Statement Regarding PiratesAhoy! Policy

[Pieter Boelen]

The following announcement may come as a shock to many of our forum members
and is certainly the most difficult thing I have had to do in my nearly 10 years at PiratesAhoy! as it involves a long-term active contributor.

Our community has always been a place where people can do what they like to do and where we all support each other as well as we can.
This is not an easy thing to accomplish and we don't have a perfect track record on it either. But we have to try and make an effort.
After all, we may be pirates, but we are also gentlemen. (And ladies)

However, we have been seeing an increasing amount of attacks on the forum, both personal and directed at PiratesAhoy! as a group.
We have overlooked these for the most part, even though any personal issues should be kept to Private Messages and not be posted on the public board.
This message by our most long-term forum member also explains quite well why the attacks on PiratesAhoy! itself are uncalled for.

Another related issue is an attempt to use the Hearts of Oak recruitment forum for one of our member's own commercial desires,
without the team's explicit permission. This clearly indicates a conflict of interest and does not belong in a public area.

The one thing that cannot be ignored though is to compare a respected contributor to a certain notorious historical person
and subsequent attempts to publicly smear the name of said member. This is not behaviour that we expect from any member of our community,
but is especially concerning as all the above was posted by one of our own Staff Members.

The involved person should know, by now, that I have always done what I can to support him and his work and so have many other forum members.
Therefore the decision has not been taken lightly, but after careful consideration
the remaining PiratesAhoy! Staff Members have agreed that such continued misconduct can no longer be tolerated.
We are truly sorry that it has had to come to this, but the afore-mentioned member is hereby banned from our community.

As always, we remain happy to support all members on this forum, old and new, wherever and whenever we can manage.
Modding on the Storm Engine games will continue to the best of our abilities, as will our development on Hearts of Oak: Conquest of the Seas.
The only thing that we ask in return is for everybody to treat each other reasonably and respectfully.

If anyone has any valid concerns about general or personal issues, the PiratesAhoy! Staff is always willing to discuss this as reasonable people.

Best regards,

Pieter Boelen
for
PiratesAhoy! Community

 

[Jack Rackham]

With the risk of being banned myself I DON'T think this is right at all.
Except the unfortunate mentioning of a certain dictator I think MK expressed very well what concerns me too.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

This thread was meant as announcement only. My apologies for leaving it open for response for a while.
It has been closed properly now.

A further announcement:
A lot of valid points have been raised lately, which we are intending to address in a separate post soon.
In the meantime, please contact a PiratesAhoy! Administrator in Private Message if you have any further concerns.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Closing Statement:
To avoid any potential confusion on this in the future, it is worth to clarify on the following:

The above mentioned decision was unanimous between all PiratesAhoy! site staff, including the site owner.
All members who voiced concern about it either in public or in private have been given a fair explanation and respect the decision.

We refuse to drag out this fight that should have never been necessary in the first place.
It is best left where it belongs: In the past.

We have a very simple "live and let live" policy here. All we care about is to have fun with our pirate games.

 

[Armada]

A Reminder of our Anti-Trolling Policy

Here at PiratesAhoy!, we try to make this forum as friendly and welcoming to as many people as possible.
This involves making sure that all our members abide by our Forum Rules, and taking appropriate action when someone steps out of line.

Unfortunately, we recently had to ban an individual who didn't seem to take these rules seriously enough.
We wouldn't normally disclose the details leading up to a ban, but the site staff members have collectively decided that it's time to make an example of what happens when trolls try to push their luck.

The individual in question approached a member of staff regarding a recent trolling incident, and instead of respectfully listening to the staff member's response, the individual replied with this comment (with some sensitive words removed):

I like and respect everyone from the site staff that i know EXCEPT YOU because you are not a respectable person in my eyes.
[...]
You can punish me in every thinkable way you want, for me it will be only ridiculous and nothing else. You are not clever enough to stop me anyway. If you throw me out of the front door i will be back through backdoor if i want to and you won´t even realize it. I could always find a way to get what i want in life till now and you are for shure not the person that is able to stop that, hehe

For this comment and the argument that followed, the individual received a one-week ban as per our warning system.
We took this step to give them some time to reflect on their actions, with a second chance upon their return. However, instead of changing their attitude, the individual posted this reply as soon as their one-week ban expired:

Your one week bann wasn´t helpful at all, you should have better banned and deleted me forever because i don´t have any more interest to join people like you.
[...]
You are talking bullshit and i won´t let anyone tell me what to do anyway. I say what i want and when i want.

Clearly, the message didn't get through, so we followed up with a permanent ban, again in accordance with our warning system.

The messages we want to reiterate to everyone are as follows:

• Trolling of any sort IS NOT tolerated at PiratesAhoy! under any circumstances.
• Disrespectful comments towards ANY members (staff or otherwise) are NOT acceptable.
• Everyone who visits the forum is subject to the same forum rules, without exception. Failure to adhere to these rules will have consequences.

As ever, if you come across anyone you believe to be a troll, please report them to the site staff via the Report button at the bottom of their posts. And if you have any queries regarding our anti-trolling policy and how we enforce it, please contact a member of staff via PM.

We hope that everyone here continues to have fun in a safe and respectful environment.

- The PA! administrative team

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Re-Opening Statement:
A long time ago, after much deliberation by the PiratesAhoy! Staff of the time, @modernknight1 was banned.
After even site owner @Keith confirmed it, I was the one who pressed the buttons.
I never wanted to do this. And I apologise for the part I played in it.
As far as I'm concerned, it always felt like a personal failure on my part.

Well, as per right now, PiratesAhoy! is under brand new management.
That means it is time for a clean slate; and hopefully a brighter future.
Certainly everyone involved is older and wiser now (or has moved on with their lives).

So as my first act as official Owner here, I pressed the buttons again;
and @modernknight1 is now restored to his former role as "Storm Modder".

Along with that, this thread is re-opened up for discussion; and furthermore no longer stickied.
If nobody has anything to say, eventually it will drop down to the bottom of Davy Jones' Locker.

After all, it no longer serves a purpose.