A case against TothBLM
It is my hope that this post will lead to the investigation and the subsequent action of either a stern lecture or outright banning of the user named TothBLM. (or at least send him to chat in the Asylum forum where his attitude might actually fit in)
I present this case with the following 3 areas of concern
1) Stalking and harassment
2) Cross-forum trashtalk
3) Rounding up forum outsiders to police the forum
I am unsure whether any of these charges or combination of charges is sufficient to warrant action from the administration, so I leave that in your hands and will respect your final decision.
I will try to catch you up on the topic that alot of this revolves around which is "Tanking" as a possible party role for a puppetmaster.
It took alot of effort, but over time we managed to turn the pup forum into a place welcoming of experimentation and research. This is afterall a game and there is of course no good reason why we shouldn't be supporting each other while having fun with a new job with unmapped potential. A month or more ago, a few people decided to try to find the boundaries in this job's ability to be a tanking job. Being the supportive and curious bunch of people we were, we asked for the honest reports of the data found. Reports continued to come at our request and the results were even better than expected. This was the state of the forum up until October 7, 2006.
1) Stalking and harassment
TothBLM's arrival to the PUP forum seems to have been October 7, 2006. In the 10 days since he has racked up 133 posts which of course equates to 13.3 posts per day. While post frequency is in itself not a bad thing, the reason for this frequency is. The overwhelming majority of these comes in the form of hopping from thread to thread trying to provoke a response from the people performing the tests mentioned. He started a thread to display his point, sadly using poor argumentation and an overaggressive stance. When he failed to contribute anything and also failed in luring any key users into the discussion, he instead stalked these users from thread to thread. If someone performing these tests made any post in any thread on any topic, he'd bring his fight into those threads.
- Thread: Title changed many times with edits. Basically a thread informing the masses that allakahzam is not an 'in depth' forum and then explained why people should not be testing the job as a tank.
- Replies are made and then mocked. Flame war follows.
- My first of 2 entries in the thread when I present a different way to view the topic and with hopes to end the flame war: (link to post)
- My post ignored and flames continue
- My second of 2 entries in the thread when I try my best to calm TothBLM down and hopefully change his attitude: (link to post)
- TothBLM finally replies to me on day 4 of his rant, sadly not taking any of the offered advice: (link to post)
- Thread returns to flame war.
- Thread: (long post) a DD sees a Tank and feels dejavu My own thread detailing what the forum had gone through in the previous 5 months. I wanted to give this new wave of users some insight into where the forum had been, what it had come through, and why the open-minded atmosphere with its openness to experimentation was so important to protect.
- Someone with a different view posts and a short but respectable discussion takes place.
- TothBLM eventually replies to another poster in the the thread but pays mine no mind.
- I make another post addressed specifically to TothBLM in attempt to calm him down and help him out: (link to post)
- No reply from TothBLM and thread ends.
- Thread: Found a kindred spirit on my server ^^
- TothBLM's derailing
- Trolling followed
- My condolences sent to OP: (link to post)
- TothBLM's reply that tries to explain why his stalking is justified: (link to post)
- Trolling continues
- Thread: DemiGuide: What Mobs Can PUP Tank & Solo!
- TothBLM's hate filled derailing posts: one , two , three , and many more examples can be found within
- Thread: The role of a tank and its relation to PUP
- My own thread to host this discussion with logic and respect kept central.
- Thread seemed to be too well constructed and too hate-free. Few replies, but no sign of TothBLM who is usually so eager to argue this topic. Thread ends.
I can produce many more examples is needed for this part of the case against him. I just wanted to make sure there were some prime examples listed showing how rudely he appeared in our forum and the thorn in everyone's side he became. I also made sure to show that many attempts to reason with him and calm him down were made and done so in a polite manner. All attempts to make him a positive part of the community have failed.
2) Cross-forum trashtalk
Now, even if you don't find the following particularly offensive, I promise that we, your members, do.
"Cuirously, none of the more in depth boards accepted or even thought of this idea." (Link to post)
"People tend to think as Zam as a dumping ground of bad ideas and I agree." (Link to post)
But worse is the quoting of members within other forums in an attempt to mock them. Real playground attitudes. His signature changes quite often too as he toggles through quotes of people he dislikes and tries to mock them.
Please ask for more details if it is needed.
3) Rounding up forum outsiders to police the forum
The following is a thread for the Fairy server forum that brought an army of non-pup fairy players to the pup forum to start a rate-down campaigne.
Thread: Call for help on Allakahzam ; ;
One of the posts listed as a target is a helpful and constructive addition to the community and has since been added to the sticky. The number of new names with low post counts is suspicious. Since I had one of his LS mates come after me on a different forum, I suspect that these new posters (not surprisingly strong supporters of TothBLM) are people he has rounded up from either his LS or from the web's various forum groups where he has tried to rally support against Allakhazam's PUP forum. Of course this is speculation and difficult to prove, but the timing is very suspicious.
= + = + = + = + = + =
You may wonder why we haven't just karma nuked him out of existence. Afterall, he is someone that the overwhelming majority of posters wanted removed from the forum combined with the fact that if he had posts before he came this October it was a single digit amount. At first this is exactly what happened. As his karma was on the verge of hitting 1.50, his call to arms went out across the web and his karma started its rebounding. The karma system usually works, but the power to police our own forum was taken away from us by outside interference. If it ever gets above 3.00 it will be terrifying.
Anyways. The fact that there is a problem is obvious. The fact that it revolves around one poster in particular is also obvious. The fact that the healthy and productive environment has been taken from us is obvious to anyone who has spent the past 3 months in that forum, a place that any user had access to and could use without fear of being belittled or flamed.
At the very least you need to keep an eye on TothBLM as well as make a record that a formal complaint has been made against him. Personally, I would really like to see him banned. In fact, the desire to see him banned is very strong. If you polled the forum I believe you would find this to be an overwhelming popular sentiment. However, if you prefer to talk with him and straighten him out on the proper rules of etiquette in an online social setting, that would also be sufficient action in my eyes. Sadly, even if he is banned all the people he rounded up will remain, but hopefully their interest will fade quickly and their presense without TothBLM as ringleader will also fade.
Thank you,
~YuriOtani
