Staff Bias and Unfair Punishment

[0xNiklas]

I personally have said some very politically/ideologically charged things on associated Willard discord servers before and have been muted once as well

(aka praising Communism (I respect your opinion) and thinking killing Nicholas II children is justified ( I don't respect this) )

 

[Equinox]

you've started blatantly harassing people once again in our discord.

This now implies that I've been targetting a specific person. There has been no point where I've ever sent these memes, and then called out someone in specific. There was no point where I have ever messaged someone and began harrassing them.

You know this community,

You're right. I do know this community. I know that, before and after the rules crackdown back in 2019/2020 against (specifically) slurs and "highly offensive" material, these memes would be completely fine and nobody would have batted an eye, not even the staff.

Equinox sent a single message to Neonity (who was in game at the time).

This is completely false. I don't know if you are lying or if you have been lied too.

This was over the span of three days, with that last bit typed before I knew the extent of it, or at least the half of it. That last one had three hours worth of time to respond.

 

[0xNiklas]

This is completely false. I don't know if you are lying or if you have been lied too.

This was over the span of three days, with that last bit typed before I knew the extent of it, or at least the half of it. That last one had three hours worth of time to respond.

To be fair, Neonity isn't someone, who would respond to someone that quickly. I've seen that already from him

 

[𝔄𝔪𝔟𝔢𝔯𝔮]

Should probably clarify that whatever x-phobic jokes or anything Equinox was punished for is not cool, I just had a bit of a thing to say regarding a way less important issue mentioned here. Y'all do what you got to do.
(if the stuffs were just jokes then just.. dont, pls, be normal)

 

[RedHotGinger]

All I'll say is that staff members themselves have toyed around with touchy subjects such as the N-word or various other potentially offensive topics. Hell, wasn't too long ago the SS team made the unironic attempt to delay/cancel an event by a month since the event in question had catholic characters and it was slated to be hosted in June (Pride Month) So there's not only a taste of hypocrisy whenever staff start going nuts over minor 'offensive' content, but there's also the issue some of them are not socially intelligent enough to make that call.

The Floyd meme is an amusing edit and that's it. Edits of public figures are very common, and this one doesn't feature anything graphic. Its a minion edit guys.

The other two don't seem to be humorous at all, so they lose on that alone.

In conclusion, that minion edit is actually amusing and should once more enter the meme economy.
Hear hear.

 

[0xNiklas]

Hell, wasn't too long ago the SS team made the unironic attempt to delay/cancel an event by a month since the event in question had catholic characters and it was slated to be hosted in June (Pride Month)

That is straight up retarded. holy shit?

 

[Equinox]

This meme is racist because it's mocking a racist attack that claimed the life of an african american man, it was the boiling point in which White Supremacy in America caused a racial minority to be brutalised by the police for a reason that did not warrant it whatsoever. It sparked the Black Lives Matter movement, a social cause that angled against white supremacy and police brutality in america. Even members of our own community on this thread can see why making a meme like this isn't just objectionable but obscene. This is is a screenshot from a video in which a black man is, in a racially motivated act of violence, strangled to death on the sidewalk edited to look like a funny minion meme. It's abhorrent.

At no point did I begin going on a rant about the events surrounding George Floyd. I never said anything about George Floyd's position. You are pointing at a meme (on tenor gifs) that was posted completely out of the context surrounding it and are now adding on all the baggage around it.

This meme is transphobic because it involves a soyjak-ified version of a trans woman with ones features accentuated to look male (jowls, balding hair). The subject of this photo is Kathryn Gibes, a woman who has been the target of harassment from a variety of internet cesspits from lolcow sites to kiwifarms. literally just google "kathryn gibes" and scroll down past the first few links and you'll come across the most abhorrent transphobia and homophobia you've seen recently (Well, I know *you* won't since you almost certainly hang out there often anyways)

Again, same as before. I didn't even know who this person was, and anyone else who was in the same position would just assume that it was a mark at their appearance. This is once again seeing through your own perspective in a manner that holds a political bias to defend something that otherwise would not be of note.

This meme is anti-semitic because it features 'The Happy Merchant', a charicature originating from the chan boards. You're more than welcome to learn up on this charicature's antisemitic history from the anti-defamation league, but in essence it emphasizes traits antisemites typically associate with jewish people in an attempt to incite racial hatred - https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/happy-merchant

I admitted that this would be anti-semitic. It was the one warning here that I understood, and I said that in this report.

It's because you had already directly messaged one of the trans members of the community who's under constant targeted harassment by Pepper asking what they thought of Encyclopedia Dramatica.

I am not on the staff team. I am not predisposed to knowing the drama surrounding someone, especially from Dr. Pepper, who is notorious for taking extra steps to be hidden. I still don't understand how asking someone "What do you think of Encyclopedia Dramatica" in a public chat (this was not in their DMs, this was in a public chat. I don't know why you included that.) is somehow transphobia at all, in the slightest.

At the time of messaging them, this was prominently displayed as the page for 'Transgender'

Go look up "Heterosexual" on Encyclopedia Dramatica. Go look up White People or "White Devils". Look up "Capitalism". Hell, just start looking up anything opposed to YOUR beliefs since you specifically want to cherry pick shit to support your argument. Encyclopedia Dramatica rips on literally everything and is meant to piss off everyone. So unless Encyclopedia Dramatica is suddenly a slur and yet another example of "hate speech" in your constantly, rapidly evolving dictionary of "things I dont like," then I don't understand why I'm being labelled as a transphobe for literally just mentioning it and nothing else.

We had more than enough reason to believe that you saying 'im about to get transphobic' wasn't a joke.

And yet you could see for hours and hours afterwards that nothing occurred.

---

Before the responses to this report came in, I was of the opinon that it was just a basic bias of simple beliefs. I was willing to assume that this was just an accidental over reaction. That's not the case anymore. It's readily apparent and plain as day that members of staff have a strangehold over what is and isn't allowed to be said. You saying "we're eliminating bigotry and hate" doesn't change it from what it is: Showing extremely political and divisive bias and using charged labels and words to raise an emotional response and trap people into agreeing with you, lest they also be labelled as "bigots." I'm not falling for it. I'd hope that no one else would either.

 

[Equinox]

To be fair, Neonity isn't someone, who would respond to someone that quickly. I've seen that already from him

I am not aware of Neonity's schedule. All I can assume is, with them being Head of Staff, that being accountable for the actions of the staff is part of their position here. I think it's very safe to assume that someone who is notoriously active and in a position of high importance to the community be able to respond in three days.

 

[Equinox]

UPDATE:​

I've been unmuted. I don't have access to memetopia, but whatever. My main issue is gone. I'll keep this up for staff (and/or community if they wish) to deliberate over.

Mini Updated:
Muted again across all but the faction chats. I don't know what is happening on the back end.

 

[Equinox]

So I personally also find it especially cowardly and also pathetic that he would go to such lengths, like he's a defendant in a judicial court, to try and downplay or outright deny his own actions even though (once again, from what I see as a good-faith centrist position), I myself have made statements of a similar level before (albeit in the opposite direction), as have likely quite a few other people as well, and I've actually accepted the consequences of doing so and have no real hard feelings towards staff or anyone for doing their job that they aren't even really obligated to do, as well as that he'd put this much effort to defend his position within a virtual community in an online space that shouldn't even be affecting his life enough to have him expend this much energy on Discord community drama.

Would you rather I just come in here and throw accusations around without any evidence? I could have easily done that. I could have also done many things to make this look as one sided as possible. Me speaking up on my own behalf and providing evidence to support my claims is somehow "cowardly and pathetic" (strong words). Furthermore, I am not denying or downplaying my actions. I admitted when I posted something that was understandably warned, and I also said when I believed something to not be understandable. I also am not able to control how you or your personal outlook will perceive my report as.

So if my report comes off as "martydom" or "defendant" in a judicial court, and you are bothered by that, than that's on you.

 

[Hayden]

All I'll say is that staff members themselves have toyed around with touchy subjects such as the N-word or various other potentially offensive topics. Hell, wasn't too long ago the SS team made the unironic attempt to delay/cancel an event by a month since the event in question had catholic characters and it was slated to be hosted in June (Pride Month)

You completely ignore the actions made in the past by the person who was hosting said event. And we requested a delay that'd literally be less than a week after the original event date.

Tho not very relevant here either way, it's just tiresome to hear about this when it was already handled and disregards the full reason the decision was made.

 

[Fallizs]

i mean it is called memetopia for a reason

 

[Mango]

I don't want to sound like an asshole, but how come you always end up being warned or banned? This absolutely makes no sense, either the staff team is targeting you (highly unlikely) or you're having trouble accommodating yourself to the simple rules of a community. Learn from past mistakes, it's really not that hard to be a member that doesn't get constantly moderated.

 

[Donavin Jones]

All I'll say is that staff members themselves have toyed around with touchy subjects such as the N-word or various other potentially offensive topics. Hell, wasn't too long ago the SS team made the unironic attempt to delay/cancel an event by a month since the event in question had catholic characters and it was slated to be hosted in June (Pride Month) So there's not only a taste of hypocrisy whenever staff start going nuts over minor 'offensive' content, but there's also the issue some of them are not socially intelligent enough to make that call.

True, not gonna lie.
I remember when willard had like 0 rules on what you could say in the discord.. Shit was wild. Now you can't even make a 911 meme without being crucified.

 

[ItsLiam]

You guys are all a bunch of fucking retards.

Is it really so hard to not be an edgy 12 year old guys?

 

[Fallizs]

remember when willard could take a joke?
long gone

 

[GopnikPizzafox]

You guys are all a bunch of fucking retards.

Is it really so hard to not be an edgy 12 year old guys?

This is a gmod community, so uh, yes

 

[ItsLiam]

This is a gmod community, so uh, yes

Got... To... Fight the urge... To... Be... Edgy...

 

[Equinox]

remember when willard could take a joke?
long gone

I guess. I figure that newer players + old players directed by global politics instead of community “culture” are what caused this change. This isn’t even a disconnect from the pre-terranova Willard before the rules tightened up. This is even worse than after that. This is exactly what older players suspected would happen the moment they decided that the very vocal minority had more say than the majority of members. A slippery slope into more and more strict rules.

I kinda get it from the perspective of new people though. They didn’t actually see how Willard changed, so they don’t really care, which just gives staff the leeway to push more rules. I hope two more years down the line that they too aren’t the target of these rules.

 

[Fredemund]

Only Equinox could do this shit lmao