Recent problems on the forum

[Aquinas]

As many of you will have observed, we have had some problems on the forum lately involving a calculated campaign of trolling, designed to antagonise members.

The Swordsman forum account was banned, as has been the NelsonMandela account - which was very probably being run by the same person, or at least someone connected to the same general agenda. Swordsman's thread has been locked, and NelsonMandela's threads have been removed.

It is possible this person will try again to troll the forum, using a different user account. If this occurs, the best advice is to use the report option and do not give him your attention. We have wasted enough time on him already. He is obviously not here for constructive debate, he is here to troll.

Constructive discussion is welcome and encouraged in Particracy. Trolling is not.

Some members have expressed concerns that some of those involved with tackling Swordsman were not sanctioned. To be clear, some of the responses to him were poor responses and fell beneath the standard of conduct expected in our community. In a different context, they would have resulted in sanctions. However, in the context in which they occurred - which was a context involving the most blatant provocation - sanctions would not be appropriate. What I will do, though, is issue a general reminder (again!) to everyone to try to maintain the basic standards of courtesy. Also, as the well-worn saying goes, "Don't feed the trolls".

Swordsman/NelsonMandela is obviously somebody very well-acquainted with our community, but as of yet I am unable to ascertain who he is. He clearly wants to remain anonymous, and accessed the forum through a TOR proxy server.

Please do not engage in public speculation about the identity of this person. To do so is obviously unfair on anybody who might be wrongly implicated. However, if you have specific information or grounds for suspicion, please inform me privately.

Given that mpog and Prometheus79 have been named several times as suspects, I should say a word about this particular case.

From what I can establish, mpog and Prometheus79 would appear to be the same person.

I would add there is nothing wrong with a player setting up a new "identity" on the forum in order to try to put a difficult past behind them and quietly re-integrate back into the playing of the game. That is something people sometimes do in our community - it is not a new thing, and actually it can often work out for the best.

Obviously, though, some issues arise when a person does not use an alternate account in a quiet way, but is using it to join in controversial discussions on the forum in order to try to influence opinion.

As you can see, in the interests of transparency in this awkward situation, on balance I am judging it to be right to make clear the mpog-Prometheus79 connection (which some of you have worked out already).

Furthermore, given the situation that has been going on recently, I want to request that in future, players should not engage in contentious forum discussions using alternate accounts. There is just too much room for problems in this area.