Regarding recent concerns that have surfaced on CL
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2020 9:20 pm
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.
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.