Board 8 > It's now illegal to block people on GameFAQs. See ya later

(+) Yeah! (+)

All this talk about "old board 8 drama" and we barely have 150 posts
Topics like this got to 500 in under an hour in the past...!

Ulti's always been "like this," lol. I remember him bragging about giving people fake advice for Summer 2004 after he won the previous contest.

Honestly the craziest fuckin part of this entire ordeal is that Ulti is one of the biggest and most obnoxiously loud USERS of the block feature, lmao.

People taking Ultis side under the excuse of Emerald could have just not mentioned him have GOT to be joking. Weve all seen Ulti talk shit (which Emerald was not doing) about people hes had blocked.

I thank everyone involved in this for keeping Board 8 alive.

We're on borrowed time, folks.

VintageGin posted...

Ulti was always more or less like this, but in the beginning there was some weird Ulti worship going on.

Yeah. As for me, I refuse to suck up to someone simply because of their online popularity.

This isnt about ulti, its about banning people in activities that are completely innocuous

Like if you want to not look at someones political posts, whatever. I wont fault you.

But ulti clearly made an account solely for a contest. Refusing to interact with that is a dick move.

YoBlazer posted...

I thank everyone involved in this for keeping Board 8 alive.

We're on borrowed time, folks.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/0/6/AAAqtIAAEz4y.jpg

Do what you want about blocking the user, but not the alt account of the user? Maybe other people give the benefit of the doubt there, but to me that doesn't seem like it exactly patches the hole so to speak.

And maybe it's not about Ulti when it comes to the rule, sure, but we've been here for over two decades. It's absolutely about Ulti as well.

Its literally just making football picks. I can see if Ulti was being a dick nonstop but I dont see it.

I dont know the whole story between the two users or even really about the cliques on this board. I guess Im just a lurker nowadays.

My two cents is that if you're starting your own new contest or game or project or whatever from scratch, do whatever you want. If you're taking the reigns from someone else, I think honoring their participation rules is part of the responsibility that comes with that and if you don't like it then don't volunteer to take those reigns.

Thanks guys, thats really helpful context. Genuinely sorry that happened Chris, thats awful. I think what XIII says helps synthesise it all for me - looking back on it actually I do remember the Shadow of the Colossus stuff, but when its mostly about a video game I think second nature is to shrug it off as harmless even if it isnt necessarily harmless. The addition Ill make to that ties in to what GMUN is saying about us changing, in that not only do people react differently but lets be honest, a lot of us were getting on each others case about video games back then! We could all (well, not all but a lot of us) be a little Ulti at times - except we changed and chilled out, while Ulti mostly didnt and the topics got a lot worse.

And yeah I remember some years ago looking at an archived topic and being shocked at some of what I had posted. Luckily I think we have grown and gotten better, unfortunately aligning with the internet as a whole getting worse in part because its reaching more people. For Board 8, the alpha male stuff was easily the worst I can remember and genuinely pretty disgusting a lot of the time.

As someone who also has a checkered past on this board I am horribly ashamed of the way I used to be and frankly I think most people here have forgiven me even more than I've forgiven myself. I think a lot of us have grown up and put in some real effort to change and yes I even think that includes Ulti.

If a random person who still uses Board 8 today could be transported back to the Board 8 of 15-20 years ago, they'd probably pack up and leave within a week. It was a different time and we were all different people, but we all needed to grow up together - and often reflect on the embarassment of how we used to act - in order to become better.

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Honestly the craziest fuckin part of this entire ordeal is that Ulti is one of the biggest and most obnoxiously loud USERS of the block feature, lmao.

People taking Ultis side under the excuse of Emerald could have just not mentioned him have GOT to be joking. Weve all seen Ulti talk shit (which Emerald was not doing) about people hes had blocked.

Have you considered that Ulti talking shit about people he has blocked is not relevant to anything.

I certainly don't pay close attention these days, but I can't remember a good board drama topic in the last like 8 years. it brings a tear to these crusty, 8000 karma eyes

Lopen posted...

Have you considered that Ulti talking shit about people he has blocked is not relevant to anything.

In real life? Correct. In a topic where multiple people said you cant exclude Ulti and/or mention him being excluded? Incorrect.

dilateDChemist posted...

Its literally just making football picks. I can see if Ulti was being a dick nonstop but I dont see it.

I dont know the whole story between the two users or even really about the cliques on this board. I guess Im just a lurker nowadays.

Since zsig posted one more time after saying it was his last post I guess I'll use my one freebie to say that 1) He is not the one I directly took the reigns from, that would be lefty and last time I approached lefty about this couple years ago (after ulti smarted off to me in the actual topic) his stance was "idgaf" essentially, so feel like I did right by the previous host there.

And 2) If it's literally "just making football picks" then why is the burden on me here instead of ulti? I don't get a pass for running a contest how I want because it's so meaningless but ulti gets a pass to be included in said contest? I get to be told "You should just get over it bruh" and ulti doesn't get to be told "You should just get over it bruh"? I disagree with that line of thinking.

If Emeraldegg real reason for not wanting Ulti to participate so he wouldn't have to get him off his ignore list, I feel like the best solution would to let Ulti use a dediciated alt for this
Like, "I can let you play, but I don't want to see your face outside of this topic"

Which I feel like would be fair?

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

In real life? Correct. In a topic where multiple people said you cant exclude Ulti and/or mention him being excluded? Incorrect.

Correct everywhere unless you're a child who is constantly seeking an excuse to be a jackass so you don't have to be the better person ever.

YoBlazer posted...

I thank everyone involved in this for keeping Board 8 alive.

We're on borrowed time, folks.

And it's Discord's fault

Down with Discord

(And yeah, Ulti always had this side to him, we just had different tolerance/maturity levels back then. I've been trying to rein in Ulti since like 2006 without much success)

idc who runs the topic as long as i can make the playoffs with a mediocre record and go out in the first or second round of the playoffs like usual

also emerald did a fantastic job the last couple years. there used to be an other picks league i was in but i think it disappeared last year or the year before

I use Discord (infrequently) and have no complaints, but can someone point out any major differences between Discord and AIM circa 2004?

is discord even as active as b8 was on AIM

I've never entered but I remember the days of creating AIM chats for Nintendo Directs and the b8lost chats

YoBlazer posted...

I use Discord (infrequently) and have no complaints, but can someone point out any major differences between Discord and AIM circa 2004?

You don't have to be actively online and in the channel to get message history.

Reg posted...

You don't have to be actively online and in the channel to get message history.

wasn't b8chat on AIM uploading the message history online

I feel like the constant and asynchronous nature of Discord does make it different from AIM. Along with the fact that it's able to hold way more users.

Emeraldegg posted...

And 2) If it's literally "just making football picks" then why is the burden on me here instead of ulti? I don't get a pass for running a contest how I want because it's so meaningless but ulti gets a pass to be included in said contest? I get to be told "You should just get over it bruh" and ulti doesn't get to be told "You should just get over it bruh"? I disagree with that line of thinking.

Because you're the host. Getting kicked out of a contest you've participated in for years because the host suddenly decided he dislikes you too much isn't on him.

Like if this had been the rule since you took over, that would be one thing.

Emeraldegg posted...

Since zsig posted one more time after saying it was his last post I guess I'll use my one freebie to say that 1) He is not the one I directly took the reigns from, that would be lefty and last time I approached lefty about this couple years ago (after ulti smarted off to me in the actual topic) his stance was "idgaf" essentially, so feel like I did right by the previous host there.

And 2) If it's literally "just making football picks" then why is the burden on me here instead of ulti? I don't get a pass for running a contest how I want because it's so meaningless but ulti gets a pass to be included in said contest? I get to be told "You should just get over it bruh" and ulti doesn't get to be told "You should just get over it bruh"? I disagree with that line of thinking.

Honestly, I dont agree with blocking people. Thats just my opinion. The NFL Pickem League on B8 should be all-inclusive, because at the end of the day, its just about football and should be a place where a truce would be the high ground. Maybe allowing someone else to post his picks couldve been a middle-ground here instead of making it you vs him because it made things difficult for you. I also dont agree with giving the reins to Ulti so Im glad Chris stepped up. I try to look at things from both sides nowadays, empathy goes a long way, but like I said I dont know the whole story between you two and I dont need to know. Im not trying to take sides here despite how this may sound.

Football is just something that brings me and a whole lot of others back to b8, and it pains me to see it causing this much strife.

i thought the block system was actually gone and got my hopes up

dilateDChemist posted...

Honestly, I dont agree with blocking people. Thats just my opinion. The NFL Pickem League on B8 should be all-inclusive, because at the end of the day, its just about football and should be a place where a truce would be the high ground. Maybe allowing someone else to post his picks couldve been a middle-ground here instead of making it you vs him because it made things difficult for you. I also dont agree with giving the reigns to Ulti so Im glad Chris stepped up. I try to look at things from both sides nowadays, empathy goes a long way, but like I said I dont know the whole story between you two and I dont need to know. Im not trying to take sides here despite how this may sound.

Football is just something that brings me and a whole lot of others back to b8, and it pains me to see it causing this much strife.

football is basically what brings me back at all anymore since there are no more contests. i tend to drop in every month or so and lurk because people make good topics about videogames sometimes too or big brother/survivor

Figuratively somewhat preoccupied

YoBlazer posted...

I use Discord (infrequently) and have no complaints, but can someone point out any major differences between Discord and AIM circa 2004?

The Maya Fey Army used AIM in the days of Save My Ace Attorney Character.

Leonhart4 posted...

Because you're the host. Getting kicked out of a contest you've participated in for years because the host suddenly decided he dislikes you too much isn't on him.

Like if this had been the rule since you took over, that would be one thing.

This is missing an important detail.

Emerald already had Ulti on his block list last year. Despite that, Emerald accommodated Ulti for the duration of the contest. Which Ulti used to give Emerald grief in the pick em topic. (EDIT: May not have been the pick em topic, may have just been whilst he had him unblocked for pick em)

So it wasn't exactly out of nowhere and for no reason. Emerald made an effort to make it work and Ulti threw it back in his face.

Edit: The compromise of Chris running it is the correct outcome in these circumstances that should make everyone happy

I honestly don't remember that from last year as someone who participated in the contest. If that's the case, I wish someone had brought it up sooner, because I'm more willing to side with a ban if it's because of harassment within the confines of the contest itself.

I don't remember the details but I do vaguely remember an exchange happening between the two (plus others).

Emerald did mention it in his post in this topic which is the only reason I remembered it. I wouldn't have done it he hadn't brought it up

Blocking certain people makes this site much more pleasant to use. Blocking people who were complete and total assholes to you during every interaction you've ever had, is necessary.

I've only ever done this to one single use and their alts. You know who it is.

If it's just "Ulti smarted off to me" one time, that's different than if it were a regular occurrence. I would need a little more context.

Lopen posted...

Correct everywhere unless you're a child who is constantly seeking an excuse to be a jackass so you don't have to be the better person ever.

I guess if you think saying "Sorry Ulti, I've had enough" is the same as what Ulti has done a million times, I see your point of view.

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Honestly the craziest fuckin part of this entire ordeal is that Ulti is one of the biggest and most obnoxiously loud USERS of the block feature, lmao.

People taking Ultis side under the excuse of Emerald could have just not mentioned him have GOT to be joking. Weve all seen Ulti talk shit (which Emerald was not doing) about people hes had blocked.

I'm not taking his side. I'm just hypothesizing about the ToS here.

FWIW, it definitely feels like selective enforcement even if we assume the whole "call out someone to say they're ignored" is still moddable under the current "relaxed" rules because it is absolutely not enforced with anything approaching consistency and it's been mentioned by multiple people here (correctly) that we've had plenty of topics from people just casually revealing their ignore/block lists with no hint of mod attention. Just, if I'm putting on a mod hat here, you can "dismiss" that by pointing out that "well maybe those instances weren't marked" etc. I'm not saying it's a satisfying answer but it's consistent under the rules of the site because if that's not still explicitly something mentioned in the ToS it certainly used to be.

I'm basically just putting on my "mod lawyering" glasses here and trying to determine where the letter of the law is these days. I feel like we lost a lot of clarity when SBAllen stated the rules were going to be relaxed.

My position has been: "That would definitely have been a moddable post 'back in the day' but I genuinely would have thought it probably passes by in the 'relaxed rules' era of the past... seven(?) years." The whole "Emerald is probably fine without mentioning Ulti directly" is more just stating how I think you could avoid the moderation entirely regardless of how I feel about it - rules lawyering, basically - and to point out how crazy I think the mod justification for the moderation actually was. It's not actually a reflection of my opinion, I think it's a weak moderation! Just, as someone who actually strongly considered applying as a mod like eighteen years ago I used to try to keep tabs on the rules of the road. Then, like I said, I tried to make a case to SBAllen that he was making a mistake in relaxing the rules (specifically, I argued the problem with moderation he was claiming was not that we were too harsh but that we were too lenient, particularly in the case of repeat offenders) but again, my side did not prevail in that matter and honestly I feel like things have become less clear ever since then.

Heres the rule these days on whether or not something gets modded usually:

Does the moderator who sees it feel like it?

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

I guess if you think saying "Sorry Ulti, I've had enough" is the same as what Ulti has done a million times, I see your point of view.

I think Ulti doesn't matter and trying to make it about him is just an exercise in rationalizing being an asshole

Grimlyn posted...

wasn't b8chat on AIM uploading the message history online

and keeping CHAT STATS!!

I kinda miss chat stats although I don't think I'd want to submit to the scraping necessary

B8chat on AIM was the best. Such good memories. That, and our tinychat nights.

Thorn posted...

I'm not taking his side. I'm just hypothesizing about the ToS here.

FWIW, it definitely feels like selective enforcement even if we assume the whole "call out someone to say they're ignored" is still moddable under the current "relaxed" rules because it is absolutely not enforced with anything approaching consistency and it's been mentioned by multiple people here (correctly) that we've had plenty of topics from people just casually revealing their ignore/block lists with no hint of mod attention. Just, if I'm putting on a mod hat here, you can "dismiss" that by pointing out that "well maybe those instances weren't marked" etc. I'm not saying it's a satisfying answer but it's consistent under the rules of the site because if that's not still explicitly something mentioned in the ToS it certainly used to be.

I'm basically just putting on my "mod lawyering" glasses here and trying to determine where the letter of the law is these days. I feel like we lost a lot of clarity when SBAllen stated the rules were going to be relaxed.

My position has been: "That would definitely have been a moddable post 'back in the day' but I genuinely would have thought it probably passes by in the 'relaxed rules' era of the past... seven(?) years." The whole "Emerald is probably fine without mentioning Ulti directly" is more just stating how I think you could avoid the moderation entirely regardless of how I feel about it - rules lawyering, basically - and to point out how crazy I think the mod justification for the moderation actually was. It's not actually a reflection of my opinion, I think it's a weak moderation! Just, as someone who actually strongly considered applying as a mod like eighteen years ago I used to try to keep tabs on the rules of the road. Then, like I said, I tried to make a case to SBAllen that he was making a mistake in relaxing the rules (specifically, I argued the problem with moderation he was claiming was not that we were too harsh but that we were too lenient, particularly in the case of repeat offenders) but again, my side did not prevail in that matter and honestly I feel like things have become less clear ever since then.

The actual answer is the moderation was a mistake. It is allowed for a project runner to block other users from participating in the project they are running.

TeamRocketElite posted...

The actual answer is the moderation was a mistake. It is allowed for a project runner to block other users from participating in the project they are running.

Thank you for that clarification, TRE.

Ulti is like 45 and still needs his mom to force his friends to play with him

TeamRocketElite posted...

The actual answer is the moderation was a mistake. It is allowed for a project runner to block other users from participating in the project they are running.

This is why I think the technicality of the moderation was mentioning Ulti by name in the opening post not the banning itself. But maybe I'm wrong

Lopen posted...

This is why I think the technicality of the moderation was mentioning Ulti by name in the opening post not the banning itself. But maybe I'm wrong

Simply mentioning a user is on one's block list isn't an issue either.

The wording of point 4 in Emerald's post is definitely what pushed it towards being modded but yeah still not a violation

Ulti is currently not blocked by me because I had to unblock him to play in there most recent Mafia game.

Had him blocked for years and was totally fine with that as a reaction the the reasons that caused me to put him there. He hasn't done anything lately that would prompt me to re-block post mafia.

I hope he's both a better and different person. But if he is being his best self then that would include recognizing and accepting that the current him is going to be accountable for the actions of his prior self. This includes and certain about of justifiable block/ignore listings