Post by OmegaWatcher

Posted: 4/1/2012 7:07 PM

Post subject: An apology on behalf of the Staff of TASvideos.org

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DarkKobold

Skilled player (1652)

Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 2202
Location: Killjoy

I'd like to offer an apology, on behalf of the staff, to everyone for the last 24 hours at TASvideos.org. The April Fool's "joke", if you can call it that, was perpetrated by one administrator, done without so much as informing any other staff member of his intentions. That said, the rest of us are guilty since we did not put a stop to this offensive rubbish immediately. For that, I am truly sorry, and ask your forgiveness. World War 2, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust are nothing to joke about. More than 6 million innocent people were murdered simply because of their race or sexual orientation due to the holocaust. These people suffered in ways that we can not imagine. An additional 14 million allied soldiers died in to prevent the spread of German Fascism. The entirety of the Third Reich is a dark stain on human history, and still wounds many people to this day. It is not something that should be made light of. I understand that some people will see this as a harmless joke. However, we stand to lose valued members of the community over this prank. I'd like to thank Dacicus, ais523, BrandonE, Sifl, and bobotheking for bringing the severity of this issue to my attention. We will be addressing the staff communication issues in private, and hopefully resolve them, so issues like these don't arise in the future. I welcome your comments, admonishments, and contributions. Thank you all for being patient with us, and I sincerely apologize to all who were offended.

Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.

Posted: 4/1/2012 7:11 PM

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RachelB

She/Her

Player (132)

Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579

Yes! The fuhrer is no more! I knew we could destroy her! This is a glorious day.

Posted: 4/1/2012 7:12 PM

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Brandon

He/Him

Editor, Player (191)

Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 914
Location: Tennessee

The biggest issue I had, which I didn't have the opportunity to voice, is that even if Nach could somehow justify that this has nothing to do with Nazism and that "the Third Reich can rot," he was still encouraging TASes that directly involved Hitler. The whole thing was pretty offensive, but much more than that, it was unfunny. I mean, the idea of a TASing master race is kind of interesting, but to associate it with all of the historical connotations that come along with the word Reich is a bad strategy. Übermensch is fine though; let's remember that although his philosophy was heavily involved in Nazi Germany, Nietzsche died way too early to possibly be blamed for it.

All the best, Brandon Evans

Posted: 4/1/2012 7:13 PM
(Edited: 4/1/2012 7:18 PM)

Post subject: Re: An apology on behalf of the Staff of TASvideos.org

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theenglishman

Active player (348)

Joined: 3/21/2006
Posts: 940
Location: Toronto, Canada

DarkKobold wrote:

More than 6 million innocent people were murdered simply because of their race or sexual orientation due to the holocaust.

Make that 12 million. Half were Jews, the other half were POWs/homosexuals/Roma/handicapped/not-Aryan. Also, speaking as a Jew, I found Nach's prank morbidly hilarious, maybe because I'm more familiar with Nach's deep knowledge of Jewish mythology over IRC. I'm on the Mel Brooks side of Hitler demonization, where we should turn him into this sniveling idiot who can't be taken seriously rather than fearing him. And as a belated counter to Epic Sax Guy, Link to video

My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(

Posted: 4/1/2012 7:13 PM

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Felipe

Banned User

Joined: 12/14/2009
Posts: 386
Location: Santiago, Chile

So all this was only a joke, well, at least over!

Posted: 4/1/2012 7:13 PM

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Deign

Active player (437)

Joined: 7/23/2006
Posts: 389
Location: Washington

here's my video response for the events of today and my thoughts on this whole "joke" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHy7DGLTt8g

I'm sciencing as fast as I can ! ______________________________________ <adelikat> once more balls enter the picture, everything gets a lot more entertraining <adelikat> mmmmm yummy penises

Posted: 4/1/2012 7:20 PM

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Canar

Joined: 4/1/2010
Posts: 96

This brings glory to the Seventh R--err, nevermind. The whole thing got blown way out of proportion, IMO. It's an April Fool's joke, and a highly successful troll at that. Then again, the closest I came to WW2 was through my grandfather, who killed exactly 1 German soldier and fell into alcoholism upon his return. I sympathize with those who were offended, but I was not.

Posted: 4/1/2012 7:25 PM

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Guga

He/Him

Joined: 1/17/2012
Posts: 838
Location: Chile

Changing the usename, signature, location and avatar of EVERY USER of the forum was pointless. The joke was just out of hand. I'm glad that its over.

Posted: 4/1/2012 7:35 PM

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Miles

Joined: 11/21/2006
Posts: 94

I say we ban Nach for secretly being Xkeeper.

Posted: 4/1/2012 9:23 PM

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Warp

Banned User

Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland

I think this apology is an overreaction. Nazis are and have always been an acceptable target for parody (for example, one of the most popular internet memes is the "Hitler reacts" fake subs). Moreover, I personally find DarkKobold being the one writing the apology to be quite hypocritical considering his attitude towards me, as he feels that he's free to hurl demeaning and insulting comments to my person, with no ensuing apology of any kind. Apparently not all people are equally "valued members" in his view.

Posted: 4/1/2012 9:39 PM

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adelikat

He/Him

Emulator Coder, Site Developer, Site Owner, Expert player (3576)

Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4754
Location: Tennessee

I don't think an apology in an overreaction given that this prank is driving away at least one valuable member of the site. This thread is enlightening to the big issue. People are quite divided over the issue, and many people were offended. While some are trying to argue as to whether they should, I think that is kind of missing the point. This is the biggest day of the year for this site, and one that should be fun and lighthearted, not one that leaves us discussing Nazi Germany. There are plenty of ideas we could have done instead that don't leave people getting upset, angry, or leaving the site over. The idea of everyone having the same forum name could have been done 4chan style with anonymous, and complete with usage of overtired memes. Or a TASing race could have been done Borg style. I don't know. My point is that there was no need to be this offensive. In hindsight I feel like this was bad taste, and I apologize too, on the behalf of the site.

It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects

Posted: 4/1/2012 9:58 PM

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DarkKobold

Skilled player (1652)

Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 2202
Location: Killjoy

Warp wrote:

Moreover, I personally find DarkKobold being the one writing the apology to be quite hypocritical considering his attitude towards me, as he feels that he's free to hurl demeaning and insulting comments to my person, with no ensuing apology of any kind. Apparently not all people are equally "valued members" in his view.

Warp, I meant in earnest that I did not intend for those comments to be taken as insulting. I consulted with others, and yes, they do appear insulting. So, I apologize for any offense caused by my comments, that was never my intention. In the future, I will do my best to be at peace with you.

Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.

Posted: 4/1/2012 11:39 PM

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AzureLazuline

Any

Joined: 9/22/2011
Posts: 42

Pretty much every April Fool's joke has someone get offended over it. Didn't this happen last year too? I've seen some jokes in poor taste, but really, this is just meant to be a fun holiday! Take everything with a grain of salt and realize that the joker is just having harmless fun.

Designer of Copy Kitty, a game about giant robots and explosions

Posted: 4/1/2012 11:52 PM

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Derakon

Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960

If you're going to change the site for April Fool's Day, then you should at least be funny. Pretending that the site has been Ruined Forever (in whatever sense) is about the most predictable "joke" you could make. All too often April 1st is Useless Internet Day, not Funny Prank Day. Which is really rather sad.

Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.

Posted: 4/2/2012 2:03 AM

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Felipe

Banned User

Joined: 12/14/2009
Posts: 386
Location: Santiago, Chile

I do not know if to say, this was taken as offensive. The forum was full of the name "TheSeventhGuy" but all users even existed. He could talk through the IRC. However, I'm not 100% faithful to this community and apologize for saying so. In my opinion, TASVideos is a little exaggerated with the quality of the movies. More than entertainment, seeks nothing more than speed. I know that is fun see something fast, is great, and is that many wait see. But sometimes focus so much on speed that in some cases eliminates the fun. Example: The zips in Sonic games.

Posted: 4/2/2012 2:18 AM

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Sticky

Joined: 2/26/2007
Posts: 1365
Location: Minnesota

Well, now that everyone has hugged and cried on each other's shoulders, I hope the collective butt hurt has been healed and we can move forward to the Cold War.

adelikat wrote:

I very much agree with this post.

Bobmario511 wrote:

Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.

Posted: 4/2/2012 3:40 AM

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jimsfriend

Former player

Joined: 1/17/2006
Posts: 775
Location: Deign

Personally, I think the most useful thing to do to the site on april 1 is to lock the workbench. And everything else. I can't wait for the day when april 1 has the same function as every other "holiday" in america: get drunk and forget what the original purpose of the holiday was.

Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign aqfaq Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign Deign

Posted: 4/2/2012 3:42 AM

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natt

Editor, Emulator Coder, Site Developer

Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 1108
Location: Murka

Link to video

Posted: 4/2/2012 4:36 AM
(Edited: 4/2/2012 4:39 AM)

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Twelvepack

Joined: 5/2/2006
Posts: 1020
Location: Boulder, CO

Is this apology part of the joke? did someone take the internet seriously again? We should warn against that. I, for one, look forward to the eights reich. may it outlive the seventh.

Has never colored a dinosaur.

Posted: 4/2/2012 4:36 AM

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goofydylan8

Experienced player (521)

Joined: 11/2/2010
Posts: 359

I wasn't offended by the "joke" at all, but I was very glad that it was ended early. I was looking forward to April 1st on this site because I was looking forward to interesting, unconventional, or otherwise considered unworthy movies to be submitted and discussed. Most would be joke submissions that wouldn't be accepted but they would be entertaining and there would be interesting facets to each run. This joke sort of ruined this because it made discussions, in my opinion, extremely difficult to follow. I couldn't tell if OP was posting, if it was the same person over and over, or if it was a group of unique opinions. I know I could click on the profile to find out the individual but with how slow the site was running today (probably in part due to everyone doing this) it made that choice not usable. Once it ended the submissions could be enjoyed much more. Also, unrelated to this post but my favorite aspect of today was the terrible encodes.

Posted: 4/2/2012 5:56 AM

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Warp

Banned User

Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland

DarkKobold wrote:

Warp, I meant in earnest that I did not intend for those comments to be taken as insulting. I consulted with others, and yes, they do appear insulting. So, I apologize for any offense caused by my comments, that was never my intention. In the future, I will do my best to be at peace with you.

In the unfortunate incident that I was referring to you were probably not intending anything negative, yet I interpreted it like that and protested. That was most probably a mistake from my part. However, what really crossed the line was your response to it. Anyways, apology accepted. I hope to make less such mistakes in the future (although I can't promise anything; it's difficult to get rid of paranoia just like that ;) ), and I hope that if I ever make such a mistake again, you will be more understanding. As for this whole April's Fools thing, having slept over it, I have came to agree that maybe it wasn't the greatest of ideas. The whole idea behind April's Fools jokes is to deceive people with an innocent prank. A successful prank is one that truly fools people who aren't aware of the date. Thus the prank has to be something subtle and believable. Doing something that screams "this is an April's Fools joke" kind of defeats the whole idea (if it's not fooling anybody, then it kind of isn't an April's Fools prank). Of course that alone would just make it a poor joke. The prank being about a controversial subject makes it approach the line of being distasteful and disrespectful.

Posted: 4/2/2012 7:22 AM

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OmegaWatcher

Joined: 5/2/2009
Posts: 656

Warp wrote:

The whole idea behind April's Fools jokes is to deceive people with an innocent prank. A successful prank is one that truly fools people who aren't aware of the date. Thus the prank has to be something subtle and believable. Doing something that screams "this is an April's Fools joke" kind of defeats the whole idea (if it's not fooling anybody, then it kind of isn't an April's Fools prank). Of course that alone would just make it a poor joke. The prank being about a controversial subject makes it approach the line of being distasteful and disrespectful.

to be fair, there's not really a manual about doing April Fools jokes. A site that I visited turned every page in 3D, and that's way worse than making everyone use the same nickname, it made the site unreadable.

goofydylan8 wrote:

Also, unrelated to this post but my favorite aspect of today was the terrible encodes.

Agreed.

My first language is not English, so please excuse myself if I write something wrong. I'll do my best do write as cleary as I can, so cope with me here =) (ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ

Posted: 4/2/2012 8:42 AM

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creaothceann

He/Him

Editor

Joined: 4/7/2005
Posts: 1874
Location: Germany

I wasn't offended, just slightly annoyed. The whole Nazi issue becomes repetitive (imagine becoming a history teacher and showing Schindler's List to every class you have). And of course there's the random Denglisch...

Posted: 4/2/2012 8:54 AM
(Edited: 4/2/2012 10:21 AM)

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Dada

Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Since I didn't see this April Fools joke itself, I can't really comment on it. But I'd like to note that we ought to give weight to the opinions of the people who were offended by this. Those that didn't mind the joke: great, but you don't really get to say that just because you personally weren't offended, other people shouldn't be. Certainly saying that "people who were offended are dumb" is pretty absurd and juvenile. It's a good thing there was an apology, and hopefully those that didn't like the joke can feel comfortable accepting it.

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An apology on behalf of the Staff of TASvideos.org