Can't say I'm shocked - the cesspool boils!

[Halaster-Blackcloak]

I'm looking at a few AD&D blogs tonight, and I came across one I've not read before - Tenkar's Tavern. And what do I find posted there?

http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2017/09/ts ... mment-form

The idiots at DF just banned FRANK MENTZER because they felt compelled to protected their favorite DF troll, EOTB!

Apparently this all happened earlier in Sept. I'm laughing so hard right now I can barely type! What sort of idiot (that's rhetorical) bans a living legend in order to protect a freaking house troll? Good lord! Poor Stuart must be spinning in his grave! Ever since he dropped dead and Steve took over, the site has sunk deeper and deeper into a cesspool. I wear it as a badge of extreme honor, having set the record for being banned more times than any other member in history, because of the poor/biased/unprofessional moderation there. It's funny how the mere mention of my name in those parts can incite fits of distemper.

I felt compelled to read through the commentary on the Tenkar's Tavern site, and cracked up reading the posts calling DF out for the cesspool that it is:

As a forum Dragonsfoot has always been questionable by nature but at this point its basically a festival of angry mods and bad politics like RPGsite or RPGnet with an "everything since 1980 is bad" worldview.

OMFG, that one had me spewing drink out my nose! "A festival of angry mods and bad politics..." God, I wish I had come up with that one myself!

I've been an infrequent visitor to dragonsfoot. Honestly, outside of utilizing a few of the resources and live chatting with a handful of folks maybe 4 or 5 times a year over the past 4 years, I find it to be a very clicquey place and rife with trolls.

Agreed. EOTB is the very worst troll on the website. However, the entire moderation team goes out of their way to protect and coddle the man. Its almost odd how much they protect him.

And the funniest one of all...

EOTB has been taking shots at Frank Menzter for years. The mods at Dragonsfoot all back EOTB up. Every time. He's perhaps the biggest troll on the website and Steve, PnP and the others fawn over the guy. I'm guessing EOTB has some questionable photos of Steve or something. The hoops the site moderators are willing to jump through to appease *JUST THIS ONE DUDE* are outstanding.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that EOTB is Steve's butt-buddy. Or maybe Steve and all the mods are in bed with EOTB. Literally. EOTB will never need a colonoscopy with Steve around - his head is firmly implanted!

It's funny how most of the game designers have been driven off by the trolls there, and the troll-mods who protect them. It's also funny how whenever I hear something about DF lately, it turns out to be some huge problem caused by the mods and trolls insulting the game designers and people leaving the site. Says a lot about the mods and admins there.

But my god, I rarely get a chuckle laughing at someone's stupidity online like I did from this. My first reaction was to throw my hat in the ring and start using my spare account to jump in on the inevitable fun, but I don't want to steal the show and lose the focus. I'm curious to see the backlash. This is definitely one of those times to sit back and watch the fireworks.

[garhkal]

First i am hearing of this..

[JadedDM]

I don't really see the point of airing another forum's dirty laundry over here.

[Halaster-Blackcloak]

It's not so much the airing of dirty laundry as it is news about abuse of a leader in the industry and the hobby.

[JadedDM]

Is it? You're clearly exuberant in your tone. It comes off far less as simply reporting news and sounds way more like you're bitter about being banned and are happy to have something you see as ammunition to fire at them.

I don't know who Stuart or EOTB are, and I've never been to Dragonsfoot myself. Your entire post reads as if you think we all know and care about the politics of another forum that--as far as I know--has no affiliation whatsoever with this one.

The whole thing just feels like you're trying to drag drama from elsewhere over here. In my experience, that never works out well.

[Halaster-Blackcloak]

I get a laugh out of it because of all the silly nonsense that goes on there, and how the site has degraded. I have to admit to having a somewhat sadistic streak when it comes to seeing people hoisted on their own petard, so to speak, or to see claims or accusations verified by fact. It's fun to watch people wallow in the tragic results of their own poor behavior and decisions, especially when they've been repeatedly called out on it or warned about it.

I find it tragically fascinating that the admins and mods at DF have allowed so many TSR alumni to be driven away from the site due to their insane and inexplicable tolerance of certain trolls who they allow to get away with anything, when others get banned for next to nothing. The latter does not apply to me, in case you think that. Each time, I admit I pushed the envelope to beyond bursting because I won't tolerate being bullied. I'd tell off and butt heads with the moderators, the admin, whatever. I have no regrets and I accept the consequences. No biggie. I'm talking about others I've seen banned for the most minor infractions, while trouble-making trolls are allowed to remain trolling to the point of driving off legends in the field and hobby. It's literally crazy behavior on the part of the mods and admins.

And actually, quite a few people here are or have been active members there. My post is mainly directed at those people here with experience over there.

As for being bitter, you have that very wrong. Like I said, my battles there are legendary, and I've been banned more times than I can count, due to the clique-ish favoritism and poor moderation that takes place there. The line in the commentary that said "a festival of angry mods and bad politics" is so hysterically accurate I'm pissed off that I didn't think of that witticism myself. But believe me - once you get to know that place, being banned is a mark of honor, not disgrace. It simply means you're one of the few people with the balls to stand up to petty tyrants. I can't see how anyone could feel bitterness over that. The only place I could possibly feel any bitterness towards is Mortality.net, because it was one of the best forums online anywhere, and Adlon (the admin) unfortunately backstabbed all his good mods, turned against them, and destroyed his own site. I put a lot of work into making it such a good site, so sure, if we're talking about Mortality I can say there's some level of bitterness there. I think a lot of people feel bitterness towards Adlon. But with DF it's all about sadistic pleasure of watching smarmy idiots destroy themselves. I've never claimed to be a tolerant person. I'm about as intolerant of nonsense as one can be. Yeah, I'm at peace with my dark side.

[garhkal]

Hal.. Your post DOES come off, even to me, as gloating that you 'were right about something;.

AND YOU do realize EOTB is on this site..

[Halaster-Blackcloak]

Well I'm always right about what goes on over there, that goes without saying. A little gloating never hurt anyone.

As for EOTB, I don't give a damn where he is. He's always been a troll and always will be. I've called him worse at DF. Why would I care if he sees me ripping on him over here?

Again, the relevant part of my original post is how DF managed to drive off Frank Mentzer. Twice. In order to protect their pet house troll. Not surprising, but bizarre by any measure.

[Billy_Buttcheese]

Any chance of getting Frank to join us here? As someone who's been around almost as long as he has, I'd be interested to see what he's working on.

[Halaster-Blackcloak]

Cole would need to invite him. Or I guess anyone who's still at DF could give him a heads up.

[Billy_Buttcheese]

Cole would need to invite him. Or I guess anyone who's still at DF could give him a heads up.

I'd be worried about the second method. Might drag some unwanted trolls over here with him...
Unless you think he'd answer a private message?

[Halaster-Blackcloak]

He might, assuming he even bothers checking in there anymore. I wouldn't worry about the DF-variety trolls though. They're a cowardly, pathetic lot. I learned long ago that they only instigate fighting and strife where they have a moderator in their pocket who they can run to in order to "silence the opponent" (DF, K&K Alehouse, Gene's Tavern, etc). In a free speech area where they can't run whining to an authority figure, they avoid the place like vampires avoid sunlight. This has been proven more times than I can count. Plus, they all fear me, so I don't see them coming here to pester Frank.

[Billy_Buttcheese]

FWIW, I emailed him over on DF. He currently has a Kickstarter project going called Empyrea based on the world he created back in the 70's. For anyone interested, check out their web page and search that name. I hope he will consider joining us here.

[Billy_Buttcheese]

Well, he still hasn't responded and now I'm not holding out much hope he will. He probably saw the DF forward and deleted it immediately. Can't say I'm surprised really. It's too bad though. The Empyrea project looks really nice but they are far short of their $250,000 goal with only 32 days left.

For anyone interested in checking it out go here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ex ... =discovery

[Halaster-Blackcloak]

Leave it to the dickheads at DF to ruin a good thing!

Are there any TSR alumni left who haven't been driven away from that site due to poor management?

And in case I never mentioned it here, I'm giving my Official Prediction. Not really a prediction, more like a guarantee. Within 24 hours of when I finally release the Ruins of Undermountain III: The Deadly Levels adventure for download, several of the Bunker Buddies over there are going to have fits of distemper and start sending out email after email to WotC, trying to shut it down. As if that's going to amount to anything, or magically un-release the product.

But it's what they do. They're spiteful, hateful, pathetic little people. Been there, done that, yawn. It will be funny though, watching them contort themselves like yogis while patting themselves on the back with their virtue signalling about copyright and all that. Like I told Jaded DM, it's not hate for the site. It's more pitiable and sad contempt for the pathetic-ness of it all. And a healthy amount of entertainment value too! And admittedly a certain glee from watching idiots fail in their attempts to stop me from what I want to do. That never worked out for them. I don't fight wars. I win them.