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From the GoG crew to you, happy holidays! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tired of the over-moderated, slowmode-enabled PnW server? Just want to discuss or rant or meme in peace? Join the PnW unofficial community server. Still moderated but not intolerably so. https://discord.gg/rtsNBV2 I'm personally tired of slowmode for 1-30mins being enabled in a server where the community gathers to discuss the game they play. Come join the Freefolk over on the unofficial server and stop kneeling to discord mods who... have questionable judgement at best.

We aren't fabricating a damn thing. We report ableism, slurs, and other general Bad Things Which Are Against The Rules when we see them. Also, as a note - "pre-censored" images doesn't make the image okay if it's baldly associated with Bad Things. The solution to bigotry, dog-whistling, and other forms of hate isn't to politely ignore it and hope it will go away. The solution is to tell the people doing it to stop, then (figuratively) beat them with a clue-by-four until they get the picture. The only problem with moderation is how little of it is done proactively. The thing you don't like is how unimpressed we are with your pseudo-intellectual BS, and just how much foully poisonous crap we've dredged up to report to Alex without even trying. The solution to not being allowed to risk cutting yourself on your own edge is posting on Stormfro- oh, wait, they got shut down. Never mind.

You are literally the bad faith troll reporter I'm talking about. Some GOONS post are bad, but most of them are routine and obviously and easily solvable. You, on the other hand, have flooded the sub-forum with nonsense. You googled "salted meat slur" and used it as the basis of a report, the second time in a week someone I've seen someone try to make an argument out of their own lack of understanding about search functions. You scour GOONS for nitpicks, but you miss shit like guys naming their cities actual slurs. You didn't "hold up a mirror", you had a protracted tantrum that stemmed from your own failure to understand the moderation system, and your bleed over of in game grief. Alex shouldn't have to keep coming back to this, because the fundamentals of the situation do not change. They were the same when I started playing four years ago, they are the same now. You aren't owed a look behind the curtain. The moderation rules have been consistent for ages. Some mods have been better than others, but the fundamental system has remained the same. I genuinely hope, for the good of the game, that in the next such whinging, mewling, idiotic thread, Alex simply tells you lot to shove it and play by the rules.

Honestly, the moderation system has been the exact same for years. It's just getting more inputs now. If you don't trust Alex to moderate, even though he's been clearer and more thorough than most moderators on other sites, you need to stop playing the game if it's that big of a deal for you. Alex has been meticulous in his moderation, even when it would be way more efficient to just ban an obvious bad faith actor on the first offense (like, for example, San Furtando accusing him of taking "jew money"). This mis-characterization of the moderation situation is beyond disingenuous, and it's no surprised that it's devolved into our umpteenth thread about "Communism is worser, why can't I roleplay as Herman Meyer". The ruling has been made clear, over and over again. Just because people have knowledge about what the dog-whistles are that you don't, doesn't mean they aren't dog-whistles. And even if they aren't, that still has to pass through the judgment of the small business owner who operates the game and the forums. The anti-moderation whining and bad faith troll reports have reached new heights of cringe. If this game fails to meet your lofty expectations, you're more than free to go join that other project. I'm sure you'll be playing that game any day now.

Good evening and welcome to Hardball World N-AHHH!!! TO THE BUNKER!!! (alarms sound) (transmission stops) Sorry about that folks. A rioter somehow managed to break into the secure undisclosed location this is being broadcast from. Now you may be thinking "Rioters? In Hardball?" Let me explain. -In the TKR-GOONS baseball tournament, the Hardball Hardballers were swept in humiliating fashion, losing 4 straight games to the Gay Space Union of Birdonia. Immediately following the game, millions of furious citizens took to the streets, setting fires, breaking windows, and burning life-size models of the players. Three players have mysteriously disappeared since the riots began, and the rest of the team has gone into hiding. Martial law has been declared and soldiers are desperately trying to calm the frenzied masses. -King Changeup admits that Gay Space Unions are by far superior to any other form of government, and it was reflected in Birdonia's performance against Hardball. -Hardball has pledged to stop the use of fossil fuels for energy. All energy will come from renewable sources such as old baseballs, solar, and wind. -Despite all the unrest and emergencies in the past few in-game years, work on the two previously announced infrastructure projects has continued. Hardball Airways has received the first of it's new Radiant 350 jets for testing, and we plan to implement the software for the new Air Traffic system in the next few months. The first of 3 planned subway lines in Shortstop has opened. -High Council of Hardball elections are being planned for Spring of 2020 (Earth time). So far all but one council members are running for re-election and 3 hopefuls have already declared their intent to run. (Hardball is a monarchy with an elected high council that advises King Changeup on national issues) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! ~~King Changeup 12/20/19

You've already called yourself out as a bad faith actor, with your "holding up a mirror" admission. The best argument you can currently muster is that ignoring things makes them go away, which is absolutely not the case. Which is also supposed to give way to these mythical "constructive steps." Tell me, how do you solve a problem without addressing it? Your also misconstruing my arguments in bad faith, which is no surprise. Nowhere do I say that we need to have blind faith in Alex. I simply point out the power structure involved in the ownership of these boards and fact that the system has been the same for years. In fact, I implied that I don't have faith in Alex's moderation. I believe good moderation requires summary bans of obvious bad faith actors, but the only accounts on the forum that have been subject to that, to my knowledge, and Chinese bots. I think Alex is far to lenient, the warn point system is far to easy to game and obvious deliberate game violations never result in a summary ban unless the nation is inactive. Or a multi. You seem to be fixated on the fact both you and GOONS are reporting things, but there is nothing similar out of the fact that they are reports. You've fall prey to linear thinking, evaluating to things to be the same because they share an element, even after you've constructed your scenario. Also, repeating key words of my argument back to me doesn't make a counter argument. It's just a lazy, uninspired attempt at whataboutism.

Happy Holidays to Orbis and a Happy New year STATEMENT GIVEN BY HAPPY HOLIDAYS ADVISOR DATED 12/20/2019

This is the perfect analogy for methrage’s goon crusade

Happy holidays, everyone!

Feel the love Orbis ❤️

As the first Global Market Manipulator and embargoed by an entire alliance, this weak attempt is disappointing, EM. You can do better. Hope you are enjoying your Vacation mode though.

Lol I just assumed we wanted to embargo GOONS cause their members are so annoying lol

Seeing as this is very forum specific, I'm moving to Moderation Support, the proper place for a discussion on forum rules. But again, I'd like to reiterate, that "moderation as a weapon" is nowhere in the forum rules. I don't intend to discourage people from making reports. Yes, it's tedious for us (the moderators) to go through frivolous reports. However, I'd rather have that problem than people just not reporting things because they're afraid they're going to be punished for making a report. We use reports as a way to know what to examine. Just because someone reports something does not mean we will agree that there's anything actually rule-breaking, and I'd argue that in most cases we just close reports with no action. So, I don't really see any harm in there being extra reports. And, because I know it's coming "blah blah you BANNED my FRIEND for saying X which is RIDICULOUS! All because of a REPORT" I see people whining and complaining constantly about how someone was unfairly punished because of some arbitrary report. What you certainly do not realize is that there is always more information you are not privy to. Maybe the report was something stupid, like "so and so said X" and X isn't bad. However, after we review the player's account and history, we may find other rules violations unrelated to the report, or additional context that isn't obvious to you that makes "X" actually rule-breaking. I'm sure it's convenient for someone who gets a moderation strike to characterize is as the stupidest thing in the world, but if you just take their explanation at face value without getting the other side of the story and then complain all over the forum, you're being ridiculous. I, and the forum mods, are not unreasonable people. We understand the motivations of many of the reports we receive, and take that into consideration when investigating and making judgements.

I know it was all fun and games harassing folks with lynching "jokes" and using the slightly more obscure Waffen SS insignia on your nation pages. I'm not sorry that you're upset that the free ride is over and feel the need to lash out and project your insecurities onto us. You're welcome to delete your nation if you don't like not being allowed to toss slurs around anymore, though. Nobody will miss you.

Big talk from some noob scrub. Again, not first nor last alliance that had feud with Arrgh. Arrgh had it's ups and downs, and one thing we never done, was mesure our wellbeing by some silly graph score. And I have a feeling Arrgh's gonna outlive your bs "cancelled tip" alliance. Hey! Show the full stat page scrub! I might not be #1 on it anymore, but I'm still there! (also marked all current and former members that I'm aware of at least)

Hello again, mud-slinging thread - Let me just nip the two most common complaints in this thread off in the bud here and now: 1. A red armband with a white circle and a black icon inside that circle is 100% reminiscent of Nazi iconography, even without the swastika. Please choose different colors for your 'totally-not-a-Nazi' armbands in the future, or don't use images with military figures wearing armbands at all. 2. Noctis Anarch Caelum, your ally (who for some reason hasn't joined the forums to personally defend themselves despite being on the same network as you), was asked to take down a message from their Nation description that called for the 'extermination' of real peoples. They refused and were duly warned by moderators. In response, they doubled down and put in their nation description that 'the eternal Goon must be EXTERMINATED.' Not only were they just told by moderators not to call for 'exterminations' of peoples any more, they were also using a very specific phrasing that was last used by Nazis in relation to Jews. Their hateful page of inflammatory text was taken down yet again, and now their nation description is calling the people who moderate and play this game Nazis. Noctis, you need to stop blaming the moderators for doing their jobs and spend more time keeping your ally's rule-breaking outbursts in line before they get their third strike and are banned.

Why would I reach out/engage with someone I don't want to in order to enforce the rules of a game that I don't own? That's literally the entire point of moderation. If anything, Alex should get more moderators so he can focus on other things.

If you notice something wrong in a post, avatar, nation name, city name, etc. try to message the player fist and try to solve without covering the moderation with reports so Alex can use his time to fix the game

Why do you envision our alliance as something apocalyptic with you riding in with your two friends to lead everyone else to victory? Yes, Alex is actually really Jazz, but that shouldnt discourage you. Perhaps don't make grandiose claims you are unable to back up in the future?

Since this is the suggestion forum, a suggestion: come to terms with the fact that we're not acting in bad faith. We want a cleaner game, not just for us, but for all who play here. Spend some time on introspection. Try examining the situation from a more objective angle.

I see. So when Goons does it, then it's fine, but when anyone else does, then it's "bad faith". Goons fabricates meanings to words and reports pre-censored images, and has flooded the subforum with hundreds of bogus reports, yet one report is too many? On top of that, you don't even address the hypocrisy inherent in your own tantruming about 'dog-whistles', preferring to give hatred and bigotry more of an audience and more legitimacy rather than take actual constructive steps to discourage it? And you declare that blind trust, in the face of indications to the contrary, is what Alex is fundamentally owed? You are the problem. You are abusing the system, you are knowingly and intentionally spreading what you profess to hate. There are solutions to this problem, but it is abundantly clear that neither you nor Goons nor apparently even the moderation staff are interested in constructive efforts, only hypocrisy.

Happy holidays!

And a "We are Groot" to you too!

It's pronounced "Merry Christmas" in America or "Happy Christmas" if you are British Alternatively, one could also say "Happy Hanukkah" if they so choose

Happy holidays people, wish to everyone a good new year ??? Hope coa A will take resolutions and finally start building valuable stuff we can destroy for next year ?, come on guys you can do it, ? we believe in you, I BELIEVE IN YOU !!! #MakeItHappend

Y'know what? I agree. I agree completely that, in light of Alex finally coming forward with actual information about where moderation strikes have fallen, he has been much more reasonable than it first appeared. I for one was misled by the number of times that he spoke in direct encouragement of the hundreds of spam Goons reports. Those were giving me a false impression that the cringe reports were being successful, and I'm glad to now be disabused of that. I was wrong, and I'm thankful to @Alex for both that and for his coming forward with genuine information that puts the matter to rest. Furthermore, I agree completely with you in that the anti-moderation whining and bad faith troll reports have gotten much, much worse since Goons began making them and baiting them, and to be fair I'm indeed partly at fault for contributing to that as well. I lost my patience, and I apologize for that. Holding the mirror up to their bad behavior was the last way I thought I could explain Goons' hypocrisy, but that still doesn't excuse either myself or Goons. As for dog-whistles, though? Tell me, are the controversial if not disgusting, and certainly arbitrary, meanings of those obscure codes actually less prevalent and less disseminated when you cause public drama over them than when they're simply ignored as the stupid white noise that they are? Or if necessary privately reported as harassment? Does the drama of a public call-out, both IC and OOC, actually give the code less of an audience? I'd be surprised if it were so.

If NE1 elss wans 2 see wut goons R up to ovr at HQ SPINEFUND SUPER SECRET GOONBASE, click dis linke: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3897634 Sinsteerly, Da Cowz Shhhhhh don moo to Marx

I've fought Arrgh, fought along side Arrgh, and am in a pirate retirement community. When they first came around I thought their concept was great, but doomed to fail. You might even say they have failed, but the thing about Arrgh is they march to their own beat and thus by their standards are anything but a failure. They're not a conventional alliance and I mean that in the best way. They couldn't have gotten to where they are with the great, and garbage leadership they've had in the past so here's to Arrgh and their 5 years. I wish you continued fun. Ignore the salty comments from those who don't matter. People who come into milestone celebration threads to throw shade have severe insecurity issues.

I'd report this entire OWF as a "Slur" to me and Physically Damaging as I always leave here with headaches, but we out here anyway.

Thankfully, you've funded a lot of Arrgh ads, so we get new victims to join us every day.

It was my mistake, so I let it slide. At this rate, @Noctis Anarch Caelum is going to end up re-banned quickly enough because he can't seem to stop posting in no-discussion forums, so I don't really see what the harm is.

ITT I will be posting handy dandy collections of real authentic quotes from IQ leaders that you can quote any time IQ tries to tell you "No, that didn't happen" To start off with we'll be covering IQ deliberately stalling and/or trolling CA representatives, as well as IQ making the aim of this war to disband blocs/alliances and force players out of the game. More categories will be added as the need arises. This resource has been brought to you by The Council to Restore PURE DECADENCE to Orbis, Dongminion LLC, and Viewers Like You.

“A small town is clinging along the coastline of the great ocean of Orbis. A town that at one time can be called old and at one time young. Filled with houses that seem older than the town, with inhabitants older than both. The well-walked roads laid quiet. The only sound being heard was coming from the cold howls of the December wind. The town looked as if it was dead, the only sign of life coming from the few rays of gleaming light that escaped from behind the well-boarded shutters. The inhabitants were all holed up inside their homes, peacefully sleeping in their beds. If anyone in the town had dared to brave the elements and had looked towards the horizon of the sea, they might have been able to just make out the outline of a ship. If the moonlight had hit it just right, they would surely have noticed that it was unmistakably heading directly towards them. But, as it was, the town laid quiet, as torn up sails slowly moved the dark ship ever closer. At daybreak, the first rays of sunlight illuminated the worn hull of the ship; clear signs of past repairs littered the darkwood that made up the frame of the ship. Every crew member, past or present, seemed to have added their own touch to the old ship. Pirates independent and free. Battle-hardened beyond belief. Only few of them were there, when the ship set sail for the first time, even fewer can still remember the beginning of those travels, all those year ago, when the ship was still unscarred from battle. As the ship got ever closer to the town, dozens upon dozens of muzzles became visible, as cannons got pushed out the gun port, to the sounds of hard commands from the officers on board, and eager yells from the men, as the ship lined up it broadside. One might have been fooled into thinking that the cannons would have been as worn out as the ship appeared. But no, the sun shined of them like they were new, they looked like they were forged only hours ago. Suddenly, a series of muzzle flashes appeared from the cannons. With a deafening bang, the cannonballs ripped into the town’s buildings. As the town's inhabitants awoke to the screams and explosions, a blue-bearded captain turned over in his bed, mumbling about the noise that early in the morning.” ~ From the memoirs of an unknown sea-traveller It has been 5 years since the first time Jolly Roger was raised over The Freebooting Pirate Anarchy of Arrgh! At that time, a crew of degenerates, criminals, thieves and warriors, led by the gentleman-pirate Ogaden, decided to sail the seven seas in search for booty, new exotic pleasures and glory! Since then, hundreds of pirates have passed from this warmongering alliance. Some of them acquired mythical treasures and retired in other, more peaceful places of the world. Some others never stopped raiding, even if that meant that they would never have it easy and all the Doubloons they would earn from a successful raid would just be used to cover the costs of a less profitable one. Some others just stayed on-board only for a few weeks or even days, before realising that they were not cut for the pirate life All of them though left a part of their body and mind on the Arrgh ship (thus the missing eyes, hands and legs). And many of them got in their turn a part of the ship in them. After 5 years of almost constant warfare and raiding, 60 different alliance wars (at least that many can be remembered by the pirates staying semi-sober every now and then), and 9 different generations of Arrgh admiralty, the merry pirate ship is still sailing all around Orbis, with its pirates keeping their chin up high and their flags even higher. And while Arrgh is far from old enough to drink (then again, Arrgh! has never been much for rules, like the legal drinking age), as Ogaden would have said: “So here's to you, old girl, I raise my glass of rum and salute the Black Jack!” Arrgh!

Hey @Alex While i understand not wanting to punish people for making reports, i think it has become clear a lot of people are now reporting bull in the hopes you may agree with them and issue stikes. It really has gotten out of hand and needs to be resolved. If a word 9,000 years ago, when translated on google 3 times, jumping up and down while typing after petting your kitten and making chicken pot pie may have meant something bad back then, but has no current relevance is reported, it obvs is trying to use moderation as a weapon.(example is obvs fake but u get the point) Its time to step up and solve this issue as the admin of the game

I know different alliances have different reasons for fighting, to still be fighting, seeking peace, or whatever stance you currently have in this war. I don't want to debating the validity of those reasons, and I don't want the thread to go down that route (not that this part will be listened to) knit-picking the reasons people have but I wanted to ask the various leadership a question. Recently a certain idea has been presented by both major sides, that this war is a "zero sum" war, or a "fight to the death". Both sides blame the other for bringing it to this point. My question is why is it? I get wanting to see the other sides pixels burn, I get wanting to defeat them, I get wanting some form of terms for surrender and such. What I don't quite get is why you would want to eliminate the enemy entirely in a game like this. So why is this war a zero sum game now, why is it a fight to the death? What brought it to that point? What events does your side view the other side of having done to cause this? If you're not some level of gov, I'd rather you stay out of the conversation for the most part unless you have something to add to a post of your leadership. If you're just going to troll there are several other threads you can take the opportunity to do so. Having a civil thread would be a nice change of pace, no? Maybe having a respectful conversation about things could even help.

Happy Holidays to everyone May each and every one of you have a delightful Christmas and a beautiful if not stunning beginning of the new Decade!

You were really, really confident we'd be defeated by now and all of a sudden you flee to VM during active wars... It's strange.

look ma', someone's hacking the gibson with json data again!!

yes, lets all contemplate how we can price fix with the api. I love it when non-coders try to figure out what we're doing and make themselves look stupid in front of the people that actually use the api

Have you tried using imagery that doesn't need swastikas and related symbols edited out of them?

Good to know you equate Nazi propaganda with a swastika removed to a bucket of beef though.

It's more likely to cause vertigo with the fake depth. The image seems to cycle once every 2 seconds, giving it a frequency of 0.5 Hertz. Seizure causing images fall in the range from 5 to 30 Hertz. https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/triggers-seizures/photosensitivity-and-seizures

i got banned for no reason and its gay. Thank you

New does not equal impotent. They perform excellently and I’m sure they will... rise further into the air.

I consider this war a "fight to the death" because of the absense of an option to peace for my alliance. Should those circumstances change, then it follows logically that this is no longer a fight to the death. That's not what you want to hear or talk about though, so let me see if I can tackle this question... It's a hard one as the answer isn't straightforward. There is a myriad of events and factors which affect the nature of this war. Let's try though: 1. There are historical grievances in play which go back to 4 years ago as well as more recent grudges. Knightfall and this war are the first 2 wars where a side which had incurred a lot of consecutive losses over the years, managed to flip the script and have their old nemesis at its knees. Irrespective of how they got their: They find themselves in a position of power and scores are to be settled. I will leave my opinions on the justification or validity of these grudges at the door. That's a conversation for another time. - NPO and The Covenant are alliances you can think of as ones with grievances going back years. BK's grudge fest with TKR is at this point a few years old, but relatively new compared to the other ones. 2. Simultaneously, a lot of the party components making up coalition A just had their pipe dream shattered. t$ awoke from the nasty reality that its project with NPO - a project intended to move the game away from the EMC v IQ grudgefest- is shattered. Both t$ and NPO feel betrayed, and it's opened up a lot of barely healed wounds from past grudges. All diplomatic progress made to mend relations over the past year appears undone with the brush of a stroke (on both sides). Again, leaving personal convictions on those events aside. KETOG and Chaos had their ideological utopia of a fractured minisphere world with short wars between multiple competing spheres shattered. Having been forced back into bipolarity, they view the remerger of NPO-BK as not just an existential threat, but the manifestation of the playstyle they sought to avoid. Consequently, the view exists among a lot of coalition A parties, the war is both ideological and existential in nature. That combination raises the stakes significantly, and hence you see a higher degree of defiance. 3. The combination of the import of an NPO-centric GPWC and the invasion of a war-centric GOONS has not just impacted the battlefield; it has shifted the balance of power within coalition B to a degree where the succesful occupation of coal A alliances is no longer contingent on the more moderate fringes. This allows for the more radical elements within coalition B to force their objectives (which involve maximizing damage by delaying the war) without having to concern themselves with the fringes. Fringes in turn are pressured to follow for the ride for fear of retalliation (see: OWR/CTO). Where normally war weariness among moderates would begin factoring in, forcing the conclusion of a war before total annihilation has been reached, this is mitigated. 4. The game mechanic do tend toward linear increase in average war length As the game ages stockpiles increase and alliances can sustain their wars close to indefinitely. 5. Certain parties have been unable to move past old grudges, even if one could technically consider it fulfilled. This point is a continuation of the other points. A lot of people on both sides have been entrenched to a point where discourse is no almost no longer really possible. Trust has evaporated and paranoia rules the day. This lends itself well to self fulfilling prophecies. There's a lot more than can be said. Maybe i'll chip in again later. This should be a good conversation starter.

Once step closer to ending global warming.