eueuq's Discord Appeal

[eueuq 188 / 2,353]

Which Discords(s) are you appealing?: 

Main

 

Discord username (Add your tag and ID if possible):

queue#5568

 

Why was action taken against you?: 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/960082620937551882/972700398479613982/infraction_history.png

 

Why should the action be reversed or reduced?

I have become grass-pilled and have cleansed myself of sin

plz and thank

*this appeal is for all 4 "infractions"*

 

[Joshy 4,333 / 43,856]

I know you know the deal.  You got to put in a good appeal.  I totally admit... just my personal opinion... I don't think your ban should be permanent, and having been on the team with you from way back when I really do want to lift your ban (I have my personal biases too in your favour); however: I don't have executive authority, and the ban appeals are a team decision.  I've been burned very badly from trying to make executive decisions especially if it leans heavily against the team.

 

Please help me out and put in a good appeal so that you can help me convince a large number of people on the team to be okay with lifting your ban too.  Just putting in an appeal saying it's been a few months and you've changed... appealing all 4 infractions?  You know that's not realistic at all.  I was hoping that I could champion the idea of lifting some old infractions and two of them are, but two of them are still very fresh too and the idea has not been officially implemented.  All 4 infractions are for very similar things, and you've shown no hint that you'd be willing to follow that rule.

 

Following the rules isn't about changing your personal opinion or values.  If you don't like something... no problem... it can even be discriminatory.  Have at it.  There's lots of things I say and do in real life that could probably get me banned if I said or did it in GFL too, and I think that's true for almost everyone here.  If it's against GFL rules or you've been warned for it before in any way, then just don't do it or avoid it as best possible.

 

I'm not sure to keep this open or not.  I think this less than half baked appeal has has an extremely small chance of being successful.  I'll leave it open if there's anything new that can be added or if maybe some other team members might want to add their say.

[eueuq 188 / 2,353]

I think you also know the deal. There is a significant probability that what I say will mean nothing to certain (or most) members of your team. They have effectively already made their decision. I was just trying to save us all some time, but if you want an actual appeal, I can do that. And yes, I am appealing all 4 "infractions". Yes, it is unlikely even 1 of them will be removed from this appeal, but zero of them should have ever been made in the first place and so I figured I would at least try.

 

I think the best way to do this is to step through each of the 4 "infractions" and give my thoughts on them. Please excuse my lack of memory for some of these as some occurred nearly 2 years ago. If I could grab screenshots of all of the things I talk about here, I would. I also ask that the context surrounding each "infraction" be looked into since just looking at them at face value is not helpful. 

 

Something else I will add is that all of these are about statements made from within the politics channel. Historically, exceptions to the rules have been made for this specific channel to allow more open and free discussion of topics given the nature of the channel. It is hard to discuss a lot of political topics if you were constantly walking on eggshells. Obviously, this was never a get-out-of-jail-for-free card for all rules or instances, but it is some context for those who are not active in the channel.

 

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1. Warning: racism (JGuary)

Based on what I remember, this was a statement taken out of context by a moderator who generally did not participate in the political channel. The statement was and is not racist in any way. I believe it was a comment on the black community (subset of a subset of a subset) which was not derogatory or slanderous in the slightest, just simply comments/statements during an active discussion. Shortly after the warning, there should be both my arguments against the warning as well as comments from others who witnessed it, so you can and should look at those as well since I do not remember specifically what I had said (and have no access to viewing it now obviously).

 

2. Mute: transphobic statements (JGuary)

This is very similar to the "infraction" above. Unfortunately, I have zero memory of what was actually said, just that it was similarly taken out of context. I will leave it up to you to look back at the statement and its surrounding context and make a judgement.

 

3. Tempban: Offensive Video (transphobic and towards mentally challenged) (Joshy)

This is easily the worst one. Not only is there not a rule against "offensive videos" that I know of, but there was discussion of whether or not to make this a permaban. Permaban or any ban in general for an "offensive video" seems a bit absurd. It is highly subjective. If a single person gets offended by anything anyone posts, should it be removed? I do not think that should be the case. This is all irrespective of the actual video itself (linking for the sake of context) which is effectively a political comedy skit. You can say it is not funny, but it is political satire in a political channel. It is not even statements I personally said or necessarily endorse. I can almost guarantee others have posted significantly worse videos or memes that go unchecked (rightfully so). 

 

4. Ban: Misgendering and transphobic comments (Joshy)

This was the straw that broke the camel's back apparently. The root of it all was misgendering a trans Minecraft streamer from a news story about them getting arrested. I can maybe understand if I was talking about an actual member of the community, but some random person online? Resulting in a permaban? Neither seem reasonable to me. This supposedly includes many other statements made over the course of several years, so I am unable to defend myself on most of them since not all were explicitly given to me, but I am assuming they were taken out of context, statements from a civil political discussion, or some combination of the two. 

 

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I will reiterate that zero of these statements should have ever had action taken against them in the first place. On a similar note, I will comment that certain users/moderators (who I will not name) actively "break rules" in the politics channel on a regular basis, including actual support of violence against certain groups of people and individuals. While I support their ability to say such things with no action to be taken against them (no matter how much they do/want to take action against the statements I make), I think there is a clear and obvious double-standard in place.

 

Lastly, I am not going to pretend that my values or opinions have changed in the past few months. I am not going to kiss your boots and beg to be unbanned like most people do. This is simply to explain my side of things. You can (and most likely do) disagree with my opinions when it comes to certain topics that relate to this appeal, but I do not think that should outright disqualify me from discussing them in a civil manner in a channel about discussing spicy political topics. You can do (or not do) whatever you want with this information. Just try to ignore any pressure from certain individuals (from above or below) that may try swaying your opinion in a certain direction (that includes you @Joshy ). 

 

 

This appeal is what Joshy wants so blame him for having to read all of this .

[Joshy 4,333 / 43,856]

It is against the rules. There's no trickery, no special interpretation, or gray area for it.  https://gflclan.com/topic/66657-discord-rules/

 

Quote

9. Slurs, discriminations, and harassment:

Do not harass other members or engage in excessive toxicity. Do not use slurs that target groups or engage in expressions of prejudice against individuals or groups.

 

The first video very clearly violated this rule.  It doesn't matter if it was (allegedly) a "comedy skit" or "satire."  What matters is that it was prejudice towards a group of people, and mainly targeted transgender people.

 

No.  There are no exceptions in the #politics channel, which we also changed to #news channel because I understand some people might incorrectly think that discussing politics gives them flexibility to make statements that do not align with the rules.  I understand GFL in 2014-2016 was a lot more tolerating in overlooking many scenarios and I personally always fought for leniency, but it's been 6-8 years now and the rules and how we respond to each action has changed over that time period too.  Anyone who wants to continue here has to stay aligned with the rules, and I don't see them changing very much anytime soon.

 

Like I said: I'm not asking for you to change your personal values.  You can believe or think the way you do.  What you brought up on GFL platforms is a problem.  We've made it very clear that this isn't the right place to do that, and we don't want it here.  It doesn't matter what you think or if you agree- the key thing is that this isn't the right place.  If you don't like it, then this isn't the place for you.

 

A legitimate appeal up front probably would have helped you as the Senior team is pretty diverse and open minded; owning up to mistakes also helps a lot too, and showing that you'd be willing to change.  You're not doing any of that, and so there is no way to get this appeal approved.

 

I'm going to lock this appeal because I'm pretty sure it's no good.  I wont move it to close as I try to find out from the rest of the team if we think it's permanent permanent with no chance of appeal...  I don't want to waste your time with more appeals if it really has zero chance in the future.  Let me find out.  I'll edit it in before I move it to closed.

 

edit:

 

 Can confirm the Discord ban is permanent.  We will close future appeals if there are any, and so I would not reapply anytime soon it would only be wasting your time (and ours too).

Edited August 31, 2022 by Joshy