Beggar
Pirate Master
To the Administrators of The Legend of Pirates Online and its community at large,
The recent allegations against the TLOPO Moderator, Stephen Teague, of trolling, corruption, inciting griefing behind anonymous accounts, accepting bribes, abusing moderation privileges, leaking players’ chat information, and others, are highly compromising to the TLOPO community’s confidence in the game’s moderation and administrative teams.
We have no doubt that there is mixed truth among the original accusations leveled by Spade, and we appreciate the transparency and grace shown by TLOPO’s administrators as they develop their official response. This appreciation extends to Stephen Teague’s recent public apology. We understand that this situation is far more complex and multifaceted than an outside observer can understand, and that formulating an appropriate response will likely be commensurably difficult.
While TLOPO’s administrators rightly take their time in determining their best course of action, we feel it is to the community’s benefit to formally weigh in and share our feelings and perspectives. Our stance is this: maintaining our trust and confidence in TLOPO’s staff requires that Stephen Teague step down from all levels of the game’s administration.
I reiterate our understanding that some of the accusations against Stephen Teague are likely untruthful. Unfortunately, some among those that he has admitted to in his public apology are so troubling that we can no longer accept him in his role as a game moderator. For instance,
Additionally, Stephen Teague’s problematic behavior behind the guise of anonymous accounts raises serious concerns about his fitness for his role as a moderator:
Stephen Teague’s actions convince us that he is unfit to continue his tenure as a member of TLOPO’s staff. For the sake of the community’s health, the integrity of its leaders, and our confidence in TLOPO’s administrative team, we ask that he step down immediately.
If you support this request, please list your name in this thread in a message below.
The recent allegations against the TLOPO Moderator, Stephen Teague, of trolling, corruption, inciting griefing behind anonymous accounts, accepting bribes, abusing moderation privileges, leaking players’ chat information, and others, are highly compromising to the TLOPO community’s confidence in the game’s moderation and administrative teams.
We have no doubt that there is mixed truth among the original accusations leveled by Spade, and we appreciate the transparency and grace shown by TLOPO’s administrators as they develop their official response. This appreciation extends to Stephen Teague’s recent public apology. We understand that this situation is far more complex and multifaceted than an outside observer can understand, and that formulating an appropriate response will likely be commensurably difficult.
While TLOPO’s administrators rightly take their time in determining their best course of action, we feel it is to the community’s benefit to formally weigh in and share our feelings and perspectives. Our stance is this: maintaining our trust and confidence in TLOPO’s staff requires that Stephen Teague step down from all levels of the game’s administration.
I reiterate our understanding that some of the accusations against Stephen Teague are likely untruthful. Unfortunately, some among those that he has admitted to in his public apology are so troubling that we can no longer accept him in his role as a game moderator. For instance,
While we appreciate Stephen Teague’s sincerity and openness, his decision to leak users’ private chat information raises serious questions about his judgment and fitness for a role as a TLOPO Moderator. His breach of user privacy directly breaks the promises made to TLOPO’s users in the Privacy Policy of the game’s Terms of Service:Before I begin explaining anything, I will apologize for where I did mess up. I did leak a screenshot of an individual's chat logs (avoiding naming to abide by the rules) and you can see my apology to the individual in the pastebin/screenshot/whatever medium you saw it in.
Unless we are to believe this implies that there is an Administrative Tier of access which includes non-administrators, one of TLOPO’s Moderators broke TLOPO’s own privacy policy.By using our services, you consent to the accessibility of all chat logs and relevant user data sent across our network to our Staff. Anything disclosed by you within these logs is the sole liability of you and not TLOPO. Staff access to this information is tiered and appropriately restricted to certain levels within our administration.
Additionally, Stephen Teague’s problematic behavior behind the guise of anonymous accounts raises serious concerns about his fitness for his role as a moderator:
Stephen Teague’s use of these alter-ego accounts is more problematic than he lets on. During the period when his alternate user, “Menacing,” posted the thread “The Looter War,” TLOPO was experiencing an uptick in in-game griefing, harassment, and doxxing between different factions of its community. We are not suggesting that Stephen Teague was the primary instigator of these malicious activities, but for him to risk catalyzing these extremely problematic behaviors behind the guise of an anonymous account is unbefitting of one of the community’s moderators and most authoritative voices.When it comes to utilizing alternate personas, yes, I did use some in the past. I would occasionally use these personas to mess around in game. After reflections long ago, I discontinued use of them.
Stephen Teague’s actions convince us that he is unfit to continue his tenure as a member of TLOPO’s staff. For the sake of the community’s health, the integrity of its leaders, and our confidence in TLOPO’s administrative team, we ask that he step down immediately.
If you support this request, please list your name in this thread in a message below.
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