[Vekter] Jonathon Hills - Unnecessary, Misleading Admin Remark

[JonathonHills]

When and where this incident occurred: Manuel gamer server
Byond account and character name: Jonathon Hills, Robert Mosser
Admin: Vekter
ROUND ID: 213445
Detailed Summary: I was given the following admin remark after events that occurred during the round:

Rule 11: Was asked to stop intentionally removing trans pride flag grafitti after the CMO ordered him to do so (see notes on Thesaintofkc for context). Instead decided to spraypaint "NAMBLA" on and near one of the flags, insinuating that trans people are pedophiles. When asked not to spraypaint bigoted crap on or near the flags, said he couldn't promise he wouldn't spraypaint on them because they were "on about half the station tiles" (they aren't).

I am mainly here to dispute this remark as I find it rather misleading and unnecessary for a few reasons.

First of all, I do not think what I did ever constituted as a violation against rule 11. This is because, as stated in the remark, I had a legitimate in character reason for changing the tiles since I had been ordered to by a superior. I complied because the flags had been placed in several locations, including the CMOs department. I had only repainted and removed a handful of tiles until, as the remark says, I was told to stop removing them by the admin and again I complied. I wasn't removing the flag to be bigoted or hateful. I would have been more hesitant to mess with them had they been contained to just one area, however, they were, like I said, placed in several locations across the station by that point, including inside multiple different department areas. Much later in the round, my job was changed to clown and as a prank, I started writing NAMBLA everywhere throughout the station. I see where the confusion comes from looking back but I wrote this as a reference to the south park joke (north american martin brando lookalike association). I intended this as a way to rile up the station and security, which I anticipated would eventually take offense to the writings on account of the less savory association that the acronym is associated with, only to proclaim my innocence by explaining that I was only part of the martin brando club. Anyway, as evidence to this I would like to point out the fact that I didn't even start with spraying the phrase on the pride flags. At no point did I ever say or do anything to indicate that I was attacking the flags or intending my actions as transphobic. As the remark states, I was once again confronted about the stuff I was writing with a few rather hostile (in my opinion) admin pings. I tried to explain my side of the story by pointing out the fact that the flags were all over the place at that point, especially through all the heavily trafficked areas of the station and so it was inevitable that my graffiti would end up in the same place (since I am trying to put them in the places where they would be most visible). Regardless of this, I once again attempted to comply by abandoning the NAMBLA messages and instead began spraying "clown love" everywhere.

Also, I say the remark is misleading because, beyond accusing me of being bigoted, it leaves out the facts of me complying as well as implies that the flags in question weren't covering a large amount of the station. I have attached a few screenshots taken near round end that show some of the extent of the flags. Keep in mind, these screenshots are near the end of the round so much of the flag tiles were already removed or destroyed by this point. Though I suppose the flags weren't truly covering "about half the station tiles," I think these screenshots show that they were rather pervasive at that point in the sense that they covered much of the highly trafficked areas of the station. That is the reason I stated that I couldn't promise anything because I don't think it's fair that I should be obligated to avoid all areas that were displaying the flag pattern, especially when I had an in-character reason to do what I was doing (drawing provocative graffiti is a common clown practice) and the flag wasn't just contained to one area.

I could have been more helpful in explaining this to the admin at the time, however, the pings I received were rather hostile and accusing me of being bigoted and hateful without really explaining exactly what I was doing wrong and not listening to my explanations. I think this admin remark is rather biased and paints me in a negative light that I don't feel I deserve. Obviously, the situation would be different had the flags been contained to one area, however, just by the nature that they were covering a large amount of the main hallways in the station, it was inevitable that my graffiti would end up on the flags. I think this remark is harmful to me because it misrepresents the event to paint me as deliberately targeting the flags when I really wasn't and didn't have any intention of doing so. I am concerned with how this may affect future actions taken against me since, obviously, these remarks are always taken into account when dealing with me and will always follow my profile. A good example of this is my previous remark, regarding me metacomming with TheSaintOfKC (the CMO in this round) several years ago. At the time of this event, I was using discord to teach him the controls since he was brand new to the game. This remark was used now in this case when Vekter was pinging me when he accused me of coordinating with TheSaintOfKC since Saint had told him that he had a problem with the flags. Now, I have to admit, its fair for him to suspect meta-comming since we have been punished previously for that offense, but it was not the case in this instance since all my friends and I have made a habit of not voice calling each other when we play and only using in-game chat. Anyway, my point is that obviously these remarks affect how I am perceived by admins in the future, and I don't think that this remark is fair when it is misleading and accusing me of breaking rules that, to the best of my knowledge, I never did. I could see the situation being different if I had been targeting a flag that was contained in its own section of the floor, or if I had said or done anything indicating my intent on destroying the flag in specific or expressing hate towards the group it represented, or if I had not complied with the admin's initial requests of not removing the flag or writing NAMBLA, but this wasn't the case. I think this remark really misrepresents the situation and unfairly accuses me of things I never did and attributes opinions to me that I never expressed.

[JonathonHills]

And just to clarify, my main concern with this complaint is getting rid of the remark. Even though I think Vekter may have been more hostile than necessary, and the situation could have been resolved easier if he was a little less aggressive, I don't think he overstepped any boundaries. I am more concerned with the negative impact this remark will have on me because I don't think it accurately represents what happened, especially because the actions I am being accused of can be quite divisive.

[Vekter]

You need to appeal the note. Instructions on how to do so are in the Ban Appeals forum. A complaint won't result in the note being removed.

[Arianya]

Locking barring headmin intervention, referencing Admin Complaint rule 4:

4. This board is not for ban appeals. You may appeal a ban you do not agree with in the appropriate board. Ban appeals posted here will be moved or deleted.

as OP notes themselves:

my main concern with this complaint is getting rid of the remark

As noted by Vekter, you can appeal the note at viewforum.php?f=7

[Riggle]

As Ari mentioned, the appeal has to be successful. As it was denied I will be closing the complaint