I clearly didn't expect things to go that far when I put that picture here... I knew some were going to use it ( at their own risk ), but I really didn't expect to hit gold lode.

Normally we would never discuss moderation actions or incidents in public, but given the results of my investigation into this particular concern, and since this seems to involve a deliberate effort to shove the issue into the public spotlight, I feel comfortable in providing more information to better inform the community.

When I first saw the bug thread and the fighting that took up pages of it, I simply cubed the thread so I could sort it out after a meeting. While going through the thread, I issued several infractions and warnings, although only a warning to Crane_Mace (remember that warnings are not infractions, and have no impact on your account.) I was surprised to read a thread the next day in which people were saying Crane_Mace was allegedly banned, since I hadn't done anything of the sort. I double-checked to make sure I was being accurate, then made the post in which I stated as much.

My suspicion grew when a group of folks continued to beat the "I am Crane_Mace" signature drum and discuss the issue on the forums. So, yesterday, I dug a little deeper into the Crane_Mace forum account and within seconds realized that the account was an account created for the purposes of avoiding moderation on a person's main account. Furthermore, the person who created the "sock" account was the same person who just two days prior had had their forum ban lifted after an appeal. The evidence linking the two accounts (and several other accounts, by the way) was that the same email address was used for all of the accounts.

It appears that this incident is part of an effort by an external forum primarily known for bullying DDO players in-game and on our forums to disrupt the community and cause work for the moderation team. I don't know how many people were deliberately involved in the deception, or how many people were mislead into "supporting the cause" (it's not particularly relevant), but in any case, the actual number of people whose signatures had to be removed was three (although it looks like I have two more to take care of after seeing the image pop up in this thread.) If I clearly knew that the person in question was one of the folks behind the scenes taking part in the deception, I took additional disciplinary action, but leaned toward not doing anything further pending more time to investigate.

On the subject of the signature image: Besides being generally distasteful and semi-political, the signature image clearly calls out another player for attention. We do not permit people to call out others in their signatures, either positively or negatively, without the person's permission. Since the signature violated several parts of the Community Guidelines, it was removed. Since I was attempting to stop the trolls from misleading other members of the community (once I became more aware of what was actually going on), I removed the ability of people who had the signature from being able to use signatures.

If you deliberately use your signature for trolling or bringing attention to someone else in violation of the Community Guidelines, we will remove your ability to use signatures. If you truly believe you were mislead, and want to have your signature abilities back, PM me. Keep in mind that I'm getting a bit sick of the way a particular external forum negatively manipulates our community here, so I will be taking a close look at your forum account to make sure you don't have multiple accounts being used for nefarious activities. Please be aware of that intention before PMing me with an appeal.

If there is a lesson here, it's to be aware that one of the main reasons we do not publicly discuss moderation is that it often involves actions or behaviors that are not clear to the "average" person reading a post. We are also not interested in conducting public trials. This particular case includes examples that will hopefully provide further insight into the world of moderation.

Since this thread is meant to discuss moderation, and is part of a larger effort involving deliberate trolling, it will be closed. However, I'll leave the thread open for a couple of hours for people to discuss a bit first. Thank you!

This thread HAS NOTHING TO DO with free speech or new players. The OP is NOT a new player and the goal here for anyone who read the two past closed threads was to attack another forum poster for no good reason.

This is a publicity stunt by a website of fail that can not handle themselves like adults. There is NOT a worse display I can think of to put on display for new players looking to join in on some D&D adventure. Period. End of story.

Edit: Oh I was ninjad by Cordovan I see. Hehe...

Well done. It was the right move, and any chatter to the contrary is complete and utter BS. That's all

This is a publicity stunt by a website of fail that can not handle themselves like adults.

I never got to see the original, any chance you can link it here?

The evidence linking the two accounts (and several other accounts, by the way) was that the same email address was used for all of the accounts.

Exactly. It's not that they are silenced. Its that they are CORRECTED. Some people CAN NOT handle being told they are out of line. Just like some people think they can say ANYTHING behind the anonymity of the internet. But once exposed, they are TOTALLY different people. The last card they think they have is the FREE SPEECH card. It's nothing more than a deflection.

It's nice to see Leslie to an about face... because he had to.

Two facts for you all.

One- Mr. Snook is lying in this instance and after the fact.

Two- He is allowing a two hour free for all to reward his minions, and encouraging a pile on.

Probably upset about a whole thread dedicated to him as "the greatest turdbin employee" ever...