DUMBFCKS PODCAST: Episode 6 - The Banning

Thanks for taking the time do this Sibs. Nice to hear his opinion on this stuff.

 

The saddest part of this entire subject is how preventable it all is. A player was placed on the NML for poor decisions he has made, then after time was served, was removed from that same list by the staff. His conditions were to avoid all these past issues which lead to his original NML in the first place. That unfortunately was ignored showing how serious he took our request to avoid these situations. Of course I am not going to post pictures of private conversations I've had with members of this community who have concerns with things that he has done. All that does is open the door for those players to be criticized for bringing issues forward.

With the amount of concerns that suddenly get brought to light when a member of LG gets removed from the league, don't we want people to have the confidence to bring issues up so we can ensure this league is a better place? It is also sad that the excuse "worse things occur without punishment from staff" is being used. Some people have come to me and have said "I can't believe this has happened, yet worse is said in the chatbox" My reply is, if worse is happening daily, why aren't you reporting it? Why aren't you coming forward to me. Perhaps my comments have lead to the perception that I don't use the chatbox is me picking and choosing who gets a ban or what not, but that is simply an opinion from a player who doesn't agree with a decision made. The reality of it all is if someone has a legitimate concern with something being said or done to them, I'd personally handle it for them. There is no picking and choosing.

It is also ironic how it was mentioned I don't reply to messages. I get about 70-100 a day, close to 200 alerts based on the apps we use to communicate here for LG. Everyone of those messages that require my attention or comments I reply to. Maybe it isn't in the seconds some people expect, but everyone gets an answer. Perhaps it is just not the answer they want.

One question that the panel had was in regards to why didn't the league help out PP was being harassed. The only concern he every brought to my attention was the Twitter stuff. With me not being the site programmer I have zero ability to block or remove the twitter feed. I forwarded his concerns onto Tris who has the ability to correctly address his concern. My recommendation was for us to take the twitter feed down, which I've requested on a number of difference occasions where it was used for issues like that. Unfortunately the decision was made to not remove it, which personally I didn't agree with. The death threats and such, I wasn't aware of or witness myself. He never made mention of those things and if he did I'd gladly would have addressed his concerns. That stuff has no place here. But from his interview it does appear that those threats made towards him were not deemed serious, which would be why I was never made aware. How can staff and I be blamed for being selective with our rulings, if issues like that occur, and no one mentions things to us expect when those situations are used as an expand to try and prove a case when someone is being rightfully remove?

I would agree that removing a player from management for a skater name would be deemed excessive if that was the only factor leading to a removal. Obviously in this situation that isn't the only factor. I also will admit, I don't determine what is and isn't deemed harassment. I can't be the person who tells you if you are or aren't feeling harassed... that is handled on an individual basis. Therefore there maybe perceived inconsistency just based on how people handle things. PP had death threats and didn't report it... but other have which have lead to removals. That inconsistency isn't on me.. that is on the players who handled a similar situation differently.

There was a site wide post made, that was sent as a PM as well, which outlined all the changes to the Code of Conduct this season and reasons why. Therefore to compare how an issue is dealt with today compared to past seasons is relevant IMO based on improvements made to the league. Things change, and we try to learn from mistakes and get better.

Finally my comments made in regards to contributions to the community are strictly from an environment stand point. Being a manager is alot of work and can be thankless, but let us not forget that he was also removed from management later on as well. It never needs to get to a point where a player gets removed from the league. I'd like someone to show me a situation where a player was removed without reasoning, because it simply isn't ever the case. Some times people just ignore the reasoning or don't like it, therefore it has to be wrong.

I wish PP nothing but the best, glad he was able to get his opinions out. Definitely don't agree with a lot of it and if knows how many times him and I have spoken about this stuff. Unfortunate it came to this but at the end of the day his decisions lead to this.

If anyone has any questions, send me a PM, or post it here and I'll gladly reply back.