Is this for real?

[Deacon Frost 196]

So; I had an issue come up between a player and a new member. They apparently knew each other from previous boards. This has happened before and we generally say "don't RP with them, don't talk to them, be adults and move on." But in this instance there were some very serious accusations that threatened the safety of other players. So; I spent nearly 5 hours this afternoon attempting to ascertain the truth of the stories I was getting. It turned out the accuser used to go by other RP names. The more I dug the more discrepancies I found. The story didn't make sense. It also turned out that 2/3 of my player base knew the accuser under their OLD Rp name and when they found it out there was very concerned. To the point of feeling unsafe themselves. So I made the decision to ban those involved. The board has a very low tolerance for drama. I banned the accuser. The person being accused politely offered not to RP on our board if it made people uncomfortable. I made a list of names to watch for in case the OTHER people involved tried to join so they could be removed as well. 

 

I assumed this was the end of it. Basically every drama-llama was banned. 
That's when my phone rang. 

The accusers mother called to yell at me for banning their child. 

Their 39 year old child. 

[Starlit 7]

One word... charming. Makes me wonder how on earth said mother got your number.

[Deacon Frost 196]

Their child had voice chatted with us admin on a number of occasions to plot and vent about being upset. Over time phone numbers were given for emergencies. They started abusing that privilege a while ago by calling multiple times a day and even asking for money. This event was really the straw that broke the camels back. 

[Starlit 7]

Rude! I never give out my phone numbers. Its discord or bust. I suggest just blocking any offending phone numbers!

[Arceus 1,082]

And this is why I don't give online people my phone number. For any reason. Whatsoever. No role-play emergency is serious enough you need to call me. End of discussion.

Also I hate phones, that really helps.

 

Lesson learnt, I guess. It's all water under the bridge now, so block some phone numbers, keep your bans in place, and move on, is pretty much the only thing to do now.

[Deacon Frost 196]

That is in fact exactly the plan. Phone numbers have been blocked. Discord has been blocked. Board has set up blocks. Now to just move along. 

[Keaton 133]

I've been in fandom for about 20 years and RPing almost as long, and this is the first time I've heard of someone's mom angrily calling a person from the internet because their adult child got their feelings hurt. Congrats?

[Morrigan 1,826]

Now you've intrigued me. We actually had a similar situation here on the Initiative. The difference was that no phone numbers were exchanged. They ended up trying to reach out through social platforms before trying to harass the chat and more. Since it was all online I had a strong belief that the people were one in the same, that it was a child impersonating their parents (or even an adult doing the same) to make them seem important.

[Deacon Frost 196]

The mother directly quoted the story as their child was saying it. And the length of time between her angry phone call "proving" the truth of their child's statements and our banning said person leads me to believe that the banned player called their mother and asked for some kind of defense or affidavit to prove their innocence. The mother legitimately sounded like she was going off a script and when I brought up facts that had come to light that I had not confronted the player with (because there were a LOT) the mother became flabbergasted and resorted to repeating "So you're punishing my child for hearsay." 

 

I did my best to politely say that all individuals involved in this dramatic story was going to be removed from the site or prevented from joining. 

 

But... seriously, wtf, I got yelled at by a MOM today. 

[Keaton 133]

I think my favorite part is that the person was banned for drama, and then tried to get that decision reversed by creating, like, hardcore schoolyard-level drama lol.

[Morrigan 1,826]

Eh. Since you actually dealt with both I'd take that on that. It still sounds like the kid might have been pretending to be their parent still. But that's just me. I don't know more than that.

 

Our particular culprit's mom threw venom at us stating that we are bias against handicapped people and that their kid had all these mental disorders that I had to cater to. I was like, "No I don't and not just that, we weren't even aware of the disorders you just spewed at us so there is no way to be bias against.... nothing..." then they started to threaten so many other things that gave me more of a belief that they were the same person.

[Rhindeer 217]

*jaw drops*

 

I could expect this sort of thing from a child ( like...under 12 years old) with a computer-unsavvy parent. It'd still be weird as fuck even at that age and circumstance, but I could see it.

 

But a 39 year old adult????

 

Speechless.

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2019 by Viscount Rhi-Rhi

[Gothic 307]

This is one of the biggest drama queen actions I have ever heard happen in the RP world. 

 

And one of the reasons why I am hesitant about giving this type of information out to people. 

 

 

[Guest LOVE ME AND DESPAIR]

Wow. . . that is just outrageous. Honestly if I'd have been you, I wouldn't have even spoke to the woman. I'd have told her it was inappropriate for her to call you(you never gave her your number) and that if she called you again you'd report her to the police for harassment(whether or not you actually do, or they'll do anything, is besides the point - it'd put the fear into them; cause blocking is well and good except they have your number so they could easily call it from another phone). Personally, I don't even answer a number if I don't know it. I let it go to voicemail first and see if they leave a message, and I know if it's a friend/family they have other means to contact me if I don't answer a call. I personally have longstanding internet friends who have my number, but I'm also quite selective with it; otherwise it goes to trusted admins which are usually also people I've known a good while, and even then we rarely call each other with the numbers. It's generally texts or Discord chats anyways lol the calling is usually if like one of us falls off the grid and we're concerned(since we all talk often)/basically legit emergencies. I'd never give my stuff to just random members though.

 

As a suggestion from this point forward I'd say: no more phone numbers, especially for members, cause as someone said there's no RP emergency big enough/serious enough for that really, but there's other ways for discussion(even voice chat) these days. Sorry you got yelled at by an overly-attached-mom. . .

[HotPinkUnicornMess 51]

For @Spirit Callerand  people who want to leave phone numbers as admin/staff/website owner emergency "the site is on fire and everyone has food poisoning," times: Get a google voice #. 

It is a legitimate phone number generated by google and you can check on the voice mail/listen online. You can route it to your phone as well, but the important thing is that it is NOT your PERSONAL phone number and you can protect your privacy. 

Get a google voice number: https://support.google.com/voice/answer/7207482?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
Sorry for the thread-derail. Carry on.