Why are all safe rooms
off-camera?

Concerning my Permaban

Hello all

Well, last month was interesting. I’m still working on the shop, and I am quite proud of the design so far. Concerning the contest, all entries were deleted sadly, either by mods or by users. No winners, so I suppose I may need to try another, more subtle contest.

So, I want to talk a bit about my ban, and what precisely is going on for those who are less informed on the situation.

So, I’ve been banned from Freddit for over 106 days. Prior to this ban, I had been receiving multiple reports from Freddit users that have been banned for, what I believe to be, completely unjust reasons. Things such as jokes, mob rule based on popularity within the community and personal grudges. Not only this, but these bans were permanent. Nowadays, the mods have decided to try to sugarcoat this by claiming it’s “indefinite”, and they’ll hear any appeal every month. I consider this a cop-out to try to lessen what is plain as day. they can (and are) rejecting several appeals month after month because of non-violating reasons. As far as I’m concerned, the bans are permanent. My ban is a permanent ban, conditional on me doing something for the team that they have no right to ask of me.

So, back to the thrust of this article. I heard all of this business with multiple users being banned for false/terrible reasons, and decided I’d try to sort this out. I started to try to work with Invaderzz as the head mod. Results were mixed. I had discussed this issue with Invaderzz, and he was unwilling to do anything himself, despite agreeing that most of these bans I put to him were unjust. Invaderzz, quite frankly, is scared of his own moderation team. He refuses to enforce actual moderator principles on his team for fear of them leaving. That, or back when we were civil, he bullshat his way through our personal conversations to give me that impression. Either case is quite likely.

During one such attempt to revoke a ban that was over a user jokily threatening to spam a #FreeBlue meme when unbanned, the moderator Colatiel actually personally attacked him for what little spine he displayed trying to overturn the ban. Yet she is now a moderator again, despite walking all over him, making him noticeably upset in PMs to the point where I was telling him, mate, you can’t just let your team walk all over you. Discussing bans and their legitimacy is NECESSARY. It is how you, as a team, evolve your ethos and ethics. It’s how you keep yourselves honest and true to the community, and any mod that dare attack you over a ban dispute should be disciplined or warned.

Needless to say, I feel he is no longer fit for his position at the one with full power over Freddit. I do not believe he has the spine for it, as clearly demonstrated by virtue of that event, and her re-addition to the team. At this point, I would openly welcome yet another uprising, when or if such a thing occurs. Supplementing an inactivity of motivation from Basetown with one of a weak will is still inactivity non the less, and such people should not hold absolute power.

So, my plan was simple. I would run a somewhat funny semi-serious campaign for the scrapped Halloween FNaFLore Fleshmonger character. The campaign would feature some small #FreeBlue memes, but overall have a message of fair ban reform. Simply reserving permanent bans for bots or security threats, ensuring all bans have an end time and ensuring all bans follow subreddit and discord rules. This, I believe, is the bare minimum for a good moderation team. I toyed with posting it to Freddit. I considered adding it in an update such as this, a monthly one tied in with other news. The campaign was due to start in 2019, sometime. The first hint of an election, he’d be out in force.

The campaign was hardly serious. It would be me fumbling around a podium dressed as the Fleshmonger, complete with a furred head/hands. It would probably be really goofy and clumsy for me, but this was a bit of a ruse. it was to make people talk. if my fumbling can get people talking, they will eventually stop laughing/cringing/crying and turn to the actual message. Thus my absurdity would lead to a conversation on ban practices. This was the plan, and the full purpose of the campaign. The biggest message was the ban policy. Frankly, I have little intent to be a mod. If I had to do so, I would. But, I feel my efforts are better spent elsewhere. All the applications were out of show, to go through the motions. I didn’t even take them seriously, when applying. Not the Fleshmonger one, at least.

Despite taking absolutely no initiative or action to impose good moderator principles, after a short talk with me in PMs, Invaderzz clearly must have been spooked. Since the days where I helped to take down Basetown by amplifying the community’s voice (and ending that entire drama that had brewed for weeks), the moderators have been scared of me. I know this from insiders that at one point, they were keeping track of all of my posts personally. Now, I dared to try – even in jest – to become a moderator. This spooked them, and they banned me.

Their reasons so far have been hilarious, reaching and demonstrably easy to tear down. The initial claims were over a Rule 9 issue, “drama” and the campaign itself. But the best reason was subverting the moderator application process. I shot down all claims of drama one by one (one was even me HELPING the moderators flush out a leaking mod), dismissed the rule 9 issue quite thoroughly, laughed off the claim that I was subverting the moderation application process and defended the entire Fleshmonger campaign.

As of this moment, the mods have dropped all charges, bar the Fleshmonger campaign. It violates no rules, but they demand I stop. The general notion I get is, is when I drop the campaign, they drop the ban.

I will not do this, and I will not do this for a good reason. The campaign itself is not against the rules. I decided to demonstrate this by running a further contest at the 90 day mark on my birthday. I also have yet to decide how to promote the Fleshmonger campaign. I am unable to stop other users posting it to Freddit, but was happy to keep it off of Freddit, as I have with the #FreeBlue meme by and large. Instead of any talk or pre-banning the topic, despite actually having contact with me, they outright banned me. No discussion, no warning. Now, they seek to destroy that campaign.

It is perfectly acceptable for me to make this campaign. Others have done similar campaigns in the past, and I expect to be able to as well. Even if it’s banned on Freddit, I have every right to make a bunch of videos trying to get the Fleshmonger to apply to any position I wish, be it President, Queen or indeed, Freddit Moderator. I refuse to back down out of principle. I will not have a team of adolescents tell me what I am and am not allowed to do in my free time. This is a group of moderators seeing a semi-prominent member DARE to question their absolute rule by proposing such reforms, and banning it outright. This is tyranny, and all of the Freddit mods are complicit. The newer ones I’d argue, complicit by virtue that they hold no sway, and to rock the boat risks being kicked. But I am unaware of their stances.

Ironically, as always, simply saying “We will ban according to the rules we set, we will reserve permabans for bots or security threats and we will ensure all bans have a set and reasonable expiry date. We will also enforce these rules on the Discord server.”, and sticking to such a statement, would demolish the entire Fleshmonger campaign.

Freddit, your moderators decided to not take such a pledge. Instead, they decided to actively start this war between the two of us, in an attempt to bury this issue and not have to face it. That is how far they have gone to protect their ability to ban people outside of the rules and with no expiring date. They would rather cause all of this nonsense, rather than stick to – what I consider to be – a perfectly reasonable and completely agreeable pledge in regard to permabans.

We’re not moving mountains here, we’re talking about a simple ban policy. 4 points, none of which are unreasonable. Yet when I say I’d try to get a fictional character to be a mod based on that platform, they tyrannically slammed down all they could. Trouble is, my message still spreads far and wide. Your reading this is proof of this fact. Being banned means nearly nothing. I keep going for the greater good of the community itself. It is the same principle that threw me against Scott during the Dolls drama, which was later vindicated by Game Theory. This shoudln’t be an issue, let alone one of permabans.

As they continue to warn people on things not against the rules (and things that shouldn’t be against the rules), they further prove my point of ban reform. Every day I am banned is yet another that they are banning me without legitimate reason. Every further user banned by their hand are welcome in our Discord, and a gathering of Freddit’s scraps have already formed, people who were banned for no just reason. A large group of disgruntled Freddit users, banned for “toxicity”, being unpopular or old grudges with those involved in the team. This is why there is a current tension between FNaFLore and Freddit. It is a disagreement on policy between a seasoned veteran of the Minecraft Wiki Moderation Team who worked under a legitimate and well-versed moderation company (YES GUYS, HE SAID IT, THE MEME IS STILL ALIVE!), and a bunch of adolescents who feel they’re above moderation standards.

I do not intend to blink. I hold my freedom to do what I wish in my spare time very, very dear. This is one of the reasons for the shop. For as long as I am banned, I plan to flex my rights in more blatant and grand ways that I can outside of Freddit. I do this to show I will not be silenced, as well as to promote the Fleshmonger’s campaign. Not for his being a mod, I do not expect this to ever occur. But to promote good ethical ban reform. This is akin to banning someone for the promotion of a change in the rules. It is not justifiable, and this as of this moment, the moderators are still unable to justify the ban using actual rules.

To satisfy their demands, I would not only need to cancel this – in my eyes – demonstrably needed campaign/message, but I would need to also actively ban discussion of the Fleshmonger from my Discord, and possibly the #FreeBlue meme as well. I refuse to be so tyrannical on my own userbase. My users can talk of whatever they wish, and whomever thinks otherwise will not be dignified with such an action.

I will not be censored. I will not curtail my ethics for a group of people who ban people based on their popularity, personal grievances and disagreements on policies, while still having the sheer nerve to call themselves good moderators. Who don’t have the spine to implement good moderator practice for fear that their team will disintegrate. People like these are charlatans for the former, and cowards for the latter. I do not plan to stop for people who are unfit to call themselves moderators.

I am Kizzycocoa. I have been banned for over 106 days. I have done no wrong. I will continue to do no wrong on much, much grander scales, as and when they take my whims. The shop is the next step, but further steps exist beyond that. We wills see how far things go, but know that I do not intend to stop, and so long as I am banned, the gestures will only get grander and more absurd, while all being fully in line with their rules, or outside of their jurisdiction.

What do you think?

As an addendum, many of those whom wish to see this sorted are urging me to reach out, to which I also want. I want to know if, after reading this, you have a view on the situation. I will put out a contact form, to which I shall respond to any/all questions the community may have on this matter. I still plan to sort out a video to fully flesh out this situation. I am curious to see my support. For me, this entire thing hinges on ban reform, and their actions demonstrate that need. I would like to know how others see this.

Kizzycocoa – Owner and designer of FNaFLore.com