Being that i am at work and have yet to read all of the replies I can only say that i am highly disappointed in these members. To those who think it is unfair please think of how you would feel if you were in Krin andFaes position. Spreading personal info is very dangerous and not a joking matter and to even joke about ruining someones source of income is wrong. People need to growup.. and i say that knowing that most of those involved were old enough to know better. Their actions were petty and immature even if it was just joking. All actions have a consequence. My suggestion for people concerned over the gene pools is to maybe have them all set up for sale for a fair market price and the gold could just disappear which will helpto rebalance the economy. Idk if it is possible for krin to set that up but it is an idea. And i have lost my other thoughs thanks to coworkers so i will add any further thoughs later.

I am so so sad to hear this. There are so many things I love about this community and it truly does break my heart to see players so upset that they would resort to doing harm to the community and the game as a whole.

I think it is for the best that no one banned is specifically named. I also appreciate that we as players are allowed to discuss on this thread concerns and thoughts.

My biggest concern is for what comes after: I think in a day or so when things have calmed, there should be another announcement by admin to clarify what exactly this current mass ban means for players going forward. What do we need to worry about and what can we relax about (trading practices etc). What in the future would count as ban worthy etc. I think this might be best addressed in a new announcement, that way players looking for key information about what to do from here on out aren't needing to scroll through this particular thread.

I am also concerned about any individuals who might have been banned for expressing their opinions and feelings but were banned for participating in any actions (jokes or not). My hope is that in a couple of months the bans will be revisited when things have cooled off and that decisions on permanent bans will be made on an individual, case by case basis. I don't believe that people should be punished for things that they haven't done yet. But for things already done, absolutely.

However, what I have read in some of these screenshots is not something I see as defensible.In response to people concerned about privacy and the criteria for banning and the seriousness of the offenses, what would be the missing context for joking about doxxing?

Personally, the only bad taste in my mouth has been left by people who decided to engage in behavior that affected the off-game, real lives of players and other community members. I don't care how hurt or upset you are. Any mention of doxxing or swatting ***even as a 'joke*** is in extremely poor taste. People have been literally killed by it. It is not a harmless prank and it is not a harmless joke. Victims of doxxing/swatting have experienced genuine trauma.

Venting to friends and others who feel the same way is healthy, and complaining about something that you don't like is normal. I believe that people are entitled to their feelings and emotions. No one should be persecuted for their individual thoughts or feelings about this game. If you think it's run by a horrible person or that the game is going in a bad direction, fine. I may agree. I may agree with everything....or with one statement but not the other.. or I may completely disagree. Bottom line is that feelings are feelings and everyone is entitled to them.

But being frustrated with the direction of a game you play doesn't give the right to 'punish' admin for decisions you don't agree with. There is nothing that could justify ruining the experiences of newer players. Actions are different than feelings. Engaging in actions to ruin an aspect of the game you love (the economy, pet market, etc) is not a healthy expression of feeling. It is not venting or complaining. It is making a choice to do things, and choices will have consequences.

*minor edit made (strike-through for clarity)

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=105585&page=6#53 Author: Theentirelegend Time Posted: 3/24/2023 at 9:19 AM Nobody else finds it strange that the timestamps on all these screenshots have been removed for "no reason," meaning there's a good chance these were cherry picked/posted out of order and/or out of context? There's literally highlighting that shows the person who took them hunting for specific words and we're only seeing snippets of conversation... I would never trust these if they were sent to me privately to try and discredit someone or a group of people, there's just not enough to go on in each screenshot. Not to mention the fact that staff is comfortable with/condones the use of plants in user's private conversations and affairs, that makes me uncomfortable for sure... and the removed message on the first page of this forum thread makes me concerned that any attempts at questioning choices or motives or any form of pushback is just going to be met with further silencing instead of discussion or explanation.... There have also been some other pretty heavy allegations on this forum without any provided proof- and honestly all of it's left a bad taste in my mouth :( I don't really understand why we've had to resort to this and why it couldn't have been handled privately at the very least?? It seems very unprofessional that we've got staff making call-out posts or whatever you want to call them. I've never been a super active player on here but I'm still really disheartened to see how this has been dealt with and am not sure how the site's going to recover, or if it even can at this point.

I don't see how it's remotely possible that this could have been dealt with privately. Several of the players are way, way too high profile to have disappeared without people demanding answers. It would have looked so shady if they'd just banned them and refused to explain. I know my trust in the site's moderation would have been eroded if these players had just disappeared and there was nothing but panicky rumours and radio silence from Krin/Faiona.
Also - in hindsight - from the way I personally have seen some of these users speak/behave both on and off Sylestia, I'm not at all surprised about the bans, and IMO the mods have been incredibly lenient in allowing them so many warnings and second chances. If they were truly banhappy over petty slights at least some of those users would have been gone long ago. Imagine joking about swatting someone with an avi of your real face, and that someone is a mod of a site you literally make money off streaming. The sheer arrogance is breath-taking.

I don't think it was oversharing even if I can see it being interpreted that way. I think that the screenshots should remain because it does show what some people were saying, planning, and doing. I trust that there is actually more that they have access to that they are choosing not to share.

Whether or not we think it was a good or bad idea to post them, or whether hurtful or helpful, these screen shots serve an important purpose and I don't see them getting taken down any time soon.

There is nothing wrong with Krin saying that people are allowed to dispute their authenticity, and I don't think that saying we have freedom of speech here in the thread means that the screenshots had no merit.


*edited for minor grammar

(just read krin's thing, disregard this message.)

Thank you for letting us know about this. It certainly puts in context some interactions I've seen that felt off to me, especially since there were experienced players involved. I really believe that as a community we're better off with a more limited gene pool, but fewer malicious players acting against the site as a whole.

From your replies I've gathered that at least some of these players were contacted via PM prior to being banned, so can I assume that this would be your standard procedure? Especially for people worried about things like selling off project rejects and high stat pets for low prices (as I've been doing) it might be a relief to know that we will get a note of warning if we happen to cross a line unintentionally.

Again, thank you for your transparency and willingness to discuss this calmly and openly. You're making the best of what must be a very stressfull situation for you and Faiona, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who appreciates all the care and effort you put into this site and community.

Krinadon I personally am disappointed with this. With the first banning from our group we were told by you that you would not be sharing evidence. I think it's wrong that you posted our private server screenshots in a public forum. These screenshots should have never left the discord. The channel the messenger sent you these screenshots from was a channel meant for airing out grievances towards Sylestia and some of its players. Of course people are going to be upset with things in the game of they don't like it. Some of your screenshots were taken out of context as well. Tanking the economy was very much of joke and it was even being discussed that it was a joke just the other day. This is not cool man.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=105585&page=8#73 Author: Dreamfyre Time Posted: 3/24/2023 at 10:58 AM [quote=2699001] I don't see how it's remotely possible that this could have been dealt with privately. Several of the players are way, way too high profile to have disappeared without people demanding answers. It would have looked so shady if they'd just banned them and refused to explain. I know my trust in the site's moderation would have been eroded if these players had just disappeared and there was nothing but panicky rumours and radio silence from Krin/Faiona. Also - in hindsight - from the way I personally have seen some of these users speak/behave both on and off Sylestia, I'm not at all surprised about the bans, and IMO the mods have been incredibly lenient in allowing them so many warnings and second chances. If they were truly banhappy over petty slights at least some of those users would have been gone long ago. Imagine joking about swatting someone with an avi of your real face, and that someone is a mod of a site you literally make money off streaming. The sheer arrogance is breath-taking.

I'm def not saying banning without explanation would have been the solution, I agree that would have been shady - but I don't think the way it's been handled isn't.

Once again, context is the problem. I agree with you that joking about swatting people isn't it - but also everyone makes mistakes and has bad takes once in a while. More importantly, I would argue that everyone has (or should have) safe spaces to be able to make jokes around people they trust and who know them well enough to understand that they are jokes and only that. I cannot stress enough that we don't have the context for these snippets of conversations. These comments could have immediately been followed with "nah jk y'all know I wouldn't do that" or any variation thereof. Again, I will reiterate that we don't know if that's the case. But we also don't know if it's not. The fact that whatever space these people had created for themselves to talk (and vent, which is normal and healthy) about their favourite pet site was invaded by staff remains. I don't like that, and I'm not sure why collectively we're supposed to be ok with it.

streamers dont take money from games its really the other way around the game can make a lot of money from the person doing thier content especialy for this game since its smaller theres not a lot of creators so jsut two or three could go a long way

no shots say swating theres no evidence provided to belive

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=105585&page=8#74 Author: Fleurallily Time Posted: 3/24/2023 at 11:03 AM I don't think it was oversharing even if I can see it being interpreted that way. I think that the screenshots should remain because it does show what some people were saying, planning, and doing. I trust that there is actually more that they have access to that they are choosing not to share. Whether or not we think it was a good or bad idea to post them, or whether hurtful or helpful, these screen shots serve an important purpose and I don't see them getting taken down any time soon. There is nothing wrong with Krin saying that people are allowed to dispute their authenticity, and I don't think that saying we have freedom of speech here in the thread means that the screenshots had no merit. *edited for minor grammar

"I trust that there is actually more that they have access to that they are choosing not to share."

I'd like to question this point, because Krin has repeatedly stated that he's trying to be transparent so why wouldn't he share anything that provided more context? (No I am not asking that he post the 1000s of screenshots he purportedly has, but rather maintain that he should not have posted any).

I also am confused about your comment because I didn't say there was anything wrong with that claim of his?? I commend it, in fact. I also think it points to this being a huge breach of confidence and character, as previously stated. They can't be proven (or disproven). So why have they been shared with an audience?