Harder Enforcement of Real Life Threats

[Lolretadin]

I am sure most people are aware of the thread that was in the Off Topic forums that pertained to a man having killed 100 of his dogs. Although I am completely for freedom of speech and people voicing their opinions, that thread was filled with real life threats to the persons life and security of the person. Of course, I did report some of the more extreme threats. Later on I found out that, due to online threats like the one found in that thread, the man had to be taken into protective custody. So I made a thread to let the community know and openly called the people who were making the death threats "idiots". And I ended up getting an infraction notice for "trolling". I already sent the moderator a message. I digress, that is not the point of this thread but it was connected. Even though I was given an infraction I didn't see one ban or suspention go out in that thread to the people who were making the threats. Whether or not they are serious or even if they are a 14 year old internet "tough guy" trying to act cool shouldn't matter. All threats on the forum should be taken seriously and have consequences. Now, I'm not saying "call the police, someone on an mmo fansite is making threats" but there should, at least, be major repricussions for that action. As I said to the moderator and will say again, if "trolling" by calling those people idiots openly is a worse offence on the forum than making threats then there is a serious problem with the way the site is moderated. That being said, I am aware that the moderators on the site cannot be everywhere at all times. I am also aware that they cannot read every post of a thread that is 200 or 300 posts long to find all the offenders. I will also conceed that most of the moderators do an excellent job even though I do not always agree with their reasons for closing threads or givng out infractions/bans. I merely think it is ridiculous that "trolling" would give repricussions while threats, seemingly, do not.

[Lolretadin]

We infracted those who posted death threats but they were not banned due to not having enough infraction points.

It seems fairly lacks though to just give points for giving real life threats. It seems like it would be a bit more called for if they recieved a temporary ban for it.

[Fizzleshot]

I think it's morally abhorrent that the man was taken into protective custody. This man should be hung out to face the justice of his disgusting, cowardly actions. When will people start affording the same rights to animals as we do to humans?

Who honestly protects a man who kills dogs?

[Deleted]

I think it's morally abhorrent that the man was taken into protective custody. This man should be hung out to face the justice of his disgusting, cowardly actions. When will people start affording the same rights to animals as we do to humans?

Who honestly protects a man who kills dogs?

You should take to the streets and advocate the death penalty for killing dogs.
If that is was you believe.

[Taigen]

It does seem weird to me that anyone was banned for saying that someone making death threats was an idiot. If that's the example to go by, why aren't we banning ppl for saying murderers are evil? The logic of it all is just a bit beyond me I guess.

But I am glad something was done about the original guy with the dogs.

[Deleted]

We infracted those who posted death threats but they were not banned due to not having enough infraction points.

Interesting system you got there. If you do the same in WoW you get banned and the authorities get informed by blizzard and here its "not enough bad points yet".

While I do agree that most of the death threats were merely spat out in a gust of anger/rage/internettrollrage I find it surprising that its not a simple "dude that was not only uncalled for but also illegal so go away now" ban but a "well that wasnt really OK be warned now".

This is not my site and its not up to me to judge but I believe running a site comes with some laws you have to abide by and depending on the country the site is registered you have to inform the authorities. I do hope that you didnt miss anything, it would be a shame if MMO would be closed just because some dudes trolled and didnt get reported.

(in fact personally I wouldnt care about flaming shaming naming but the site is too large for that)

---------- Post added 2011-02-04 at 09:37 AM ----------

It does seem weird to me that anyone was banned for saying that someone making death threats was an idiot. If that's the example to go by, why aren't we banning ppl for saying murderers are evil? The logic of it all is just a bit beyond me I guess.

But I am glad something was done about the original guy with the dogs.

the OP wasnt banned he was warned. if he really only called the people "idiots" then that is in fact a reason to warn him. sadly because I called my teachers idiots before if they made statements that were not logic or simply wrong but did not agree that there could be another way to view it. (double standard? no, I see that there are other views and I am open to discuss) I did get into a personal conflict with the teachers but luckily they did not go all "respect mah athorataah" on me but called me an idiot back ^^

[bahumut5]

Interesting system you got there. If you do the same in WoW you get banned and the authorities get informed by blizzard and here its "not enough bad points yet".

While I do agree that most of the death threats were merely spat out in a gust of anger/rage/internettrollrage I find it surprising that its not a simple "dude that was not only uncalled for but also illegal so go away now" ban but a "well that wasnt really OK be warned now".

Unfortunately, this is the system we have to follow. However, all of the Moderators are in close contact with each other and we discuss matters like these very seriously. Just to clear something up though: We have reported people to the authorities before and we will do it again if people make some serious death threats.
We do take these things very serious, and we investigate the cases where people are making these threats. For example, if somebody replies "You should die", then we simply infract them. Of course, due to the system we are using, this does not always mean that they are instantly banned.
However, if somebody goes out of their way and tells that he knows where the user lives and even goes as far as to explain how he wants to kill that user or anything remotely similar, then we will make an exception and increase the Ban Time and report said user to the authorities.

[Deleted]

I think it's morally abhorrent that the man was taken into protective custody. This man should be hung out to face the justice of his disgusting, cowardly actions. When will people start affording the same rights to animals as we do to humans?

Who honestly protects a man who kills dogs?

While i agree that it is pitiful to do such a thing, and really disgusting, because it's simply not the way you act normally, i also think that it's counter-constructive to then call him an idiot. He wouldn't be, he can eventually have a mental disease that makes him unable to act his own way. While i admit i could be disgusted enough to rage completely at how some people choose to take action in the world, like going on a dog-killing rampage, i also say the following:

He is still a living human being.

Report him to the authorities, and let them take care of it. Starting to threat him and calling him a direct jerk, well, yeah that may solve your rage, but in the end, it does not solve anything near the problem. This is, indeed, a fact.

[Ithrowmagicz]

Personally, I think people need to calm down with forums and message boards and learn to take a joke, and learn how to let things (Like threats) go.

[Deleted]

Gotta love how supposed animal protectors would be so willing to hang a man for crimes against a cute little dog.

I don't get you people. It's the same as people wanting murderers murdered and such, you got the exact same self justifying bullcrap the perp has, making you no better.

But you'll keep this circle going because you can, just rest assured that man > animal, whatever you say, and by that I am not excusing any animal cruelty, just stating that we are superior as a race.

[EDIT] Oh hung out. Either way, that's just one post and most aren't as.. nice about it.

Actually on topic however: The whole idea of threats have lost all meaning with the internet, that is all.

[Boubouille]

1. Dude. Seriously.
2. RL Threats aren't just illegal, they're also batshit useless and do not bring anything to the discussion, people will be infracted for it. Most importantly, they're just giving more attentions to people who troll/do sick stuff and that's exactly what they're looking for.

If you want to look tough on the internet, try Myspace.

[Catta]

Imo threats are stupid, though voicing opinion of him getting deathpenalty or life in prison is okay since its not a direct threat nor something you can do yourself since it has something to do with the prison system

[Dethh]

1. Dude. Seriously.
2. RL Threats aren't just illegal, they're also batshit useless and do not bring anything to the discussion, people will be infracted for it. Most importantly, they're just giving more attentions to people who troll/do sick stuff and that's exactly what they're looking for.

If you want to look tough on the internet, try Myspace.

Lol is myspace the new tough guy hangout? I must have missed the memo. On topic, threats on a forum or even in real life are worthless. If something bothers you do something proactive. Someone is mistreating animals? Instead of idle threats to some moron donate some money to the animals who need it. ASPCA can always use donations. This is a forum and we have rules, regardless of what the poster above you does you need to remember to abide by these rules to keep the community a respectful place. If not you'd read 20 pages of "L2PLAYNOOB" before you read a post actually contributing to the topic. If someone posts something you think is just a post to generate trolls or stir up controversy report it, let the mods handle it thats what were here for.

[Deleted]

Lol is myspace the new tough guy hangout? I must have missed the memo. On topic, threats on a forum or even in real life are worthless. If something bothers you do something proactive. Someone is mistreating animals? Instead of idle threats to some moron donate some money to the animals who need it. ASPCA can always use donations. This is a forum and we have rules, regardless of what the poster above you does you need to remember to abide by these rules to keep the community a respectful place. If not you'd read 20 pages of "L2PLAYNOOB" before you read a post actually contributing to the topic. If someone posts something you think is just a post to generate trolls or stir up controversy report it, let the mods handle it thats what were here for.

1. Dude. Seriously.

OT: We do take them seriously. Just because the general userbase doesn't notice anything doesn't mean nothing is done.

[Cerebes]

OMg BIBI finally posted something.

[Ithrowmagicz]

2. RL Threats aren't just illegal, they're also batshit useless

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Badpaladin]

There's also a huge difference between saying, "this guy is a bastard and should be shot" and "I'm going to shoot this bastard". One is a clear expression of anger, another is a threat to another person's life. Considering the discussion going on, that thread actually did the opposite of perpetuate violence.

[Sunshine]

There's a difference between "this guy should be shot" and "i'm going to shoot this guy", but neither is acceptable on the forums. The difference is that one will get you an infraction, the other will probably get you a permaban and the authorities contacted.

[cyqu]

im not sticking up for this guy who killed the dogs in any way because i think its terrible.

but i dont think forums are the place for people who are so weak hearted that a death threat from some 10 year old kid on the other side of the planet get you all worried and in a fuss.
sure i have no problem with mods going into threads and dumb banning people but like i said pretty much everyone in that was under 18 years old and was just being a tough guy.

i probably get about 10 death threats a day from kids on wow that get trolled.

just my opinion though =/

[kkborang]

every man deserves to be protected no matter what he did, its not justice for you to personally kill them