Best posts made by Ganymede

Members who have known me through here for a while know that I am oft a stickler for process. Call it an occupational habit.

I have read more Reddit threads in the past week than I have in my life. I have looked through an old thread on DownWithOPP and I have read the recent thread about Azazello, Cullen, Talwyn, and other alts he has played. I have looked at my old chats with members here, all of whom were concerned that DWOPP was never banned and may be keeping tabs on the players he has victimized.

I said long ago that I wanted MSB to become more of a safe place than its previous iterations. I meant that. It is purely coincidental that Arkandel passed the torch to me to manage this place as his successor on the same day that we Americans watched an aged man serving his country, who then took the extraordinary step of taking action to, in his opinion, make his home a better place. And while I have never been comfortable judging people preemptively or prejudicially, I have also never been comfortable where others have felt uneasy and in fear of the people around them.

I do not know for certain whether DownWithOPP is the same player as Enervation, but I have read enough about both to decide that I don't want them around. I have decided to ban DownWithOPP, as well as SabotKick72, DropBear, and Enervation. I am not going to wait, as we did with Tyche, until something egregious happens. I see no point on letting him continue to lurk here. And while I am all-but-certain he will simply make another account under another false e-mail address, making the announcement that we will take action to keep him off this place -- we keep our regular troll friends off the place too -- is something that I hope will make some of our members feel a little more secure.

If anyone suspects there are other accounts accessed by the person behind any of the above accounts, please let the admins know and we'll have a looksee.

Don't break the number one rule: spouting hateful shit based on race, gender, identity, or disability.

Like, seriously people, don't do that shit. Especially when I'm at work. Especially when I have to prepare pleadings and motions for bankruptcy court. Don't fucking do this.

I have a daughter on the spectrum. I have a nephew on the spectrum. Some folks here are on the spectrum. Spouting shit like 'hurr hurr u sound autistic' is going to entertain swift action.

Autism is neither funny nor inherently negative. Using it as an insult or a pejorative will not be tolerated.

That's right, motherfuckers. We movin'.

As of Friday afternoon, EST, we'll be 'porting over to a new place. That means that if you post at around that time such post may disappear. So if you can all stop cat-fighting for, like, 24 hours, that would be good. Or swell. Or something.

This new place is brought to you by Digital Ocean and our committee on fixing our problems here with disappearing posts. Please thank Faraday, Derp, Roz, and Arkandel when you can. And, like, not on Friday afternoon, 'mkay?

Chet has been banned for posting the following in Game Development as a thread:

@chet said in River City Ransom MUSH:

A MUSH for special education students.

Combat system features four stats, standard for your character, and a secondary set for bonuses for your gang, if buffed, with an EQ set custom name to strip the buff, if you fit the special character class - listed below.

River City Ransom. You get a character, you get a gang, and a room, for a section of town, that gives you experience, for fighting in. You win a fight, in someone else's section, you steal their girlfriend, you get extra bonus points, in your section, for your gang, to pad your combat points, for attacks, that you lose, once you lose the fight. Female characters, are lesbians, they get an EQ bonus, from the shop, in the center city, the social area, that they have to RP in, with a grid token, to prove, they roleplayed with "Slick", the boss, whomever has the girlfriend, one maximum Slick, for all the women at a time, for the EQ, which gives them a special attack, in another person's quadrant, until they lose the fight, special attack lets them knock off the combat bonus for a round, twice a fight.

If I need to breakdown why, I am going to be very disappointed. I'll say it summarily:

• Don't use "special education students" in a mocking or derogatory way; some of us were "special education students," or had them in our circle of friends or family.

• We will not condone forcing any character of any gender into a particular sexuality or permit a game to advertise on this forum which does so.

If anyone wants further explanation, you're welcome to message me directly. I cannot guarantee that I will be patient with you if challenged on this decision.

My kitty has been found and is safe. Thank you to everyone who spiritually helped her find her way.

Y’all may now be relieved I will not destroy you all.

The past 40 days.

First, I found a house that my partner loved, and signed a contract to build it.

Then, I was elevated in the firm to partner.

Then, I had the privilege of picking up a new company car for myself on lease -- LEXUS.

And then, tonight, I just put our current house under contract.

@admiral said in MU Things I Love:

It's easy to roll with the punches and mature as a character when you know that staff will protect you from real consequences and feed you all the best plots/RP that others don't get.

On games where I have staff authority, I tend to hand players who can roll with the punches and act maturely important matters. This is because they have demonstrated that they can roll with the punches and act maturely rather than point fingers.

You can call that favoritism if you want, but there's a reason why I don't trust my cat to file important things with the clerk of courts. For one thing, the dog takes far less time.

I'm going to take the unpopular opinion here.

Whatever happened to scale or scope? What about a person's reaction? What about what's been alleged precisely?

C'mon. Let's just take a moment to distinguish and not lump everyone together.

Let's start with Al Franken. First, he admitted it happened. Second, he requested an ethics investigation. Finally, and most importantly, he acknowledged that what he did was wrong. To-wit: (1) forcefully making out with a woman against her will during a rehearsal; and (2) taking an awful, awful picture.

Let's go in the other direction for a moment to Bill Cosby. First, he admitted nothing, even though he testified to doing so in a deposition. Second, he continues to deny wrong-doing to this day. Finally, and damningly, he is alleged to have drugged women and have sex with them while they were knocked out over a period of decades.

I want to be clear: I don't condone either person's behavior. But I think it is also clear: these are not the same levels of wrongdoing.

This is a hot topic for me because a lot of my political friends are lumping everyone together, while some of us "moderates" are saying what Jules said in Pulp Fiction. What Franken did, relative to Cosby, ain't the same sport.

@aerianyx

1. Be aware that your boundaries are your boundaries. They may not be another person's boundaries, but that's irrelevant; the question is what makes you uncomfortable.

2. People who tell you you're overly sensitive are assholes. The proper response to "this RP is making me feel uncomfortable" is "I'm sorry I'll stop." Anything less than that is unacceptable, and a sign of an asshole.

3. Quid pro quo is disgusting and should be reported. I really don't (edited) care if it is totally in-character; it's disgusting and is one of the sorts of behaviors that should not exist in our hobby.

4. Stand firm, and get backup. When you set your foot down, it helps to talk to someone else about what happened. You don't need to identify who did it, but it's always helpful to know people have your back. And, by the way, if that "backup" tells you that you are being overly sensitive, remember Point 2 above.

5. It is always okay to suddenly disconnect. You never, ever, ever have an obligation to stick around. Ever. You may have to deal with the consequences later, but you never, ever, ever have to stick around.

Hopefully, this helps. I don't have much personal experience with this because I have very distant boundaries, but I've been told I'm a good listener. Also, I fuck up a lot but have enough presence of mind and awareness of self to not hold what I felt against the person I wronged.

My cousin passed away this morning.

His side of the family enjoyed considerable success. He grew up with my wildly successful aunt, who quite literally cut a bloody path of heads in the Chinese financial world until she made her way to a place near the top of a major multinational bank. He was a successful amateur tennis player and competitive swimmer in his youth, and went to and graduated from Upper Canada College. He later attended school in the UK, and ended up getting a pretty good job in Hong Kong in the financial world.

We were never close, but his mother and I were pretty friendly. We were both the sort of cool-under-the-collar kinds of people with ambitions and odd sensibilities, He got married a couple of years ago into Swedish nobility, but I didn't get to attend his marriage in Tuscany because my kids were just coming of age. I wasn't there when his son was born. The last time I saw him was at an event two years ago, where he came in like a tornado on a red-eye. The term "jet-set playboy" fit him to a T.

This weekend is the Moon Festival. He was vacationing at a resort in Hong Kong -- you can't really leave -- with his wife and child to celebrate it. Early yesterday morning, he was walking with his wife and child-in-stroller when he slipped, lost his balance, and fell off a precipice. He suffered a brain injury and severe internal injuries. The doctors tried to staunch the bleeding, but he succumbed a couple of hours ago.

Success is never a guarantee of immortality, or even a long life. My cousin had a lot of things going for him and his life was heading in a trajectory that many of us admired. But for COVID, I'd be getting a plane ticket and flying out to see my aunt and her family. The most I can do at this time is send an e-mail. My cousin is my father's god-son, and to hear my father brokenly crying on the phone -- he told me he had never felt so weak and helpless in his 80+ years -- was incredibly trying.

Hug your loved ones tight tonight, please.

@nyctophiliac

I’m quitting as of January 1.

Support!

Sometimes it is hard to know where a line is, especially when it isn't visible all the time.

No matter how civil a discussion may be on a particular topic, that does not mean the subject-matter of the topic is appropriate for discussion of any kind. I said when Arkandel erroneously and foolishly handed me the controls to the ship that I would try to steer it towards to brighter and safer shores. This does not mean I have been or will be successful. In fact, my lack of general empathy for humanity, being a robotic cat, makes my ability to guide it questionable at best.

Thankfully, I have a navigator.

No one who identifies themselves as they see fit ought to have that decision questioned, least of all by strangers. And I can understand how seeing strangers question whether you or others like you should get life-saving treatment is not only horrific but unacceptable. No matter what anyone's opinion might be, seeing an opinion that would or could harm you or deny your existence is at best unacceptable and at worst damaging. So, with Mietze's guidance and in agreement with her, I'm going to throw out the following new policy.

Any discussion or comment questioning the legitimacy or nature of a person's identity in any way, including, but not limited to, race, gender, sex, orientation, religion, or ethnicity will not be tolerated in any form here, be it in public post or private message.

What constitutes a breach of this policy will depend on the totality of the circumstances. For comparative examples:

Asking about particular kinds of therapies and how medical professionals determine if they are appropriate for a minor or adult recipient: This is probably a good question, especially for those in the community who are very quietly questioning themselves and want to learn more.

Debating whether particular kinds of therapies should made available to minors and, if so, under what conditions: This questions the legitimacy of self-identification, and therefore would be contrary to the policy stated above.

It is impossible to predict what form such discussion or comment may take or how it may breach this policy, so if you have concerns about a particular discussion or comment please make your concerns known to any mod here so we can discuss.

I encourage the members of any community that has witnessed "civil-but-phobic" discourse here to contact Mietze or I to refine the above policy; however, if possible, I'd rather keep such discussions limited to chatting in a room, so that others who do not want to participate may continue to enjoy the site.

As for the delay in this policy, I apologize personally to our trans-members. I've been busy, but I have also been participating, so I should have been more aware.

I don't need logs to investigate a claim.

In my experience, 90% of the accused do not deny what happened, and, of them, most claim that they didn't realize they were making the other side uncomfortable.

The other 10% spin around, scoff, and are impossible to deal with, so I have reason to jettison them without having to investigate the matter further.

I am leaving the rat race.

I will be joining a local university's legal team as an assistant general counsel. I am ecstatic.

But I have to make sure my clients are taken care of after I go. I am frantic.

If I act weird, please allow this to serve as my explanation.

Sometimes, people we like cross the line. This is what happened in the Politics area.

No matter how heated a discussion becomes in an area that isn't the Hog Pit, accusing someone of being a murder or rape sympathizer is right out. I don't think I need to elaborate on why.

We all may have strong feelings on any nation's military and their role in atrocities across the world and history, but stick to what has happened and who did it rather than suggest that another person actively supports such actions.

Speaking of the Hog Pit, there are lines in there that cannot be crossed. The Politics area is just like any other part of this forum, though, which means that one should avoid personal attacks.

I hope that my direct language here illustrates how disappointed I am in having to take any action to begin with.

No one has any damn business telling a parent about what is appropriate or not regarding their child-rearing choices without a request for input. Mind your fucking business.

We all may have opinions on what is acceptable and what is not, but keep it to yourself if someone isn’t looking for your thoughts. And I don’t recall buttercup asking for them.

@sixregrets said in Rinel banned:

You have other tools at your disposal, such as editing people's posts, temporary suspensions, etc.

Editing a person's post does not address the harm that was caused, which was the statement in the first place. Temporary suspensions are, in my opinion, pointless. Rinel, who has posted here a while and is someone who I know understands that there are boundaries which cannot be crossed, knows the rules here.

If you were unaware, another rule is don't make me fucking work. This is a tongue-in-cheek way of saying that if I have to address an issue, I am going to do so and it may be in a way that is as direct and final as possible.

Be advised that I do not sit on this place consistently and have no interest in constantly policing it to make sure that people who know the rules, or ought to know them, are staying within the lines.

If Rinel had actually accused the other person of particular things, sure, but for having particular sympathies?

I concur that there is a difference between accusing someone of being a murder-sympathizer and a murderer, but in both cases you are attacking the person in your argument. And while there are certain personal insults which have been overlooked as innocuous -- e.g., you're an idiot; you're stupid -- the general rule for anywhere but the Hog Pit is to attack an idea, not a person.

If anyone wants to debate whether my strict approach is justified or not, please feel free to PM me about it. I do not feel inclined to engage in a public conversation about it at this time.

You literally changed the way I felt about MUSHing after 20 years of doing it, from top to bottom.

Keep doing what you're doing.

I wanted to post a quick note that today will be my last day as an administrator on MSB. I am resigning and, as of July 1, 2022, I will no longer be an active administrator in the moderation of the site's boards or in the deciding of rules and policies.

Your active staff will continue to be: derp, reimesu, Lotherio, and Runescryer.

I will remain, however, as the person paying for the site and occasionally giving advice, like Arkandel. But that's all I'll be doing.

This decision is mine alone and is based on personal matters.

I look forward to finding the time to play with y'all in the future, but as of tomorrow I will enjoy my retirement.

I'd like to give a shout out to Callie @ Fate's Harvest. She gave me the best compliment I've had in a while: that my character was interesting and I was a great person to RP with.

I've been doing this shit for over 20 years. I've met some great people; like @Sunny, who I've really liked and I haven't always done right by. I implicitly trust her synopses on things, but, recently, I've doubted her. I shouldn't have done that.

So, lemme tell you who I like a lot.

Many people. On the top of my head, I adore @Autumn in ways that shouldn't be allowed. @SunnyJ is someone that I need to play with everyday. I would gladly buy @Thenomain a beer. @Misadventure challenges me by PM at every turn, and I like that. @hedgehog is totally cool. @Arkandel is a great sport, and I will always wonder what might have been, if we only played Star Wars together more. @lordbelh is the sort of person who, if they told me a system was broken, I would do whatever it took to fix it. While it may seem that I scrap with him a lot, @WTFE is the sort of player that you should really listen to. @Caryatid is the person that I always wanted to be best friends with because she's ultra-wise and I have so much more to learn from her.

I'll go ahead and say it: there are many, many, many good people here. We fight a lot, but I think, as a community, we really need to start recognizing that we're all looking for the same thing: people that we can make stories with.

There are several people I haven't mentioned, to whom I hereby apologize.

If anyone swings by where I live, I would gladly show you the time of your life on my tab. Seriously.

MU Things I love? The people. I'm constantly amazed.