(pinging everyone who's brought up the extension)

I've made a thread in the suggestion box for accessibility features and other features from both the first and second extension that could be implemented into the site itself. Feel free to add your thoughts:
https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=105602

Krin i know you probably dont want to do so but i think an offical list of those banned might be an idea. I got a comment in chat earlier "omg you werent banned!?!?!" directed at me. While we are aware of sweeping bans but not who they are people will wonder if they are messaging someone that isnt coming back cause they were banned or they go to message a friend, see they werent online for x time and worry something is wrong with them.

Let me tell you a story of a newbie Katt that became good friends with a lovely lady named Mae. Mae was the mama of 4 kids and was working too. Her free time was spent on sylestia. For months she would have an absence but would always return. After one of her absences she told me she was expecting and we chatted for a few days before she told me she had a drs appointment and would tell me if the baby was a boy or girl when she came home. She has been offline since then. I think about her alot and hope she has a lovely 3 yr old little girl now and for some reason never came online to talk to me again but my mind goes to the other option. If there was a way to tell for sure that a player was banned. A list a way to tell when you got to their lookup or something so that others dont have to go through what i do every day with Mae

"Those who seek to do us, other players, or the game harm will always be met with a denial of service; no questions asked. If your whole purpose of being here is to cause trouble and ruin the experience for others, go somewhere else."

Thank you for taking action, for explaining your reasoning, trying to work it out, and for showing proof. I also want Sylestia to stay safe and fun, it is a game after all.
Sometimes hard decisions have to be made, but I agree that if someone wants to cause trouble/harm then there should be no space for them here.
in order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=105585&page=27#270 Author: Explosiveroses Time Posted: 3/25/2023 at 9:01 PM This situation has been on my mind ever since it dropped. I haven't been here long but I'm no stranger to seeing bad dramas happening on pet sites, that's for certain. With that being said, this has a very particular level of maliciousness to it. Not just the economic manipulation, but everything. My best friend and I joined not too long ago and they've been more active in the forums than me for certain and what is crazy about all this is almost every single person who spoke to them was banned. Some of them tried to lure them off-site, onto Discord. My friend did not take the invitation of course because it made them suspicious. Needless to say, I am very glad that those red flags were going off. In particular, I am kind of wowed that Ive seen comments against these bans in regards to breeding of certain pets no longer being accessible. You can always make new breeding projects, that is so little in the light of all this. I'm very glad to see transparency here from the site Admin, that is such a welcome thing compared to other places Ive been. Not all may agree but I think he made the right choice in with this action. I hope all who had crossed paths with them are okay. It just really leaves a bad taste in my mouth knowing that some of them tried to get chummy with my friend, that's just not okay.

Thank you for sharing your insight.

I think one thing that has been massively overlooked here throughout this thread regarding our "invasion into a private Discord group" is that these players were actively recruiting Sylestia players into their "private Discord group" via Sylestia channels. This was happening on-site - for years. At that point, it is no longer "private" when you are specifically using our platform to recruit. I don't know how anyone can think that's none of our business. If you want a private Discord group then keep it private, it's pretty simple.

And, again, just to emphasize, even with that knowledge, we never entered any of these groups. Concerned players within the groups came to us, unprovoked. We simply reacted to that.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=105585&page=26#253 Author: Fleurallily Time Posted: 3/25/2023 at 11:41 AM Krin, Thank you for opening up the comments section to give the community the option to comment questions or concerns. I have one concern and one question: The Concern: My last concern I will put on this thread publicly regarding this announcement is that I believe this thread is getting away from its intended purpose. At this point, 25+ pages in, there are fewer and fewer questions and more and more arguments/discussions between players taking place. And of the questions being asked, many are repetitions in some way or another of questions that have come before. Because of this, I think you should close the comment section sooner rather than later. In the warning posted to the forums back in December regarding bullying and harassment (https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=104725), that thread was locked because it's purpose did not require further commenting from the community, due to it being a one time warning. I believe this announcement and the comments that have followed have served their purpose. I believe the best course of action going forwards is to prevent prolonged discourse over the bans, as they have already been enacted. It is my belief that the original purpose of this thread has been served and that further comments discussing the rightness or wrongness of the ban are counterproductive to the long term health of the community. The Question: In the event that you do decide to lock this thread, will you be open to creating a new announcement thread where players with concerns or questions going forward will be given the opportunity to publicly ask them? Thank you, Fleura

Yep. We definitely plan on having more discussions regarding the actual game-related topics discussed here in the thread.

We will probably be locking this thread after today, as I think the majority of everything has already been said/discussed. However, we feel that the feedback here is important and we want to make sure that the door remains open long enough for anyone wanting to provide it has time to do so.

This is sad, so sad, on so many levels.

It is sad that Krin and Fai should have to deal with this. One of the biggest strengths of this site has always been that the owner and administrator of the site has been so personally invested in it. Krin has spent eleven years plus developing this site and building a supportive community. I have never seen a site where the developer has made themself so available to the fanbase and has interacted so much with the users. He listens to our suggestions and complaints; he discusses new ideas with us; he is constantly providing new things for us to enjoy. It is his business, his livelihood, but it is clearly so much more than this. And it is, of course, right that he should protect his site, his users, his wife and himself from malicious and threatening behaviour; it is right but so sad that he should need to.

It is sad that people who, I firmly believe, actually enjoyed their time on Sylestia at first and were genuinely helpful to others, should turn against it in this way. I truly believe that much of this started as joking but it escalated far beyond that. It is not funny to target individuals, not Krin, not Fai, not the users who have shared experiences in this thread nor those who don't feel like speaking out about it. It is not funny, it is sad.

It is sad that people who I have talked to and interacted with for anything from four years to eight years, people who I know for a fact are really nice people, who have helped me over the years in so many ways, and who loved and still do love the site, people who I know are so much better than this, have been drawn into it and have been banned. It is so sad.

It is sad that a site that has been such a welcoming, friendly and supportive place is having to go through this experience. It is sad that there are people hurting. It is so sad now but it won't be like that forever.

Maybe now I'll feel comfortable to return to the site.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=105585&page=28#277 Author: Teemo Time Posted: 3/26/2023 at 9:29 AM Maybe now I'll feel comfortable to return to the site.

I think this is something we need to focus on.

I've seen and heard several players say this exact thing. And yet, a lot of people are overlooking it.

A lot of players didn't feel safe around the ones who were banned.

That, to me, tells a lot about the situation.

My biggest concern now is in fact what has been said by a lot of players. A lot of users as people have mentioned, have come forward saying they felt unsafe, harassed, ostracized, ect. By some of these players while on site.

While I also agree and fully support the fact that player mods wouldn't be the best choice for this site in particular, I do think there definitely needs to be a change in the way players are protected on site. I did read Krinadon was looking into alternatives, and I am hopeful that once something is figured out and implemented, that the user base feels more safe and comfortable on site.

Lastly, thank you Krinadon and Faiona for patiently hearing everyone out. I know the situation wasn't an easy one and there's a lot to sift through and think about, but I really appreciate the communication and transparency that was presented here and the willingness to hear everyone out with their concerns and answering questions.

Going forward, I hope that every single person affected by this event is able to heal. There was a lot of negative things going on in the background, but now, I hope we can all move forward together into a better future here on Sylestia.

I was not planning on replying but, as someone who plays on and off, I am extremely glad that I don't have off-site social media and that I'm not very well-known on this site. If I had off-site social media or was well-known on this site, I would feel incredibly unsafe. I don't entirely safe but I feel that I am safer knowing that the majority of the site does not even know that I exist. However, that might change with this reply.

Now, with what I can understand (which may not be much), some people threatened to harm the games economy, spread misinformation about Krinadon and Faiona and harass them, and threatened to swatt and/or doxx Krin. Because of those reasons, the players in question got banned. If I am incorrect about something here or there is more to the story that I don't completely understand, please let me know. I honestly would like to be more informed about what is happening and I don't want to think that all that I've gathered is what's true because, I'm gonna be honest, what I understood from this thread is not a lot.

Edit: I did not know earlier that other players were also getting harassed. (Thanks Falkinsey)