A. Martin

So here's a game we're gonna play. It's been a long time since I've been here, but I think this place could use a post like this. So I'm gonna tell you youngins a story. So, way back when, when there was a 2nd Platoon floating around, I got promoted to 2nd Platoon Clerk. And thing was, I was a pretty young fucker who had no idea what he was doing. Well, like one or two weeks in, none of the higher ups for 2nd Platoon showed up. I'm freaking out, right? I'm losing my shit because I don't know how the hell we're gonna have a practice with no one but me to run things. So I run to Johnson (He was a Major at the time, I think) and I beg him to run the practice for me. He doesn't even hesitate; his first response is "No. I'll be there to help but you're running this practice." If I was freaking out before, I'm utterly lost. So I cobble together whatever I could for a practice, knowing the next realism around the corner is gonna be on this one map. I put this practice together inside of fifteen minutes, and it happens. I don't let a single person know it, but I'm freaking out the whole time. Afterward, I ask Johnson how he thought I did, and he goes "You did pretty good for your first time," or something like that. And I've never felt better in my life. After a couple months, I keep getting promoted, and 2nd Platoon becomes MY platoon. I'm the Platoon Commander, and I had a really good staff underneath me. For a while, we had the most attended practices in the unit. Even 1st and 3rd Platooners would show up, and we'd do full 16v16 practices. I've never been as proud as I was looking out and seeing a full server. So what I learned in the 1st, is how to lead. It isn't about being good at it from the outset. It's about stepping up when you need to, and sorting things out. You might not do a good job, but you're doing the job, and that's what counts. After that, I was never as hesitant to lead. If it needed to be done I'd step up, and I wouldn't have been able to without the 1st.

Our admins are often tasked with doing things found unpleasant. Nobody really enjoys the party pooper who says "Hey guys, let's keep it game related" or intercedes on conversations in the name of keeping the pub civil. I've had to do it a dozen or so times myself, and that's a gross oversimplification of numbers. People tend to be unhappy that I'm harping on their good time, but sometimes it has to get done. Now, I don't know the situation. I wasn't there, and I certainly don't have post-cognition, but I'm working on it. In the mean time, we have a system for exactly this sort of problem. If you go over to our MP forums, you'll find forms for ban and unban requests. We encourage all of our pubbers to frequent this establishment, because helping us police the server and keep the peace makes this all a little easier on us. You are more than welcome to state your case there using the form, and it will be handled with the utmost diligence by our MP staff. We take complaints directed at our admins seriously as, at the end of the day, we want people sticking around in our pub and having a bad admin is a great way to empty it. That being said, I would suggest that you clarify your story a little bit. The details are muddy, and I'm having a hard time understanding what happened. So, if/when you post an unban request, please be as detailed as possible in what happened. The more precise you are, the more we can help you. Please stick to the facts as well, as the investigation is built upon those facts and we cannot do our due diligence with a story. Now that that has all been cleared up, I hope you have a pleasant day. Once again, I encourage you to visit our MP forums and submit an unban request, and we will deal with it as soon as possible. I will be locking this thread, unless another officer would like to weigh in.

I'll play the rube on this one. I'm a Clinton supporter. HOLD ON WAIT DON'T THROW ANYTHING! I think our options are shit. The only reason I'd pick Clinton over Trump, is 'cause she's a politician, and a bad one at that. She's unlikely to get ANYTHING significant done, just like Obama before her (You know, after the Republicans nabbed the majorities in other areas). She just doesn't have the competency or popularity to really get the backing she needs to do anything nutso. Now Trump? Trump might just pour gasoline on the country, throw a match and claim the insurance money. Is this a perfect reasoning? God no, I still think we're fucked either way. I'm just hoping Ron Paul saves us all before shit goes down. Though part of me suspects (And hey, NSA this is NOT a threat and will never be, please don't SWAT me) that we're here to elect a vice president and not a president, since these two are so unpopular I feel like someone's gonna start taking shots at'm. Granted I said the same thing about Obama, but apparently the KKK has just ended up full of pansies or something.

That is neither the weirdest thing I've ever seen inhaled, nor the weirdest place I've found a dog toy inside a person. I'm not sure if those statements are depressing or inspiring.

We have a system in place that is taught to anyone who receives their admin, and there is an efficient methodology to it. I'd also like to point out that "Quick on the trigger" is a bad thing when it comes to using one's admin. When we deal with pubbers, and sometimes even BAR or unit members, we should always be polite, and offer them a verbal warning - not because we don't have a pre-existing warning in place, but because we are always cordial. Of course, some times you just get right to the kicking, but I have to remind you guys that we are keepers of the peace, and not bullies - That is, we never want to come off like the latter, and thus should always act as the former. While I understand the frustration that can come from policing the pub, there are a few solutions. Many people have pointed out the MP forum, or getting others to come in when someone needs a ban. However, what I used to do when I didn't have my admin, was I invited someone with admin to the pub to play with me. Muppet, if you're having issues invite one of the unit members with admin, and that should do the trick. It also encourages more pub play! (Just remember boys and girls, never poke an officer to invite them to the pub.)

I used to be part of the SCA. We did similar things, though we used Ratan sticks and typically armor that looks less authentic than that. Give your bell a good ring if you take it in the helmet, though. ... SWORD AND BOARD FOREVER.

Name: DOMINATOR, Barry Bonds Steam I.D: STEAM_0:1:7417762 (Permanent), STEAM_0:1:12649041 (Permanent), STEAM_0:1:14798631 (1 Week) Duration of Ban: Permanent Reasons for the Ban: Banned original count after disrespect of admins, banned two subsequent accounts for circumventing the ban. Requesting IP ban. Demo Provided?: N, but 1stSgt Wilson was there. Comments: IP: 76.16.146.15

Name: The Wig of Glitter Steam I.D: U:1:8659258 Reasons for the Ban: Derogatory words, specifically the F-Word. Duration of Ban: Permanent Demo Provided?: Nope, But Ripley, Werner, and Brooks were present.

I caught him in the server using derogatory terms against gays, and Jankovski said it was indeed blatant hacking, so I issued a permaban.

Name: Verbally Abusive Clown Steam I.D: U:1:14262209 Reasons for the Ban: Derogatory Remarks about gays, using the F-Word (No, not fuck), TKing. Recommended duration of ban: Permanent Demo Provided?: No, but Recruit Evans was Present Notes: Was called into the server by Recruit Evans to deal with this guy, who fled the server when I came in. According to the Recruit he was making a lot of derogatory comments, using derogatory terms and started TKing when the Recruit asked him to stop. I informed 2nd Lieutenant Griswold of this, who posted a ban for a week and told me to post this here should someone decide to extend the ban before he gets to it. And, so long as I'm at it, Kudos to Recruit Evans for handling it as well as he did.

What I see, is that there were some grievous errors made on both sides. The cops made several errors in detaining the suspect, as Hill points out (And he's very much right. While I suspect they didn't want to do that in the bathroom as it was a dangerous place to be detaining someone, it would have been safer to search him there before dealing with him as he was out of public view and there was no one else nearby.) The error by the suspect was a tactical one. He drew on two armed officers, one on his back and the other on his side. Moreover, judging by his disposition, it appeared he was inebriated and in no way was likely to be able to shoot properly. Another error was not properly reading the suspect. As an EMT who has had experience working with police and inebriated individuals, the phrase "Get on the same page," generally translates to "I'm gonna do something I want back-up." Now, down to the shooting. The female officer sees a gun (And who wouldn't be frantic? That gun was outright in her face. I'd be a little flipped out too,) calls it and goes for her tazer. Now, whether that was a mistake or an intentional choice, the male officer makes the decision to escalate to lethal force. At which point, the female officer drops her tazer and draws her gun as well. The question to be asking is whether she drew the tazer on purpose or just grabbed the first handle she found, and realized it wasn't her handgun. I suspect (And this is simply a guess) that she drew her tazer on accident, and realized her mistake when she saw that quick flash of yellow that I saw on the screen. The lesson to be learned is: Don't draw down on officers. He didn't even get a shot off (Again, likely because he was drunk,) and took at least six rounds to the chest and back. Meanwhile, the officers were likely wearing body armor that would've helped them significantly. The only unfortunate thing is that this could have been avoided with a couple of choices by the officers. That being said, in the end this guy made a poor decision and paid a very serious price for it. I feel no sympathy for him.

When it comes to threats on the internet, it's nothing new. I've gotten death threats before. Hell, not even for being gay. I've gotten death threats for just existing! Now, I'm not saying that it's as directly palpable as having my info shoved up on a forum and having someone say "Alright, there's that asshole Martin, go get'm!" But, I feel it does offer a perspective on the internet as a whole. It's full of assholes. What's more, these assholes will act like assholes just because they think it's funny. Now, tack that in with people who have a reasonable qualm about the gaming industry, and watch some random asshole wander in and go "Hey wait, I can stir shit up!" What I'm trying to get at, is that just because a minority (A very small minority) of people are threatening people with the addition of them tacking on "Oh yeah, I'm a gamergater by the way!" Means absolutely nothing. I can call myself a weaboo fairykin and run around making obscene jokes about how I'd like to speckle you all in stardust. So that's like, a huge problem with the internet. Short version: Gamergaters have some very valid points. I feel that their message is getting undercut by a bunch of assholes. As for Anti-Gamergate... The big dogs I see the most of, should probably just shut up, because what little I see of them makes them look like raving lunatics. Does that mean Anti-Gamergate is shit and has no good points? Nope. I imagine they have some good points too.

Name: Cpt. PrettyGoyFloyd [1st MRB] Steam I.D: STEAM_0:0:27186693 Duration of Ban: Permanent Reasons for the Ban: Impersonating an MRB Officer Demo Provided?: No Comments: Musleh, Britton and Shuck were present.

"I heard-a the snap." Yeah, been there Mario.

To answer your question Wirths, it's actually a safety issue. Police are in a vulnerable position when stopping someone for a traffic violation. In point of fact, in some states it's common practice to place your fingerprints on the rear of the car just in case they decide to kill you. What they are trying to do is create a safe environment to conduct the traffic stop, so they don't get into a shoot out at point blank ranges. It's a highly dangerous thing to get into. So, if they -know- you have a gun, they do one of two things. They draw down on you and order you out of the vehicle, or they ask to take control of the weapon and put it where the civilian can't just grab it. Which they do depends on how the weapon is presented. If they just happen to see it, expect the former; If you inform them of it, you'll see the latter. Either way, the way our police are trained, the first priority is to remove any potential threat, and that weapon is a potential threat. So they're following departmental procedure in the video. Edit: And on the note of letting him keep the gun and watching him, the police don't want that risk. There's no guarantee that he won't outdraw the police and get at least one kill, and the police aren't interested in a firefight of any kind in this sort of situation. It's an unnecessary risk in their mind.