Smart Community
General => General Chatter => Topic started by: dsmart on November 21, 2016, 03:39:41 PM
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I was banned (helldumping) on SA on 11-20-2016. I wrote about it here (http://www.dereksmart.org/forums/topic/sc-scoop/#post-4905).
I didn't dox (that would be illegal) anyone. What I did wasn't doxing in any way, shape or form. And I wrote a primer (http://www.dereksmart.org/2013/11/doxing-a-primer/), complete with reference links about it back in 2013.
NOTE
It is a temp-ban and I can re-reg for 10 bux if I wanted to be un-banned. On principle alone, I have chosen not to re-reg because I didn't do anything wrong, nor did I dox (that would be illegal) anyone.
FactsAreUseless (FAU) is an ass-clown who has been gunning me for some months now. Especially since he tried once before to get the thread killed. Then I went to Lowtax. He re-opened it, gave me a sub-forum; as well as made me a mod on there.
Since then, FAU has still been trying to kill it because "he doesn't like it". This despite the fact that it got more traffic than most of the sub-forums on there.
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I want to chime in on this just one more time, and I promise I'll let it go:
I think picking your battles is a key step in winning them. In dealing with many political scenarios in my career, I think I've gained a pretty good feel for which battles are going to be low hanging fruit, and which ones are going to be an obnoxious slog that are going to make me look like shit while getting what I want. I mention that because my spidey senses are itching that this battle with FAU is probably not going to be a good one to fight in the short term.
People have a consistently shit opinion of FAU, he makes continuously questionable calls, and he will be his own undoing over time. Just gotta let that happen on it's own, in some ways like the downfall of SC.
To put it bluntly, it seems like a large amount of posters outside of the SC thread, including FAU and possibly Lowtax, simply do not get that Deloria really had this thing coming to him. They don't realize that you did what you did from a higher ground, and they don't grasp the context behind it. And honestly, they won't. They hear your words when you try to explain how it's not doxxing, how the guy was a proven scammer, and how you're good for the forums. But they don't comprehend it. They don't listen. Know what I mean? They hear but they don't hear. There's that subtle difference.
I wouldn't ask you to swallow your pride because I feel like that is extremely important to you, especially in this scenario. But I would ask you to reconsider taking someone up on their offer to re-reg your account. Of course it's not about money, but theres some symbolism at least in having someone else bring you back in. Especially like that dude in Discord today that wanted to use $10 of his refund money that you helped him get. You've got solid principles, and I agree that sometimes we just have to put our foot down and stand up for those principles. On the other hand, in this case, I just think everyone would benefit from the scenario if you were un-banned from SA.
Not re-joined, not necessarily active, just simply not banned. The very half-woke shitizens we're trying to help might turn their noses up at the notion that SA "ran you off". Which is objectively untrue.
What difference does it make, at this point, whether Lowtax unbans you or whether some goon fan does?
That's, of course, my respectful and humble opinion and I completely understand if you disagree.
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I have to say I agree with Propagandist. Fall back - lose the battle but win the war. Posting a few things on SA as if nothing had happened, and not mentioning it again aside from your personal blog, gives you the high ground. FAU burns himself regularly without help. Ignoring him 100% and avoiding anything even resembling doxxing will make you untouchable, which will piss him off even more.
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Going to have to concur - if nothing else, you've shown that you're really good at doing nothing and letting people self-own with no effort, which I think is the better approach here.
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OK, I will listen to your suggestions and meet you guys half way. I don't know who that guy is who offered to pay the 10 bux because of the refund that I helped him get. So if anyone wants to contact him and have him reach out to me on Discord or here, I will do it. Since he is doing it because of something "good" that I did for him, I think that premise is worth having for posterity.
Regardless, I simply won't participate there as I used to - if at all. I just want to make sure that we're clear on that. I will probably just post to say thanks; and leave it at that.
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So I am back on SA (my official statement* (http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3748466&pagenumber=6527&perpage=40#post466749547)) after being re-reged. And to the dismay of many, still a mod :smuggo:
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(https://i.imgur.com/tOHBqkB.png)
OFFICIAL STATEMENT
I am going to keep this short; though I did consider writing a blog.
First of all, I have been around and an Internet Warlord for decades now. I know the drill. I've seen flamewars errupt and evolve from BBS teletype, to badly formatted Usenet postings, to articulate blogs.
I am well versed in the ways of online discourse.
I do not support, condone, nor engage in doxing.
Aside from the fact that the law is very clear on doxing.
Back in 2013, I wrote a primer (http://www.dereksmart.org/2013/11/doxing-a-primer/) on it in fact.
And there are additional resources on specifically this, what is legal, illegal etc. READ:
Doxxing: It’s Like Hacking, But Legal (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/13/doxxing-it-s-like-hacking-but-legal.html)
The Problem With “Doxxing” (http://www.wnyc.org/story/problem-doxxing/)
The Illegal Activity of “Doxing”: Revealing “documents or personal information” about a person, without their permission, with the intent to Threaten, Harass, Intimidate, Shame, Humiliate or Place at Risk (https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2012/11/28/the-illegal-activity-of-doxing-revealing-documents-or-personal-information-about-a-person-without-their-permission-with-the-intent-to-threaten-harass-intimidate-shame-humiliate-or-place/)
Basically, the doxing and stalking laws are
About doing things which endanger a person's safety or which encourage others to attack a person or their family
Pointing out someone's social media page, isn't doxing.
Pointing out that person A is really person B under an alias, isn't doxing.
Posting material that the person themselves made public, isn't, never was, and never will be, doxing.
If the above were doxing, every single person in the media would be guilty of having committed a crime.
What MoMa did here months ago, was doxing. And it's 100% legally actionable. He posted that I had a traffic citation. There was no context or reason for it to be here in a forum where we're making fun of grown men buying JPEG space ships. He posted it with malice, and with the intent to harass and harm. The only thing he didn't do, was post the actual citation itself; but anyone incited by his posting, could very well go seek it out for themselves. They never knew about it before he posted it.
I didn't dox Deloria (now banned). Though the post has been removed here, it is still on my website (post # 4905) (http://www.dereksmart.org/forums/topic/sc-scoop/#post-4905) for anyone who cares to go and read it for themselves.
All I did was out a scammer using material they themselves posted here (e.g. this post (http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3748466&pagenumber=6436&perpage=40#post466603961)) and on social media.
Period. End of story.
There are NO rules on SA which prohibit what I did. Not a single one. Don't take my word for it though, here, go read all the rule pages (http://www.somethingawful.com/forum-rules/forum-rules/1/)
Then FAU, after emerging from what I can only imagine must have been a meltdown recovery process, switched from "doxing" to "helldumping". Which, to me - and anyone with a brain that's in working condition - was hilarious; seeing as the latter isn't even an SA rule. That aside from the fact that the very notion of "helldumping" is so far removed from "doxing", that in and of itself, is NOT a bannable offense. Probation? Yeah, maybe' it depends on the mod.
The fact of the matter is that since FAU tried to close down this forum - and failed; he's been gunning for me because not only did I have it brought back, but I was made mod. Heck, we just had yet another spat (http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3792400&pagenumber=2#post464770159) mere months ago over this same thing.
This sub-forum is moderated on a honor system. As a mod, I never had to take any action other than probating some people (4) when they cross the line. Once, after several probates, I probated someone for 30 days. I didn't perma-ban.
This sub-forum has never - ever - broken ANY of the SA rules. We encourage off-topic posts (recipes, memes etc) because it breaks from the monotony of shitting on Star Citizen and Shitizens 24-7.
A LOT of people followed me to SA and paid 10 bux to be able read what I post, interact, find the lols etc. That too is a solid fact.
Yet, somehow, for some bullshit reason, FAU is of the opinion that I am not a "good" mod. The regulars here and I had a good laugh about that on on Discord, for the sheer hilarity of it. And when pressed, like the absentee landlord, he simply couldn't point out a SINGLE reason WHY he thinks I'm not a "good" mod. Not one.
Aside from the fact that I didn't even ask to be a fucking mod. In much the same way that Beer4TheBeerGod and Beet Wagon didn't get asked either. He made them mods, then installed an IK buffoon who subsequently shat up my nice sub-forum, while attracting all the ass-clowns from FYAD and elsewhere - and who otherwise didn't even know we existed here in our niche corner.
This is bullshit. What the fuck is the matter with you people; that a forum with such HIGH TRAFFIC and quality posters who are otherwise behaving themselves and abiding by the rules, can't be left alone?!? The money is going into Lowtax's coffers, so what do you care, and why be salty about it?
Look, I am not a stranger to being banned. Heck, I was banned TWICE on FDev for breaking the rules. And in both cases, it was a matter of a "shady" areas in which 1) I was using asterisk to bypass the bad word filter 2) I posted material from here on SA (http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3748466&pagenumber=5966&perpage=40#post465355903)
So, if I had somehow broken an SA rule, and been banned as a result, it won't have been any big deal. I would pay the 10 bux, re-reg, and get right back into the shit-posting.
As I am 100% certain (and I have high priced attorneys who ensure that I don't do/say stupid shit that will get me arrested or sued) that I hadn't broken an SA rule, let alone guilty of doxing, I refused to re-reg on principle alone. And I made that clear to everyone who asked.
As the regulars here on my Discord can attest to, I said that I wasn't coming back here unless the ban was reversed. Then a group (7 at last count) of people (one of them being a backer here on SA who I had saved money by helping him get a Star Citizen refund) offered to pay the 10 bux if I came back. I still refused. Then some made the case that as long as I wasn't the one paying the 10 bux, it won't break my principles and that I should consider it.
So I did.
And here I am.
Nevertheless, seeing as there is a mod actively holding a grudge and who I believe is going to keep finding ways to either get me probated, banned or who I believe wants to see the forum die, I won't be as prolific a poster as I used to be because this is bullshit.