Regarding recent concerns that have surfaced on CL

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Akala
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Regarding recent concerns that have surfaced on CL

Post by Akala »

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately, due to a recent escalation of events, we have felt as if we have no choice but to make a statement regarding some actions and bans that have occurred within the last few weeks, and actions that have transpired in result of it. Chatlands does its best to present itself as a welcoming community to users of all niches and backgrounds, and because of this, it breaks our hearts to see problems occurring that result in users feeling as if they are vehemently unwelcome. We do not tolerate bullying or relentless naming-and-shaming, and do our best to solve these issues however we can.

Below is a statement made by the Windfall alphas, Laika & Bloodiath, regarding some harmful statements and rumors that have been made on both administration and users alike as of recent:

_________

There has been a lot of discourse pertinent to Chatlands (both on and off the site/s) over the past few days, and we wanted to address a few of the issues that have been particularly concerning. We are making this statement for the sake of putting rumors to rest & reassuring the rest of the community, as well as protecting the integrity and reputation of the users involved. We do not want there to be for any room for any form of miscommunication, nor do we want the userbase to feel as if they are being left in the dark.

We try to keep business such as this as private as possible, because we do not want anyone to feel as if their privacy is being breached. However, because of escalating levels of conflict, we feel we need to speak out now before things spiral further out of control.

The first point we want to touch on centers around the allegations that have been spread regarding one of our administrators that have since taken a leave due to the sheer amount of stress this situation has put onto them. This administrator was accused of being a zoophile multiple times across multiple different platforms.

These allegations stemmed from users who had found some NSFW artwork drawn by the admin involved. This art featured (adult) characters/fursonas in their feral form as well as anthropomorphic characters/fursonas with canine-like genitalia. These pieces were submitted on FurAffinity and were age-gated (and have been removed for awhile now). Often our characters represent us as people while in a different form, sometimes these forms are chosen due to being easier for the artist to draw, but this is not always reflective of ideas towards or of real-life animals. These animals were fursona(s), and while we understand that this kind of artwork may not be in everyone's taste, it is not acceptable to relentlessly attack the artists who made them if they do not actually promote illegal and/problematic themes. Those kinds of accusations are incredibly serious and can easily ruin a person's life (along with their mental wellbeing).

Another administrator of ours was alleged to be a "Neonazi" due to being a Republican and for misunderstanding the meanings of certain slogans that have been used a lot in recent events (These were later explained to them and they had become open to said slogans once they understood why they were being said). We urge people to remember that people are a product of their upbringing, and while it is 100% okay to disagree with another user's (or admin's) political point of view, it is incredibly harmful to attempt to slander someone's name rather than have an appropriate debate on the situation, or to choose to just not speak to that person.

The admin involved is a younger one, who is still learning newer and more progressive points of view from their friends while still living with family members who are incredibly conservative. They have never wished harm on anyone, nor have they ever identified with or shared any ideals with actual "Neonazis". attaching such an extreme label to someone while they are still learning is extremely detrimental. To go as far as to joke about users or admins, especially younger ones, taking a "die challenge" is nothing less than abhorrent.

We also want to address a user who was banned off of Chatlands recently, primarily sparked by an event that had occurred on Windfall. This ban occurred a little less than a week ago. Normally we do our best to avoid speaking of the circumstances behind users bans, HOWEVER, a rumor was started that involved some very dangerous false accusations. The user involved was accused of "pedophilia" due to a discussion that happened in a PG13 public room. For their own protection we will avoid naming them, but will do our best to explain the ban reason so those who have heard of the situation have an answer.

This user involved was not banned for acts of pedophilia, but for engaging in a discussion that was centered around promoting sharing explicit personal photos in a PG13 setting WHILE being a minor. The user was also found to have been ban-hopping an existing world ban, which added on to the situation at hand. Sometimes we have to place bans not only to protect the community, but the users themselves, especially ones who are under legal age. Attaching a "pedophile" label onto anyone without 100% CERTAINTY is extremely harmful and reckless, especially if you do not know the specifics of someone's situation. You could literally ruin a child's life.

_________


Something that has become very common for us, both on Chatlands itself but even more so on outside platforms and social medias, is the spread of false statements towards users and admins alike, and rumors around ban reasons. We often see users claiming they have gotten a chat-wide ban "for no reason", or that Chatlands administrators harbor dangerous people, when this could not be further from the truth in almost all circumstances. We do not issue world bans for using making jokes about things such as their sexualities, or personal preferences. Some common reasons for world bans are the following:

- Acts of sexual solicitation involving a legal adult (18+) and a legal minor (17-)
- Acts of drug solicitation involving users of any age
- Death threats either towards another user, or towards one's self
- Safety threats such as exploiting glitches, or messing with chat code
- Trolling and extreme acts of disturbing the peace
- Collective and repetitive offenses that have been built up over the course of time while following a ban ladder

It is also important to note that almost all users are put under a probation period when chat-wide bans are officially appealed. If the user in question continues to cause multiple issues over a short period of time and is shown to disregard site rules, the ban is often reinstated. This does not equate to a user being banned for "no reason". It is also important to keep in mind that intent to harm or pre-meditating acts such as planned trolling or inappropriate code usage are taken into consideration when bans are being placed.

Each user who receives a ban are given an explicit ban reason, and a email to further explain their ban. The administration who issued those bans also have solid evidential proof and reason to place these bans - chat-wide bans are not lightly handed out as it completely bars someone from participating in the chatlands community. Even in cases of mistaken identity, which do sometimes occur due to overlapping IPs and VPNs, users are able to send in problem tickets to get the genuine mistakes overturned.

Unfortunately, because of recent bans that were placed due to a break in a users probation and pre-meditated trolling, Windfall fell victim to a planned group of ban-hoppers using VPNs. This trolling involved harmful name calling and harassment to several users and admins alike, as well as inappropriate content being flooded into the pose uploader, and we were saddened to see users who intended to jump in and participate in the trolling. This resulted in Windfall staff being forced to heavily moderate their site for hours, and due to the Windfall staff being mostly USA based, this meant sitting on duty well into the wee hours of the morning. This also bogged down the ability of Windfall staff to properly moderate other issues that may have been occurring on the chat, and in a twist resulted in banned parties involved in the mass trolling to complain and harass administrators in personal social media DMs on account of them missing separate offenses occurring in the background. This also brought to light the fact that, due to their own claims, a user (or multiple) was likely actively streaming their screen for other users involved to watch and join in on the extensive rule-breaking. It had gotten to the point that some Wolfhome admins had decided to lend a hand in watching the situation on Windfall so that the administration team could rest.

To see users be proud of causing distress or paranoia to administrators, who are people like anyone else, and end up watching it as if it is a form of television show, is something that is alarming to see. This is a perfect demonstration of bullying tactics that administrators face following a disagreement of a ban, and the unnecessary stress that the administration had to endure. This was extremely unfair to the users and administrators of Windfall.

We do not welcome or tolerate this kind of bullying or any bully tactics towards administration or users on Chatlands. We will definitely not stand for users relentlessly bullying others to the point of quitting and leaving the site, or in extreme cases, to the point of feeling s**cidal. Please take a step back and realize that your words and actions have more impact than you probably think. Throwing the word (and similar to) "pedophile" at somebody can be extremely detrimental to that person's reputation and mental state, and we've unfortunately seen this word thrown around in abundance over the past months for the sake of malicious naming and shaming. If you have an issue with another user, administrator, or a ban, we expect you to take the right steps to discuss that these issues with an alpha admin or guardian admin either directly or through the problem ticket system.

We will not tolerate false accusations and rumors to bring down other users and site administrators. If you see any sort of bullying behavior towards Chatlands users or admins occurring on or off chats, please let somebody know. The mental wellbeing of everybody on Chatlands is paramount to us, and we will do our best to protect it.

Please remember to treat others how you'd like to be treated.

Sincerely,
The Chatlands Guardians & the Windfall Alphas.

_____________
Please keep any commentary civil. Any disrespectful, shaming or comments intended to start fights left on this topic will cause the topic to be locked immediately.
Last edited by Akala on Sat Jun 27, 2020 3:09 am, edited 2 times in total.
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lucky
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Re: Regarding recent concerns that have surfaced on CL

Post by lucky »

i rolled my eyes so hard at this let me just...

"Often our characters represent us as people while in a different form, sometimes these forms are chosen due to being easier for the artist to draw, but this is not always reflective of ideas towards or of real-life animals."

something being "easier" to draw is NO excuse to depict feral animals in sexual situations, would you say it is ok to depict a child in the same situation because it's "easier to draw"? that just sounds like an excuse to me. drawing it is STILL endorsing it, and making money off it it makes it even worse. i cannot believe i'm seeing people trying to defend zoophilic artwork

"The administration who issued those bans also have solid evidential proof and reason to place these bans"

this is funny to me because someone i know literally got perma banned, the windfall admins claiming they have "solid proof" yet have not shown it, said person was NOT involved with ANYTHING we did, therefore this ban was unjust!

"Windfall fell victim to a planned group of ban-hoppers using VPNs"

this just made me laugh because trolling on chatlands is being treat like some dangerous situation

"This trolling involved harmful name calling "

calling someone a coward isn't harmful name calling

"This resulted in Windfall staff being forced to heavily moderate their site for hours, and due to the Windfall staff being mostly USA based, this meant sitting on duty well into the wee hours of the morning."

omg i'm glad they're doing their job for once that makes a change

"This also bogged down the ability of Windfall staff to properly moderate other issues that may have been occurring on the chat, and in a twist resulted in banned parties involved in the mass trolling to complain and harass administrators in personal social media DMs on account of them missing separate offenses occurring in the background."

hi! i was the one who messaged bloodiath. this is an extreme over-exaggeration, there was NO harassment involved at ALL. yes, i have a right to complain about someone using a slur they cannot reclaim MULTIPLE TIMES in front of ACTIVE admins! who didn't do anything! stop acting like speaking up is a crime. that is embarrassing

"This also brought to light the fact that, due to their own claims, a user (or multiple) was likely actively streaming their screen for other users involved to watch"

does that break any rules?

--

anyway, this was an interesting read. love from lucky!

this will most likely get removed Very quick but over-exaggerating situations isn't a good look, neither is defending nasty artwork
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Akala
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Re: Regarding recent concerns that have surfaced on CL

Post by Akala »

Your response speaks volumes to the problems that were just addressed. If you think this is no big deal, then you need to reflect on your actions and the impacts it has clearly caused multiple parties.
There is no excuse to twist the narrative to your liking, as much as you are accusing the administration of doing it.
And with that, I am locking this topic and we will be directly addressing the accusations again in the original post.
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Bloodiath
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Re: Regarding recent concerns that have surfaced on CL

Post by Bloodiath »

As a Windfall Alpha, and a direct witness and admin involved in the above points Lucky has brought to this topic, I will be directly addressing them below.


- In response to the allegations of 'zoophilia' and nsfw artwork - A FURSONA is a representation of ones self and should not be considered a representation of a real life feral animal (for example, someone dressing younger than they are, rather than actually BEING a child.) They are still meant to act humanoid in nature and a difference in bipedal vs quadrupedal fictional artwork should not be grounds to claim someone has committed a federal offense. It is OKAY to not enjoy that kind of art, but to condemn it to the point of bullying someone is unacceptable. We have witnessed many times Chatlands users share their NSFW fursona artwork (in feral form, or with animal-like genitalia) on platforms such as discord and FurAffinity with no implications, so we are concerned to see suddenly a user with admin status being accused of a crime such as bestiality with no merit. It is also alarming to us to see adult furry art equated to literal child pornography.

- Everyone that we have banned or warned we have solid proof for. They are either via Chatlands logs or Discord logs of those that were involved. There was only ONE user that was brought up to me that may have gotten caught in the crossfire due to the fact using a VPN (which we warn people about using time and time again) has a large chance to overlap IP with a banned account. As I expressed to you privately, if someone has GENUINELY been caught up in a ban because of a mistaken identity, they can submit a ticket about it.

- Being the victim of a harassing group is *exhausting* and stressful. You have expressed to me that you found this "fun" and that it made you laugh, and to see people feeling this way is a little disturbing to me, personally. To find glee in the misfortune, stress, or depression of others is not something to be proud of. You also expressed being proud of creating paranoia, which is honestly a very concerning behavior. This is the point of this topic - we will not stand for bullying behavior. Bullying has huge implications for the mental state of victims.

- Calling someone a name is calling someone a name. You, nor anyone for that matter, gets to pick and choose what is harmful and what is not. Especially since terms such as "pedophile", "neonazi", "zoophile/d*gf*cker" were involved during the ban-hopping.

- You have claimed that we have given out bans "for no reason" or given out warnings for "ridiculous things" thus expressing that we over-moderate... and then here.. You are saying "i'm glad they're doing their job for once that makes a change" as if we do not moderate the chat at all and are absent from it.. So do we moderate too much? Or do we not moderate enough? It is confusing for us as administration to meet our mark when the criticism that we are given is of two polar opposite natures. This is a perfect example of a dilemma that administration teams face fairly often. We cannot please everyone.

- You were not the only one who messaged an administrator, and this post was not SOLELY about the issue surrounding the one group of banhoppers. As expressed in the original message, a user was banned for banhopping and discussing NSFW photography while being under-aged. Users had been messaging administration due to this instance as well (people had misunderstood it for pedophilia) when it was not something we could fully focus on due to the fact we were stuck having to continuously watch and wait for new accounts to pop up. You also seem to have misunderstood the fact that while YES we were active, we were all focused on gathering logs, screenshots, IP addresses, usernames, emails, ect, of users that were involved within the mass ban-hopping. The work does not stop after the ban. There is a whole process we have to go through to make sure we have the information saved. It is hard to us to be actively reading the chat in its full when we are dealing with something that requires a lot of information grabbing.

- The report towards me was also based upon the assumption that a user was heterosexual, which they are not. And while aggression towards pan and bi individuals for using certain phrases is NOT a can of worms I want to open, the claim that we "didn't do anything" is false because I had stopped it public and have multiple witnesses to this. Assuming users identities or genders is not something that is healthy and further ties in to the bullying problem we have been speaking about.

- Livestreaming a Chatlands page is not against rules, however, the fact that it was used to promote bullying, pack mentality, and repetitive banhopping is concerning. It contributed to the issue in an unwarranted and problematic way, and the users and administration involved have every right to be upset about it. Again, to showcase the stress and misfortune of other people as AMUSEMENT is extremely worrying behavior. It is something we wanted to address.

This post was NOT made to target a specific group of people. This post was made to take a stance against cyber-bullying behavior, which has become much more prominent in the Chatlands community over recent months. The incidents that we referred to here happen to be good examples of the kind of behavior that needs to stop. It was also inevitable that we would have to address what happened due to the amount of confusion that had come along with it to users on the sidelines who were concerned.
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