I've just had enough of all of this shit.
I'm tired of being the middleman, some kind of fucking last, best hope for humanity who single-handedly is supposed to keep this forum clean of trolls, while being constantly second guessed by the owner of the forums, and taking shit from both directions.
Tired of banning the same knuckle dragger three times a day, because the owner can't get his thumb out of his arse and upgrade to a forum software that would actually make it possible to use registration that would check for proxied users.
Tired of being talked down by the owner who even has to ask me what is going on in his own forums. Being talked down after I banned a person who I suspect to be most clever social hacker in the history of these forums. Because it looks bad. Well, fucking Jebus Christ, life sometimes looks bad. I'm no Doctor Strange - I can't just magic it to make it look nice and fluffy.
Tired of seeing him reverse his opinion and actually agree with me and my proof, after - you know - looking at the fucking thing.
But last night certainly took the cake.
First I get gagged and dragged from our own IRC channel into a nice little chat with Esper.Net server OPs. Because you see, I have stolen credit card information and intimidated people. That was settled fairly quickly when the OPs realized that the former was not even theoretically possible, and for the latter; the person whom I so intimidated told me that she wanted me to be her friend, just before saying goodbye.
Oh, but it gets better.
Then I spent an hour consoling the very same person who got me there, in the first place - after explaining that no, we do not have her credit card information, we do not want it, and we couldn't even in theory get it. Yes, we had collected the personal information we had by using the email address given by the person herself, Google and Peoplesearch. Then I got offered a forum of my own. And money. Which was kinda creepy. I'm not for sale. I keep telling her that I'm not angry at her, I do not intend to fight her, no - we can't blame the ban on SaiNt either, no - I have never lifted a ban in my life and no - I'm not lifting her ban either, yes - I intend to keep my word and not let people make fun of her, yes - I do feel really, really sorry for banning her, if her story is true - but I just don't believe it to be. All the while being nice to her, because she is obviously very upset. And of course; all this time I suspect I'm being played - quite brilliantly, too.
That's not the best of it.
Then I spent probably quite a bit more time, reading a novel length musings of the forum owner, who had reversed his opinion, yet again!
Yes, dude, I know she could be telling the truth. It would require a massive leap of faith to believe she was, and if I start taking those, I might just as well assume that you are not who you say are, either. Sure, I can check who the domain is registered to. Sure, I can check where my chat connections are going to. Sure, I have even photographic evidence of your ties to your claimed name. But do I have evidence that will prove beyond any doubt that the person talking to me is the person he claims to be? Not really. Or in other words; Hi there, Mr Keanu Reeves, nice forums you got. For all I know, that could be true as well. Do I consider it likely to be true? Not at all, just like I do not consider Mako's story likely to be true.
And why had he changed his mind? Well, because banning her would make him look bad, like a villain. He'd much prefer to be a hero, like the ones in movies. D00d, movies have heroes for a reason; they are fiction. The heroes are written to be heroes. Real life does not work like that. Besides, what is this place anyway, a modding community, or your personal shrine to how great one Qhimm is? This is not about looking good, nor is this about moral high-ground; this is about keeping the forums usable. We are not a court of law; if we make a mistake and ban a wrong people - big deal, people will move on. People do not have some kind of God given right to be here.
Just like it seems that we should have public trials for trolls. Because again, that would not make us look bad, nor would it turn the public opinion against us. Oh, for fuck's sake. What is this? A beauty contest? Having public trial will take ages, lots of effort, and it will not help a bit with the public opinion. Because people will still be divided; you seem to forget that even the trolliest of trolls do know how to manipulate people. Not only would they be divided, but a rift would be created between the people who voted yes, and the people who voted no. They'd think that the other side was wrong, and the losing side would be bitter - bitter against the other half of the forum. As long as the banning decisions are made by admins or single admin, people can take their hate and bitterness and aim it all at him. Most adults I know are capable of handling "I HAET U SO!!!!" on the Intertubes.
No, the people do not come here to bask in the warm glow of your greatness, or in the soft cuddliness of administration which always has the moral high-ground and is always right. They come here because our milkshake brings everyone to the yard; even the trolls who get ridiculed to high heaven, bounce back like rubber balls - just because we have the stuff they want.
Besides, apparently we had received a lot of complaints that we ban too many people. Only problem was that it turned out we had banned exactly ONE real person during my stay as admin. Few were spambots, dozen or two were various alters for Seifer and Hermoor. Would it be too much to ask that owner of the forum would either keep himself informed, or at least take a look at the ban list - I mean, it's visible right there, in the admin panel - before even bothering to complain to me? Apparently it would. This happened just bit before Mako's banning, btw. Surely not social hacking at all. Just like masteraden didn't try to manipulate the admins - he just did it in a very crude way.
This is exactly the shit I've had enough of. Seifer, Hermoor, masteraden; do not make a mistake. I can ban you all day long, again and again, without getting a feeling of any kind out of it.
I have practically saved your forums twice thus far. I've been there when you needed someone to talk to. You know why I have problems trusting people - you better than most people here. Yet I can't seem to trust you to make up your mind about a simple banning, nor can I trust you to trust me, or my judgment, regardless of what I have done for these forums. I get second guessed, I get talked down.
Frankly, have it your way, then. Go find someone who is willing to administrate exactly like you want. I think you'll end up with a flunky who will require you yourself to administrate by proxy, so to speak. Most people competent enough to administrate do not seem to be willing to do so, unless they are given some degree of freedom to do what they want, the way they like to do it. Might I suggest MrAdults, perhaps? He certainly is sanctimonious enough to at least think he has the moral high-ground - just about all the time, actually. He might suit your tastes quite well. Or perhaps Seifer, he sure thinks he is always right - from his point of view he does have the moral high-ground - every time, everywhere, all the time.
Or administrate yourself. These are your forums, after all. Maybe it would do you good to get at least somewhat reacquainted with them, so that at least you didn't have to trust word of mouth to know what is going on.
Anyway, I'm going to make this real easy for you.
First, I'll lift Mako's ban. There. You are a hero now, you saved a damsel in distress. Bask in the glory of righteousness, it's your time now dude, enjoy it.
I'd assume that she's happy too, that's what she wanted, after all. Not to mention that masteraden most certainly is happy - he or she or whatever finally managed to play you to the point where you made me quit. Well played, masteraden, good game. I did quite enjoy it, actually.
Then I'll lift all the bans Seifer and Hermoor have.
Let's see you deal with them. Set up as many public trials you want. That will surely fix the situation. Maybe you'll even switch to phpBB3 now that you have to actually do something about it, yourself. Have at it, boys. Don't worry, Qhimm does not have balls to ban you.
Then I'll delete my own account, assuming the forum software lets me do so. Not quite sure, never tried if SMF lets admins to delete their own accounts. If not, I just won't come here. Simple as that.
