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Roll20, a popular site with tools for roleplaying gamers, found itself on the wrong side of many of its fans after a failed moderation incident that drove all of its moderation staff to quit its subreddit – and the fourth Reddit station the most lowered of all time.
Yesterday, a Roll20 user named Cory, known on Reddit as ApostleO, posted a thread on Dungeons and Dragons and Roll20 subreddits saying that he had canceled and deleted his Roll20 account after five years. A few days ago, he wrote, he had been banned from the Roll20 subreddit. Since he had posted only three messages that did not seem to break the rules, he was confused and sent a message to the mod team asking him why he had been banned. One of the subreddit mods, which bore the NolanT username, directed him to an account that had a similar username, ApostleofTruth, which he had banned a year earlier. Looking at it, he found that ApostleofTruth's latest comment on the Roll20 submarine was a review of the site. Cory's last comment had also criticized some features of Roll 20. NolanT thought that ApostleO was just ApostleofTruth, under a new name.
Cory was not the previously banned user. But in reviewing the story of this user, he felt that their ban was also unfair.
"Now, I'm not just mad at myself, but for that other guy who was banned a year ago," Cory wrote in his Reddit post. "He was banned for criticizing Roll20, and for reporting abuse of moderation by trying to crack criticism."
"Ironically, I would never have known about the history of mod abuse if Nolan had not shown it himself," he wrote. During the day, Cory's post made its way among the other members of the subreddit, who called for the lifting of bans and the removal of NolanT from the mod team. NolanT answered the question by saying that although the ban was really wrong and he apologized, Cory had sent what NolanT called "threats" following the ban, saying he would become a critic. active social media. The "abominable customer service" of Roll20 if the ban was not lifted.
In response, NolanT followed closely and stated that "the level of this escalation" meant that it would leave Cory's ban in place. How did subreddit react? Making the comment the fourth lowest in Reddit's history with nearly 60,000 losses.
But the controversy was just beginning. The NolanT position was signed "Nolan T. Jones, co-founder and managing partner of Roll20". Until now, Cory and many other posters on subreddit did not realize that Roll20 staff members were moderators of the subprogram. In fact, every mod was a Roll20 employee. "These two facts are not hidden, but they are not well known to frequent r / roll20 users," said Cory. Kotaku by email.
"It has been suggested to me that the situation was a powder keg," Cory said, "and if I had not set it up, someone would have ended up doing it."
When Kotaku Contacted Roll20 for a comment, a representative directed us to a public statement that has since been stuck at the top of subreddit and on the forums of Roll20. This statement says that all Roll20 staff members have been removed as moderators of the subreddit.
"We have asked the mods from another subroutine (/ r / lfg) to step in and become the new moderators of / r / Roll20," the statement said. "We let them decide subreddit rules for the future and we removed all Roll20 staff from this sub-program. In addition, the 13 users previously banned from / r / Roll20 were banned. "
Although he is now free to post again on Roll20, Cory said he was trying to avoid posting for "avoid fanning the flames." thread now stuck in the Roll20 and D & D subreddits asking other posters to remain civil. He said Kotaku that even though he did not see any threats of violence, other posters told him that they were there. "I did not see it myself, but it was said that they were there," he said. "I guess they've been removed in accordance with the Reddit Code of Conduct."
Although the subreddit still seems to be in disarray – all the articles on the home page are jokes and memes referring to the recent drama – the new mod team seems eager to get into the quagmire. "We allow memes for the next 48 hours," the discussion thread said about moderation changes. "Take it out of your systems now, before switching to normal moderation mode."
Cory said Kotaku that he had no idea that his post would explode like that. "The whole problem could have been avoided if I had been more patient with the moderation team and U / NolanT, or if I had not posted the details of our exchange," he said. "Others have pointed out that the community's reaction was not just my situation, but a sense of frustration accumulated with Roll20 and Nolan."
"It has been suggested to me that the situation was a powder keg," Cory said, "and if I had not set it up, someone would have ended up doing it."
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