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On July 1, 2002, three years of tradition for the Veeshan MB was put to an abrupt and unforeseen end. With precious little regard for the community that had formed here, a swarm of moderators descended onto the board in an outright attempt to dismantle its membership.
Their reasoning was technically accurate -- to crack down on a reported bevy of TOS violations. But that end did not justify the means they chose. Rather than post any sort of warnings or rules, a moderator named "Mepha" began to spam the board recklessly. Her posts were childish and insubstantial at best, consisting of assorted smileys and idiotic drivel. With her came a sycophant named Sanaelya: an equally pointless poster who attempted to annoy the populace of the board with repetitive one-liners.
These retarded Wonder Twins then trolled the board until they could get the regulars here to react. And as soon as they did, they were punished.
Long story short: Mepha whined to her fellow moderators, who then flocked to the board in order to bait an increasing number of posters into swearing and/or dissenting against the new 'rules' imposed by Mepha. Of course, these people were banned outright.
The stated goal of the moderators was to root out TOS violations on this board (as presumably they have done to others). But in reality, both their curious methods and the speed with which they conducted their purge suggest ulterior motives. Indeed, the moderators INTENDED to uproot the Veeshan board's community.
For what purpose no one but the mods can say. My guess is sheer boredom -- a 'pet project,' perhaps, or maybe a mere power trip. After all, these moderators are simply volunteers. They're not professionals, and they sure do their utmost to show as much. They seem seriously to enjoy playing power games with the customers of the IGN Vault boards.
Regardless, what's done is done. Now we have a culture-free board. It's become a moderator's star-farming playground, and the hiding place of the posters fortunate enough to have been absent during what the moderators have self-aggrandizingly termed the 'Veeshan Uprising.' (The fantasy-like name alone suggests that the mods were having far too much fun in what they claim was a serious duty they were carrying out).
What, then, is the point of this discussion? Quite simply, I want to find out, once and for all, what good you moderators think will come of this debacle?
Sure, you'll have a curse-free zone here. Hooray! People will have to 'play nice.' But you seem to be ignorant of the fact that the assorted colorful flames, rants, and curse-filled tirades on this board were its bread and butter. This community thrived on joking remarks and playful flaming. Those elements gone, this board is destined to be the ghost town that so many of the other EQ boards here have become.
The fact of the matter is that no 'uprising' or 'rebellion' took place yesterday. What occurred was a plain case of moderator harassment of the player community. So far, not one good explanation has come from your (the moderators') side justifying the MEANS you took to enforce the Terms of Service. Specifically, your trolling of the boards in order to foment the 'rebellion' you obviously saught out.
The lesson to be learned here is this: control your moderators' behavior. As enforcers of the Terms of Service, you are also its exemplars. When you ban someone for spamming or 'baiting' someone, you must be clean of such offenses yourselves. When you seek to punish someone for swearing or cursing, you must do so in an honest situation -- not by goading the would-be offender into committing the violation for you.
Through your reckless and negligent methods, you have successfully eliminated the very population you wanted to 'moderate' in the first place. It took no less than three years to build the community this board had. Do not be so naive as to expect that the board will ever give rise to a new one.
For your hypocrisy and your short-sightedness, I have but two words for you:
FAH Q.
-7/2/2002-
