Saturday, December 20, 2014

How the ISD Stole Christmas

If you've played EVE for many years, you've probably noticed the decline and fall of EVE-O. If it's a cliché to say EVE is dying, then EVE-O is on life support. The once robust, humming center of EVE culture is nearly silent. Many of its subforums have turned into graveyards, mere depositories for the threads kicked out of the EVE General Discussion subforum. It's a sad fact that more EVE players read the average MinerBumping post than read the average EVE-O thread, even those posted in its most active subforum.

Among the factors contributing to EVE-O's demise: Brutal and oppressive moderation conducted by the "ISD". The job of the ISD, some say, is to discover when EVE players are posting about something, and to put a stop to it.

In the post-apocalyptic wasteland of EVE-O, you might think there's no hope--no one willing to brave its dangers to make a post worth reading. However, Agent loyalanon was willing to post. Though loyalanon could have made a post celebrating his status as the #1 ranked PvP'er in all EVE, according to zKillboard, he posted about Christmas instead. He was filled with the Christmas spirit and wasn't afraid who knew it, even ISD. loyalanon started a thread in EVE General Discussion called "Happy Holidays from the New Order of High Sec" and wrote:
Hello All,

The Christmas holiday season is here again and we're in the midst of one of the most happiest times of the year. Unfortunately it is also the time of the year where people are most likely to AFK and/or Mine Illegally!

While you enjoy the precious moments, with friends and family, that this season brings, I ask everybody to keep a proper focus on safety, both at the belts and while docked. Stay mindful of the potential hazards and dangers that mining without a permit can bring.

As we celebrate, let's remain diligent in our efforts to protect the safety and health of all. It's quite easy to lose focus on matters that may seem routine when so much is going on. During times like this, our thoughts are frequently elsewhere rather than remaining at the keyboard and mining with a permit.

Remember: The typical mining environment is a complex place!

Try to maintain your focus on safety by taking a minute to think about the task at hand when you undock and you go about your daily work. Give proper attention to the Code and ensure that all your mining permit documentation is up to date!

Thanks again to everyone, all our wonderful permit holders, Code Fanboys and our Goon overlords for making this all possible.

All of us at Code wish you and your families a Code-compliant Christmas and a Happy, Safe and (legally) Prosperous New Year.

loyalanon
It was a wonderful message. You won't find it on EVE-O anymore, though.


Thankfully, Chribba's EVE-Search archives even the threads that get deleted by the moderators, so you can still read it here.


Shortly after the Christmas thread was posted, the notorious ISD Ezwal moved it to Intergalactic Summit. For those of you unfamiliar with EVE-O's various subforums, Intergalactic Summit is for in-character ("IC") roleplaying posts only. Out-of-character ("OOC") posts, such as those referencing EVE game mechanics or the real world, are strictly forbidden. Obviously, loyalanon's Christmas message was unsuited for Intergalactic Summit, since it references Christmas, AFK mining, staying at your keyboard, etc.


Why did Ezwal exile loyalanon's thread to Intergalactic Summit? Two things we know: First, that Intergalactic Summit is a graveyard subforum with less traffic than EVE General Discussion. Second, that ISD Ezwal has one of the grinchiest bios I've ever seen. It doesn't exactly scream, "I'd be happy to assist you in enjoying the forums!"


After the thread got moved, the few readers of Intergalactic Summit sat back and awaited the trouble they knew it would cause.


You see, the roleplayers of Intergalactic Summit don't take kindly to "OOC" posts such as loyalanon's.


Intergalactic Summit posters always quickly report "OOC" posts to the forum mods. The Christmas message was no exception. You might wonder what happens when players report a thread like this to the ISD, after an ISD moderator sent it to the subforum in the first place. The answer is, things get worse.

loyalanon was given an official warning for "OOC posting on an IC forum." That's right, loyalanon was punished for not posting in-character in a thread in EVE General Discussion, because ISD sent the thread to Intergalactic Summit in violation of their own rules. Combined with some earlier warnings, this punishment resulted in loyalanon being given a temporary ban from EVE-O.

...And then ISD deleted the thread from EVE-O entirely, which is why it can only be accessed via EVE-Search.

If anyone from ISD happens to read this, I encourage them to listen to Sasha Nyemtsov's reading of A Highsec Christmas Carol and see what they can learn from it. I also wish them a very Merry Christmas.

29 comments:

  1. "Shortly after the Christmas thread was posted, the notorious ISD Ezwal moved it to Intergalactic Summit. For those of you unfamiliar with EVE-O's various subforums, Intergalactic Summit is for in-character ("IC") roleplaying posts only."

    "loyalanon was given an official warning for "OOC posting on an IC forum." That's right, loyalanon was punished for not posting in-character in a thread in EVE General Discussion, because ISD sent the thread to Intergalactic Summit in violation of their own rules. Combined with some earlier warnings, this punishment resulted in loyalanon being given a temporary ban from EVE-O."

    Would be nice if CCP would display a shred of competence. This is worse than CCP's failure to recognize that the chatlogs that were shared with them by Zoltar Richardson on September 10th, 2014, via pastebin, were total fabrications. The same day Zoltar Richardson posted these logs, CCP simply banned everybody whose name appeared in what were clearly altered logs.

    As Taylor Swift put it:

    "I'm dancing on my own (dancing on my own)
    I make the moves up as I go (moves up as I go)
    And that's what they don't know, mmm-mmm
    That's what they don't know, mmm-mmm"

    Guess what, CCP? People do know. But guess what? I'm dancing with you. Even if you think you're dancing on your own.

    /gudpost

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would also love to hear any info about why I was banned, since CCP isn't interested in filling me in.

      Delete
  2. I look forward to Loyal receiving a sincere apology from those involved.

    ReplyDelete
  3. And this, CCP (because I know some of you read Minerbumping), is why r/Eve with its community moderators and community vetted posts has become the de-facto official forum for your game.

    Unfuck your forum moderation.

    ReplyDelete
  4. After what CCP did with WoD, I am not giving them any more money under any circumstances, and to really fuck me off - CCP sent a cease and desist letter to the creators of Project Vaulderie, a group of enthusiasts working on a fan recreation of Bloodlines. So they are sitting on the IP of VTM and, according to this, destroying EVE.
    So fuck you CCP, and merry xmas to Minerbumping and James 315 o/

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Code ALWAYS Wins!!!!! ALWAYS!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I will support The Code even more for this!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I wrote more petitions about removed forum posts by Ezwal for some general rule like "trolling" or "offtopic" than I did for stuff ingame. The answer is always the same, "We reviewed the thread you mentioned and we totally agree with ISD, bye".

    It looks like Ezwal can do what he wants and ban content he does not like from the forums at his discretion. There is no way you can come back at him, since the petition system is blocked by a copypasta answer and the discussion of moderation on the forums gets deleted instantly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I got a similar response from the now ex CCP Eterne about ISD Ezwal's actions. Although his response to me was essentially, "We don't even read posts from New Order supporters and ISDs can moderate them regardless of content." In fact, that response is what got me to stop trying to help newbies in the New Citizens forum and instead seek out and blow them up wanton abandon.

      Before I quit I saved all the response I got to petitions. Most of them were handled competently, albeit without any positive outcome for me. My 2nd favorite to Eterne's is the one I got when I was just hours into Eve and had already gone from trial to paying customer. I selected the wrong free Destroyer from the upgrade form and asked if I could have another instead. I was told, no. I thought of that experience when I heard that idiot got all his skillpoints refunded when he willingly had himself podded into oblivion.

      I might publish all of them sometime since I no longer care what CCP wants or thinks. Maybe on the 1 year anniversary of my freedom from their crappy company.

      Delete
    2. I have ED. I played during the beta, but having had a chance since release. Commander Shinhwa though. Feel free to look me up.

      Delete
  8. sweet code tears.
    surprised you idiots? what is it? the biggest lame excuse of you is, that you are roleplaying. Ezwal moved this to the right place. what did that redhead write: "you are not percived as criminals, you are percived as jerks"
    xD
    who do you think you are? 290 alts with 100 people behind and you control hisec?
    sure...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a christmas message. This has absolutely no meaning in New Eden, so it was the wrong place to put it. I sure hope I never have cause to use a forum that you moderate, Anonymous Chickenshit.

      Delete
    2. So, ISD moving the thread to a RP forum and then giving Loyal a warning about posting OOC in the RP forum is Code tears?

      Seems like you need to work on your reading comprehension Anon. I'd suggest practicing by reading the Code a few dozen times.

      Delete
    3. are you the guy crying about getting scammed out of a billion isk from 290?

      XD

      Delete
    4. Woah. What? Who did I scam for a billion isk? I wish someone had told me! My plex is due in a couple days! :D

      Delete
  9. Bad things happening to bad people. Working as designed. Carry on.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Meh... I can't say I have much of an opinion on this either way. I only read C&P (for the laughs, especially from you Veers), Sell Orders, and the Character Bazaar... everything else seems to be a waste of bandwidth.

    The ISD are just a bunch of people with a tiny amount of power that has gone to their heads... or they just don't give a shit and just want to "clean" the forum as quick as possible and get on with other things.

    The second reason I can sympathise with as I'm a Mod/Admin on a RPG gaming forum. Dealing with the "regular" post moderation and flames wars, cleaning out bots and spammers and all the other crap... it can become a full time job. A job which I don't get paid for, so sometimes quick and easy is the name of the game.

    Now I'm not defending him... there are good Mods, and there are power hungry assholes. In the case of the EVE mods, well... who knows. Personally I don't really care. The EVE forums are a waste land and not worth anything except a cheap laugh and to watch tears flow and get collected.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trolls trolling trolls.

      It doesn't have to be that way, though. Eve's community is great despite CCP, not because of it.

      Delete
    2. Yeah.. I have seen more friendly and helpful forums, but I have also seen hellholes where the innocent fear to tread... EVE Forums are slipping on the hellhole side of things it seems of late.

      In general the EVE community is good and the forums could reflect that, but you need a strong, fair, and competent Moderation team with a backbone to keep it there.

      Delete
  11. It is easy for loyalanon to be #2 ranked player in all Eve when you limit the time frame and consider that loyalanon is a bottom feeder...

    ReplyDelete
  12. In the spirit of Christmas, I'm going to post something on the MB forum for ISD. I encourage anyone who has access to the non-protected section to post on eve-o. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  13. James tears = best tears

    Little did you know- loyalanon was also invited to the EVE O bonus room by the moderators. And had to give a blowjob to not have his topic deleted.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The fact that their lore is partly out-of-game, or that they're RPing for the lulz, doesn't change the fact that CODE are excellent roleplayers. Perhaps James 315 is the saviour of Eve RP as well -- smashing the fussy rule obsession that afflicts most RPers.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Are you RP or not? That is what ISD Ezwal had to decide. If you had posted in OOPE or C&P, this would not have been moved. I like Ezwal, and most of the other volunteer ISDs. I think he was making a point to LA. Next time, get it right.

    Merry Xmas and Happy H to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  16. A couple of things, loyalamoron wasn't wishing anyone Happy Christmas, he is a narcissistic a-hole who hates everyone and he showed that in the forum post. He doesn't even have time for his own family and like most codies I am sure he will be spending all of Christmas ganking people and not with 'loved ones' so as much as I would like to think people can be nice at least once a year this won't every apply to this idiot or any of code.

    As far as his kb, it is a farce he does the easiest thing on Eve which is ganking and needs 3 alts to do it and his kb is so bad that he is also the WORST player on Eve so nothing to brag about but as usual MB gets it all wrong.

    I won't wish any of you a Merry Christmas - all I can say is I hope you get what you deserve and you WILL because you won't be with people you care about but instead you will be with your low life eve 'friends' pretending you matter when you don't.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I think the take-out from this little episode is two-fold.

    Firstly, CPP has spent and continues to spend significant amounts of blood and treasure on CODE through petitions, banning players based on death threats, losses through rage quits and general paranoid overwatch that they are working on a strategy of denying them any oxygen regardless of the farcical nature of the situation and banning them on the flimsiest of excuses clearly with no transparency.

    Secondly, the ISD is one of the most corrosive, self-important, undisciplined, shady and keystone cop like operation I have ever seen. I say this as an administrator of one of the world's largest online gaming communities who has been managing moderators and serving customers for over a decade.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ouch! Hey man, words can hurt, you know? :)

      Seriously though, I loved your comment. Very eloquent yet scathing criticism of CCP community management. You nailed it. I only wish someone from CCP would read this and realize how they look in the eyes of their players. But I'm not holding my breath...

      Delete
  18. I agree. The ISD is killing the EVE-O forums. This story is just another example of how incompetent they are. Fuck ISD.

    ReplyDelete

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