IndieGameEnthusiast · @IG_Enthusiast
9th Jun 2014 from TwitLonger
On why I was banned from TouchaArcade and why I think it was unfair
I was banned from TouchArcade for comments on another forum, never received a warning. Here's my side of the story in 140 character chunks. (I'm currently working on an open letter to post on my blog that is more detailed and less choppy)
As usual, this story is best started from the beginning. In mid-May, a forum member started a private group on TA, named the Elite group
The group was meant as a private place to discuss games and IAP. The forum members believed "private" group meant private from mods
In fact, it simply meant private as not public, required a private invitation to join.
One member made some silly foolish comments to see if the mods could in fact see the private group. They could.
This member was placed in time out. The group was deleted. While I had joined the group, I had never commented and did not know about this.
This member took to Twitter, admonishing TA, Eli, Jared, and co. over issues such as privacy and IAP discussion on the forums.
I also commented on Twitter, questioned the unusual comment on how the group members were “terrorists” and “troublemakers”
The group founder made a very stupid rash decision and decided to send Eli a very cruel death wish kind of email. He was banned from TA
Soon after the member who had commented on Twitter was also banned, for his group comments, being associated with the member who sent the email
It was around this time that I joined the Chatroom forums. It had been started by a TA member and several members and mods were TA regulars
The Chatroom has an IRC-style chat box on its page, which made it was simple and easy to chat and discuss stuff
I did criticize TA in these forums. Not the forum itself or the members or developers, but how F2P discussion was handled by mods and staff
Some of my criticisms made on the Chatroom forum:
“It wasn't till I came to this forum that I realized how unfairly censored TA had become”
"If you can't even discuss something as important as IAP on an IOS forum of all places, that's not fair. "
" Yeah, pretty disappointing that talking about IAP there is like walking on eggshells."
Later I would criticize the mods for their behavior behind the scenes and Eli for how he sometimes could be rude to members
I was soon made aware that my actions and comments off of TA were being monitored by TA mods, that I "definitely need to be watched"
This scrutiny was quite uncomfortable and made posting anywhere feel like walking on eggshells.
We also learned that some of the mods somehow tracked down a member’s Facebook page and mocked him in the mod forum on TA
F2P discussion on TA, the mod's behavior, my scrutiny off and on the forum drove me to email Jared Nelson and Arnold Kim about my concerns
Jared stated that 1) constructive feedback on how F2P affects a game is allowed in the forums
and 2) the mods' behavior was inappropriate and they would be reevaluated
Now this brings us to most recently the Sky Force thread on TA. Many members began posting about the game's F2P structure and timers
Myself included. These were my posts in that forum:
http://i.imgur.com/Mc8LBGX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/uRyZKwa.jpg
Soon Eli decided to remove all IAP-focused posts from the main thread and create a separate thread only for IAP discussion.
Any discussion of IAP or the F2P would be removed from the main thread and shunted to the IAP thread.
According to Eli, the gameplay experience and F2P structure are separate, F2P doesn't affect the gameplay
So such impressions don't belong in the main thread:
http://i.imgur.com/mwVA057.png?1
I responded to this
http://i.imgur.com/eHAgSdJ.png?1
Among all this Sky Force drama, a forum member was placed in time out for a year. I thought that was unfair for him to singled out
I emailed Jared stating as such, that it seemed unfair that he would be singled out when there were pages of comments about the F2P issue
Later that night, I returned to TA to discover I had been placed in time out for six months:
http://i.imgur.com/IpoZQYV.png?1?9508
If bashing is criticizing how the mods operate and how F2P discussion is handled on TA, than yes I was bashing TA.
I was surprised that I was in time out for responses off the forum. As well as the fact that I had never been given a warning or reprimand
In fact in my two years at TA, I had never received any kind of warning by mods or Eli. This was my first infraction on the forums.
I emailed Jared asking why I received a lengthy time out for a first infraction and why my comments off the forum were being monitored
About an hour later, I returned to TA and found I had been permanently banned
One does not expect the mods and staff of one forum to punish you for actions done on another forum.
That's like if I was negative about NeoGAF on IGN forums and then found I had been banned from NeoGAF.
It also meant that despite Jared saying the mods shouldn't keep tabs on me, I was still banned for comments made elsewhere
I spent much time and effort on TA. Always directing devs to make threads there so they could spread the word or find beta testers
Beta testing games myself to provide feedback and help the game improve
Posting in-depth impressions both of pre-release games, betas, and releases
(i.e. Here's my Kiwanuke post: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=3222286&postcount=29)
As well as my David impressions: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=3191398&postcount=4
I started so many upcoming threads that Bulkypix's rep on TA mistaked me for a developer on three different occasions
I started the Let's Discuss IAP thread (now which over 60% of the posts are from banned/in time-out members
I always conducted myself in a respectful manner, I never cursed a member out.
If I did discuss IAP, it wasn't "F2P sucks" but how the structure affected the pacing or experience or made the game feel too grindy, etc
Maybe I was too harsh and incessant about F2P on TA, but that was only because I feel it's only hurts IOS gaming and developers
http://i.imgur.com/hwAr77c.png?1?2676
But I feel it's unfair and wrong to ban someone for critical comments made on an unrelated forum
As well as unfair to ban someone for their first infraction ever, without so much as an email or PM warning me about my actions first.
So with this in mind, I send out this plea to Eli, Jared, and the mods to please reconsider my ban.
At the very least, put me back in time out. Even with all this, I still would like help out the developers and members of the forum