Just want to extend my support to the moderators for what I feel is a completely justified and sensible decision. While I’m surprised and disappointed with a lot of the reactions (particularly the reponses that seemingly indicate some people would rather let bigotry fester than “risk” mods “overstepping”… very strange mindset to me), the implementation of the new rule and imo fair response to previous, apparently long-term, issues has been reassuring. I don’t have moderator experience but I know it’s a much more difficult job than I think most people assume, I hope people keep in mind that we on the user side of things don’t usually get to see the vast majority of what has led to these kinds of decisions. That’s all, I hope the mods don’t have too hard a time dealing with the weirdos undoubtedly infiltrating to announce their outrage.
CW: Antisemitic 4chan bullshit
Creators are responsible for the communities that they cultivate, it is as simple as that to me. If your community starts to overflow and cause issues for other platforms of course they’d see it as something to hold you accountable for… So long as they provided opportunities for the author to make it right before the ban then it’s not an overreach of power at all.
I am really sad (and disgusted) to learn all of this, though, as I did enjoy the game. I honestly didn’t expect anything like this from an author here.
Edit; After reading more there does seem to be important context that I was missing so removed that part.
Been on this forum for over 10 years and these rules have been pretty consistent.
Firstly, I agree with the ban. The author in question doesn’t align with the stated company values. I can’t see a way forward for the two to collaborate.
Secondly, if the toxicity is leaking over into the forum from the discord, then they needed to cut the bridge between them. They did just that.
Finally, the issue some are saying is that off site behavior should not affect you anywhere else. I disagree. The issue at hand is that the author created a discord that hosted hate and other such racism. He as the owner of that discord has the responsibility to moderate it. If he cannot do that, he should have closed it.On that same point, this is not a one time thing. This has been a continuous issue that people who lurk this forum have noticed for sometime. The author refused to fix the issues and now cant be upset that actions were taken.
Personally, I like this forum as a safe place for writing. If removing the author , and his audience, is the best way to keep it like that, then by all means, show him the door.
Agreed the fact it seems to have been a long running issue as well adds to the already messy problems the mods have to handle with multiple people from said Discord Server popping on doesn’t make it any better. As someone who did enjoy the game it doesn’t change the issues at all and I approve of the mods stepping in and nipping it in the bud as much as possible. Like to add the demo like mentioned can easily be put anywhere if that’s the problem it doesn’t have to be under COG’s umbrella better they made this choice now than let it get far worse ( though it’s already worse as it is.) and wash their hands of it.
I am honestly not surprised by this. I felt the vibe in his replies in the AC thread when same-sex romance was mentioned.
Okay speaking as a bisexual guy who enjoys aura clash both game and server. The first time I entered the server they were slinging slurs left and right and there was this toxic guy who made feel so uncomfortable. Then I remember gathering the courage and posting once we even argued a bit and I realized this guy was not even that bad, he’s just out of pocket. I hear the most heinous things from that server but I just laugh about it because I know if we met in real life these guys would be just fine to me. The f word and N word is constantly used and I feel no offence by it because it’s just a bunch of guys playing around yes they’re saying their unfiltered thoughts but that’s where it ends they would never seriously attack anyone who’s different I say gay stuff in there all the time we banter and leave it be. There’s people of all races, sexual orientations that some are bound to be controversial but now you’re sinking the whole ship for the actions of a few. Everytime I feel like laughing or saying something that’s kinda naughty I just pop in the server because that’s what it is it’s a bunch of people venting most don’t even have those views same way you guys enjoy fantasy and do things you would never do in real life it’s the same there
You are entitled to go and feel that way within the Discord server that it’s okay and banter and venting.
We reserve the right on this forum to put much harder lines up and that’s what we’ve done.
Your opinions are valid, but it doesn’t take away that many people would feel unsafe in such a community and it’s our job to act in defense of the majority.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
I find it a little baffling that so many people aren’t understanding such a simple decision.
The people and spaces you associate with, whether willingly or unwillingly, reflect on you as a person. Just being on this forum gives me the tiniest connection to that server. This connection isn’t an issue in any way unless it’s joined by various similar connections.
Consistently being involved with a space that allows bigotry shows that you are fine with that behaviour, even if you yourself do not participate. Being a bystander isn’t the worst thing you can do. People make mistakes and that’s fine. The problem comes from repeated lack of action from a person in a position of authority. This wouldn’t have been such a large issue if cultivator-anon had no authority over the server, but he did.
COG mods had to make this decision. They have made it clear what kind of space this is, and they have to uphold those values. This is a very common thing for businesses to do, and COG has been extremely forgiving.
I’m going to keep saying this, if he ran a clean server and kept the Nazis where they belong, namely 4chan due to just basic moderating we wouldn’t have been able to ban him off of this rule.
If the author did the bare minimum in telling people on his thread to not slur. It wouldn’t have taken up so much staff and moderator time which is why they got banned.
The tragedy of this is their making and that of his community who knew this could be a problem for an IP they like but didn’t step up.
The author had so many chances to just do the bare minimum and push back against stupidity but didn’t.
Never played it, definitely never will after seeing the inexcusable and immature (to say the least) behavior that was taking place.
Kudos to Dan and the mod team for your patience and integrity on this issue. It is deeply sad to see “adults” be so close-minded, and blind to their own ignorance.
You stand for nothing, you fall for anything. And anyone willing to fall for and associate with… that… has no place amongst sane people in an inclusive space, with moral compasses and basic respect for their fellow humans; of all sexualities, races, and gender identities. Truthfully, good riddance.
I am as a black bi enby and it honestly depends on what you’re looking at. I didn’t go into Aura Clash wanting anything else outside of being unhinged and OP both things that the story delivered on. But I’m used to cultivator and marital arts stories and 4chan (Dude calls himself an anon it was obvious), someone coming in from Tumblr expecting something that a writer from there would write would not like it. Because 4chan and Tumblr are on two different extremes of the same shit creek.
That being said, I don’t think this ban (at this point in time) was a good idea at all. You guys should’ve put the rule in place and then banned him if (when) nothing changed. Putting the rule in place afterwards just screams overreach no matter how deserved (and it was extremely deserved) it was because there’s no precedence or fine text that truely preceeded it. Alas, regulations are written in blood.
All I will say is Kaoru has been banned for a year for voicing a different opinion than the masses who want Anon drawn and quartered
I’ll say nothing else
What’s exactly the purpose of this thread? Dissenting opinions, unless worded in the most inoffensive, puny way possible are either deleted or inmediatly shut down, with a good dose of implications that the user in question is secretly a nazi and in some cases a ban, while responses kissing the feet of the moderators and in some cases directly accusing others of supporting awful ideologies are allowed to remain no matter how little basis in reality and how infantile they might be.
This is all a circlejerk of moral scandal and posturing where a man that can’t defend himself (because he got banned) has to suffer the vitriol of people that very likely didn’t knew about the topic till yesterday. That is, saving those who actually attempted to dirt him well before the discord even existed, proving once again that root is a personal beef, not any paladin-esque quest to defend the forums.
This thread is sending me lmao. Some of y’all need to open a dictionary and realize that fascism does not simply mean “thing I don’t like.” It is, in fact, the height of clownery to call this forum of all places, fascist.
The CoG mods are not Nazis for banning a guy who consistently took up a disproportionate amount of their time, nor are they “tyrannical” (whatever the fuck that means in this context) for locking his thread.
Some of y’all have been saying “if people don’t like what’s said in the discord, they should leave.” That sword cuts both ways, though. If you don’t like the way this forum is moderated, you are free to hang out with the cretins on 4chan instead, if that’s more your speed. But coming here and acting like this is some sort of mod overreach is ridiculous.
This decision is fully in line with CoG’s values. This isn’t the Agora, it’s an Internet forum created, hosted, and owned by a company that has made its beliefs very clear. Just as Cultivator Anon is free to allow despicable behavior on his server, the mods here are free to ban folks here for engaging in or creating a space for that kind of behavior.
There are some people who, though well-meaning (I hope), are confused and focusing on the wrong thing.
As people who are more knowledgeable than me have said for the nth time, the issue isn’t about the mods trying to control a different forum/server (they aren’t, btw). Its that the said forum/server is spewing blatant racism and bigotry, and some of those users are bringing that hatefulness over here, and the author had made no changes to rectify that, despite being repeatedly told by the mod team.
I can understand that writing an IF is an already huge time and effort consuming task. Not to mention that, for a lot of people, it may not be their full time role and they may have other day jobs and/or responsibilities. So it shouldn’t be expected for authors to constantly monitor/police their fandom.
But that server had such disgusting and vile shit… and not even once did the author told them to tone it down or made a simple comment like, “Hey, don’t be a bigoted racist.”?? Instead he just engaged with the users who were casually slinging hateful slurs, and badmouthing other IFs and authors. Engaging with that kind of hate speech is generally not tolerated anywhere, let alone this forum.
This community is already a niche space, that is also a safe space for people who are (very unfortunately) targeted and persecuted IRL. If queer people can’t feel safe even in such a welcoming and inclusive community, especially when there’s a global rise in hate against them, then it won’t be long till all the problematic behaviors are normalized here.
Also some other people in this thread for some reason:
As someone that rarely pays much attention to the forums and liked Aura Clash when I played it, I’m glad the mods did this and especially that they sent out the announcement because I had no idea the horrible crap that’s gone on in the background.
Like, come on, the guy’s going out of his way to add in extra “anti-gay” code so no one could possibly mod having a same sex relationship, what a hateful little weirdo.
Anyway, good riddance to bad rubbish imo
**Also I would seriously consider just locking the announcement at this point, as fanboys are just going to keep popping in trying to context collapse the whole situation. Just my 2 cents
I agree with that. Everyone has shared their own opinions on the matter.
I think it’s better to close this thread and move on.
Just wanted to say thanks for the long read, needed something to go with my afternoon coffee. But I also wanted to say I appreciate the transparency behind the decision, the apology (although not needed), and for the fact that this thread is even still up. Usually when a situation containing racism, hate speech, etc, happens the thread is normally shut down after the very first mod post. They make a final statement, lock the thread, and move on, in the act of “preventing escalation” or “protecting the community.” But here? I mean we still up which is something!
And the best part? People are semi-reflecting, disagreeing, evolving, doubling down, calling each other out, accusing strangers of harboring alt-right tendencies and moral cowardice in the same breath. Is any of it going to change the outcome? Absolutely not. But that doesn’t mean it’s pointless. At worst, it’s entertaining. At best, it’s a good way to just let people vent, voice their thoughts, and try and help others understand what this new rule means.
Unfortunately I think instead of reflecting on how good this is for the community, some people need to understand this.
- If you’re defending a space full of racist and homophobic “jokes” as just “edgy gamer humor,” don’t act shocked when platforms don’t want you around. That’s not 1984, that’s basic cause and effect. And there’s a big difference between being next to toxic behavior and being the one running the room where it happens.
This is the part I’m seeing getting lost in the noise, and here’s my two cents:
This wasn’t “guilt by association” this wasn’t “someone said something bad in a thread you posted in” nope, someone is cultivating an off-site community that spills over into this one repeatedly, spreading moderation resources and discomfort for users. You don’t get to say “but it’s not linked anymore” if the people you encouraged in that space keep showing up here and making the forum worse for everyone else. At that point, your influence doesn’t vanish just because a hyperlink did.
I like your 4chan analogy it makes sense, and your concerned does too. If someone screenshots an unrelated offensive comment from a thread where you promoted your game, that shouldn’t be grounds for banning. That’s guilt by proximity. And you’re right to be cautious of slippery slopes. But here’s the possible confusion, Anon’s case isn’t a slope, it’s a cliff. He didn’t just comments a few times on a page, no he built it, interacted with it and called it his own. The moderation team didn’t digged for dirt or one person gave them dirt, it was years worth of reports and screenshots showing an ongoing pattern fostering hostile, with zero moderation environment. And that environment kept leaking into this forum, wasting moderator time and ultimately leading to said ban.
So this what the new rule means: not banning people for something someone else said, but saying: if you publicly link and run a community, and that space repeatedly violates this forum’s standards, you are responsible.
Well said!
So no, it’s not a witch hunt. No one’s banning you for self-promoting on 4chan. And no, questioning the rule doesn’t make you a Nazi. But pretending this is just about “free speech” or vague proximity is missing the harm!