The Truth About Aloha

[Lincent]

Are you guys saying that memes are bad?

[MuffinTastic]

I didn’t really want to comment on this, and most staff probably won’t, but I got dragged into this mess, so let’s just get this over with. I’ll try to be as concise as possible while addressing the actual points, but still thorough, as to not be accused of… well, hopefully, anything at all. most of you probably know by now that I don’t partake in the community a great deal, so hopefully you can take this as an unbiased response.

also, while I can’t believe I even have to say it, I’ll say it anyways; these are my opinions, and this is my response. it is not to be interpreted as representative the staff as a whole. (even though it might be worded that way… vOv)

@Monstarules

Firstly, we haven’t bothered to expand to any other games. […] We never were aggressive with the other games that we went into and expanded into, and the support for the games dropped like flies since it wasn’t Ace of Spades.

this is sadly true, though from my point of view of one as the people that wants to “cling” to Ace of Spades, it isn’t that it’s not AoS, but a number of other factors such as how easy it is to transition over to the new game, server hosting difficulties, the community of the game in question and a few other things. I realize this is just an exaggerated statement to get a point across, but I wanted to address it anyways, so there you have it.
(the rest of the paragraph was obvious to everyone so I cut it out)

@Monstarules

Secondly, the staff of this website is broken, and in some cases corrupt. I can affirm from being a staff member that there are people who cause issues who are still staff since they’re considered “Veterans”. Basically nobody gets a fresh scope, which is why Guards are always getting beat up, even if an older staff member does the exact same thing.

I’ll agree with the somewhat vague statement “guards are getting beaten up” as it’s so vague, and because I agree (mostly) with israelleelll.
as for the rest, evidence, please. you’re leaking info now anyways (more on that later), so naming some names and sharing some stories probably won’t hurt. at the very least you can give the people involved a chance to defend themselves.

@Monstarules

Also, there are instances where the staff would go out and call up inactive staff to trash applications for Trusted and Guard. I personally witnessed trashing of Trusted applications, and I was told by multiple admins, AND 2 BK’S, that staff applications suffer the same problems, especially guard ones. You know how they filibuster stuff in the government? They basically do that and gather inactive staff who don’t care for Aloha to vote on the application, often drawing upon age old issues that are no longer concurrent with whats happening now.

I went through all of the trusted apps and staff apps and I can’t find a single piece of evidence for this “they” calling on others to trash applications. …or did you specifically mean Komrades?
we might bring up old issues, but just remember, the application system is run by humans, not machines. you have to work to gain our trust, and if you break that, you’re going have to work even harder to get it back. even with that in mind, the people involved almost always handle things fairly, if things are shown to be different the next time around.

@Monstarules

Also, they don’t look at your trusted applications at all if they don’t know you. Yeah. There are literally hundreds of people who needed trusted who lost it because the staff “Didn’t know them”. There are also cases where staff members will purposely go after someone they don’t like, and argue with you to make you look like an asshole so they can trash your application. Unrelated, but a good portion of the staff belong to the same clan and friend group.

can you really blame us? unless you are insane, you wouldn’t let any one come into a position of power (yes, trusted counts) unless you knew them to be a good person, who wouldn’t abuse it. this is just common sense, man.
as for the “going after someone” part, I have to disagree on the larger scale. there might be one or two instances where this happened, as we’re all human after all, but the application system as a whole is carried out with integrity. if we ask people questions, they’re fair, or at least supposed to be, those ‘instances’ in mind.

@Monstarules

Oh and how do I know that there are staff who actively cooperate to trash Guard apps? Easy! There are BKs and admins who told me my entire application word for word and post by post. Getting someone to vote on an application is necessary sometimes, but some people completely trash applications because of personal vendettas. It’s happened to more than one person too, especially in trusted apps.

so wait, it was “staff are unfairly ganging up and denying apps to everyone equally” and now it’s “staff are unfairly ganging up and denying my application”?
as a side note, that app leaking is a serious thing, and maybe you should be the better man and “report” the person who did that. or was it one of the Bastards, and you’re too nice to do that to a friend?

@Monstarules

The rules of this website are nonexistant. Flaming, flame baiting, and many other things happen. Additionally, people do not get banned for the mentioned things on the forums. The last time there was a forum ban, I don’t even remember.

I’m not sure why we have to ban people for that in the first place, we don’t ban them for that ingame. or do you want to censor both at the same time? I’m afraid I can’t get behind that.

@Monstarules

The rules for the game are even worse. The forums have adopted a forgive all policy, as long as they’re (the hacker) honest. There was someone with NO LESS THAN SEVEN BAN APPEALS who was playing the game. They got banned, came here to appeal, and went on their merry way.

evidence please. I’m not going to accept claims without evidence. I also have a sneaking suspicion this was a one-time thing.
but I’ll humor you this once, and assuming this is true, that’s pretty terrible, and should obviously be stopped. if you go through my ban appeal history, you might notice that after a few ban appeals I get fed up with their act and stop responding altogether. I’m pretty sure most other admins do this too, so I’m not really some huge role model.

@Monstarules

The lack of rules has chased off a lot of staff and players alike. In addition to this, there are some “Veteran” staff who are often above the rules, and actively go out to troll people with their friends. The staff is in dire need of a massive overhaul, and allows inactive staff who become active again for 1 day to vote on the applications of people who need to hear back.

we have rules, though. they’re just not as strict as you’d like them to be. no cheating (glitching, hacks), no spamming, no overly racist/sexist/etc stuff. the last one is more subjective than the others, but as a general rule it’s a pretty high set bar, as most of the staff have high tolerances for that type of stuff. on top of that, the etc stuff is usually ironic/sarcastic anyways.
also, would overhaul = removing Komrades? because most of the staff seem pretty ok to me…

@Monstarules

Also here’s what it’s like being a guard. You will be abused, and I know the situation hasn’t gotten better, because I have access to the guard ban reports still. There are currently over 300 guard bans which haven’t been answered. Here’s what being a guard means, in a nutshell:

1. You will be used in place of admins, who will not look at your reports unless you spam the IRC, and then they get mad at you for being ambitious
2. You have literally no power over hackers who ban evade. Good luck!
3. You will be tested to the extreme when someone doesn’t like you. Prepare to be trolled to the max, and prepare to deal with instances of stupid votekicks.
4. You will not go up because to go up you need to devote all 24 hours a day 7 days a week to catching hackers to even have a hope of advancing, since the staff, even the inactive staff, are considered staff until retired.
5. No matter if you do something another admin does, even for fun or to joke with a friend like they sometimes do, you’re wrong
6. You have a better chance of getting an abuse report answered.
7. They don’t care about what happens to you in reality.

I’ve numbered the points so I don’t put any more quotes than necessary.

1. guards are staff too, so I’m not sure why you’re upset about that. we don’t get upset at guards for being ambitious, what are you talking about? we actually want that.
2. neither do we, honestly. but more on the point: that’s true, but we restrict ip range banning because of the possibility of abuse. this makes a tiny bit less sense nowadays due to the slower rate of promotion, but I still agree with it.
3. I never had this as a guard, this sounds like a “you” problem.
4. I suppose I can agree with that, but how and why are non-retired semi-inactive staff relevant to this?
5. good exaggeration, I like it. why don’t you provide some examples for us?
6. perhaps with MW but you can just message us directly if we don’t see it, and we’ll definitely respond to that, so… I don’t see the problem here.
7. sorry to burst your bubble, but unless you’re a really close friend with someone over the internet, or they know you IRL or something, they won’t care either. it’s not a fault of the staff. it’s not even truly a fault.

@Monstarules

Typically a guard then comes under fire for not wanting to ban anyone, and if they don’t pick it up, posting useless reports that don’t get looked at, they get dismissed. There are staff members who try so hard to do these but even the most adamant and truly helpful staff members can’t do anything about it because there are so many reports. The higher staff has started to stop caring.

MW has become less useful over time, I will say that much. again it might be a good idea to message more active admins about the reports.
am I counted in as one of the “higher staff”?

@Monstarules

Well, here you go, this is basically everything I said, simplified:
1: The staff have in the past, and from what I understand, still are turning on each other and arguing. I have access to the Aloha staff channel but I don’t bother going in there again
2: Major breaches of the admin rules, committed by several staff members, unfortunately, the bulk of who are Komrades.
3: Rigging apps, people to fail, and calling in the inactive staff to trash applications.
4: Lack of rules on the forums
5: Lack of banning people like we used to
6: Guards are the equivalent of a terminal lance, but even worse. At one point I had 50 unanswered reports in the MW list.
7: Continuing that above pointer, guards are viewed as expendable and nobody wants to review their reports.
8: Continuing with pointer 3, there are staff who are veterans who cause issues and have been called out for it, yet nothing happens because of favoritism
9: The Moderators and Admins aren’t doing what they need to anymore, just ask anyone on CSMaps, the Guards can’t keep up with it
10: There are admins who are trying their best and nobody else wants to help them
11: The second biggest pointer, we won’t expand to other games with any sort of backbone. We tried Minecraft, Terraria and more, and yet they all failed because lack of administrative support.

1. I’m in the staff channel, obviously, so… uh… no?
2. “Komrades” ding ding ding we have a winner. they’re actually fair and levelheaded people, you know.
3. now it’s “rigging” the apps? jesus.
4. covered this
5. yes, the staff have moved to other places, and are more busy IRL. is this really that surprising?
6. that sucks. covered this though.
7. good job, speaking for all of the staff. I don’t view guards as expendable, and I’m pretty sure none of us do.
8. evidence please
9. same as the response to 5. it’s disappointing, but unless we can find some way to get people back in this community there’s nothing we can really do about this.
11. do not deal in absolutes!! meh, you might be right. this seems like a good game though: Teeworlds

@Monstarules

Oh and the biggest pointer. Several somewhat pissed off staff members who helped me build that, including BK’s. That’s right. MULTIPLE BK’s.

sorry, I’m lost. helped you build what?

@Monstarules

The good staff is very frustrated with this website and what it’s become, and because of how the staff operates, Izzy cannot do much about it without overhauling everything, and going against what he originally said.

I’m not frustrated much at all, so please speak for yourself. also, I don’t see any reform happening. sorry.

@Monstarules

Oh also, I can’t get banned and this post cannot be deleted as it is not against the rules. This isn’t a leak or a hack of information either, as I have been included in the Staff document with editing rights since 2013, and while I mentioned it, nobody took the editing rights away from me either. I did not use names, I did not talk about certain* people. I have a right to speak the truth here.

this might be a bit of a dark turn, and an unpopular opinion, but the staff have every right to delete this thread and ban you, as we make the rules. you don’t have any rights here, we’re letting you voice this. it’s a good thing for everyone involved here that most of the staff believe fully in free speech. (and in case it wasn’t clear, I do too)
also, you’re simply wrong here. this is a leak. or, it would be, if a lot of this wasn’t inaccurate. most, if not all of the people in this thread have no access to that staff document, so good job.

@Monstarules

As for any arguments against this, your opinion does not matter. That’s a very harsh thing to say, but everything I said above here are facts. […] As for any Moderator or above staff who might reply “Where is the proof”, I don’t have to supply it because you either have access to it or you know how well this operates.

so, as member of the “good staff,” can I argue against this? or is my “good staff” membership now revoked? a lot of this stuff you’ve posted is exaggerated tales and extraordinary claims.
evidence please. this is not how arguments work, you have the burden of proof. those who make extraordinary claims must provide extraordinary evidence.

@Monstarules

To the guards, and good staff, I’m sorry.

you’d better be.

less important stuff

@Monstarules

I also feel really bad for good staff members, such as MuffinTastic, Nathan, Israellee, FalleN, FerrrariFlunker, Pun, Chase, BR and Froelich131.

why isn’t topo on that list?

as for israelleelll’s post, I can agree with most of that, as sad as it is. though the post is a bit… extreme.

p.s. wow this is a big post.
p.p.s. a lot of this stuff should really be privately discussed, look what you did

[SpadePablo]

i actually find it funny to read such dramatic posts
also muffintastic is a full of common sense person and it just feels right reading his answer

[Torch]

shoutout to the og homies o7  8) 8) 8)

---

[YoSUu]

I did not read Muffin’s post becuase it was too long.

[Torch]

@YoSUu post:85

I did not read Muffin’s post becuase it was too long.

Same

• dd

[thegreensun]

Actually some memes are bad and nsfw.Half of the memes are used to reflect peoples wrongdoings and failures to kind of emberass them:
Example:Trump threatens to destroy ISIS
Too scared to speak in Chicago.

i saw this meme on google.

[Titanium]

No doubt, yes

1 like for ya @Muffingastric

Click for details

8) 8) 8)

[system]

@OP, your banned admin has been contact

ty

ps. shoutout to the bad staff

[communist]

I never had problems with anyone. Thank you for maintaining this platform.

[israelleelll]

This is from from yesterday and today. Mind you, these are not all bans. Some of these videos are short clips of someone I thought was suspicious, some of these videos are evidence broken in to parts, but the bulk of this is evidence that was followed up with a ban. If I don’t upload this every time i ban someone it won’t stick for more than 6 hours. If i don’t upload this I’ll never be promoted above guard. If i upload this I may as well call this a full time job with a volunteers salary.

Ignoring the claims of admin abuse and corruption, our system is broken.

---

[SpadePablo]

#FixAloha

#AlsoFixBnS

[_Noob_Ep]

wow

[Monstarules]

Changes are starting to take place, if you have noticed. It took a long time but now things are finally going to be straightened out it seems. There is now a new BK, but more importantly, the Anonymous section is gone. This will eliminate a lot of forum trolling, flaming and bullying, and I doubt that feature will return ever. This is a step in the right direction. Let’s see if any new game servers pop up.

[Monstarules]

I normally don’t double post but I just realized there has been a rather large misconception.

When I said people well, work together to tank applications, I don’t think I mentioned exactly HOW. I don’t really mean on the level where people get together in like, a chatroom or voice chat and discuss who to fk up. I mean, afaik, that might have happened once or twice. What I meant was that inactives can be called in to vote. While inactives may be veterans, it’s definitely annoying because they carry with them sometimes very VERY old opinions, and won’t hesitate to recall them. While knowing something has happened is good, some people completely can be swayed by old opinions that may not reflect current events, actions or attitude, which in essence is asking around for people to tank applications. It happened to me, in my last application, and some people actually called the inactives out on it.

On a different note, say you do change and come back after a period of absence. Chances are there will still be a few assholes, who want to toss wood into the fire. Treating someone like they used to behave when they’re obviously trying hard to be different is definitely a dick move, and demoralizing. Fact: FerrariFlunker had a pretty rough time climbing up from being permabanned because of his past actions, but he eventually became a pillar of the community for a while. However, that doesn’t always happen. For example AceTheKing kept being bullied and eventually the constant bullying made him do bad things because people wouldn’t shut up and leave him alone about how he used to act, and it pushed him into being a complete asshole. I’ve seen people act very immature and pin the immaturity on someone else when they retaliate.

[Torch]

all you whine much; relax, friends adn ppl of the night : it okay!

[Anonymous]

lol.

[Pun]

haha. lets kill torch for all the things

[MiyukiTokubetsu]

Old habits die, they said.
AoS is a habit, so probably that counts…?

[Monstarules]

(Atreyu I see you liked Anon’s post, he’s not laughing at me, but moreso at the responses to the topic, especially Torch’s bc well, Torch had some nice drama. Same with Pun’s response. In reference to Torch.)
Well I lost my trusted status for leaking “insider information”. If that isn’t enough to prove that there are things true in this topic, I don’t really know what else to say. In all honesty it’s whistleblowing (which well, in response to Nathan, is actually legal in my country) because I am exposing major flaws and attempting to get things fixed instead of well, fucking them up more. People were so quick to jump to the conclusion I wanted to cause more issues because of my past. No. Grow up and accept that people change. I pointed out issues because I wanted change for the better. I respect izzy’s principles because he pays for this forum, and I tried doing this to try and show izzy that there needed to be change. This forum is dead to enough people already because of issues outlined.

TL;DR, the majority of this topic is true. I wish I could provide picture evidence to everything but the administrative response should be enough to prove that a lot of this is true. I didn’t lose my trusted for “causing problems” or “being a troublemaker”.