I find the 'prunyu' charming and endearing. It's not cool when others mimic it though. Then it becomes... not nearly as charming.
This is why power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Hugo Chavez (current asshole president of Venezuela) took over the tv and radio stations so that no one would say things he would find annoying or he did not like(which usually meant any point of view that would oppose his). This is not proper behavior and one mod/admin, it can be a dangerous thing.
I think it's safe to talk about what happened here. It's been a few years.
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Serio... was a great contributor to the community, and arguably still is. However, he was a very opinionated fellow. Because he and I had a friendship that extended beyond the CVForum (we talked on AIM and I would help with portraits for his game, and he and I would talk Castlevania and sprites and music and whatnot), whenever he would cause trouble at the forum, I would plead with him to stop behaving this way.
There are a few other forum members whom I've done this with... usually people I've established some kind of rapport with. Instead of ruthlessly warning them three times, then banning them, I would talk to them. I would explain that this behavior does not help the serenity of the community, and would advise them to be more diplomatic in their words. I would explain that the harshness of their words can be seen as hurtful and that they should exercise tact whenever possible, in order to nurture the community into a happier place. Most of the time, they would listen. Sometimes, though...
The mods (Heretic, Ralph, Bloodreign... and I think Clara and Ed were still prominent?) and I at the time worked very hard to ensure that this place was not some Wretched Hive Of Scum And Villainy. After a while, we started taking harsher measures and ceased to tolerate people who would step past what the rules allowed and got away with it just because they were closer friends, whether by IRC or AIM.
It's been quite a while, but from what I recall, It seems Serio took these harsh moderation steps personally. This happened around the time he got his moderator (admin?) powers taken away from him at CVC. There were some things said on IRC as well that made it seem as if Serio thought he deserved better treatment than others, possibly due to his contributions to the community. I argued and implored with the person that his behavior was not exemplary and that if he thought he would get special treatment, that those days were over.
Instead of complying, Serio became harsher with criticisms. His words began to cut deeper and cause strife in the community, in pretty much all the sub-forums. After some talking, the moderation and I decided that it was best to ban him for some time. Not banning him would be seen by the community as people getting around the rules. People started talking about how the system was corrupt and how some people can get away with saying whatever they want and being trolls (he became quite the instigator, in my opinion) but would not get punished because they either knew the mods or were contributors, etc. So he had to go. He was given a temporary ban...
...which he then extended ten-fold by doing Ban Evasion.
When you're banned, if you really intend to return to the forum somehow, you can pretty much only do so by contacting mods/admins by E-mail or AIM. If you make a new forum account, and start posting in it, it is considered Ban Evasion, which multiplies your ban period (it's usually by 10 so 2 weeks becomes 20 week... but if you're a troublemaker, it becomes FOREVER. This is not set in stone as some people have, in the past, come back with the sole intent of causing trouble again and not sorry or want to change their behavior... some people just want to watch the world burn).
Some people are doing ban evasion even now. We know who they are... but they're not causing nearly as much trouble as they used to so we tolerate them posting.
Serio stopped talking to me on AIM when I started noticing he was having other people talk to me on his behalf, and never once talked about changing his behavior with the chance of returning. I told these people "If he wants to talk to me or wants me to do something, tell him to stop being a baby and talk to me himself". That was the last I heard from him. Some people here can confirm my words.
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This is my side of the story. It has been blurred by time but it is the best I can recall.
Serio's ban expired a while back. However, he did not return.
However, some good things came from this: The Rules are now properly displayed on the "Castlevania General Discussion" board. The news ticker on top points to them as well. No one can say "where are these rules? People don't know that they cannot do that. You're making up rules on-the-fly." It's all posted for all to see. Sometimes amendments and addendums are placed as well, but that hardly ever happens. People are free to report outbursts by members by using the "Report to Moderator" feature or by sending us a Private Message (it's one of the more efficient ways to mod, as I we're only human and we may miss a flamebait post here and there). People who are warned have a "Watched" symbol on their profile, so that everyone knows that the things they say can be inflammatory and that they've been warned about it. Etc.
EDIT:
Serio and I had a talk today and things seem ok.