I’ve removed the original post as this thread has clearly lost its sentiment.
The comments here have done a good job though in highlighting AD’s witch-hunt mindset, a large part of the original issue I spoke about.
Thanks everyone for your contributions to this “debate”.
Never forget that it isn’t just a bunch of pixels you’re talking to, it’s a real person with real feelings behind that screen, and some are more vulnerable and can be hurt a lot easier than others.
Educate yourselves on the effect that cyberbullying can have.
I think the consequences of refunds/blacklists were necessary, but I believe the point of the OP is that a lot of people have taken it upon themselves to actively try and ruin this person’s life.
I don’t think anyone’s saying what they did is defend-able - especially someone as art-loving as me - but, if what all OP is saying is true, it’s disgusting that a community would attempt to bully someone to the point of mental degradation when the ‘justice’ has long since been served. The OP highlights an important plague on our server, that being the perverse obsession with “call-out culture” and mob justice, and not knowing when to stop.
I have no idea who this is about and I’ve never even heard of this document, but I do think this is broadly something to remember. It’s very easy to forget that there’s a person behind every character you encounter, because of the anonymity that WoW affords us.
However I did hear of scammers and the call outs on scammers. Those scammers were actual art thieves that sold plagiarised art for money. Without remorse!
When those who learnt from their mistakes and apologised are thrown under the bus for a mistaken callout, then thats horrible!
Presumably the document does, as the OP says it’s been shared around – I’d guess we just don’t frequent the circles it’s been linked around in.
But otherwise, even if they don’t have any health issues, the practice of stalking and harassing even someone who’s done something reprehensible is unnecessary and malicious.
Call them out, blacklist them from the communities that they’ve harmed, etc, but the targeted harassment we sometimes see on the server is too much.
This, I have faced pathalogical liars in my life. Its very hard for me to trust people because of them.
But those are easy to deal with because you can trust people when they speak the truth trhough their actions
Sadly a lot of blind white-knights see past that filter when they are supporting a thief who does lie.
We tend to just tell people to be cautious within the AD Creators of these people, preferably avoid them too. We do not condone the act of witch hunting/targetted harassment. It’s enough to just ignore them really, as you said there’s someone behind the screen at the end of the day.
This being in regards to people who rob art/scam others of it.
I can’t say I’ve heard or seen of this document yet though, but can only say best thing to do in these scenarios is turn the other cheek. It’s a shame that it often goes down another route instead and becomes a little chaotic. There’s no need for that.
I’ve heard of that document, but never seen it and hope I wont. Just hearing it made me uneasy. Many people go on such witch hunts however, and feel no remorse. In fact, these kind of people bunch up and boost eachothers morale and give eachother a pat on the shoulder to make sure the problem only gets worse and worse.
Just think about it. If you were making somebody unable to sleep at night, maybe even throughout multiple nights and maybe even are the reason for them inflicting self harm then not only the person who is targetted is the problem. But yourself too.
I’ve been witness to people freaking out because fellow roleplayers like us were threatening to take their lives multiple times. And it was often due to said witch hunts and private issues piled up. It really isn’t worth it. If you got a problem with somebody, speak to them and resolve it instead of lighting up a dumpster fire and drawing it into the public.
I would be lying if I said this doesn’t sound like a thread/post to just get rid of the people who (s)he did wrong(and abusing the actually cyber-bullying statistics for it), instead of owning up to their mistake and actually trying to change people’s opinion of them.
Argent Dawn is one of the more forgiving communities. And no matter how much wrong has been done, I have yet to hear of a person who was not forgiven anyways.
Argent Dawn is a collection of communities. Some are entirely forgiving, some most definitely hold on to grudges.
I don’t really know what to say to this particular case. I don’t know the people involved, but I will say that a 17 page document meant to target someone else?
I really, really disagree with that sentiment. There are so many people who committed mistakes when younger (many minors, mind you) who were subject of relentless bullying, driven off the server and some even WoW in general. Hell, there have been times when I’ve said something dumb, been jumped on by twenty people at once, and wanted to do hop off the server entirely to escape further humiliation/ridicule. RP communities can tend to attract people with fragile mental states/mental issues, and AD is more often than not a place that doesn’t respect that.
is the crux of it, but I’d argue the forums heavily lean towards the “one strike, you’re out” mentality.
Apologies/saying sorry doesn’t mean anything of value; it’s a way to cover up your calculated risk (which obviously backfired) and minimize the consequences of your actions.
Saying that personal army requests are pretty cringe and making a 17 page document is also really malding and quite fragile (unless you’re some titan lawyer idk).
One of the most [REDACTED] statements of the year so far
I haven’t seen this 17-page document. Must’ve slipped past me. Only a couple of people warning of this person on discord and on the forums. Harassment and bullying must stop of course. I would, however, not be too gentle with the scammer. They didn’t scam people once but many times and even mocked the victims, if my memory serves. This thread may be seen by some people as an attempt to paint the fraud as victim.
Seems I have had alot of a different experience then most here. I still stand by my statement.
I have done my fair share of sh!t stuff to people; either in a (drunken-)anoyyance, or because I felt they were just being d!cks for the sake of it. But I for one have always been forgiven and welcomed anyways.
If this is about the person that committed multiple and individual accounts of fraud (crimes) then I think having a seventeen pages long document detailling how crazy they are is the mildest form of sanction that could have happened and I will reserve my sympathy for them given that they made a public statement on AA re. their crimes, namely that they do not have regrets
This however makes me think this is not about them and if that is not the case, I think this thread is pretty much pointless
