Re: Greivances with "The List"
-- You'd have little or no reason, other than the word of the person telling you, which admittedly is rough to swallow, but generally we wouldn't have a reason to go around just picking people at random and telling them they're partying with RMT just out of spite, unless it's someone who has a nasty grudge, in which that's pretty screwed up of themselves.
-- I don't recall dodging any facts of word-of-mouth in this debate, though if you could point me out to where I might have said it, that'd be nice memory refresher. And yes, word of mouth is rather unreliable, but in many cases in this game it's about the best one can get. Not everyone has a PC to take screenshots of dialogue, and not everyone on the PC is using a windower or whatever program to take screenshots of dialogue. And even then, screenshots can be photoshopped for those dedicated enough to frame anyone they dislike. So screenshots are more reliable than word of mouth, but not by much. The List is more for those who actually look at it. You say there are people who've had their endgame reputations ruined due to this list, but on the flipside, there are players who have been wholly unaffected by their listing. Not every endgame Linkshell in Seraph treats the List as a rulebook/bible/refrence guide, yet some people apparently think otherwise. The endgame linkshells who are so fed up with RMT that they contribute/follow the List do it for their own welfare. People listed as helping RMT can and have found linkshells who don't give a damn and are having a productive endgame existence.
-- Had you stated that this was a private forum, I might have agreed. However, you're right. This is a public forum, and anyone can post anything the please, as long as it falls within the guidelines presented by the administrators/moderators, which they and Cole have clearly come to an agreement upon, so regardless of yours or anyone elses opinion on whether that thread belongs or not, the moderators and Cole have come to a compromise, and it has been given the OK to have a place here. But as you state that you are allowed to speak your mind here because it's a public forum, Cole has the same freedom, and yet you would seem to want to have The List eliminated, thus silencing Cole from expressing his ideas here, and therefore contradicting your very belief of what a public forum is for.
As for players who don't frequent forums and they find themselves blackballed, I'm sure that not every other player is too stubborn to at least tell them why they are in the position they're in. People obviously are told, as there are players who have come to the forums, signed up, and their very first post was in The List, defending themselves, or attacking the accusers, so obviously word-of-mouth is directing them here one way or another.
As for this list being right or wrong.... there are signs that lead to both answers being correct. No system is flawless. Not a single one. Not even the ones that the creators of this fine game have made, and yet they are in place because they serve a purpose rather than just sit there and do nothing. Out of curiosity, I decided to just scope out some other forums from other servers and I noticed that some of them have Blacklist threads and in those I hardly see proof via screenshots. Just word of mouth, and even some are just one-line insults and accusations. I find it intriguing that The List gets singled out in these so-called witch hunts. Minus some variations in the reasoning behind them, all the lists are hardly different.
But all they have is your word that the people they are assisting are gilsellers. If some stranger came up to me and told me that I was partied with gilsellers, what reason would I have to believe them?
But what evidence do you have besides these names on a list that these people are either RMT or willing to support them. You keep dodging the fact that you have no proof besides word of mouth, which is hardly reliable. I know several endgame players on Seraph who wouldn't recognize a fraction of the names on this list. But I can name at least half a dozen of them that know Cole's name and don't have a very high opinion of him or his methods. Why should they take his word that these people are all part of the RMT problem?
This is a public forum, and I don't think it has any place here. If he wants to post a list of who he thinks are RMT, he should post it on his own server space. As a member of this community, I have an interest in what sort of behavior we allow here. As such, I'll speak my mind any time I choose about what I think should or shouldn't be here. That's how public forurms work.
As for players who don't frequent forums and they find themselves blackballed, I'm sure that not every other player is too stubborn to at least tell them why they are in the position they're in. People obviously are told, as there are players who have come to the forums, signed up, and their very first post was in The List, defending themselves, or attacking the accusers, so obviously word-of-mouth is directing them here one way or another.
As for this list being right or wrong.... there are signs that lead to both answers being correct. No system is flawless. Not a single one. Not even the ones that the creators of this fine game have made, and yet they are in place because they serve a purpose rather than just sit there and do nothing. Out of curiosity, I decided to just scope out some other forums from other servers and I noticed that some of them have Blacklist threads and in those I hardly see proof via screenshots. Just word of mouth, and even some are just one-line insults and accusations. I find it intriguing that The List gets singled out in these so-called witch hunts. Minus some variations in the reasoning behind them, all the lists are hardly different.
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