This is my last weekend
 

After the SvS contest that Chris put together, I will not be participating on POF.

Rackat

Why mate? School? Or something else?

NO! :( AW Rackat :(

I will inform you of the reason:

A post from Racket yesterday mentioned cheaters in great detail yesterday, and though most of the post was perfectly aceptable the names themselves had to be removed.

The policy on this is Trolling/Naming Names (also referred to as Blacklisting - which is ileagal by law) and as policy I removed the names and as the reason for the edit I put the Policy Name in the edit line.

As a good and very active poster who I respect - instead of the 'rubber stamp' message to Racket quoting the post and listing the offense, blah, blah - I sent a simple friendly PM letting him know that I had to remove the names but agreed with the post so all was good :) This was not necessary - but done out of respect as I watch several posters with great insight into the game and enjoy their comments and posts.

Unfortunately - The policy Edit in the post he has taken personally. This was not the intent - not sent to him in any way in any message.

Now - I will not stand by and allow offences to take place, and this the only time I will come close to explaining my actions to anyone. I consider myself and the other Mods here very fair and in many cases we could take larger steps when I and others for the most part find it unecessary... if the train runs smooth, why hit the breaks :)

I wish you fair winds mate, and hope that you see past the policy label of one post to continue on.

Max

I am not an attorney, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I believe the law referenced in the policy is for actual names. I said the name of the avatar used in the game. I doubt very seriously that his character's POTCO name is his real life name, and if it is, his family has a very unique last name.

My understanding of the law referenced is blacklisting "Actual" people. I do not believe listing the cheater's character name is in fact not "blacklisting". I do not have access to his personal information via this website, Disney's website, nor in game. I only know his character name. It is in no way identifying the actual real life person.

I understand the need to err on the side of caution, but equating calling out cheaters to trolling is a little overboard. Perhaps a seperation of trolling from the naming names would have helped. To be honest, I was flabbergasted, angered, and incredulous that the edit was for "Trolling", I saw that word and it set me off like a rocket. I am a lot of things, but a troll is not one of them.

I appreciate that you sent the PM in a friendly manner, but I have been on line for over 15 years, dating back to my time in the Military using the alt net sites and WAN's for the military. My definition of a troll is vastly different than what was indicated by the edit. I have dealt with trolls as a moderator, admin, and member of other forums, and to be equated with that type of person, even if it was just in the edit, was a little bit too much for me.

I hold no ill will towards you, or the other mods, but I do not feel what I did was illegal, nor was it akin to trolling.

Rackat

LOL!!!! :D And my second great laugh today... that priceless Its too bad many here will not get that joke Racket :)

I know you were flabbergasted (oh I KNOW... I got the PM LOL :D ) Of course this was not the intent at all (I know - I'm guilty of it once myself... a long time ago on these very boards - you could try to find it but that thread was deleted by Mods many moons ago and the day after I realised it was the best decision ever :) )

Well, we could open a Thread to debate the term BL in the Pirates Parley :D And as you've now dated yourself and I have been on the internet long before the letters WWW came along (ahh.. Mosaic.. now THAT was a Web Browser ;) ) we both agree times have definitely changed.

No worries mate - I will still be posting as much agains cheats against players as you do (once I finish this DECK... these contractors are driving me crazy) and Zep will have to Mod 'remind me' probably that some of my posts are way out there - but I don't take it personally - I just fix it and move on :)

By the way - Gl with the weekend even everyone - I cannot attend I don't think :( But will be dropping in from time to time to see results (just like the olympics :D )

Edit: I stand Corrected (well I'm correcting myself) - The Policy is Flaming / Naming Names - not Trolling / Naming Names. When typing the policy Name last night I must of somehow looked ant the screen the wrong way. I just noticed this myself - and will make the adjustment to the other post... once I can find it :)

Edit 2: Nevermind - Racket has already done the edit - this job gets easier every day :D

Hey mates, a little input from a guy you probably don't need or want input from:

Every good forum that is managed well has these little issues. Everybody needs to learn to deal with it. The mods have a difficult job and often times have to make a gut-feeling decision. On a good forum, once that decision is made, the entire management team is going to stick with it and stick together.

Great news--it keeps real trolling and flaming non-existent. I know because I have served as both administrator and moderator on other boards. It's a tough job and there's no way to do the job well and keep everybody happy.

Have I had my posts edited/deleted here? You bet I have! Do I take it personally? Heck no! These mods and admins are doing a bang-up job and I wouldn't want it any other way. It's their work that keeps this forum in such great condition.

Kind of like in the game itself--if you're taking it personally and getting all flustered, it's probably time for a break.

I hope you do come back and post more. I enjoy your input.


P.S. About my last post that got deleted--sorry. It was supposed to be humorous.

It may sound glib, but if it had actually said flaming rather than trolling, I would not have had such an averse reaction. "Despise" is not a strong enough word for the way I feel about trolls. And I feel more strongly about cheaters.

Mosaic was good. I miss a lot of the indie browsers that were out there. I used to use Netscape Navigator when it first came out, and I have tried Mozilla, and a few others. But, have gotten lax in my elderly years and just use Internet Explorer. If you have any suggestions for a good indie browser let me know.

The first time I used a WAN was 1989, and then when I got out of the Service, I bought a new HP with a 28.8 modem and I was flying around the net. LOL. Now I have FiOS and a modem just makes me cringe. :psmiley27:

I won't debate the legality of the BL, unless I stay in a Holiday Inn Express the night before. So, no worries. :degen:

Rackat

Well, as i see it RACKAT is RIGHT..

If you look up pirate search in the community channel, and even type my name, which i thought was UNIQUE, it comes up with SEVERAL "Sassy" names.. so, i don't see how posting the name of someone is a violation, since it's not their FACTUAL name, i hope, since that would be BREAKING a rule set by DISNEY... yanno, PERSONAL INFORMATION and all..



So, what's the big deal??

Cheaters should be exposed.. If i cheated in svs, not only should Disney be informed of the cheating, but my score gained, gold gained, and such should be removed as it was not HONESTLY earned, and after three violations, i would be suspeneded and upon my forth violation, banned.. Harsh? Not in my mind.

Remember they will be holding a cheaters contest this weekend.. So, all you cheaters, have fun and win those prizes!!! [Yeah, cuz that's who's gonna get them..]

Sassy,

I appreciate the support, but I was wrong. We may feel that it does not violate the law, but it violates POF policy. I would prefer that we be allowed to post avatar names and guild names that we find cheating, but we can't. I think it would go a long way to curtailing the cheating, but it is what it is.

Maximus typed "trolling" rather than "flaming" as the reason for edit, and I understand the distinction well. Knowing that it is flaming makes all the difference, to me. The Mods here are over all a good lot, and they do a thankless job. Let's move on.

Thanks,

Rackat

*and now boys and girls - its time for.... Maximv's Multi-Quote of the Day! :D*

Now this I enjoy - an indepth discussion on a topic :)

I never said Racket was wrong in his orginal post - and in fact many of us fully agree with his post (the one where the edit took place).

Naming Names in a negatative light - in any properly moderated forums - is considered Flaming / Trolling. The definition tends to sway a bit from Forum to forum (and in this I admit to the typo - when you have several Browser windows open its easy to 'cross-read' them - and I'm only human :) ).

In a public light of a privately owned forum (and as the Internet proves time and again via the news) people posting information about themselves or anyone else always comes back around full circle (people not being hired via Facebook for example). As this IS a children oriented site whcih trys its best to keep everything family-friendly, there are Policies and Guidelines for posting here which you and all other posters argeed to when signing up (I'm gonna come back to this though ;) )

Of course, we're quiet the understandable bunch, so for the most part smaller infractions are just usually corrected without issue.

Easy to say - hard to put into practice. And here's the problem:

'You hope...' - the problem here is 'you hope' doesn't cut it.

I actually know several younger kids in the game who have actually used their names. They like many others don't bother reading the 'Terms of Agreement' or 'Policy' or anything else and just click the OK Button. Now not only do we have concerns of 'others making bad remarks' against them - but now LOTS of baddies crawl out of the woodwork with the potential to harm a child.

I mean - really - how many times does one read all those ToS agreements? As my previous remarks note: did you read them on this site before clicking the OK Button? Common... almost everyone just accepts them and moves on :)

But here's an even worse problem - I know of one pirate who used his FRIENDS real name as their pirate... so now not only do we have someone who could potentially casuse issues and be reported (note: the person is not a cheater and is actually a really good player, just an example here), but then the issue becomes one that its the friend who they come after (and pays the price).

Using an alias or a.k.a does not matter since these can be traced back to the orginal person (it may take effort, but it is done). As I did not stay at an Express last night either (though I'm booking a reservation right now LOL :D ) all the legal jaron that goes with this would neeed to be explored - but in light of POF Policy it does not matter - Naming Names in a bad light is not allowed - real or otherwise :)

As for reporting to D, thats exactly what should happen! Send them the people who are cheating - thats what the Report Button and its function is for! But - their Policy coveres this - ours does not. Names there are reported without others seeing them except those who control the accounts - here - its the world - and its a big world with big points of view :)

Totally Agreed! Racket, myself and many others I'm sure agree with this statement - in fact forget three times... they should MAYBE get one retry... from the beginning - stripped of everything.

But this is NOT a thread on cheating, it is a thread of a good poster who in another thread just went 'slightly' over the line and the post was fixed - and the 'post correction reason' was taken more personally than what was expected.

I would hope that stands corrected now - and this discussion on cheating can move back to this post:

Countering the Invincibility Glitch

Well thats what the Counter thread was made for - so cheaters never win nor prosper... I agree it wil be tough - but never give in! :)

Off to that Express Room now ;)

Edit: Aw darn... while typing this Racket posted and made everything all washy LOL - now its not as fun ;)

I note that the reason the post was edited is not listed as "washy".


::looks at Maximus::

Now, go check in to the Holiday Inn Express!

In regards to the naming of names subject.
I think yall know I absolutely HATE cheating...
If your using a "name" thats in the game, calling that person a cheater, and that name is in the list of pirate names more than once, then you are accusing everyone with that name of being a cheater, just because ONE of them made bad decisions.

Is that fair?

How many stories do we hear these days about important people having issues at airports because thier names match some expatriot's or terrorists?

I know that I don't look back to my earlier posts to see what the moderators here have edited or removed - the two times I have noticed were accidental (resulting in quite a bit of outrage both times.)

The POF policy of not naming character names is wrong and unacceptable. That moderators can (and apparently do) simply quash messages without notification is also unacceptable. Until I read about ten messages on this thread, I had no idea that some of my posts "violated" that absurd policy - I can't imagine what the moderators have done to those posts. Do you replace names with "[Name removed by policy 23 section 4]" or something? Or delete the post?

I too, understand very well what a tedious and thankless task being a moderator is. But the POF policies are out of whack. There is no reason for them to make the astronomic leap from "pirate name" - particularly ones that can't be given or family names in the English language - to personal name.

Likewise, it is inexplicable why the moderators are able to directly edit the messages. Doing so should not be done flippantly (at least not as carelessly as it seems to be used) and needs to require notification. The negative feedback I received was about "tone," not about violating an obscure and counter-intuitive policy. But that wasn't politely in a private message - that itself was spammed on the thread itself, IIRC. Blacklisting, indeed.

Is the Holiday Inn Express thing a movie reference? It's been a couple years since I've spent a night in one - they had "free" wireless back then.

Rackrat, you aren't using Firefox? *gasp*

Clarification:

My username is Rackat, not Racket or Rackrat. But, knowing I am sometimes forgetful, it's ok. :D

As I said, I have used Mozilla/Firefox in the past, just not recently. I may download the updates and give another run.

Told ya Rackat... ;)

The reference is to their commercials - where after staying in one you become 'super-meg-smart' in all aspects in life... they are actually quiet funny (espically the guy who saves the Nuclear Plant while eating a donut... guess you have to see them - maybe on the Youtube?)

Hmmm, I was gonna type out a 'whole long response' to that... but I've done my one multi-post today ;)

Best to say that most small infractions (a word here or there) we fix and note it in the Edit Log Line of your post, something slightly larger I usually send a note to you just letting ya know that I had to make a change due to the Sites Policies (even when I agree with the post - in this case Rackat's post I actually had no problem with - but as a Mod its the policy), and for major offenses - I pull out the official 'warning/suspensions' page, send you a 'POF message' of the infraction, fix/delete the post and then monitor.

*note: will add 'washy' to my other post when I get home as an Edit reason :D*

::makes note to self::

Check edit reason when Max gets home.

::realizes I won't know when Max gets home::

I'll look later. ;)

I figured more people would get the Holiday Inn Express reference. LOL

man...reading this post was a waste of my time. Good to know I shouldn't be naming names...what about ship names? I've seen plenty of those being called out....m'eh...who knows. This just seems like a huge over-reaction to being 'called' a name on an internet message board...

To Rackat:

I think this has went a little sideways. You have been very informative and have great insight to the game and how it's supposed to be played. I've enjoyed your postings and would be dissapointed if you were not posting on the boards anymore. Hopefully this has been cleared up and yo continue to give you insight, so that new pirates will learn how to play the game correctly.

To the Mods:

Continue doing the great thankless job that you do. We all appreciate the insight that each of you bring to this forum. Sometimes it takes an instance like this to make the forums a stronger place.

This is just my opinion and you can take it for what it is worth!

Actually - reading back now this thread I think has been good overall for everyone.

It gives a bit of insight into what goes on in the Forums everyday from both a poster and a moderators perspective: Its a place to share stories, get out fustrations, and enhances the world which is PotC - all the while showing the interactions of persons and what it takes to make sure everyone gets a 'fair shake' and keep order 'in-ta-house'.

Its an extension of the game which is what it should accomplish, and why many of us show up to read messages every day. We all love playing in a world which we get to leave Real Live behind for a short time and have 'a pirates life for me' :)

And I Edited my Edit Line to include *washy* hehe

Yet you posted.....that you learned something. Perhaps it was not a total waste of your time?

And, perhaps I over reacted to having one of my posts edited for "Trolling". But that is only because I put Trolls just slightly below cheaters. As an aside, it is not mandatory for you to reply to a particular thread. But thanks for sharing your opinion. :)

Agreed on all accounts. :buds:

Indeed.

::checks edit::

washy it is! :laughks2:

Well like others here, I have been around to long on these type of boards. In general I would say its pretty lax here, from other places I have seen in the past. Don't know if any of my posts have been altered, I don't think so, but some have been I am sure right to the point of walking the fine line.

Been tempted to list a number of ships myself a few times. Probably due to frustration of games like this that basically rewards the cheats. This game is heading to the dumpster is likely what most are really most irritated with.

With lack of a tech team that can do anything. Things turn towards beckoning to the cheats with rewards. Its sad and what has brought down so many other past games, but seems to be the tendencies. It can't be unexpected, soon as testing came out I wasn't even on the test server and listed some of the things that would be a problem if it wasn't dealt with. Such as walking off a ship, using grenades or something, which apparently has been discovered and being used with dolls now. Graphic issues, let alone new things like the healing issues.

I just find it hard to believe something is tested for so long and is released in such a mess. Specially when most the cheats were found in such a short time when it went live.

Guess those that are going to participate in this event can always do what they do, run and dock if someone solo comes near their slightly damaged crewed ship, haha.

I rather like the new Holiday Inn commercials, especially the one where they talk about that legendary salesman (fictitious I'd assume, which I assume is a safe assumption). Heh, "No, but he did sell a dozen steak knives to a medic after having a heart attack."

Anyway Rackat, I've been waiting a long time: you leaving or not? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> (Suspension breaker saved for end of post) Just kidding.

lol I HATE CHEATING ALSO. so i am annoyed and probably WILL NOT participate in this CHEATERS contest. i agree.

LOL, no, I'll be sailing the POF seas for a while longer League.

Aye, Sam. The cheater's contest is on this weekend. Good luck to those that try to do it with out cheating.

glad u could get over it, i guess i havnt seen the cheating as much as u, when i do i just move on to a new sever. if disney didnt want it that way they would fix it. so why blame people for taking advanage of it after all they r pirates lol. we dont live in a perfect world as we all know. i dont use it heck dont even know how lol. i just try and enjoy the game and life. sorry but the complaining about the svs cheat is getting old. this is a great site and the mod's do a great job.