A Public Statement

[Munchkin]

Alright, here we go.

Before you read this, to see the screenshots in full, right-click and open an image in a new tab.

A lot of our players received a strange on-site PM from an account, or multiple accounts, they likely haven’t heard of before. This message was from an old member of the site that was banned back in 2017, who religiously comes back to the site with messages similar to this. For the most part, we ban and move on, due to the nature of their initial ban and their attitude. But this time, we’ve decided that we’re going for full, open transparency on every reason this former player's message is false, and is backed with a history of extreme toxicity from the person that sent it.

Starting with where it all began, the player initially went by the name of Mal.

In July 2017 - Mal killed off his PC and asked for a succession package and, because we knew things were hard at that time and we wanted to be sure of the decision, we made sure that Mal took a week (or longer, if I recall) to make sure he was certain on the decision.

He was told, repeatedly, that the rules are clear. Once he gets the succession package, there was no going back so we urged him to really consider it. A week went by and he was still sure, so we gave him the succession package. Then, a month later, the player didn’t want the package anymore and appealed for his PC to be allowed back. Now, we made it VERY clear that we would not undo succession packages for reasons that ought to be obvious. But to explain this better than I can, here’s a summary from an old and now-retired member of our staff. For the sake of the privacy of the former staff, multiple screenshots will have their pictures and names blurred. But post counts and things remain the same:

Screenshot of message - (if it's blurry / too small - right click and open the image in a new tab)

As the screenshot above shows, from back in 2018 might I add, Mal was rising in hostility and lashing out in numerous situations. We were patient, we were trying our best, and if it wasn’t exactly as Mal wanted then he wasn’t having it. Which isn’t a mentality we were going to just roll over and accept. Eventually, he got himself banned due to it, and appealed. Despite what he would have you believe, he was actually unbanned with the following conditions applied:

Screenshot of terms -

These conditions were in place in order to prevent a repeat of the initial situation regarding the PC. Less than two months later, he broke the terms of the unbanning, with the full knowledge that doing so would result in another ban. He was promptly given said second ban, since this proved that he had learned nothing from the original encounter.

1st Screenshot of attempt to get the Mal PC back -

2nd Screenshot of attempt to get the Mal PC back -

Moving past the initial two bans, and the toxicity that followed after, is my main point of this ordeal. A point I know, more than likely, is being read by the very same player as we speak. So I’m going to address this simply, and make this the final and most important point of this entire message. There has been no productive attempt at change. There has been nothing but two-faced toxicity, lies and disgusting, vile messages that go back on every “I’ve learned and grown” we’ve ever been sent. Time and time again, it has been shown that the player in question has not changed for the better by any stretch. With nasty messages wishing violence upon staff members, constant attempts to break the rules only to turn around and say “See? I have changed”, and hate-filled DM’s being sent to Pegasus and other members of staff repeatedly - multiple of which are shown in the screenshots below:

Mal on his initial account, posting an absence -

Pegasus responding to that absence, before being either Site owner or Admin for the site -

Mal claiming he had no choice in killing his character, more arguing -

More of the same -

Even more of the same -

Continuation of above message -

More -

Aylune, being Mal, after being warned for passive aggressive behaviour in his messages -

This message to multiple members of our staff, sent in 2020, the 14th of August.

This lengthy PM was sent to Pegasus on July 27th, 2020.
Screenshot 1 -

Screenshot 2 -

Screenshot 3 -

And other screenshots that are all the same thing, different day, as well as repeated attempts to claim the messages are “his friends” trying to get him unbanned (one of which is here)-

.

So I’m going to address it with one final part to this and be done with it.

There has never been homophobia allowed on this site, and there is 0 proof of there being any. There has never been a personal vendetta against a player by Pegasus or any of the other accused staff, nor would we let that be something that happens without heavy repercussions. There has only been people taking actions, regretting them and refusing to endure the consequences. These are nasty, spiteful examples of what has been said, especially the message sent only one year ago. But the bottom line is, that is who Mal has been towards us, and why he is not and will never be welcome back on this site. This isn’t about powerplaying, it is not a personal dislike of you Mal. It is your consequences, and you simply do not like that you have to deal with them. That is the blunt truth, and now it is out in the open.

Thank you all, and sorry you were dragged into this. We will return to banning the player if we find their accounts, and will relink to this announcement should any other issues arise and it is necessary.

[Pig Boy]

Peg's own Bitch Boy here,

No, but in all sincerity, I don't come here to put people down, to engage in a 'circle jerk' or to participate in out of character drama. I'm here to play a roleplaying game in a safe environment where people aren't free to bully others over the way they write. That's what I've found here, and that's why I've had a longer stint here than in any other roleplaying site.

I hope you find what you're looking for out there, Mal. You seem to know of plenty of places where it's acceptable for you to write. That's good! I encourage you to go there, and write productively in a low drama environment.

As it stands, we can do without your brand of drama, sorry to say.

With love and forgiveness,
Pigs

[Basilisk]

Okay, so this guy. I'm not going to elaborate on the screenshots. I feel they explain things pretty cleanly to most folks. Instead, I'm going to direct this at you, Mal, since I fully believe you're reading this thread, waiting for everyone to jump to defend you from the mean staff.

I don't know if I can ever make it clear enough for you to understand why we aren't going to unban you, but I can certainly try. The fact is, every time your vaunted morals make you reveal your identity after you snuck back onto the site, it's after you've been here for months. After you've tried to make connections to players and staff, after you've tried to make it so we can't ban you without inconveniencing our other players. This always comes off as manipulative and pretty handily undermines your claim that you're choosing to reveal yourself out of the goodness of your heart. This is not helped by the fact that between your attempts to play the maligned victim, unnecessarily persecuted by staff, you launch personal attacks intended to be hurtful and insulting, to the point where you once jumped your ban specifically to send Pegasus a lengthy insult PM.

This makes it utterly impossible for us to take you at your word. You have completely destroyed any credibility you once had. We don't believe you're telling the truth because your story changes so often, contradicting itself every time it changes, and you have repeatedly shown yourself to be perfectly fine with manipulating people and twisting the facts. We have no reason to believe you and at this point, I can't see that we ever will have a reason to believe you. Oh, and speaking of manipulations, stop trying to make other people feel back because you ruined your own credibility, you violated the terms of your appeal, and you got yourself banned. That wasn't anyone else, that was you. Take some responsibility for your own actions, for God's sake.

I don't believe this will make you give up. But it was time for all of this to come out of the shadows. So go on, sneak back in with another account so you can try to make yourself indispensable to plots, so you can try to make yourself unbannable before your grand reveal. And we'll ban you again, because skipping your ban is still a violation of the TOU. Or send us some more hate mail if you want, we can always use something to laugh about. I hope you don't do any of that, honestly, because I used to like you, enough that I once recommended that you be considered for a staff position. I want you to be put us behind you and be happy somewhere else. But I don't think you will, I think you'll keep obsessing over us, either trying to rejoin us or somehow break us down.

You won't, though. Bigger problems than you have tried and failed over the years. But you aren't even a major problem, you're a recurring minor pest.

For everyone else, I am sorry that you've been dragged into this now. I hope you all enjoy your writing.

[Avalon]

Full disclosure - I do not know the individual this thread is about, and I am only willing speak to what has been put in this thread.

I have a few thoughts.

Mal, this has to stop. It needed to stop a long time ago. For someone to have issues and deal with them themselves is one thing, but you involved others and that's where I personally draw the line.

You pm'd a number of people who had nothing to do with this situation and involved them, citing transparency. That was wrong. You've continually tried/did influence others to plead your case. That was wrong. You sneaked onto the site, gotten others involved in plots that had to be dealt with when you were banned again. That was wrong.

The point I'm trying to make is, you are impacting others - a lot of others - in a negative way and doing yourself more harm in the process. Please, please stop. This is a vicious cycle that will only end up hurting you worse if you persist.

I'm not going to address anything else because there really isn't a point. Munchkin, Bas and Pigs covered most of the points.

Please consider what I've said.

-Avalon

[Basilisk]

This post is purely for the sake of transparency.

After my previous post, I received the following PM from Mal:



The request to remove references to medical history is valid and one we have, to our knowledge, accommodated. We did find one reference in the initial post to the issue in question and it has been censored. Thank you for your time.

[Darius Baer]

Hi Mal. We've never met. I'm Darius.

I joined ST at the beginning of 2020, a little less than two years ago. One of the main reasons we haven't spoken before is because, of course, you've been banned during that time.

So I don't know you, but I know of you.

That is mostly due to the fact that although I'm not a moderator, I'm a (fairly inactive) volunteer on the wiki. As such, I've been privy to some of the messages you've sent in 2020. But I wasn't here when the original situation started, and we've never communicated, so I'm about as unbiased as one can be, given the circumstances.

And honestly, the main thing I really have to say is this: you must be tired! Aren't you tired? Looking at this ongoing issue, dating back more than 4 years, just looks so tiring.

If your latest PM, (in the post above this one), is anything to go by, you seem to recognise that this has gone way far, and for far too long. It just isn't healthy. Holding onto whatever grievance you feel has made you bitter, and I can only imagine how stressful that must be.

Have you considered counselling? That might seem a little over-the-top, or patronising, but it isn't intended that way. Clearly, whatever you've tried in the past hasn't worked. Your outbursts are only taking up your own time and energy, and causing yourself more harm. I can speak from personal experience that getting into a room with the right therapist can be an absolute game changer.

Wherever you go from here, it's clear that you won't be welcome to write at Standing Trials again. You yourself have said that there are (in your opinion) better sites out there that can scratch the same itch, so I encourage you to go to one of those and let your creative juices flow. It could be a positive, cathartic outlet.

Or, alternatively, maybe you need to prioritise your mental health and step away from these environments entirely. You (and the staff who have been on the receiving end of your outbursts) deserve better.

[Basilisk]

All right, more fuel for this fire.

Screenshot 1, received yesterday.



Screenshot 2, received today.



Screenshot 3, also today.



Lemme make this abundantly clear. Staff was not going to bring this public. We were perfectly happy to keep this sad little side-show to the behind the scenes. But once Mal pm'd half the site about it, that was no longer an option. It continues to not be an option. We are still looking to remove any direct references to Mal's medical history, but there's a lot of images. But we will not be taking down this thread. Why? Because Mal made this whole thing public when he sent the following PM to a bunch of our players.



This thread is staying up because this is no longer a private affair, and because he does not get to control what information we share after he made it public. This is just another attempt to dodge the consequences of his own actions.