cool as heck mad respect homie

can i use emojis here is that a thing 

aww yeh 

I think the casual observer probably underestimates the sheer amount of crazy there is to deal with on the Internet.

Keep fighting the good fight!

Interesting,

So in a hypothetical scenario, if someone were to get "suspended" as you put it, is there a means of which they can communicate to defend themselves or is no communication present during the process? I believe that emails are required to sign-up to the website, would that be used in this case?

I'm sure I could probably find the answer to this question somewhere on the site, but since you're offering I figured I'd take a stab at it.

~Soran

You and the rest of the upper staff made a really good call and dealt with this the very best you could. I know how hard it can be to clean things up in the most ideal way and to get enough information to make a good call, as well as taking care of yourselves and others. I'm always proud of you all. Thank you for continuing to give us your best.

While the staff does not contain all-knowing robots, is it true that there is a semi-knowledgable android amongst your ranks that smells of cheese?

Thank you for this statement. I had figured you being at BrickFair NE had been a part of why we hadn't seen a lot of conclusive administrative action surrounding this whole fiasco. I hope the knowledge that this was waiting for you when you got back didn't take too much of the fun out of your weekend.

This whole latest drama has been a mess. I mean, I had a certain amount of respect for some of the members involved. Up until now they hadn't really stirred up this level of drama, and were very active and productive members of the forums, at least the parts of it I frequent. It sort of makes me question how well I know everyone else here. Obviously I have a pretty good idea of what the members I've met in real life are like, but what about acquaintances? People I know only by their username? To be honest it's a little unsettling, knowing that even when BZP seems to be a very stable and safe community there can be this sort of drama bubbling under the surface.

While the staff does not contain all-knowing robots, is it true that there is a semi-knowledgable android amongst your ranks that smells of cheese?

Naw she retired from the news staff a couple years ago but she's still really into cheese

Interesting,

 

So in a hypothetical scenario, if someone were to get "suspended" as you put it, is there a means of which they can communicate to defend themselves or is no communication present during the process? I believe that emails are required to sign-up to the website, would that be used in this case?

I can offer an answer - suspension in this case is a suspension of posting privileges, so the member can't create content publicly. They can still access the PM system, and in the majority of cases we contact the member to see what's going on shortly after.

--

I also want to highlight a few points:

Often we have more insight than the general membership: for example there may be private messages, emails, or server logs that can provide information to help us make our decision.

This is key. But I also want to say that in terms of private messages and emails, it is almost always brought to our attention by others - as in a staff member gets added to a PM, or otherwise. There are always exceptions (being severe cases), but even there we respect the information of those involved. As such...

Because much of this is personal, we do not usually openly share it out of respect for people's privacy, especially since there may be other members involved apart from the ones action is being taken against.

I know I'm not terribly involved off of BZPower, but I do ask that members who are try to keep this in mind. This is honestly the reasoning behind the "banned members are not to be discussed" rule. I know that the result of this rule, which the staff have to follow as well, is usually a seemingly glaring opacity - and that in many cases perfect transparency isn't even possible - but I do ask for patience and understanding in these situations. To be honest, sometimes even we don't know how best to respond to a situation - hence Andrew's comment about reevaluation.

Finally:

If you have any general questions, I'm always happy to answer them.

Please come to us. If you aren't comfortable going directly to the administration, you can ask a staff member to go to them for you. I know communication has been an issue with the staff, and it's something I've been trying to do better with, but I also know that we will try to address concerns to the best of our ability (within the constraints of the above points).

Thanks.