Best posts made by Ganymede

@faceless said in RL things I love:

Every morning my youngest has an Eggo blueberry waffle. He has for months. He doesn't want deviation from that. Try to give him eggs, sausage, and toast? Tantrum until he gets a blueberry waffle. Cereal? Nope. Blueberry waffle or death.

My children eat what I give them. If they do not want it, they will go hungry. If they cry or throw a tantrum, they are sent to their rooms until they calm down -- and then it's back to the table to eat or wait until it's time to go to school, take a nap, or go to bed.

This begs for an explanation, so here it is.

Ortallus is not being banned for wishing death on another. We all know that the Hog Pit isn't a place for a good time. Wandering into there is wading into a black pit of despair and needless verbal lashings. And while stating one's wish that a person gets skullfucked is an awful image to bear, that's the sort of ugly shit that will be said there. It is, by calculation, a place for ugliness.

I am aware that some people may be genuinely ignorant of other races, genders, sexualities, gender identity, cultures, etc. In acknowledging this ignorance, as well as my own, there are times when a person may say some truly ignorant shit and then double-down on that shit by defending it, but these social constructs will not be broken down in one day by one post. That said, one of the few rules we have everywhere in this forum is for members to refrain from using derogatory slurs which are inherently racist, sexist, or steeped in a long history of discrimination.

In the spirit of the above rule, Ortallus is being banned for using the word "cunt" as a retort to others.

@ortallus said in MU* Gripes and Peeves:

@kanye-qwest said in MU* Gripes and Peeves:

This day is a gift

Yes, being the ginormous cunt you are, you thrive on this sort of thing, doncha?

@ortallus said in MU* Gripes and Peeves:

The rest of you cunts can die in a fire, I really don't care. You love and thrive on the toxicity that is fermented in this cesspit, and most of MUland beyond your doors knows it. When I've asked people recently if they were from MUSoapbox, they responded "Ugh, that shit hole?"

I recognize that other English-speaking nationalities, particularly Australians, do not consider this term as offensive as Americans do. But we have had this discussion in the past at length and to me it seems that allowing members to use this word is far outweighed by the potential insult and harm it may cause others. As far as I'm concerned, this is a gendered slur directed at women or those who identify as such. I might have considered it a slip, but --

@ortallus said in MU* Gripes and Peeves:

You were kind, so this will be the last thing I say to you, and I'm not going to attack you because you don't deserve it, but they do.

They. Do.

-- it seems clear to me that his pattern of conduct wasn't going to change. And I have neither the time nor the inclination to put up with anything but the usual petty bickering.

Watch your mouths, people, and don't fucking threaten to break the prime directive: don't make Ganymede work.

Flashpoint: Gotham is also opening up soon.

@greenflashlight said in Reporting Roadblocks: Denial, Fear, Shame, Guilt, Embarrassment, etc.:

Sounds like we aren't talking about the same things, then. Sorry to waste your time on a derail.

Hey, now. Some of us who disagree with you are hearing you.

Having worked in a prosecutor's office, I understand the concept of victim agency, and restoring the victim to power in a situation. Bringing a case against a victim's will is an important consideration. If the victim refuses to testify, for example, a prosecutor's office generally won't bring the case to trial unless there is sufficient corroborating evidence that it can prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the assault occurred without the victim's testimony.

That said, I'm not a prosecutor when I'm running a game: I'm dictator for life. I'm not going to shy away from that, and that characterization is absolutely true, no matter how someone gussies it up. I cannot deny that many people will not report because of victim agency concerns, and this is a valid concern; however, I lean towards moving to act because I don't want a wolf among the sheep, picking them off while I twiddle my thumbs. This has happened to me before, and I won't let it happen again.

"I love you, fuzzball."
"I love you too, trash panda."

@sunny said in Leave of Absence:

CONGRATULATIONS. I hope you have a good time, and I hope you get some time to genuinely relax.

I'll try, but to be honest the stereotype holds true with me.

That and I'm absolutely killing in selling this legal procedure that I swear will help revitalize my community slowly but surely.

It helps that Dave Chappelle's outspoken advocacy for the area has led to folks like Tiffany Haddish getting interested in investing in the Dayton, Ohio area.

@apos said in Regarding administration on MSB:

Yeah but so would, "LISTEN UP PLEBEIANS, MODERATOR HERE".

I was presuming people were reading this before anything I say.

I need that kind of excessive authority.

@darinelle said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

So Wednesday I'm getting a fourth cat. Because one of my dear friends got a pig, and the pig has upset this one cat's reality to the point that it is shitting everywhere and miserable.

This makes me so fucking angry, really.

I like cats. A lot. I'd love to have another one, but my current cat, Gay Edward, is deathly afraid of other creatures. I understand why he's frightened of my kids -- they are grabby and loud -- but he's also scared of mice, bugs, and non-moving action figures.

Like, who the fuck knowingly injects a brand new animal into a territorial creature's space? An asshole, that's who.

I'm sure your dear friend is really nice, but goddammit if this doesn't make me angry. If it could turn a profit, I'd be a cat advocate -- CatLawyerBot.

Of all the rules we have we take the dissemination of RL information, knowingly or unknowingly, very seriously and severely. This user was found to have published someone else's RL name.

So, they have been banned.

If you have questions, feel free to PM the mods. A subsequent post about this decision will follow.

@surreality said in The limits of IC/OOC responsibility:

I honestly think 'gatekeeping' positions IC are bad news for a game, period.

I think that many game developers don't realize this, and create a game where a gatekeeper is a necessary position.

And it's really easy to get around, especially for World of Darkness games where this shit crops up regularly. Just post the following:

It is presumed that, wherever your character is from, he or she has been vetted by the authorities and has been in town for a couple of weeks when he or she hits the Grid. If you're a vampire, you've met the Seneschal; if you're a changeling, you've sworn the appropriate oath of fealty, which, for this game's purposes, will provide no benefit but also not count against your total oath total. We will not accept any concepts that fall outside of this presumption.

There. You're recognized. End of story.

@derp said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

Real world peeve bordering on actual anger: people who think that you are being rude because you can split your attention effectively and multi-task.

Aren't you heading into the legal field?

Don't read your smartphone e-mails while at a deposition or with a client.

Just don't.

You're not as good at it as you think you are.

Sorry. I have the transcripts to prove this.

So, we've moved.

I'd like to thank everyone that participated and helped in the process. Shout-outs to Arkandel, Derp, Roz, Faraday, Mietze, and Testament. Without them, we wouldn't be here. I am simply not competent enough from a tech-perspective to do what they did.

Faraday will be sticking around to help out with tech things as they arise, but will otherwise not be staying as an Admin. Arkandel, who has shepherded this site far longer than he was obligated, will likely be slipping back into the sanctity and safety of anonymity once more.

Unless I am told otherwise, Derp, Roz, Mietze, Testament, and I will be remaining as Admins and staff here. You can report problems to any and all of us, and we will try to get to them as soon as possible.

If you have any questions for me in particular, feel free to PM.

So, there's movement here. Honest. I'm working slowly but steadily. What we've got is a Dark Ages Vampire 2E game brewing, with some twists based on the supplements that have been released.

• Not Lords and Ladies: Sorry, but this will be a Dark Ages game. There will be knights and politics, but there will also be monsters and terror. The game will be set around 1250 in Terra Mariana, a.k.a. Livonia.

• Actions: There will be an action system in the game, which will be used to power the political side of things. Characters have a limited number of actions daily, so plan accordingly. With those actions, players can complete tasks and missions to achieve status in factions and covenants.

• Factions: Vying for status in human factions is important, as the ebb and flow of human politics has a substantial effect on vampires. Factions will include: the Holy Roman Empire; the Livonian Order; the Hanseatic League; and the Old Livonia peasantry.

• Covenants: Of course, vying for status in Kindred factions -- the Covenants -- is important, but, in the Dark Ages, over half of the presented Covenants don't exist. On this game, Covenants will include: the Lancea et Sanctum; the Invictus; the Vedmak (local pagans, like Acolytes); and the Legio Mortuum (that's right).

• Clans and Bloodlines: As can be expected, there will be bloodlines for Clans, adapted on our own with inspiration from 1E and other pre-2E sources. I won't go through all of the lines we've got simmering, but the Clans will include the traditional five, plus the Julii and the Pijavica.

So, we're working on things, and I'd expect it would take another couple of months of active work at least before we have our wiki ready for viewing.

Suggestions based on the above are welcome.

@rinel said in Good or New Movies Review:

What I did not like was the feeling of "African American culture bad, fictional Wakandan culture good" that I got.

I can't argue with a feeling, but I think you may have missed what the writers were getting at.

What I got was that Wakandans find African American culture "bad" because it was born out of a history of oppression. What I saw T'Challa wrestling with was Wakanda's part in that history. What I understood was that T'Challa discovered and concluded that Wakanda was as responsible for that oppression as the oppressors because they let it happen when they could have intervened and ended it.

What I object to is that this plays into neo-conservative tropes of military intervention in order to make the world a "better and safer" place. Similiarly, I too agree that foreign investment isn't a meaningful response to the inequities that exist in the nations where the United States has intervened.

The fact that we're talking about this is a very good thing, however, and it is for that reason that I approve of Black Panther whole-heartedly.

After a short conference, we have decided to cut access to the Hog Pit and the Politics thread until we have had a chance to fully discuss recent events.

We have also decided that all recent bannings related to those events will be reconsidered at that time.

Bringing up such recent events in other areas of the Forum will be immediately shut down and the member banned for doing so, subject to review after the discussion above.

Questions and concerns may be brought to me by PM.

@aria said in Let's talk about TS.:

Does it cover everything? Well, no, not really. But I think it's general enough to get the idea across in a largely functional and effective way.

I saw a guy get tossed out of a strip club for whipping out his thing while watching a girl dance on a pole, and whacking at it fiercely. It took a couple of minutes and a lot of laughter before the bouncers came by and physically hauled him out. And this was a place where there was titties-a-plenty.

I guess my point is that I lean on common sense. If I have to tell you why it's inappropriate to lead someone by the leash on the Battlestar, I think I'm just going to talk to Faraday.

@admiral said in RL Anger:

...and now Morgan Freeman. Maybe there is a damn conspiracy to topple pillars of the black community.

Or maybe powerful men, regardless of color, have been harassing women for generations?

@deadculture said in MSB, SJW, and other acronyms:

What would be your entry song?

@aria

@kanye-qwest

I may have figured out why I generally have few problems online with others.

No, I don’t think it’s irrelevant, and I think it is a reasonable approach to take. It’s no different than how I’ve treated others online, like Caryatid, when they may have been having a rough go of it.