VOAT Containment Megathread of Trash People for Trash People

[etiolate]

It's remarkable that amir0x talked to the police in exactly the same way he would try to defend his crimes if they were first reported on GAF and he had only GAF posters to answer to and not, you know, the law.

I noticed that too. He's so disconnected from real life that he treats his interactions with human beings as if they were forum posts. "Well, technically I'm an ephebophile, your honor"

Well his logic does sort of come straight from a GAF thread

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1317873&page=1

[cosmicblizzard]

Why would TDM admit that?  Wasn't max ban differences a big reason behind that whole besada controversy?

[Dennis]

There is zero consistency. There are a ton of members with a huge number of bans but apparently with the right (left?) views because they can keep shitting up the place anyway.

And typically their bans are for being assholes and rude to other members.

[Boredfrom]

Why would TDM admit that?  Wasn't max ban differences a big reason behind that whole besada controversy?

"Amirox was going totally going to be permabanned, guys. This was his last chance, no mods favoritism."

[nudemacusers]

Fortunately I've never been banned

[clothedmacuser]

After being demodded, Amir0x was banned a total of 11 times (not counting yesterday) from 9 different moderators with a mean ban duration of 3.4 weeks. His most recent ban (again, ignoring yesterday) was for 3 months and came with a perm warning. Although several earlier bans were given for being generally rude, the lion's share of bans were obtained when he started having full scale meltdowns about the 2016 US presidential elections.

The record for "most bans for a user who is not permed" is 23, with 19 in second place. Amir0x would have clocked in at around #35 on that chart.

This post. This fucking post. 

I want that chart.

[Dennis]

Fortunately I've never been banned

First they would have to notice you. Try dressing sharper.

[Mr. Nobody]

Fortunately I've never been banned

First they would have to notice you. Try dressing sharper.

 

[railGUN]

After being demodded, Amir0x was banned a total of 11 times (not counting yesterday) from 9 different moderators with a mean ban duration of 3.4 weeks. His most recent ban (again, ignoring yesterday) was for 3 months and came with a perm warning. Although several earlier bans were given for being generally rude, the lion's share of bans were obtained when he started having full scale meltdowns about the 2016 US presidential elections.

The record for "most bans for a user who is not permed" is 23, with 19 in second place. Amir0x would have clocked in at around #35 on that chart.

This post. This fucking post. 

I want that chart.

To be clear, I don't give a flying fuck about how many bans you need to get permed, or any of that bullshit.

I care that that is in response to Amir0x being a pedophile.

I'm actually struggling to put into words how empty?, or, absent? that person is from the real world.

[Momo]

Honestly dont think it's worth talking about neojeff policy anymore, the owner doesnt care and it's been a shit show far too long for discussion to matter now, plus I feel most of us have clearly moved on and only care in the same way you slow down to see an accident on the side of the road.

To be fair to Steve and Aeana and everyone else, the situation just happened and being mods they're almost forced into a position on giving hot takes before they themselves have processed it. Check back with them in a few days for their personal takes. I dont feel like holding them responsible for years upon years of unchanging garbage moderation, that's on Evilore.

[Momo]

My dream of seeing Steve Youngblood go full Paul Verhoeven seems so far away now

I don't even know what this means.

I could just reply with 'Would you like to know more?" but eh
Earlier I thought it would be hilarious if this situation put you off gaf so bad that you went full facepaint satirical like a Paul Verhoeven movie on gaf.

[Huff]

Guess I shouldve stolen $12k from gaffers instead 

I totally would if I could

[agrajag]

Wasn't Lore actual friends with Amir0x? I think that would explain his protected status more than him being the SJW attack dog.

[Rufus]

To treat this like e-drama is unfathomable to me.

Have we been reading the same thread? This is grade A fodder, take a look around. Most of the posts are about people's history with Amirox, their own bans, or how it's going to reflect on the site. It's an event. One which a lot of people are disturbingly giddy about. Ex-mod and hated user turns out to be pedohile, what a joyous day for us.

I'm also not surprised the that the glorified janitors are in over their heads. Regular operation is more than they can handle, of course an extraordinary event like this isn't going to be treated with the attention and care it demands. Especially when the one person who has any kind of actual stake in the site and its reputation puts out a shit statement containing blatant lies, only to bow out right after.

[Boredfrom]

It is e-drama, but is not exactly any kind of regular e-drama. Is a huge schadenfreude for an once big hobby community that likes to paint themselves  as holier than you.

Is not like people are minimizing the crime given that almost everyone admitted that the actual police report is soul crushing. People are not going to be unhappy that a drug addict mom beater pedophile is behind bars.

[Great Rumbler]

Steve Youngblood did nothing wrong.

[etiolate]

To treat this like e-drama is unfathomable to me.

Have we been reading the same thread? This is grade A fodder, take a look around. Most of the posts are about people's history with Amirox, their own bans, or how it's going to reflect on the site. It's an event. One which a lot of people are disturbingly giddy about. Ex-mod and hated user turns out to be pedohile, what a joyours day for us.

I'm also not surprised the that the glorified janitors are in over their heads. Regular operation is more than they can handle, of course an extraordinary event like this isn't going to be treated with the attention and care it demands. Especially when the one person who has any kind of actual stake in the site and its reputation puts out a shit statement containing blatant lies, only to bow out right after.

I don't see where you are trying to go here. Separate stuff like the Dennis jokes from the actual issue.

If Ami hadn't been caught then he'd still be posting in a vitriolic and radical way while still trading in child pornography. He would be doing so on a forum with people who were abused as children, with people who are likely under the age of 18, and probably some people posting pics of their kids.

Ami was extremely beyond the pale in his behavior towards others, virtue signaling at an extremely high level that betrays there might be something to hide. He's not the only poster there like this.

 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

HE WAS LOOKING AT 8 YEAR OLD GIRLS VAGINAS

[close]

No, this is not just e-drama. If the police hadn't caught him then he'd be continuing on. There is nothing about the moderation that would have ousted him and there is no response to this event that says they'll change. That means something like this will repeat. This is a danger to people.

[Rufus]

If Ami hadn't been caught then he'd still be posting in a vitriolic and radical way while still trading in child pornography.

Where I'm going with this is that the former seems to matter a whole lot to people, which in light of what he is - just rubs me the wrong way.

Ami was extremely beyond the pale in his behavior towards others, virtue signaling at an extremely high level that betrays there might be something to hide. He's not the only poster there like this.

Hence which I find this just a little disingenuous. Most blowhards/moral crusaders are just that.

[marrec]

Fortunately I've never been banned

First they would have to notice you. Try dressing sharper.

Yer a fuckin' savage

[etiolate]

If Ami hadn't been caught then he'd still be posting in a vitriolic and radical way while still trading in child pornography.

Where I'm going with this is that the former seems to matter a whole lot to people, which in light of what he is - just rubs me the wrong way.

It matters because it is a clear warning sign about that person that doesn't seem to matter to the runners of the website. This allows dangerous people to hang around that forum.

[Rufus]

It matters because it is a clear warning sign about that person that doesn't seem to matter to the runners of the website. This allows dangerous people to hang around that forum.

It really isn't that clear of a warning sign though. If it were that simple, you could potentially demand of volunteer moderators on a video game forum to play catch-a-predator, as you are, but that's just not the reality.

If the police hadn't caught him then he'd be continuing on. There is nothing about the moderation that would have ousted him and there is no response to this event that says they'll change. That means something like this will repeat. This is a danger to people.

I mean, you can't actually be serious with this...

[Jansen]

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1399348

Plz help me validate my Zelda adapter purchase

[nudemacusers]

Fortunately I've never been banned

First they would have to notice you. Try dressing sharper.

Girl pls

[Rufus]

Fucking hell Jansen, you're always business as usual, huh?

[etiolate]

It matters because it is a clear warning sign about that person that doesn't seem to matter to the runners of the website. This allows dangerous people to hang around that forum.

It really isn't that clear of a warning sign though. If it were that simple, you could potentially demand of volunteer moderators on a video game forum to play catch-a-predator, as you are, but that's just not the reality.

If the police hadn't caught him then he'd be continuing on. There is nothing about the moderation that would have ousted him and there is no response to this event that says they'll change. That means something like this will repeat. This is a danger to people.

I mean, you can't actually be serious with this...

Yes, I am serious. This is serious shit.

[Boredfrom]

It matters because it is a clear warning sign about that person that doesn't seem to matter to the runners of the website. This allows dangerous people to hang around that forum.

It really isn't that clear of a warning sign though. If it were that simple, you could potentially demand of volunteer moderators on a video game forum to play catch-a-predator, as you are, but that's just not the reality.

If the police hadn't caught him then he'd be continuing on. There is nothing about the moderation that would have ousted him and there is no response to this event that says they'll change. That means something like this will repeat. This is a danger to people.

I mean, you can't actually be serious with this...

This is the second time a mod is involved in accusations of pedophilia. Let's not go the NoblesseOblige route of Amirox being a harmless Buffon before getting arrested for CP.

[Dennis]

Fortunately I've never been banned

First they would have to notice you. Try dressing sharper.

Girl pls

 

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1399348

Plz help me validate my Zelda adapter purchase

I am seriously considering buying a Switch for Zelda now that I know Metroid Prime 4 is coming down the line.

[agrajag]

No one has lived under a delusion that Amir0x was not a piece of shit. It's been known for years. What  is concerning is that for all these years he was allowed to do his thing, which is to bully, instigate, inflame, and scam unabated by forum rules. Him being perma'd after he became a convicted pedophile is such a lame, throwaway gesture that smells more like Evilore covering his own hide than anything.

I can totally sympathize with posters like Dennis, that were generally benign and harmless but deemed to be too much "on the wrong side of history" to be allowed to remain on GAF. While Amir0x was allowed to remain, and to lash out at other posters, to lie, to scam. That's just not right. And that warrants at least some discussion.

Even though the unfairness and inconsistency of moderation on GAF is a topic that's been beaten to death here in this thread, I think the way the Amir0x situation has been handled, and the way he was allowed to roam free in light of recent development has opened up some old wounds. Is it petty? Pretty much. Not being able to post on GAF is not the end of the world. But the piss poor attitude in which some GAF admins/moderators and owner handle their user base is a topic that should be revisited again and again, as long as it keeps getting brushed aside.

[Steve Youngblood]

Steve Youngblood did nothing wrong.

Heh. Just to be clear, that's not really what I'm after. I'm not here to have people give me deference or be grateful that I showed up or anything. I'm totally cool with people shitting on GAF moderation. You guys also don't need to embrace me as one of your own anymore. I'm barely around anymore. This place is blocked on my work computer as a games site. Even if it wasn't I'm swamped with actual work there that is responsible for paying the bills. When I'm not there we welcomed the birth of our second son two months ago and I don't get a whole lot of sleep at night. When I'm not having to help my wife out with the newborn, there's an almost-six-year-old that demands my attention in his neverending quest to figure out the systems of Minecraft. When things are actually calm, I either need to sleep or try to get done more work for my actual day job. In my downtime I pontificate ridiculous things like "should I upgrade my rig with a 1080 ti so that I can play some Tekken 7 in 4K resolution?" even though I don't actually have any free time to play anything that isn't Minecraft with my older son.

Sorry for that, I'm just explaining why I'm not really around here... or really even on the internet much in general.

Anyway, that nonsense out of the way, I feel like there are a few points of criticism here. Some people may think that we are unfair in terms of who we ban and who we don't. This may be fair. I'm not personally qualified to assess that as a person on the inside. I think by and large people try to do their best in the decisions they make for the community, but we are after all unpaid volunteers that are not formally trained in professional social media moderation. The selection criteria is basically "people current mods think are good posters." I am not going to attempt to silence people who think that we can or should do better. If enough of you feel that way, perhaps some day your voice will be heard and us shitty mods will be shitcanned and better ones will take our place.

Another point of criticism is "you all bungled the immediate aftermath of this news breaking." Again, this may be fair. I don't know. That day job I talked about above is not in public relations. The initial thread deletion was just about guarding against hearsay, and the later locks were just a belief that a statement had been issued and that there wasn't really a lot of productive conversation to be had. People disagree with that? OK. That's fair. I'm not going to take anyone to task that thinks this wasn't the best way to handle it.

The last point of criticism is just the stuff that ventures into the territory "they knew, they all knew and were complicit" or suggests we were intentionally trying to cover up for a pedophile initially or are continuing to do so now in shutting down the discussion. And this point is just ridiculous and hurtful. I am completely open to criticism that we may not be very good glorified internet janitors, but come on. I'm not trying to come across as in tears or as the person screaming "LEAVE ME/OTHER MODS ALONE!!!!" But it's just disappointing all the same.

[Rufus]

Yes, I am serious. This is serious shit.

Of course it's serious, but if you think they could have seen this coming because he virtue signalled too hard or whatever then you're genuinely deranged.

[etiolate]

Yes, I am serious. This is serious shit.

Of course it's serious, but if you think they could have seen this coming because he virtue signalled too hard or whatever then you're genuinely deranged.

They could have removed him from the forum long ago for many legit reasons.  I am not expecting them to catch a predator. I am saying that if you don't turn a blind eye to psychotics with the correct politics then you would have distanced yourself from a pedophile long ago, so perhaps you should be banning people like Ami to begin with and not waiting until their child porn folder ends up on the news.

[clothedmacuser]

No one has lived under a delusion that Amir0x was not a piece of shit. It's been known for years. What  is concerning is that for all these years he was allowed to do his thing, which is to bully, instigate, inflame, and scam unabated by forum rules. Him being perma'd after he became a convicted pedophile is such a lame, throwaway gesture that smells more like Evilore covering his own hide than anything.

I can totally sympathize with posters like Dennis, that were generally benign and harmless but deemed to be too much "on the wrong side of history" to be allowed to remain on GAF. While Amir0x was allowed to remain, and to lash out at other posters, to lie, to scam. That's just not right. And that warrants at least some discussion.

Even though the unfairness and inconsistency of moderation on GAF is a topic that's been beaten to death here in this thread, I think the way the Amir0x situation has been handled, and the way he was allowed to roam free in light of recent development has opened up some old wounds. Is it petty? Pretty much. Not being able to post on GAF is not the end of the world. But the piss poor attitude in which some GAF admins/moderators and owner handle their user base is a topic that should be revisited again and again, as long as it keeps getting brushed aside.

I heard mac also did nothing wrong, too.

[FreeNudeLyleLanley]

I'm not going to bash a bunch of unpaid/untrained mods for not knowing how to properly handle something like this.

[Himu]

It matters because it is a clear warning sign about that person that doesn't seem to matter to the runners of the website. This allows dangerous people to hang around that forum.

It really isn't that clear of a warning sign though. If it were that simple, you could potentially demand of volunteer moderators on a video game forum to play catch-a-predator, as you are, but that's just not the reality.

If the police hadn't caught him then he'd be continuing on. There is nothing about the moderation that would have ousted him and there is no response to this event that says they'll change. That means something like this will repeat. This is a danger to people.

I mean, you can't actually be serious with this...

You are sounding stupid right now.

[agrajag]

No one has lived under a delusion that Amir0x was not a piece of shit. It's been known for years. What  is concerning is that for all these years he was allowed to do his thing, which is to bully, instigate, inflame, and scam unabated by forum rules. Him being perma'd after he became a convicted pedophile is such a lame, throwaway gesture that smells more like Evilore covering his own hide than anything.

I can totally sympathize with posters like Dennis, that were generally benign and harmless but deemed to be too much "on the wrong side of history" to be allowed to remain on GAF. While Amir0x was allowed to remain, and to lash out at other posters, to lie, to scam. That's just not right. And that warrants at least some discussion.

Even though the unfairness and inconsistency of moderation on GAF is a topic that's been beaten to death here in this thread, I think the way the Amir0x situation has been handled, and the way he was allowed to roam free in light of recent development has opened up some old wounds. Is it petty? Pretty much. Not being able to post on GAF is not the end of the world. But the piss poor attitude in which some GAF admins/moderators and owner handle their user base is a topic that should be revisited again and again, as long as it keeps getting brushed aside.

I heard mac also did nothing wrong, too.

You trying to give Dennis a run for his money in GAF-longing, eh?

[Boredfrom]

Yes, I am serious. This is serious shit.

Of course it's serious, but if you think they could have seen this coming because he virtue signalled too hard or whatever then you're genuinely deranged.

He virtua signaled while being a notorious scumbag and people got banned got pointing this out. People normally tend to suspect people that try to be "holier than you" to an audience.

[benjipwns]

now that I know Metroid Prime 4 is coming down the line.

don't do this or i'll never unban your account

i mean what, no alt, not admin, i mean haha BOBBY ROBERTS AMIRITE GUYS

[Himu]

It matters because it is a clear warning sign about that person that doesn't seem to matter to the runners of the website. This allows dangerous people to hang around that forum.

It really isn't that clear of a warning sign though. If it were that simple, you could potentially demand of volunteer moderators on a video game forum to play catch-a-predator, as you are, but that's just not the reality.

If the police hadn't caught him then he'd be continuing on. There is nothing about the moderation that would have ousted him and there is no response to this event that says they'll change. That means something like this will repeat. This is a danger to people.

I mean, you can't actually be serious with this...

You are sounding stupid right now.

This would have gotten me banned on Neogaf.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I guess we'll see how it shakes out in the long run.  If NeoGAF mods and admins continue to protect scumbags just because they share the same political views, then it's a 100% guarantee they'll be caught with their pants down...again.  My guess is that anyone who mentions Amir0x will get banned as per the usual and then we all get to act shocked again when someone on NeoGAF gets caught with child porn or some other deviant or criminal activity.

[Dennis]

Amir0x was for years acting like an radical lunatic advocating extreme things against anyone who disagreed with him politically.

Could you have a discussion on GAF about that now? About how extreme some members have become?

[demi]

This would have gotten me banned on Neogaf.

Damn this place isn't so bad after all now is it :dab

[Optimus]

Amir0x was for years acting like an radical lunatic advocating extreme things against anyone who disagreed with him politically.

Could you have a discussion on GAF about that now? About how extreme some members have become?

Ahahahahaha

No.

[etiolate]

Steve this doesn't require PR experience. It requires a strong moral core and giving a fuck.

[benjipwns]

Amir0x was for years acting like an radical lunatic advocating extreme things against anyone who disagreed with him politically.

Could you have a discussion on GAF about that now? About how extreme some members have become?

I dunno, could you?
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1384767
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=239047632&postcount=268

[Boredfrom]

Steve Youngblood did nothing wrong.

Heh. Just to be clear, that's not really what I'm after. I'm not here to have people give me deference or be grateful that I showed up or anything. I'm totally cool with people shitting on GAF moderation. You guys also don't need to embrace me as one of your own anymore. I'm barely around anymore. This place is blocked on my work computer as a games site. Even if it wasn't I'm swamped with actual work there that is responsible for paying the bills. When I'm not there we welcomed the birth of our second son two months ago and I don't get a whole lot of sleep at night. When I'm not having to help my wife out with the newborn, there's an almost-six-year-old that demands my attention in his neverending quest to figure out the systems of Minecraft. When things are actually calm, I either need to sleep or try to get done more work for my actual day job. In my downtime I pontificate ridiculous things like "should I upgrade my rig with a 1080 ti so that I can play some Tekken 7 in 4K resolution?" even though I don't actually have any free time to play anything that isn't Minecraft with my older son.

Sorry for that, I'm just explaining why I'm not really around here... or really even on the internet much in general.

Anyway, that nonsense out of the way, I feel like there are a few points of criticism here. Some people may think that we are unfair in terms of who we ban and who we don't. This may be fair. I'm not personally qualified to assess that as a person on the inside. I think by and large people try to do their best in the decisions they make for the community, but we are after all unpaid volunteers that are not formally trained in professional social media moderation. The selection criteria is basically "people current mods think are good posters." I am not going to attempt to silence people who think that we can or should do better. If enough of you feel that way, perhaps some day your voice will be heard and us shitty mods will be shitcanned and better ones will take our place.

Another point of criticism is "you all bungled the immediate aftermath of this news breaking." Again, this may be fair. I don't know. That day job I talked about above is not in public relations. The initial thread deletion was just about guarding against hearsay, and the later locks were just a belief that a statement had been issued and that there wasn't really a lot of productive conversation to be had. People disagree with that? OK. That's fair. I'm not going to take anyone to task that thinks this wasn't the best way to handle it.

The last point of criticism is just the stuff that ventures into the territory "they knew, they all knew and were complicit" or suggests we were intentionally trying to cover up for a pedophile initially or are continuing to do so now in shutting down the discussion. And this point is just ridiculous and hurtful. I am completely open to criticism that we may not be very good glorified internet janitors, but come on. I'm not trying to come across as in tears or as the person screaming "LEAVE ME/OTHER MODS ALONE!!!!" But it's just disappointing all the same.

Just two things:

1. Most people here will admit you are a decent person; many people here will also admit having shitty experiences with mods that even the "unpaid work" is not exactly a satisfactory answer . When people said "the mods knew" are saying "the kind of mods that will admit banning users because favoritism or allowing witch hunts threads to thrive because political believes".

2. This is the second time that a mod appears to be involved in pedophila. people are going to suspect regardless. Nobody is blaming you of anything but people are not exactly thrilled of being asked to give the benefit of doubt to a group, even if they are just volunteers (specially since is clear that some mods have actual emotional attachment to their duties).

[cosmicblizzard]

Steve Youngblood did nothing wrong.

Heh. Just to be clear, that's not really what I'm after. I'm not here to have people give me deference or be grateful that I showed up or anything. I'm totally cool with people shitting on GAF moderation. You guys also don't need to embrace me as one of your own anymore. I'm barely around anymore. This place is blocked on my work computer as a games site. Even if it wasn't I'm swamped with actual work there that is responsible for paying the bills. When I'm not there we welcomed the birth of our second son two months ago and I don't get a whole lot of sleep at night. When I'm not having to help my wife out with the newborn, there's an almost-six-year-old that demands my attention in his neverending quest to figure out the systems of Minecraft. When things are actually calm, I either need to sleep or try to get done more work for my actual day job. In my downtime I pontificate ridiculous things like "should I upgrade my rig with a 1080 ti so that I can play some Tekken 7 in 4K resolution?" even though I don't actually have any free time to play anything that isn't Minecraft with my older son.

Sorry for that, I'm just explaining why I'm not really around here... or really even on the internet much in general.

Anyway, that nonsense out of the way, I feel like there are a few points of criticism here. Some people may think that we are unfair in terms of who we ban and who we don't. This may be fair. I'm not personally qualified to assess that as a person on the inside. I think by and large people try to do their best in the decisions they make for the community, but we are after all unpaid volunteers that are not formally trained in professional social media moderation. The selection criteria is basically "people current mods think are good posters." I am not going to attempt to silence people who think that we can or should do better. If enough of you feel that way, perhaps some day your voice will be heard and us shitty mods will be shitcanned and better ones will take our place.

Another point of criticism is "you all bungled the immediate aftermath of this news breaking." Again, this may be fair. I don't know. That day job I talked about above is not in public relations. The initial thread deletion was just about guarding against hearsay, and the later locks were just a belief that a statement had been issued and that there wasn't really a lot of productive conversation to be had. People disagree with that? OK. That's fair. I'm not going to take anyone to task that thinks this wasn't the best way to handle it.

The last point of criticism is just the stuff that ventures into the territory "they knew, they all knew and were complicit" or suggests we were intentionally trying to cover up for a pedophile initially or are continuing to do so now in shutting down the discussion. And this point is just ridiculous and hurtful. I am completely open to criticism that we may not be very good glorified internet janitors, but come on. I'm not trying to come across as in tears or as the person screaming "LEAVE ME/OTHER MODS ALONE!!!!" But it's just disappointing all the same.

The conspiracy stuff is definitely bullshit, but what benefit do you get out of continuing to moderate a toxic community that you're too busy to even enjoy?  I mean you do you obviously, but it just seems you have such a passive attitude toward Gaf in general every time you talk about it here, so why you would still want to be associated with the staff when they'll likely be taking a beating over this for a while is beyond me.  I'd understand if you were getting paid, but when you're not and have to cape for an asshole boss anyway, there better be some neat periphery benefits for staying on IMO.

[Optimus]

Amir0x was for years acting like an radical lunatic advocating extreme things against anyone who disagreed with him politically.

Could you have a discussion on GAF about that now? About how extreme some members have become?

I dunno, could you?
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1384767
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=239047632&postcount=268

So you can if you're Evilore or in an Evilore approved thread? Still, a junior could easily be slapped with the not fit for the community perm even in those few rare threads.

[agrajag]

I mean, it's not just that someone on GAF got caught with child porn. It's a big forum, I imagine in any group with a large sample size like that you'll get a few bad apples. But Amir0x was a prominent figure, and what's troublesome is one with a history of criminal behavior. Evilore had so many opportunities to distance himself from Amir0x, and now his pathetic attempts to rewrite history are plain to see. Evilore must now own the monster he enabled. He absolutely cannot be all "whose man is this?" with Amir0x as if he was some rando on a board with thousands of members. Hell, Amir0x just might be one of the most well known and recognizable GAF posters. When people think GAF, Amir0x comes to mind. And now when people think GAF, they're going to think pedophilia. Good job Tyler.

[Steve Youngblood]

Steve Youngblood did nothing wrong.

Heh. Just to be clear, that's not really what I'm after. I'm not here to have people give me deference or be grateful that I showed up or anything. I'm totally cool with people shitting on GAF moderation. You guys also don't need to embrace me as one of your own anymore. I'm barely around anymore. This place is blocked on my work computer as a games site. Even if it wasn't I'm swamped with actual work there that is responsible for paying the bills. When I'm not there we welcomed the birth of our second son two months ago and I don't get a whole lot of sleep at night. When I'm not having to help my wife out with the newborn, there's an almost-six-year-old that demands my attention in his neverending quest to figure out the systems of Minecraft. When things are actually calm, I either need to sleep or try to get done more work for my actual day job. In my downtime I pontificate ridiculous things like "should I upgrade my rig with a 1080 ti so that I can play some Tekken 7 in 4K resolution?" even though I don't actually have any free time to play anything that isn't Minecraft with my older son.

Sorry for that, I'm just explaining why I'm not really around here... or really even on the internet much in general.

Anyway, that nonsense out of the way, I feel like there are a few points of criticism here. Some people may think that we are unfair in terms of who we ban and who we don't. This may be fair. I'm not personally qualified to assess that as a person on the inside. I think by and large people try to do their best in the decisions they make for the community, but we are after all unpaid volunteers that are not formally trained in professional social media moderation. The selection criteria is basically "people current mods think are good posters." I am not going to attempt to silence people who think that we can or should do better. If enough of you feel that way, perhaps some day your voice will be heard and us shitty mods will be shitcanned and better ones will take our place.

Another point of criticism is "you all bungled the immediate aftermath of this news breaking." Again, this may be fair. I don't know. That day job I talked about above is not in public relations. The initial thread deletion was just about guarding against hearsay, and the later locks were just a belief that a statement had been issued and that there wasn't really a lot of productive conversation to be had. People disagree with that? OK. That's fair. I'm not going to take anyone to task that thinks this wasn't the best way to handle it.

The last point of criticism is just the stuff that ventures into the territory "they knew, they all knew and were complicit" or suggests we were intentionally trying to cover up for a pedophile initially or are continuing to do so now in shutting down the discussion. And this point is just ridiculous and hurtful. I am completely open to criticism that we may not be very good glorified internet janitors, but come on. I'm not trying to come across as in tears or as the person screaming "LEAVE ME/OTHER MODS ALONE!!!!" But it's just disappointing all the same.

Just two things:

1. Most people here will admit you are a decent person; many people here will also admit having shitty experiences with mods that even the "unpaid work" is not exactly a satisfactory answer . When people said "the mods knew" are saying "the kind of mods that will admit banning users because favoritism or allowing witch hunts threads to thrive because political believes".

2. This is the second time that a mod appears to be involved in pedophila. people are going to suspect regardless. Nobody is blaming you of anything but people are not exactly thrilled of being asked to give the benefit of doubt to a group, even if they are just volunteers (specially since is clear that some mods have actual emotional attachment to their duties).

Just to be clear, I'm not really asking people to give mods the benefit of the doubt or to praise us as great human beings. Like I said, I'm totally cool with people thinking that we are terrible at curating a community if that's what they really believe. I basically just chimed in because of the himu/etiolate line of attack. Maybe we're shitty moderators, but that's also a shitty thing to accuse us of.

[Rufus]

They could have removed him from the forum long ago for many legit reasons.  I am not expecting them to catch a predator. I am saying that if you don't turn a blind eye to psychotics with the correct politics then you would have distanced yourself from a pedophile long ago, so perhaps you should be banning people like Ami to begin with and not waiting until their child porn folder ends up on the news.

Which is a sane thing to want, but difficult to realize. Where do you draw the line who is psychotic and how do you co-ordinate a bunch of people donating their free time to be consistent in making those calls? With Amirox it's now clear to everyone and it's easy to feel vindicated, but I simply don't have much trust in people's assessment of others, especially when they're intertwined with politics. I'm sure you feel that you have all the right answers, but excuse me if I voice my doubts.

[Boredfrom]

They could have removed him from the forum long ago for many legit reasons.  I am not expecting them to catch a predator. I am saying that if you don't turn a blind eye to psychotics with the correct politics then you would have distanced yourself from a pedophile long ago, so perhaps you should be banning people like Ami to begin with and not waiting until their child porn folder ends up on the news.

Which is a sane thing to want, but difficult to realize. Where do you draw the line who is psychotic and how do you co-ordinate a bunch of people donating their free time to be consistent in making those calls? With Amirox it's now clear to everyone and it's easy to feel vindicated, but I simply don't have much trust in people's assessment of others, especially when they're intertwined with politics. I'm sure you feel that you have all the right answers, but excuse me if I voice my doubts.

Dude no...

[clothedmacuser]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=242226490&postcount=179

What the fuck did I miss...

I'm gonna post these along with "hill deaths," from now on.

[I'm a Puppy!]

Steve Youngblood did nothing wrong.

Heh. Just to be clear, that's not really what I'm after. I'm not here to have people give me deference or be grateful that I showed up or anything. I'm totally cool with people shitting on GAF moderation. You guys also don't need to embrace me as one of your own anymore. I'm barely around anymore. This place is blocked on my work computer as a games site. Even if it wasn't I'm swamped with actual work there that is responsible for paying the bills. When I'm not there we welcomed the birth of our second son two months ago and I don't get a whole lot of sleep at night. When I'm not having to help my wife out with the newborn, there's an almost-six-year-old that demands my attention in his neverending quest to figure out the systems of Minecraft. When things are actually calm, I either need to sleep or try to get done more work for my actual day job. In my downtime I pontificate ridiculous things like "should I upgrade my rig with a 1080 ti so that I can play some Tekken 7 in 4K resolution?" even though I don't actually have any free time to play anything that isn't Minecraft with my older son.

Sorry for that, I'm just explaining why I'm not really around here... or really even on the internet much in general.

Anyway, that nonsense out of the way, I feel like there are a few points of criticism here. Some people may think that we are unfair in terms of who we ban and who we don't. This may be fair. I'm not personally qualified to assess that as a person on the inside. I think by and large people try to do their best in the decisions they make for the community, but we are after all unpaid volunteers that are not formally trained in professional social media moderation. The selection criteria is basically "people current mods think are good posters." I am not going to attempt to silence people who think that we can or should do better. If enough of you feel that way, perhaps some day your voice will be heard and us shitty mods will be shitcanned and better ones will take our place.

Another point of criticism is "you all bungled the immediate aftermath of this news breaking." Again, this may be fair. I don't know. That day job I talked about above is not in public relations. The initial thread deletion was just about guarding against hearsay, and the later locks were just a belief that a statement had been issued and that there wasn't really a lot of productive conversation to be had. People disagree with that? OK. That's fair. I'm not going to take anyone to task that thinks this wasn't the best way to handle it.

The last point of criticism is just the stuff that ventures into the territory "they knew, they all knew and were complicit" or suggests we were intentionally trying to cover up for a pedophile initially or are continuing to do so now in shutting down the discussion. And this point is just ridiculous and hurtful. I am completely open to criticism that we may not be very good glorified internet janitors, but come on. I'm not trying to come across as in tears or as the person screaming "LEAVE ME/OTHER MODS ALONE!!!!" But it's just disappointing all the same.

Eh, it seems to me if you have power over x thing you then have some responsibility over x thing. If you ban people for disagreeing with you or having a wrong opinion but then ignore the drug addicted pedo in your midst? Yeah, people are going to call you out on it. And yeah, I don't believe that the mods were covering for Ami, but he was an ass to everyone and had a bunch of bad history and a ton of drama. Yet, a slew of relatively benign people were banned. I don't find it at all surprising for people to be like "Hey, aren't you around to sorta STOP that kind of thing? And isn't it suspicious that you didn't?" The fact that it's not "your job" I totally understand...to a point. If you can go and ban someone because you don't like what they're saying, well then, you do sorta have responsibility to ban the toxic person right there even if you do like what they're saying. I don't necessarily think this is the case for all the mods most are just "sorta there", but certainly the ban happy/sanctimonious mods?  Yeah, I don't see a way they get a pass here. Really there was absolutely no reason for Amir0x to not be banned for quite a long time, yet it never happened. 

I'm not saying all the mods on GAF shit the bed. But I'm saying in general moderation on GAF shit the bed.

[agrajag]

Steve Youngblood, how do you find time to moderate GAF with all these things going on in your life?

[Averon]

All of this would have been avoided if GAF mods actually applied their TOS to their members with any sort of consistency. As it is today, GAF's TOS is a worthless string of words.

[cosmicblizzard]

They could have removed him from the forum long ago for many legit reasons.  I am not expecting them to catch a predator. I am saying that if you don't turn a blind eye to psychotics with the correct politics then you would have distanced yourself from a pedophile long ago, so perhaps you should be banning people like Ami to begin with and not waiting until their child porn folder ends up on the news.

Which is a sane thing to want, but difficult to realize. Where do you draw the line who is psychotic and how do you co-ordinate a bunch of people donating their free time to be consistent in making those calls? With Amirox it's now clear to everyone and it's easy to feel vindicated, but I simply don't have much trust in people's assessment of others, especially when they're intertwined with politics. I'm sure you feel that you have all the right answers, but excuse me if I voice my doubts.

How about keep it simple with "Break the TOS, you get banned".  Amir0x is no stranger to that long before politics even entered the picture and was still a mod.  How can people respect a site when those in a position of power aren't held to the same standard if not higher than a regular member?

And really, this is less a criticism of the entire mod team and more of Evilore in general, as I imagine he was the one that instructed the team to not perma the guy without asking him first.  Anything beyond that just goes into the moral character of questioning why the mods would stick their neck out so far for zero pay.

[etiolate]

Steve Youngblood did nothing wrong.

Heh. Just to be clear, that's not really what I'm after. I'm not here to have people give me deference or be grateful that I showed up or anything. I'm totally cool with people shitting on GAF moderation. You guys also don't need to embrace me as one of your own anymore. I'm barely around anymore. This place is blocked on my work computer as a games site. Even if it wasn't I'm swamped with actual work there that is responsible for paying the bills. When I'm not there we welcomed the birth of our second son two months ago and I don't get a whole lot of sleep at night. When I'm not having to help my wife out with the newborn, there's an almost-six-year-old that demands my attention in his neverending quest to figure out the systems of Minecraft. When things are actually calm, I either need to sleep or try to get done more work for my actual day job. In my downtime I pontificate ridiculous things like "should I upgrade my rig with a 1080 ti so that I can play some Tekken 7 in 4K resolution?" even though I don't actually have any free time to play anything that isn't Minecraft with my older son.

Sorry for that, I'm just explaining why I'm not really around here... or really even on the internet much in general.

Anyway, that nonsense out of the way, I feel like there are a few points of criticism here. Some people may think that we are unfair in terms of who we ban and who we don't. This may be fair. I'm not personally qualified to assess that as a person on the inside. I think by and large people try to do their best in the decisions they make for the community, but we are after all unpaid volunteers that are not formally trained in professional social media moderation. The selection criteria is basically "people current mods think are good posters." I am not going to attempt to silence people who think that we can or should do better. If enough of you feel that way, perhaps some day your voice will be heard and us shitty mods will be shitcanned and better ones will take our place.

Another point of criticism is "you all bungled the immediate aftermath of this news breaking." Again, this may be fair. I don't know. That day job I talked about above is not in public relations. The initial thread deletion was just about guarding against hearsay, and the later locks were just a belief that a statement had been issued and that there wasn't really a lot of productive conversation to be had. People disagree with that? OK. That's fair. I'm not going to take anyone to task that thinks this wasn't the best way to handle it.

The last point of criticism is just the stuff that ventures into the territory "they knew, they all knew and were complicit" or suggests we were intentionally trying to cover up for a pedophile initially or are continuing to do so now in shutting down the discussion. And this point is just ridiculous and hurtful. I am completely open to criticism that we may not be very good glorified internet janitors, but come on. I'm not trying to come across as in tears or as the person screaming "LEAVE ME/OTHER MODS ALONE!!!!" But it's just disappointing all the same.

Just two things:

1. Most people here will admit you are a decent person; many people here will also admit having shitty experiences with mods that even the "unpaid work" is not exactly a satisfactory answer . When people said "the mods knew" are saying "the kind of mods that will admit banning users because favoritism or allowing witch hunts threads to thrive because political believes".

2. This is the second time that a mod appears to be involved in pedophila. people are going to suspect regardless. Nobody is blaming you of anything but people are not exactly thrilled of being asked to give the benefit of doubt to a group, even if they are just volunteers (specially since is clear that some mods have actual emotional attachment to their duties).

Just to be clear, I'm not really asking people to give mods the benefit of the doubt or to praise us as great human beings. Like I said, I'm totally cool with people thinking that we are terrible at curating a community if that's what they really believe. I basically just chimed in because of the himu/etiolate line of attack. Maybe we're shitty moderators, but that's also a shitty thing to accuse us of.

I said I am not attacking you. I am seeing if you understand the problem.  Can you prioritize what is important here?

[Dennis]

And yeah, I don't believe that the mods were covering for Ami, but he was an ass to everyone and had a bunch of bad history and a ton of drama. Yet, a slew of relatively benign people were banned. I don't find it at all surprising for people to be like "Hey, aren't you around to sorta STOP that kind of thing?"

I think this sums up nicely what some of us are thinking. I don't for a second believe they were covering for Ami being a pedo but they sure did let him get away with being an asshole and being incredibly toxic for the forum.

[Momo]

Just to be clear, I'm not really asking people to give mods the benefit of the doubt or to praise us as great human beings.

I give you full permission to bump my old mod award thread and edit yourself in as nr 1 

[Steve Youngblood]

Steve Youngblood did nothing wrong.

Heh. Just to be clear, that's not really what I'm after. I'm not here to have people give me deference or be grateful that I showed up or anything. I'm totally cool with people shitting on GAF moderation. You guys also don't need to embrace me as one of your own anymore. I'm barely around anymore. This place is blocked on my work computer as a games site. Even if it wasn't I'm swamped with actual work there that is responsible for paying the bills. When I'm not there we welcomed the birth of our second son two months ago and I don't get a whole lot of sleep at night. When I'm not having to help my wife out with the newborn, there's an almost-six-year-old that demands my attention in his neverending quest to figure out the systems of Minecraft. When things are actually calm, I either need to sleep or try to get done more work for my actual day job. In my downtime I pontificate ridiculous things like "should I upgrade my rig with a 1080 ti so that I can play some Tekken 7 in 4K resolution?" even though I don't actually have any free time to play anything that isn't Minecraft with my older son.

Sorry for that, I'm just explaining why I'm not really around here... or really even on the internet much in general.

Anyway, that nonsense out of the way, I feel like there are a few points of criticism here. Some people may think that we are unfair in terms of who we ban and who we don't. This may be fair. I'm not personally qualified to assess that as a person on the inside. I think by and large people try to do their best in the decisions they make for the community, but we are after all unpaid volunteers that are not formally trained in professional social media moderation. The selection criteria is basically "people current mods think are good posters." I am not going to attempt to silence people who think that we can or should do better. If enough of you feel that way, perhaps some day your voice will be heard and us shitty mods will be shitcanned and better ones will take our place.

Another point of criticism is "you all bungled the immediate aftermath of this news breaking." Again, this may be fair. I don't know. That day job I talked about above is not in public relations. The initial thread deletion was just about guarding against hearsay, and the later locks were just a belief that a statement had been issued and that there wasn't really a lot of productive conversation to be had. People disagree with that? OK. That's fair. I'm not going to take anyone to task that thinks this wasn't the best way to handle it.

The last point of criticism is just the stuff that ventures into the territory "they knew, they all knew and were complicit" or suggests we were intentionally trying to cover up for a pedophile initially or are continuing to do so now in shutting down the discussion. And this point is just ridiculous and hurtful. I am completely open to criticism that we may not be very good glorified internet janitors, but come on. I'm not trying to come across as in tears or as the person screaming "LEAVE ME/OTHER MODS ALONE!!!!" But it's just disappointing all the same.

Eh, it seems to me if you have power over x thing you then have some responsibility over x thing. If you ban people for disagreeing with you or having a wrong opinion but then ignore the drug addicted pedo in your midst? Yeah, people are going to call you out on it. And yeah, I don't believe that the mods were covering for Ami, but he was an ass to everyone and had a bunch of bad history and a ton of drama. Yet, a slew of relatively benign people were banned. I don't find it at all surprising for people to be like "Hey, aren't you around to sorta STOP that kind of thing? And isn't it suspicious that you didn't?" The fact that it's not "your job" I totally understand...to a point. If you can go and ban someone because you don't like what they're saying, well then, you do sorta have responsibility to ban the toxic person right there even if you do like what they're saying. I don't necessarily think this is the case for all the mods most are just "sorta there", but certainly the ban happy/sanctimonious mods?  Yeah, I don't see a way they get a pass here.

I'm not saying all the mods on GAF shit the bed. But I'm saying in general moderation on GAF shit the bed.

Right. But again, I feel like we're sort of conflating two different things. There's a discussion worth having that it may have been worthwhile to permanently toss him some time ago. But I'm also not really sure what that has to do with him also secretly being a shitlord that was into some truly awful, illegal stuff? What if a beloved forum personality had been the one who turned out to be the pedophile? Is that on us?

Like I said, I'm not here to be GAF's press secretary and spin this as a win for us. I'm just saying I don't think it's unfair to suggest that you can think we are shitty mods without thinking we are pedophile apologists.

Steve Youngblood, how do you find time to moderate GAF with all these things going on in your life?

... This sort of reads like some GOTCHA! question when I feel like you know the answer. I don't find much time to moderate GAF.