and Queer communities who looked to me to advocate for them; I am sorry.

I will be stepping down.

If there is anything else that people want me to respond to? I am currently able.

 

[deepFlaw]

All that needs to be said. Far, far too many people have been banned that haven't deserved it, and the complete lack of ACTUAL transparency has gone on long enough. There are plenty of people that should be unbanned, plenty of people that shouldn't have been perma'd, and more than a few members of staff that really need to step down.

Click to shrink...

This is maybe not surprising as IIRC you first entered this discussion to complain about the banned games list, but as always: the problem being discussed in these threads is the lack of moderation, absolutely not that there's too much of it.

 

[Deleted member 15737]

I haven't said anything publicly yet. I've been given permission to speak openly and honestly now, and respond to people.

But first, an apology.

To the Resetera community at large; I am sorry.

To the Resetera Mod team who are now being held responsible for my words; I am sorry.

To the NB/Asexual/Trans community that has been made to feel devalued and erased by my words; I am sorry.

To the Black and Queer communities who looked to me to advocate for them; I am sorry.

I will be stepping down.

If there is anything else that people want me to respond to? I am currently able.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the response, good luck going forward.

 

[Deleted member 18944]

I haven't said anything publicly yet. I've been given permission to speak openly and honestly now, and respond to people.

But first, an apology.

To the Resetera community at large; I am sorry.

To the Resetera Mod team who are now being held responsible for my words; I am sorry.

To the NB/Asexual/Trans community that has been made to feel devalued and erased by my words; I am sorry.

To the Black and Queer communities who looked to me to advocate for them; I am sorry.

I will be stepping down.

If there is anything else that people want me to respond to? I am currently able.

Click to shrink...

I appreciate your apology. Good luck.

 

[Deleted member 7279]

Well, for starters, getting banned with zero recourse really fucking sucks. It's happened to me a few times and the inability to explain yourself is incredibly frustrating. This issue is magnified here with KetKat's permaban. Now we as a forum have to defend them. It just seems unfair all around.

Click to shrink...

Feel like it's always been this way, even before we got here. You just ate a ban and sat out for however many days with no recourse at all. Happened to me a few times at the old place too.

I modded on GameFAQs for a year or two and the worst was doing disputes. Often times it was just more arguing about the racist/phobic language/ideas someone used wasn't actually racist/phobic. I absolutely hated doing them and in most cases actively avoided it because it was an overwhelmingly negative experience. And that place is nothing I imagine like modding this place. The difference there being meta commentary was not a taboo subject. You wouldn't get in trouble for questioning how certain things were being handled. No one was above reproach.

I think the fact that meta commentary is at best frowned upon here and at worst outright banned causes these issues to bubble over. There is no recourse people have to discuss this. How long has TransERA been speaking up about this issue? How much sooner could it have been solved if even the slightest bit of meta commentary been allowed? Get all these ideas in one place. Get everyone at once to speak up and speak out about how these issues are being handled. Instead we got nothing and then the situation finally exploded with KetKat being banned permanently where now we are forced to confront these issues and that shutting down talk about it would have made the issue worse (hence the rightful anger at locking of a few threads last night).

 

[BigDes]

I haven't said anything publicly yet. I've been given permission to speak openly and honestly now, and respond to people.

But first, an apology.

To the Resetera community at large; I am sorry.

To the Resetera Mod team who are now being held responsible for my words; I am sorry.

To the NB/Asexual/Trans community that has been made to feel devalued and erased by my words; I am sorry.

To the Black and Queer communities who looked to me to advocate for them; I am sorry.

I will be stepping down.

If there is anything else that people want me to respond to? I am currently able.

Click to shrink...

Possibly you want to put this in the other thread too.

 

[Theswweet]

This is maybe not surprising as IIRC you first entered this discussion to complain about the banned games list, but as always: the problem being discussed in these threads is the lack of moderation, absolutely not that there's too much of it.

Click to shrink...

I merely mentioned it as an example that the site has never really followed the mantra it was founded on, in that regard. I don't even feel particularly strongly about the list itself - just the act of how it was brought over without community input.

What matters more, right now, is defending the LGBTQ+ community here on Era though.

 

[subpar spatula]

so who gives permission to the mods to speak? that seems like an easy way to obfuscate and curate any details coming out

 

[Deleted member 3093]

I haven't said anything publicly yet. I've been given permission to speak openly and honestly now, and respond to people.

But first, an apology.

To the Resetera community at large; I am sorry.

To the Resetera Mod team who are now being held responsible for my words; I am sorry.

To the NB/Asexual/Trans community that has been made to feel devalued and erased by my words; I am sorry.

To the Black and Queer communities who looked to me to advocate for them; I am sorry.

I will be stepping down.

If there is anything else that people want me to respond to? I am currently able.

Click to shrink...

As the person who you were replying to in that GAF thread, and as someone who has struggled with whether I'm ace or not and the mockery ace people get, I really, really, hope that you make steps to improve yourself from this point onward. For a lot of people's sake.

 

[Steel]

I haven't said anything publicly yet. I've been given permission to speak openly and honestly now, and respond to people.

But first, an apology.

To the Resetera community at large; I am sorry.

To the Resetera Mod team who are now being held responsible for my words; I am sorry.

To the NB/Asexual/Trans community that has been made to feel devalued and erased by my words; I am sorry.

To the Black and Queer communities who looked to me to advocate for them; I am sorry.

I will be stepping down.

If there is anything else that people want me to respond to? I am currently able.

Click to shrink...

I do appreciate the apology. I understand that that was a hard decision for you.

Feel like it's always been this way, even before we got here. You just ate a ban and sat out for however many days with no recourse at all. Happened to me a few times at the old place too.

I modded on GameFAQs for a year or two and the worst was doing disputes. Often times it was just more arguing about the racist/phobic language/ideas someone used wasn't actually racist/phobic. I absolutely hated doing them and in most cases actively avoided it because it was an overwhelmingly negative experience. And that place is nothing I imagine like modding this place. The difference there being meta commentary was not a taboo subject. You wouldn't get in trouble for questioning how certain things were being handled. No one was above reproach.

I think the fact that meta commentary is at best frowned upon here and at worst outright banned causes these issues to bubble over. There is no recourse people have to discuss this. How long has TransERA been speaking up about this issue? How much sooner could it have been solved if even the slightest bit of meta commentary been allowed? Get all these ideas in one place. Get everyone at once to speak up and speak out about how these issues are being handled. Instead we got nothing and then the situation finally exploded with KetKat being banned permanently where now we are forced to confront these issues and that shutting down talk about it would have made the issue worse (hence the rightful anger at locking of a few threads last night).

Click to shrink...

Yeah, this is a good point.

 

[subpar spatula]

so royalan stepped down. which mod(s) banned yukiko and brock? since The Woods says a ban is a team thing, we should be knowing who voted yes on their bans.

 

[Deleted member 4532]

so royalan stepped down. which mod(s) banned yukiko and brock? since The Woods says a ban is a team thing, we should be knowing who voted yes on their bans.

Click to shrink...

as a community we deserve to know

 

[Pekola]

It has been two years since we've migrated from GAF. And since then, the discontent has only grown because of the lack in transparency.

There's no feedback/suggestion section where people can post. There's no avenue to question staff even with the mildest criticism, and whenever you do reach out they will give you boilerplate responses. They will not change their minds on specific moderating actions. That has been the tenor of things for two years now.

How then do you ask for trust and accountability? The avenues have been completely destroyed or obscured; members have had to resort to protesting out of necessity.

I still remember the "Prominent Member" mess and the thread that accompanied it. I remember that the site literally had to be closed twice for maintenance—once to make changes (that people didn't care for.), and then again to turn it all back.

What has been learned since then?

Throughout this event, some moderators have decided to try and shift the conversation, "Yeah, But THIS is what truly matters" No. You had time to come forward and work with the community. Now that things are exploding? Not the time. Now you listen, reflect and then come work things out with us. There's lots to be done and people have been offering great suggestions (see Sibylus's post)

If none of you had the foresight or flexibility to enact tangible changes in 24 months that would reflect the transparency that was promised, then that's 100% on you. If you didn't feel up to the task, then you were free to resign at any one moment (It's voluntary; as staff has a penchant to remind us).

On Royalan, I will preface this by saying that I don't believe Royalan holds the same views they did before. I would hope not.

The problem has never been that you've said wrong things in the past. The problem is the conflict of interest this presents. The optics.

Upon claims of acephobic comments, the MO was to obfuscate and shift the conversation to the violation of privacy to the staff. This looks extremely suspect and doubly so with the picture that keeps getting posted. It looks like covering up.

Honestly, you seem like an altogether okay person, so I hope this isn't hitting you -too- hard. It happens, and it is extremely important to take a step back. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

 

[SweetNicole]

I haven't said anything publicly yet. I've been given permission to speak openly and honestly now, and respond to people.

But first, an apology.

To the Resetera community at large; I am sorry.

To the Resetera Mod team who are now being held responsible for my words; I am sorry.

To the NB/Asexual/Trans community that has been made to feel devalued and erased by my words; I am sorry.

To the Black and Queer communities who looked to me to advocate for them; I am sorry.

I will be stepping down.

If there is anything else that people want me to respond to? I am currently able.

Click to shrink...

I respect you so much Royalan. I'm sorry for all that has happened, and I hope you're going to be OK, even if you're not ok right now.

I will always remember when you, internally, raised how we can be doing more for these communities, and how we should be handling things going forward. It was a great thing that helped us improve our processes and decision making a lot in the early days.

Thanks for all you've done. If you're ever in Chicago, feel free to hit me up. Drinks are on me.

 

[FormatCompatible]

I haven't said anything publicly yet. I've been given permission to speak openly and honestly now, and respond to people.

But first, an apology.

To the Resetera community at large; I am sorry.

To the Resetera Mod team who are now being held responsible for my words; I am sorry.

To the NB/Asexual/Trans community that has been made to feel devalued and erased by my words; I am sorry.

To the Black and Queer communities who looked to me to advocate for them; I am sorry.

I will be stepping down.

If there is anything else that people want me to respond to? I am currently able.

Click to shrink...

Just want to say, thank you for your response and decision.

 

[TheFurizzlyBear]

I haven't said anything publicly yet. I've been given permission to speak openly and honestly now, and respond to people.

But first, an apology.

To the Resetera community at large; I am sorry.

To the Resetera Mod team who are now being held responsible for my words; I am sorry.

To the NB/Asexual/Trans community that has been made to feel devalued and erased by my words; I am sorry.

To the Black and Queer communities who looked to me to advocate for them; I am sorry.

I will be stepping down.

If there is anything else that people want me to respond to? I am currently able.

Click to shrink...

I'm not part of the Trans or Ace communities so I wont comment on if this is good enough but I will say I appreciate you taking responsibility for your words.

 

[Deleted member 2669]

I haven't said anything publicly yet. I've been given permission to speak openly and honestly now, and respond to people.

But first, an apology.

To the Resetera community at large; I am sorry.

To the Resetera Mod team who are now being held responsible for my words; I am sorry.

To the NB/Asexual/Trans community that has been made to feel devalued and erased by my words; I am sorry.

To the Black and Queer communities who looked to me to advocate for them; I am sorry.

I will be stepping down.

If there is anything else that people want me to respond to? I am currently able.

Click to shrink...

Have you feelings on ace people evolved?

 

[SpaceCrystal]

It has been two years since we've migrated from GAF. And since then, the discontent has only grown because of the lack in transparency.

There's no feedback/suggestion section where people can post. There's no avenue to question staff even with the mildest criticism, and whenever you do reach out they will give you boilerplate responses. They will not change their minds on specific moderating actions. That has been the tenor of things for two years now.

How then do you ask for trust and accountability? The avenues have been completely destroyed or obscured and members have had to resort to protesting out of necessity.

I still remember the "Prominent Member" mess and the thread that accompanied it. I remember that the site literally had to be closed twice for maintenance—once to make changes (that people didn't care for.), and then again to turn it all back.

What has been learned since then?

Throughout this event, some moderators have decided to try and shift the conversation, "Yeah, But THIS is what truly matters" No. You had time to come forward and work with the community. Now that things are exploding? Not the time. Now you listen, reflect and then come work things out with us. There's lots to be done and people have been offering great suggestions (see Sibylus post)

If none of you had the foresight or flexibility to enact tangible changes in 24 months that would reflect the transparency that was promised, then that's 100% on you. If you didn't feel up to the task, then you were free to resign at any one moment (It's voluntary; as staff has a penchant to remind us).

On Royalan, I will preface this by saying that I don't believe Royalan holds the same views they did before. I would hope not.

The problem has never been that you've said wrong things in the past. The problem is the conflict of interest this presents. The optics.

Upon claims of acephobic comments, the MO was to obfuscate and shift the conversation to the violation of privacy to the staff. This looks extremely suspect and doubly so with the picture that keeps getting posted. It looks like covering up.

Honestly, you seem like an altogether okay person, so I hope this isn't hitting you -too- hard. It happens, and it is extremely important to take a step back. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

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Another good post in which both Moderators & the Administrators should heed advice to, with the way that they've been treating posters like Ketkat, Brock & Yukiko.

I'm not part of the Trans or Ace communities so I wont comment on if this is good enough but I will say I appreciate you taking responsibility for your words.

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I'm the same. I wish Royalan the best of luck, & am glad that he was man enough to take responsibility.

 

[Deleted member 60096]

I'm not part of the Trans or Ace communities so I wont comment on if this is good enough but I will say I appreciate you taking responsibility for your words.

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Same

 

[metalslimer]

I appreciate the apology, and up until last night the only things I have seen from royalan was fighting pretty hard for the black queer community, so I am always open to give people a chance to grow.

Unfortunately the actual problem still has not been addressed. Royalan's post was just the lighter that set things ablaze last night, but all of the issues with what has happened sitll exist.

 

[Deleted member 3093]

I'm not calling anyone out, but I feel that the apology rings rather hollow. I appreciate that action is being done, but there's still many lingering questions.

1. Did royalan's acephobia factor into any moderation decisions, such as Xaszatm's thread closure?
2. Is royalan still acephobic?
3. If so, does he have a willingness or desire to address his irrational biases?
4. If not, how have his views evolved?

I don't really feel comfortable that the actual things royalan had said, he hadn't actually acknowledged them. While he no longer has moderator power, he definitely has pull and people who respect him, and I think there's valid concern there still.

 

[aerie]

so royalan stepped down. which mod(s) banned yukiko and brock? since The Woods says a ban is a team thing, we should be knowing who voted yes on their bans.

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Yukukio requested a self-requested ban and it was processed as such, but I can't go over ban disputes at the moment, please understand that while I hear you, I am trying to do many different things at the moment, including discussing things with Ketkat, but you are welcome to that information, this just isn't the time. Please contact me again later. You can always contact a moderator captain regarding concerns regarding bans, this is one way that we are held transparent and accountable.

 

[Deleted member 3093]

Yukukio requested a self-requested ban and it was processed as such, but I can't go over ban disputes at the moment, please understand that while I hear you, I am trying to do many different things at the moment, including coordinating with Ketkat, but you are welcome to that information, this just isn't the time. Please contact me again later. You can always contact a moderator captain regarding concerns regarding bans, this is one way that we are held transparent and accountable.

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Yukukio did not request a ban, and was upset that they were banned.

 

[Kyra]

I haven't said anything publicly yet. I've been given permission to speak openly and honestly now, and respond to people.

But first, an apology.

To the Resetera community at large; I am sorry.

To the Resetera Mod team who are now being held responsible for my words; I am sorry.

To the NB/Asexual/Trans community that has been made to feel devalued and erased by my words; I am sorry.

To the Black and Queer communities who looked to me to advocate for them; I am sorry.

I will be stepping down.

If there is anything else that people want me to respond to? I am currently able.

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I know what it's like to be discouraged. We want to do the right things for people and ourselves and that can be hard. Thanks for responding and keep fighting the good fight. I really hope the community can come to a better understanding after all of this.

 

[Theswweet]

Yukukio requested a self-requested ban and it was processed as such, but I can't go over ban disputes at the moment, please understand that while I hear you, I am trying to do many different things at the moment, including coordinating with Ketkat, but you are welcome to that information, this just isn't the time. Please contact me again later. You can always contact a moderator captain regarding concerns regarding bans, this is one way that we are held transparent and accountable.

Click to shrink...

Yukukio did not request a ban.