Ferrets54
From TWC Wiki
| ferrets54 | |
 Citizen of TWC | |
| Ranks: | Citizen |
|---|---|
| Patron: | Tom Paine |
| Patron of: | Gwendylyn, Mithie |
Ferrets54, often abreviated to Ferrets is one of the better known members of Total War Center's forums. He has a long history of conflict with various administrations of the site, which has included several 'permament' bans and even more suspensions and warnings and was a part of the notorious fight with Crandar, but in recent months he regained his citizenship, became a member of the Consilium de Civitate, started writing for The Helios and is genuinely viewed to be a much more settled person. He recently held the office of Curator, although was prevented from running again due to an infraction for off-topic posting. He is head of TWC's youngest citizen house, The Ferrets54 Experience.
Contents |
[edit] Personality and Posting Style
Ferrets54 posts primarily in the debate forums, especially in the Political Mudpit. He does not have a history of shying away from personal invective and posts in succinct, short points, addressing the debate at hand. Opinions differ on his posting style, some describing it as trolling, flaming, one-liners. Many have remarked on the humour in Ferrets' posts, and he has won Member Awards for Funniest Poster, Best One Liners and Best Political Poster.
[edit] Controversy
The center of drama over much of the past two years, Ferrets has spent significant time banned or suspended. Some of these are now thought to be unfair by both Ferrets and most of the staff. Ferrets himself no longer remembers just precisely how many times he has been suspended.
[edit] Demotion
In March 2005 Ferrets, a civitate at the time, began a thread asking if mods could run on Rome: Total War if it was using a no-cd crack. Ferrets was unaware that even mentioning such a crack on the forums was against the rules and he subsequently apologised, accepting the warning that came with it. Ferrets admitted that he used a no-cd crack, due to a broken cd-drive, and proved ownership of the game with a photograph.
On March 7, a short time before he was made an Urbanis Legio, Crandar opened a thread in the Prothalamos (subsequently moved by Siblesz to the main Curia forum) titled "This should not be happenning". In it, he pointed to Ferrets' discussion of the crack and Ferrets54's signature, which was at the time an animated gif file of Penn Jillette mouthing "Shut the f*** up", and argued on this basis that Ferrets should be removed from citizenship:
There are no legal uses of the noCD crack and any discussion of this type of thing in the forums by a civitate should be cause for immediate removal. We ought to have a clearly stated and strictly enforced zero tolerance policy on these issues.Combine that discussion with continued signature abuse after several warning and this is clearly enough. If you cannot legitimately type the words "***********Y*O*U" in the public forums then you clearly cannot use an image to do write the same thing or provide an animation where the character is clearly mouthing the same words in a graphic that has those words as the title. It is just clearly not appropriate in general and absolutely not appropriate for a civitate to engage in this behavior.
(He also criticized some other Civitates in the thread, such as Mordhak.) Some discussion followed, in which a number of Civitates expressed a range of disapproval of Ferrets' actions, but with few endorsing Crandar's call for immediate removal. Ferrets vigorously defended himself, calling Crandar a "pedantic dalek".
On March 11, a staff member created a thread in the staff forum (hidden) titled "The Evidence Locker" and later renamed to "The Evidence Locker-AKA how did he last so long!?!" long after it was retired. The nominal description of the thread was "to store any evidence to be used against civitates who are not maintaining the standard assigned to them." Various staff members cited posts by Ferrets that they found unbecoming. In the third post in the thread, an administrator stated "We're having a lot of problems with Ferrets... Ostrakon should be effected. I need a yes from you guys." A couple of others suggested he be given another chance, and the thread received its last post on March 28 (until October 18, long after Ferrets' Ostrakon).
On March 26, GodEmperor Nicholas started a thread in the staff forum (later moved to the Tabularium) titled "Ostracise Ferrets54". There was some debate over whether, procedurally, Ferrets was entitled to a formal Ostrakon or whether he could just be warned and then removed. Regardless, on March 28, nine out of nine voting staff members agreed that he should be ostracized, and borispavlovgrozny posted to say that he had demoted Ferrets.
Ferrets correctly pointed out that this was an unconstitutional move since the rules required that a citizen have 'above a 20% warn level' for such a demotion to occur. A thread discussing the issue (hidden) was created in the moderator forum. The moderator who opened the thread opined that
I don't like the little bastard, and I'm pretty sure most of you don't either (after all, he was demoted), but rules are rules. [He] has a point. If we want to demote him, we ought to hold an Ostrakon.
Siblesz's reply was to warn Ferrets, stating "you don't have a 20% warn level? You do now," intending to put him above the legal limit for citizens. In fact the wording of the constitution implied that a citizen would in fact need a 30% warn level. The third moderator to post in the thread thought that due process had been followed, since Ferrets was not a Patrician and therefore not eligible for formal Ostrakon. The fourth agreed and added "About the 20% thingy, El Sib handled that perfectly". However, in 2007 Siblesz admitted that Ferrets was in fact correct.
[edit] Illegal?
Backed up by Siblesz, Ferrets still considers his original demotion illegal. The Syntagma explicitly stated that "Any Civitate that exceeds a 20% Warn level will be subject to immediate demotion, without being subject to Ostrakon." However, although Siblesz had certainly meant to use that provision to demote Ferrets, it has been said that he only actually raised Ferrets' warn level to 20%, and did not cause it to "exceed" 20%.
borispavlovgrozny argued that the Syntagma stated that the process of Ostrakon applied to Patricians, not mere Civitates, and the Syntagma did not explicit state "that any Civitate that hasn't reached a 20% warn level WILL NOT be subject to immediate demotion", so "He can be removed from his post without any formality whatsoever in full constitutionality". Boris was the author of the relevant section of the Syntagma, and said that "I left that open for a reason", implying that according to his intent in writing that section Ferrets could be demoted at whim.
Sulla expressed skepticism of Boris' point of view and said he should have a formal Ostrakon, but Crandar agreed with Boris' interpretation, saying that "It is fairly clear to me that he does not qualify for the standards of peer review that are afforded by the Ostrakon statute". GEN felt that "given the legal ambiguity that clearly exists courtesy of Boris, I see this as the final word". In the end, nine out of nine participating staff members agreed that Ferrets should be stripped of Civitates rank.
Simetrical, for one, dismisses Siblesz opinion that it was wrong as 'trivial'.
[edit] The first round of suspensions
After Ferrets was stripped of his rank, he began receiving numerous warnings, most at the hands of Crandar. On March 30, a moderator started an Alhambra thread (hidden) to suggest that Ferrets was "an asset" and that efforts should be made to reform him, rather than banning him. (The moderator did not deny that Ferrets repeatedly broke the rules, only thought he should be treated leniently for that.) Crandar strongly objected to leniency, and the few others to comment were non-committal. In that thread on May 12, Crandar stated that "[Ferrets] is now up to a 6 or 7 warning level and has already had suspensions of 7, 3, 7, 14, and now something larger than 14 days", and asked for Hex to "implement a more global solution".
A Hex member created a Hex thread (hidden) that day at 8:04 PM. He said that
Well it seems Ferrets just doesn't seem to get it. He constantly baits Crandar. It seems his sole purpose on this forum is to piss him off. I for one don't have any real problems with Ferrets, but his actions against a moderator, any moderator, are not acceptable. Crandar does have it in for him, I warned Ferrets a long time ago to watch out and calm down, yet he seems to be intent on his own self-destruction. I think some serious action may have to be taken against Ferrets.
The second post in the thread, four minutes later at 8:08, consisted of the three words "Let's delete him". The third and final post in the thread was made at 8:15, eleven minutes after the thread was open, and said "Don't. IP ban him. It's a lot cleaner. I'll do it now if you wish. P.S. - Done."
As the administrator who opened the thread remarked, Crandar did feel strongly about Ferrets and did appear to make it his job to punish him on every occasion. Even before Crandar was appointed moderator, some concern was expressed about his dislike for Ferrets: in a March 10 Hexagon-Council discussion (hidden) on what moderators to appoint, a Hex member said that "I think [Crandar] would persecute Ferrets since it has kind of become a personal thing between them". Partly on this basis it was agreed to pass over Crandar as a moderator for the time being. Later, it is a matter of record (hidden, moderator forum) that Ferrets had "concerns about the way Crandar is moderating", as paraphrased by a moderator whom Ferrets had PMd. Even in the final Hex discussion on what to do with him, a Hex member stated that "Crandar does have it in for him".
Ferrets54, therefore, was one the one of the first who protested Crandar's moderation in the strongest terms. He later went so far as to claim that he was the first to try to overthrow Crandar. GENERAL_MAXIMUS (now Belisarius) opened his memorable thread My case And petition against Crandar! in the Curia on April 19, which was well before Ferrets was IP-banned but also well after he started receiving warnings and possibly suspensions from Crandar, so it seems likely that he was at least among the first.
[edit] The second round of suspensions
After Crandar was removed from power Ferrets54 was welcomed back to the forum as a member who had attacked the now reviled Crandar. However, Ferrets' unbanning was not immediate, and by the time he was unbanned the other members of Anagennese had divided up the staff roles for themselves in the absence of Siblesz who was then abroad for a long time. The new staff also never restored Ferrets' civitateship, despite promises that they would. By that time rumours abounded that Ferrets created and distributed no-cd cracks and had spread to the point that he was pm'd requesting them and the new moderators cited threads that never existed as a reason not to restore his status. Despite the loss of status Ferrets had a small influence on the development of the new rules and what would eventually become the Curia, based on the ideals that all members of the forum should be able to criticize the staff without fear of action and have a small role on government itself. However, Ferrets' ideas of the system being simple and restrictive lost out to other ideas and eventually TWC developed a very complicated constitution and Curia, and the forum names were changed to Latin, a move Ferrets criticized as unnecessarily confusing. Eventually the rules were changed concerning civitateship, patricianship and ostrakons and were retroactively applied to Ferrets54, making it clear that Ferrets would never regain his lost status. Now utterly disillusioned with the members that Ferrets had helped overthrow Crandar, he withdrew from the site's politics and largely restricted his posting to The Common Community. Over time the new staff themselves became more strict in their moderation, and Ferrets54 publicly resisted, comparing their style to that of Crandar's, in particular their adoption of editing member's posts at the slightest reason in sometimes very patronising terms. Perhaps proving Ferrets54's point, this instigated another series of warnings and suspensions for him, and eventually another ban.
[edit] The third series of suspensions and ban
Over ten months passed before Ferrets54 was unbanned, despite the suspension was only meant to be for six months. During this period Ferrets54 posted with an alternative account, Gubbins, for a period of several months. Several moderators still sympathetic to Ferrets54 knew of this account, and turned a blind eye to it. However, when Ferrets54 mentioned the account on Anagennese, Simetrical, a new moderator at the time, banned the account and extended Ferrets54's suspension by three months. This action was viewed by Ferrets to be so treacherous and harsh, that it led to the rift between the two members that extends to this day. When the ban ran out Garbarsardar and Ferrets made a compromise considering his past treatment, which now was considered unfair by the majority. Ferrets would be patronised by Garbarsardar if Ferrets could behave with his posting. Over this period of time Ferrets was patronized by many members, including the administrator Archer himself, but he was never accepted as a civitate. Ferrets was consistently persecuted by another new moderator The Grim Squeaker. Ferrets54 found his moderating technique so counter-productive that he frequently criticized him. This led to Ferrets being banned once again. Archer recognized this action as wrong, with no justification within the rules, and therefore unbanned Ferrets54 some time later, without consulting with the moderators. By this point the situation on Total War Center had deteriorated so much that this action was received with fury by the majority of the staff. Ferrets himself just hoped to be allowed to post, but this was not to be. The account was banned and unbanned time and again as a political football, reducing Ferrets54 to posting with alternative accounts in secret. In January 2007 Total War Center collapsed into the Staff Rebellion and Aristocrat unbanned all members, including Ferrets54. Ferrets54 revealed his alternative account, Sit Down, Fat Dog and was welcomed back by the former staff, many of them the same people who had overthrown Crandar with him. Ferrets54 launched several attacks on Richard the Lionheart, formally Honor&Glory, whom Ferrets54 had always criticised as being a poor moderator. Ferrets boasted at the time that after two years of consistently predicting poor moderators people might do well to begin listening. Ferrets54 received his most recent ban during this time, from Richard the Lionheart. Asterix called for a general amnesty, specifically mentioning Ferrets54. Using Sit Down, Fat Dog Ferrets thanked Asterix, and requested that the alternative account be left open for the use of communication. Despite the fact that the majority of the staff agreed to this, Simetrical banned the account. The Hex decided not to unban Ferrets54. No reason has been given for this, neither publicly on the forum, or privately to Ferrets himself, despite moderators having easy contact with him. In fact Ferrets54 was only informed of the decision through his contacts with more sympathetic, lower ranked moderators. An email that Ferrets sent to Imb39 requesting clarification received no response at all. Rather than create another new account for just the sake of posting, he formed a more long-goaled plan
[edit] Cassy
Ferrets54's girlfriend, Cassie, suggested that he make a new account and become a civitate within a month to display simply that there was no good reason for him to remain banned. This was done, and within a few weeks was offered patronisation by several members, including Seneca, Perikles and Garbarsardar. Although this ultimately never worked through, the general consensus was that the account showed that Ferrets54's posting was no worse or better than an average member's. After the case was reviewed, Ferrets54 was unbanned, once again, under a new probationary system invented just for him.
[edit] Reintegration
The trust given to Ferrets54 was well placed, taking on new roles in the community, rebuilding traditionally tense relationships and attempting to have a constructive influence on the site. On September 13th, 2007, Ferrets54 regained the rank of citizen, almost two years after his original demotion this time patronised by his one time enemy, Tom Paine.
[edit] Modern Times
On November 6th 2007 Ferrets54 was elected to the Consilium de Civitate.
On November 18th 2007 Ferrets54 successfully patronised his first client, Gwendylyn.
On January 11th 2008 Ferrets54 applied to run for Speaker of the House, but was vetod by Hex on the grounds that he was still at a small risk of receiving a warning.
On February 18th 2008 Ferrets54 was elected to a second term on the CDeC by landslide, earning more votes than all his rivals put together, with almost three times the votes of his leading competitor.
On March 1st 2008 Ferrets54 was elected to be Curator.
[edit] Ranks Held
