Poll Incident: What happened

[Hida Setsuro]

First of all, let it be known that the staff takes accusations of cheating very seriously. As of today, 9/12/2011, the staff was accused of cheating.

In the beginning, this all started around the poll votes in fight between Haruka and Hiromitsu. There was some confusion in the beginning and one player reported the incident. Bayushi Senshi, a 3 star mod, investigated the incident. There was some confusion in that we believed a fake account had been made in order to supplement the the polls and basically "cheat".

Senshi, believing something went on, did his best to fix the problem that had occurred. We can not actually modify the results of a poll, we can only see who voted.

After coming online that day, I was made aware of the situation, so I investigated as well. I have access to more things regarding security than a 3 star moderator, which is why Senshi spoke to me about it. Upon my investigation, I discovered that the extra account was not a multiple account or anything like that. So, I went ahead and ordered the fixing of the poll AGAIN.

Here's the process.

1) The point was brought up that the account might have been fake, so a vote was added to Haruka's side.

2) It was investigated by myself, and when I discovered what had happened, an account was made and Hiromitsu's side received a vote.

3) Hiromitsu received a message from both myself and Senshi saying that the situation had been corrected.

Now then..

Today, someone sent me a message on facebook, basically telling me that nothing had been done and they were accusing one of the staff of cheating. Furthermore, I was told that I was biased and that probably nothing would be done about this situation.

Allow me to explain myself. I'm human, I make mistakes, but I am NOT biased. I pride myself on separating my personal feelings from my administrator duties. I have always done so. I have corrected staff members, friends of mine and enemies alike when they have caused problems.

So, while I take it personally when someone accuses the staff or myself of cheating, I handle things differently than what you think. When there is an issue on the forums, I immediately call up all the online staff on Skype and explain what's going on, getting their council and thoughts. It is my very first step. Today, Masamoto, Tomatsu and Haruka can attest to that.

Anyway, that's what happened. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me about it. The situation here, the Poll Voting, has been handled. This is literally the only thing we can do. We've done everything we could. As I said, send all questions to me.

[Bayushi Hiromitsu]

Well, first I would like to thank the moderators and administrators which make the forum possible. I'm sorry if I caused some discomfort with my ignorance or inability to communicate.

I want to ensure that the duel between Hiromitsu and Haruka was the most fun and exciting thing I did up here in the forum so far, and without help from you guys, this would not have been possible.

I want to especially thank Haruka to have accepted the idea and for taking part in it.

I hope that everybody understands that the procedures that moderators do, for being mysterious to me, made me raise questions. Questions I'm not afraid to ask. But under no time raised suspicions about the moral and ethics of anyone.

I can not guarantee that I will never ask more questions, but also hope, make the questions with respect and education, all that very deserved.

Finally I would like to thank Aroru for being so friendly and understanding, as was Senshi.

I hope to collaborate with the forum and its participants.
Thank you.

[Hida Setsuro]

Also, let me make it clear, and this goes for everyone.

If you have a problem, contact a staff member. Do not confront said member you have a problem with, that will cause more problems. Do not sit and plot with other members about said member, that will cause more problems. Directly contact a staff member and we will be happy to help you solve the problem.

If you try and handle it your way, that's called Yankee Justice, or vigilantism and the Staff will not tolerate it.

[Tamori Manji]

Setsuro, it's very nice of you to take the time and explain to everyone what became of that whole situation. I'm sure all of us can appreciate your desire to be clear about the actions of the board moderators. Personally, because I was online at the time, I've wondered what was the conclusion of this whole affair, especially after another board member was banned for having multiple accounts, and I thank you for being straight with the community.

As I see it, the only problem was that an account was created solely to fix a supposed imbalance in a honest poll generated by a suspected fake account. And that ended up creating said imbalance. But this, as you have explained, was an honest mistake. Since I was present at the time, I saw your posts on the CBox and can attest to the attention you've dedicated to solve this matter quickly. I also imagine that you have already talked with all those involved and, as you have always been polite and straight with me, I have no reason to think you were less honest with any of them.

The important thing is, in my sincere opinion, not only which mistakes were made, when they happened or who committed them, but that we all learn from these mistakes and do our best to improve. We are, after all, a community of sorts here and for any community to work positively, especially on the internet, we need patience, dialogue and understanding between all of its members. We must remember that, even if our characters may be at war with each other, we aren't and our purpose here is to share our appreciation for a setting we love and tell good stories.

As such, I thank you again for the attention you and your fellow moderators have dedicated to this matter and for all of your hard work. Although I am but a common member of these boards, feel free to talk with me if you ever need my help for anything.

PS.: sorry for the long post...

[Bayushi Senshi]

I am always in favor of full transparency, which is why this issue was a tough one for me. I will explain:

When I found the suspected fake account, I was able to determine which way it voted as well, I contacted Tomatsu so the decision wasn't mine alone to create an account to add another vote the opposite direction fully intending to add another vote later the same way if I was in error.

When I made the account I made sure that I was clear as day that the account was a fake one. Everyone within earshot of me knew what I was doing. And knew that Shosuro Ryu was a fake account.

Setsuro contacted me about the results of his investigation and asked me to fix the imbalance. I did so. Being that I am %100 behind full transparency in matters like this, I asked if I could let everyone know what had happened. I was told to only contact the authors of the thread. I did so. Now the cat is out of the bag, and I am much happier. Keeping it all quiet and secret like makes me look guilty. I wanted to let everyone know what happened, but I was following my orders and just kept my responses before to "The situation has been handled."

I hope now everyone understands whats going on?

[Utaku Kasumi]

This is all I want to say <3 Behave, my little ants <3