Hello everyone, please take my words with respect and sincerity. Other than that, I ask nothing of you. I did make a post to discord when this first broke, and basketts kindly posted that for me (you can find that on page 2 of this thread). If you are understandably tired of talking about this issue or belligerantly “just want us to go away,” then I encourage you to, ya know, maybe just not read this forum or simply ignore my post. No one is making you read anything. But, if you would like to publicly state an opinion about who you think I am or what you believe my intentions were, please at least have the respect to read my words first, even if you choose not to believe them.
I figured I should probably drop at least one post here since I haven’t personally said anything in this forum. First of all, I have a world of respect for this community and its users and am sorry for anything I've done that might create questions of integrity of the game, itself, or any other users. I've always treated this game as an honest and fun competition, and independent of my "ban," I really hope that anything I did directly or indirectly caused people to doubt the honesty of anyone else on this site or lose interest in the game.
As I said in my original post, I am very sorry for how this all played out. I understand the anger, and I understand the frustration. I feel very bad that this entire community of which I have been a respected part for 18 years now legitimately questions my integrity and that a very vocal group feels that this is unforgivable. That is a fair belief, and I respect those that have it. There is nothing I can do to undo what I have done, and if you believe that there is no possible context that could make those actions understandable, then I respect that, and I accept that.
I will not restate all of the background that went into all of this. I have explained myself clearly on the post on page 2. I have tried to be fully accountable for my actions, and please know that my stated contrition is entirely sincere. I know that I have been fully honest, candid, and open in my explanations, and I have a ton of respect for those that have responded as such, regardless of where you fall on the issue. I am glad that there are enough people – even with very differing opinions – that have respect for the other side to engage in a mature, open conversation. I do see how this could have provided a significant advantage, particularly if there were only a handful of people who knew about, but please understand none of us thought we were cheating any of you. Believe it if you want. Don't believe it if you want. All I have is my word, and I'm offering that. We would not have done it if that were the case.
Again, I am not going to recount what I said in the first post, so please take this for having established (I hope) a high level of contrition and accountability. I am not here to change anyone’s mind, and I am not here in any attempt to escape punishment. What’s done is done, and I have moved on.
I do want to make sure, though, that this situation brings an education to those that play and especially to those that administer these games. It doesn’t matter what you believe I (or any of the others here) actually did in this case or how you envision our motives when we did it. Please ask yourself this – honestly:
Do you believe that there are committed WIS players out there who are engaged and positive but do not visit the forums or other discord-like channels very often and don’t even really think of that kind of more intense interaction as a necessary part of enjoying the game? No one reading this probably falls into this category, but do you believe that these people exist and are positive, important members of this community?
Is it possible for some of those people to discover a recruiting action that might have been unintended?
Then what if those people immediately submitted a report to CS and receive – at best – an ambiguous response? Could they take this as "we're on it?" Again, just talking a feasible possibility – please think beyond whatever you believe about this specific case or what "you would do." Just is this feasible?
And, since these users never go to forums or anything anyway, is it possible that they might not realize how unknown this was?
What if these users have seen and noticed plenty of other things that seemed "off" in the past – some of which were quietly fixed without any hoopla (e.g. promises to inelgibles) or others that continue to be a regular, possibly accepted part of the game (e.g. getting double the money and APs just for redshirting a SR)? And, that these "tricks" or "bugs" were often very widely known by some, but not all users, and were never considered by anyone to be cheating?
Now, (and, again, and I’m sorry to keep saying this, but please think beyond this specific situation) please honestly consider whether all those things could have possibly happened to an innocent user or group of innocent users?
Well, regardless of what you believe, the fact is that the mob mentality got way out ahead of any facts here. No one knew what the “cheat” was, and everyone assumed it was egregious (and, to many of you, it may have turned out to be, which is fine, but there were many opinions formed and, possibly cemented, before anyone knew anything about it). Then, people railed against the previous CS and how they were asleep at the wheel many times (to me, a fair criticism of the previous regime). So, this new regime acted. They acted quickly and HARSHLY. And, the mob LOVED it. They got heaped with praise and praise and more praise. They got attaboys and love because the mob got their pound of flesh and was happy about it. But, this pound of flesh came from a group of long-time, respected users and was taken without any attempt to talk to them before a suspension and then took their WIS lives with nothing more than a half-hearted attempt of any benefit of the doubt. Maybe they deserved it, you might say. But, deserved it without the ability to answer for the accusations? All in an attempt to appease an angry mob…and, it worked. The most vocal contingent is happy, so I guess that’s all that matters. The only thing that was lost here were the accounts of a couple long-time users who spent upwards of 18 years building their programs (some of which - any non-D1 program and any program before they stumbled upon this). Whatever. Maybe they deserved it. But, none of you really know, for sure, and the sad part is that CS doesn’t know either because they never took the time to even talk to us or give any benefit of the doubt, which I believe, in any fair societal construct, should be afforded to everyone.
Please don’t take this as us trying to be martyrs or anything. And, before all the wolves come and say "there they go, making excuses" or screaming about everyone's favorite fancy word "whataboutism," please know that I've already posted a sincere apology and nothing in this post counters anything I've said before. I just wanted to use this as a warning for the quick, severe "justice" that came down here. There is a slippery slope about all this stuff.
All we are were people who enjoyed WIS and got booted for something that was done with regular recruiting actions and was immediately reported to CS (we know that we never thought what we were doing was cheating, but that can be proven to anyone...so, say what you will about motive or intent, but the FACTS of it being a regularly available action and that we reported it immediately are indisputable). So, be careful in the future with (a) what strategies you decide to use in recruiting and (b) what conclusions the forums may come to before any facts or any evaluation of the explanations of those accused. I believe there was an injustice here, and many of you don’t. That is fine, reasonable minds can disagree. But, I think it would intellectually dishonest to say that there is no chance that a process like this could have led to the most severe possible punishment being handed down to people who clearly did not deserve the death penalty.
I wish you all the best in the future, and I will miss a whole lot of you more than you know.
I am accountable and present, so please, if you have anything to say to me personally, send me a sitemail. I will answer any question and I will read any comments – good or bad – so if you just want me to hear your support or your outrage, I respect and appreciate any of it.
With all respect and sincerity,
Bryan (robinhood410)