Bill Rice

You didn't suspect anything beforehand? They've had the highest member count in the game for months now by no small margin, and are largely small nations that log in only enough as not to be grey. Where did you think they were all coming from? Some guy in GWPC has hundreds of friends who will log in every two weeks for him? Yes, there was never hard evidence against them, but there has been reason to suspect that they've been doing something shady for quite a while now. It's also been pretty well-known that they were coming from another site, even outside of NPO's direct circle, and I find it difficult to believe that you've only heard this accusation in the past week. Edit: Sifted through the 29 page Google Doc. Apparently back in August @Alex was given the reason of 'it was for a waifu body pillow raffle'. That was quite a while ago - how on earth did it take this long to suspect that GWPC might not be for body pillow raffles? Doesn't having to start playing P&W (obviously, with the intention of having them initially join GWPC) to enter a raffle violate the rules in the first place?

I think the thing that really has people up in arms about this how long it took for GPWC to be hit by admin action. Once Nova Riata were suspected of cheating, admin investigations and the banhammer came within days. Their allies quickly abandoned them, and they were declared on by almost all of Orbis. Quite a different reaction from their allies to the current scenario. GPWC have been around for almost 6 months now, and have easily had the highest number of members of any alliance in the game for much of that. It doesn't take a genius to work out that they've probably got something fishy going on behind the scenes. It's been an open secret for months now - I was able to ask a regular member of my alliance "Hey, what's up with GWPC?", and they basically told me it as it was. We're not nearly close enough to NPO that our regular members know their secret plans - it was just that well-known. Suddenly, without warning, all of Orbis has been told "Actually, this thing that's been an open secret for half a year, is against the rules, and we're going to be banning immediately." Gee, I wonder why people are upset? I accept that gathering strong evidence against GPWC must have taken a while, but @Alex must have known that GWPC was 'human botting' for at least a few months. Even without hard evidence, that he's only taken action now shows an awful lack of communication. If, a month or two ago, there had been a forum post to the effect of "As a reminder, human botting for services is against the rules. Don't do it. Looking at you, GPWC." would have gone a long way. Would they have stopped of their own accord? Possibly, possibly not. But it would have made it far more obvious to the rest of us that, actually, GPWC is breaking one of the many rules, we should maybe distance ourselves from them. (I know, the rules are right there, but can anyone here claim to know them all off by heart? Never had to ask Alex if something is against the rules? Quite a lot of people ITT don't seem to even realise that it was a rule in the first place!)

Was the blue space in the logo planned all along, or did somebody drop out which forced you to change it? Looks a little off, but maybe that's just me. Congratulations anyway.

In other news, the Pope is Catholic.

I'm still waiting on those 'troops' that you had 'in the works', you know.

Not really, they're just somewhat close to your size and both of your protectors are at war so won't intervene. And then there's Pantheon.

Godfury declare war on you, but only now you recognise that they're hostile? Also, if you really weren't militarised and prepared for possible involvement as a protectorate of the major targets of the war, that, was pretty stupid of you.

So, this?