This thread and some of the replies/things I've seen posted from IRC related to this go too far, and this reply is to all of the individuals concerned;
1: Posting accusations is against forum rules. If you're all so hot on "PEOPLE WHO BREAK RULES MUST BE PUNISHED!!!! OMGZ!!! KILL THE INFIDELS!!!" then would you all like your forum accounts perma-banned forever for a single rule breach? No, because only a nazi admin would do something like that - learn to appreciate that rules are there to catch truly guilty people in situations which are beyond doubt, not for every single case regardless of circumstance or size of the rule break.
2: I've never "disappeared from IRC the moment Evolution are mentioned" despite the quite open public accusation against me in this thread - in fact I'd love to see evidence to this effect. I loaded up my IRC chat logs of the #bushtarion room, did a search of all #bushtarion logs in 2009 for "Evolution" - and not once did I quit the room. In fact a couple of times I joined in conversation about them (regarding locks etc.). A few times I was clearly idle/away while Evolution got mentioned - I had not been active in the room for a while prior to them being mentioned. No case where I was active in the room and suddenly quit or suddenly went quiet the moment somebody mentioned Evolution. This did not happen once, even by coincidence. Conspiracy theories are one thing, but when they come from outright lies rather than mere coincidences it's another thing altogether - and players that make up lies about things the admin has been saying or doing should watch themselves. And what's worse is that if I did not have to take time and effort to check the evidence myself and post a public refute of this accusation - this accusation would have become "fact" in the minds of many players who are so eager to buy in to conspiracies, without any one of them actually checking to see if it's true. It's so easy to start a conspiracy, but I find it very difficult to stop them.
3: Every single report I receive is investigated. Every. Single. One.. Players that were in the Evolution alliance have been locked and had their accounts deleted for multi'ing earlier in the round. Those accounts are lost, kaput, goneski. Towards the middle of the round about 4 or 5 members (I can't remember the exact count) were temporary locked for "abuse" (not multi'ing) which is why they were unlocked afterwards. They weren't "let off the hook" - those locks were for something unrelated to multi'ing.
4: The Evolution alliance is constantly being monitored and are on "high watch" because I do not trust the majority of them due to past infringements - I've been allowing enough server logs to gather up so that I can lock them "beyond reasonable doubt" - as people know, I do not lock on a whim, I do not lock because of "suspicious activity" - I lock because of actual evidence that is beyond doubt. The day I start locking people for being "suspicious" is the day innocent people start getting locks and have some real things to complain about. I was due another full investigation in to any new logs that had been gathered this weekend.
5: I will never let someone off just because they pay. It's very, very, very easy for the rest of the playerbase to, when they don't get exactly what their bloodlust/nazi-satisfaction requires, wave a dismissive hand and go "Oh it must be because he's getting money from them" with no proof or evidence - just a horribly negative and bad (and insulting) assumption about me. The real truth is it's because I lock when there's enough evidence, and never before, and lock based on how much evidence, the extend of the cheating, etc... Plenty of people who purchase have been locked - haven't you all seen complaints on IRC and the forums from people who got locked complaining about the BC's they lost on their accounts or the people who use the fact they purchased BC's as "proof" they must have been locked incorrectly ("Why would I cheat if I was purchasing BC's, that'd be stupid!" - that's a common excuse for purchasers who get caught cheating).
6: Only 2 or 3 members of 20 in Evo have ever bought any credits (and then not many). Only a minor handful have even bought their P-Units. If all of you super-geniuses who so quickly spout conspiracies had an ounce of sense or intelligence, you could have haxx0red the members of Evo yourselves and seen just how few of them have the P-Unit. Way to go, smart arses.
7: I don't let cheaters cheat until the "round end" and then lock them - I lock cheaters the instant there's enough evidence and they've been investigated. The reason there's commonly a spout of locks at the round end is for a very good reason - I always try to ensure a full investigation get's done before the portal just to try and add some assurance that no cheaters managed to make it to the portal. Anyone that had been caught earlier in the round also get locked as an when they were caught - people are constantly getting locked & deleted all through the round, if I waited until everyone finished their round so they all bought money there'd never be any locks earlier in the round. Are you so stupid that you think 0 locks happen until round end every round, are you really blind to all the locks and forum posts about locks that take place throughout the rounds? And are you so naive to think that doing a full check just before anyone makes portal is due to a conspiracy, not due to the rather positive and sensible thing of me wanting to give some extra assurance to the players because I really don't want any cheats to make portal, and so spend time on these extra checks?
I am sickened, and fed up, of the idiocies and assumptions in a number of members of Bushtarion that would spout conspiracies and stir rumours on things that are blatantly mere coincidences... but I am even more annoyed at some of you that would buy in to or make up conspiracies without even looking in to something yourself and thinking it through fully, or without having any common sense yourself, and even without a single shred of evidence just a random crazy accusation - and worst still one or two of you actually happy to make up lies to fuel your accusations.
The cheaters of Evolution will be caught, they will be locked, their accounts will be deleted. Any innocent members of Evolution will not have anything to fear.
But some of you guys that "hate cheaters" and "never cheat yourselves" need to take a look in the mirror and realise that you have your own problems and need to stop pointing fingers at everyone else because you can be as bad as the cheats. You can, and do, do more harm to the game and the community than anyone that once logged on to their mates account - by making up conspiracies and posting them publically, with no evidence or with outright lies, you're basically telling everyone "Azzer's a cheat and we can never get rid of him, so why play this game?" - and once somebody sees and believes what you post, nothing I or anyone else can do will ever take that belief away, because human nature itself is designed to question and believe the worst about authority, not the best. You're worse than anyone, and none of it's true. If none of you feel shame over this now I've pointed all of the above out, then you truly are worse than the cheaters and I will think twice before ever using any of the names that have appeared related to this or other subjects in such a manner as members of staff or testers of new features - such people cannot be trusted with the goodness of the game, and that's fact not conspiracy.
Thank you to the sensible minded people in the community that have enough experience and common sense with the game or myself (or just life in general) to know how the process works or to be able to look at reality.
