Been thinking a bit about how to respond to this. I suppose I'll start out by saying that yes, what I did was a bit harsh, and I probably shouldn't have overdone it, but I did it because I'm literally tired of Joe and his stuff. It's a long story, so take a seat and let's talk.
Just a reminder that JoeJack gave Autobahn his trust to host his server temporarily, in which he then proceeded to practically steal it from him.
Autobahn is basically a giant rooster.
It's a post-apocalyptic server that was ran by Joejack but Auto and his gang hosted a coup d'état of sorts and overthrew him out of the server forever. idk
To start with;
Yes, I did 'steal' the server. I have my reasons however, so before you start tossing torches and raising pitchforks, let me explain.
I used to cohost for JoeJack whilst he hosted. Before that, I was an admin. It's a rather long story as to how it got to that point;
My basic reasons are that how Joe ran his server was in a way that neither I nor others agreed with. He ruled in a way that put him as the constant center of attention despite the fact he paid very little, if any, attention to his own server. He was constantly off playing other steam games, leaving us admins to run it whilst playing Stalker: Clear Sky or whatever. The times he was on, however, he ruled with what I can equate with as an iron fist of sorts, and seemed to want everything on the server to be portrayed in his exact vision to the point where he banned someone for editing a house, even though he had permission from an admin(Chromomania).
But that's not really in chronological order, so I might as well give you my point of view for the events leading up until now.
- Around the time I had first joined the server was when he permabanned Favela for joke-banning Kompressor for, like, a minute. As you can see from my own post in there, Joe completely flipped out afterwards and banned everyone with the reason 'RDM'. Not too big of a deal, but I feel like it's a good starter for context for my point of view for these events, especially since he turned around later and discredited Favela, calling him a complete starfish and saying he never contributed to the server. Whether or not that's really true, I don't know, but I feel like permabanning him might have been over the line by far for what I'd seen and how Favela's acted to me personally.
- After quite a while of hanging around on the server, I eventually gained enough trust to become an administrator. I hung out quite often and was very active up until some point I don't remember, where I had some sort of hiatus(I don't really remember, it's been quite a while since that happened, and I don't really remember when I got back either, but I vaguely remember the events at that time, so yes, there will probably be a gaping hole between here and the next bullet). I had fun, but noticed that Joe seemed to rule in a form that could be considered, yes, 'iron-fisted'. I didn't think much of it at the time, since it just seemed like it was a decent enough form of hosting and I never heard anyone say anything about it to me personally about it.
- After some form of hiatus(again, I don't really remember, it's been such a long time between then and now that it's pretty much a gaping hole in my memory because I never thought it'd be important to me), I came back on the server. As far as I can remember, the old admins were a lot less active(from what I'd seen) and there were a lot of new faces on here and there. Cubular Monoxide comes on rarely, if at all, and the map seems changed.
- After a few days of being back, it becomes apparent that Cubular had left the server and wasn't going to come back. I become the new cohost, and Joe discredits Cubular in a motion similar to how he discredited Favela.
- Business as usual mainly up until the next major point: Joe stops paying attention to his own server. He's often playing other steam games while hosting, not bothering to administrate and mainly leaving it to the others and I.
- Amir comes on and soon becomes a regular on the server. I like him, but Joe hates him. I try to diffuse tension between the two as I can see the points both make. Eventually this comes to a head and Amir is banned over, yes, editing a house in the main area with permission and help from an admin(Chromomania). This is the point where I stop taking Joe's side so often, mainly because the way he explained himself felt both inadequate and like he simply wanted the server in his exact vision at all times, which isn't really what roleplay servers are for.
To recap on the server status here: Joe's barely paying attention, but wants the server in his vision. Several of the old admins are gone or barely play at all. Note: this is probably a little out of order at this point, but it's pretty accurate. Also, somewhere between these points Favela was finally unbanned and reinstated as an admin.
- Fast forward a bit more. I personally started feeling that the way Joe handled the server was rather unacceptable, and asked others if they felt the same way, particularly members of the new admin team and some particular players(If I remember correctly, one of the admins had previously tried to confront Joe about this problem[possibly Cubular, before he left?] but was brushed off). I start nagging Joe about how he's not paying attention to his own server, and he brushes it off with excuses about 'work'.
- Joe's problems become exaggerated, and he barely pays attention to the server at all, if ever. I decide something needs to be done about this, as he continually brushes off confrontations by complaining about his personal life without trying to improve at all. I start asking others if they'd support me in a coup. The majority returns with 'yes' as the answer.
- The coup begins. Joe has problems hosting, so after a period of sorting things out, I get the server and addons necessary to load it with the pieces in place. I host, and Amir and Favela join me as administrators. // I regretted pulling this maneuver early. I think I was a little harsh with him here, using the two people who hated him most at the time to back me up in this. Afterwards, I admitted to others that I probably should have had Chromomania and (Scorpion)[another SA on Joe's] back me up instead of Amir and Favela, to make it easier on him. // It happens, albeit in a way that was rather rough. // The coup was going to be a temporary move, to get Joe to pay attention. // It ends up with Joe being temporarily banned to help him cool off while Chromo talks to him on steam. Eventually he cools off.
- After the coup, things took a turn for the better. I changed the server policy to make it a 'community-forefront' policy - Admin matters would be voted on as admins for the most part, general server matters would be voted on by the community for the most part, etc. Basically a democratic or republican way of hosting. I transfer the old admins from Joe's and some of the new ones over, letting them retain their administration status as I saw fit, and giving some of the 'problem users' another chance. Of special note here is Xenias/Omnipotent, who had been a repeat problem user in the past on Joe's. While he did have a bit of a bumpy ride at first coming back, I talked with him over how and why he was banned when he did things wrong, and gave him pointers on how to improve, and I'm happy to say he's improved quite a lot in comparison to how he was on Joe's, where he was banned and usually not given a chance to talk over what went wrong, why, and how he could improve, only to be given 'second/third/fourth/whatevertheforget chances' later where he wouldn't improve because nobody'd(see: Joe) bother to help him. He's come to me personally once or twice thanking me for at least being able to talk with him over steam about it.
- Somewhere more recently is where things change - I'd told Joe he'd have the server back if he could prove that he was going to change. This led to a bunch of repeat offenses where he wouldn't go over things with me before doing things (ex. he contributed a 'trader' area where people could buy [supposedly]low-tier weapons. Whilst I'm AFK, Favela notifies me over steam that he's suddenly claiming I gave him permission to spawn in and sell high-tier weapons that even the factions didn't have access to at the time). This leads up to a climax where he promises me he's going to help me build an area(i think it was last sunday he was supposed to help me? he promised me the day before or something), and then, on the day he was supposed to help me, I tell him I want his help, and he proceeds to bullstuff that he has to go AFK to 'eat dinner'. Five minutes later Favela notifies me that he's opened up Hotline Miami 2. // I know this seems kind of a small thing to get him over, but it's more the fact he'd basically just proven that I couldn't trust what he said anymore at all. // I confront him over Steam and, oddly enough, he replies instantly, Steam giving no notification he's using Mobile(in other words, he's sitting at his PC). He tries to claim that he was going to 'leave it running while he ate'(what), and I have none of it, chew him out, and the argument ends with me blocking + unfriending him on Steam for the night. // I would have been completely willing to accept an apology if he had offered one, but he didn't. // I come on in the morning(three day weekend) and notice that Joe's made it so that only he can use the administrator tools on the steam group. At this point I'm seething, and I unblock him and refriend him, chew him out further, start hosting a little later and he comes on to end up being perma'd because of how far he took the argument. // At this point was when I decided that keeping the server was the best way to go, as I, among others, enjoyed it and I'd had several people tell me they preferred me to host it. // Cubular, among others, are notified and he comes on and Favela and I show him around a little, he talks about why he stopped playing on the server a while back and is relatively happy to take a spot on the admin team. Others are relatively happy now that he's gone as well.
- More recently, Joe starts poking my admins after a recent altercation between Xeid and I that ends up with him being deadminned and banned. Whilst this seems brash on my part, I was tired of him brushing off what I was saying to him and his attitude akin to either being almost completely docile, or trying to cut everyone's throats. Anyway, Joe starts poking my admins over Steam, particularly Amir(why) and Chromo(as shown in what I said in the log), asking them if they thought I was being overbearing on the server(this is why I regarded him as basically a vulture, trying to pick up scraps). After hearing about this, I decide I've had enough of him in total and this confrontation happens. Again, whilst I was rather hard on him for it(and I apologize for that), you have to take into account my past experiences with him. At the time, I'd basically had enough of the 'drama queen' stuff flying around the server and decided that no, I wasn't going to have any more of it. So to cut off the 'tough guy' act, I wasn't really thinking about it at the time, I was just tired of him in total. Sorry I came off as such.
Autobahn and Chromomania are sad excuses for admins. They ban people for stupid reasons and don't allow anyone to voice their opinion. It's best to stay away from that server, just another terrible rp server.
http://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=32719.msg8304913#msg8304913
If anyone has other questions about the server that aren't related to this, or feel a ban you were given was unfair, feel free to PM me here or on Steam, by the way. I'm completely willing to listen to you as long as you can give a valid response as to why your ban should be appealed. In any case, most of the bans we usually give out on the server are 5/10 minute ones unless you've proven yourself to be a problem user.
