Admin Complaint - TullyBBurnalot

[Vivalas]

 

Admin Key: TullyBBurnalot

 

Complaint: Okay, so this is a bit of a complicated story.

 

I've been playing SS13 for quite some time now, about 3 years. I play on various servers and mostly play security positions. I have been playing security on Paradise for about 6 months. I started on this server when I got bored of the dull life of playing security on HRP servers. The RP is great, and fun an all, but action was often lacking. I started playing on Paradise and immensely enjoyed it. It was the perfect mix of /tg/ and BS12, as the name says, the perfect mix of RP and action. The rounds weren't as hectic as on /tg/, but there was enough action to make it enjoyable. I also didn't have any issues with the admins, as a rule-following player.

 

Up until now of course. I've been playing as security for some time here, and wanted to up the ante and play as HoS, because during my rounds as a security officer, I usually turned out knowing more protocol and about Space Law than the actual HoS in charge. I play with all the various tabs open related to Space Law, LSOP, SOP and such even.

 

The round started normally, I talked to my team to ascertain some dominance and also to inform the crew of my presence. I like to ensure I keep a competent image, and to let the crew know I care about their needs and such. I try not to play security as a die-hard emotionless asshole who brigs everyone for minor offenses, and I take pride when people complement me on my competence.

 

Everything was going fine, it was a cult round of course. The first notable thing was a murder in the chapel, which was handed. Up until this point I was very happy for the round. It was my first time as HoS on Paradise, and I was pleased by the competence of my team.

 

I don't remember everything exactly, but the next notable event was whenever there was a call for sec at the bar.

 

The bartender apparently had shot at someone for stealing Pun Pun, without asking for security first. The alleged thief ended up being a major thorn in security's side the rest of the round, but I ordered the bartender to drop the weapon.

 

At this point I was worried he might attack me so I drew my tazer and aimed it at him, repeatedly asking him to drop it. Also at this time I had about a bazillion different people wanting things from me and I was pretty stressed out. Not having enough time to deal with the bartender, I tazed him, cuffed him, took his shotgun, handed it to another officer, and then released him.

 

This is when the bullshit starts happening. At the time, I didn't have any direct feud with Jonah Bright yet(Tully's character), but the IA agent was harassing me over the incident. Still being stressed out, I told the IA agent to leave me alone until I was ready to speak with him, with everything that was going on.

 

I go to security, and this is where the main incident happens. There is an alleged cultist in the processing room, by the name of BASH. Being stressed out and all, I made a mistake here, I admit that.

 

When the chemist said that he didn't know how the rune paper in his backpack got there, wasn't having it, so I ordered him to be permabrigged. This was very silly, and looking back, it probably seemed very incompetent. The grounds were enemy of the corporation, but due to the stressful environment and all, I did something I normally wouldn't of done. Noticing the silliness of my order, I retracted it and ordered him to be released with a loyalty implant. At this time it hadn't quite clicked in my head yet that it was cult, so again, this was a mistake. It is here when Jonah ridicules me and is visibly exasperated.

 

It is important to note at this point I hadn't played in about a month, so I was a bit fuzzy on the details of cult, and forgot that cultists are deconverted by holy water. I then proposed the chaplain come and hit him with a nullrod. It is here when Jonah says over the radio (and this is not verbatim) something along the lines of "Fire this fucking Hos". I am pretty embarrassed at this point. I think part of the reason was that BASH was also an IPC, so I didn't think holy water would work on them, and in hindsight, is quite silly that it actually did. Anyways, I ask if holy water works on him, and Jonah said yes, so I just said to deconvert him. It worked, and he was released.

 

Anyways, that is what started most of it. That whole event was rather confusing and stressful to me because of the nonstop radio spam and what not, this was a pretty hectic moment of the round.

 

After that, I go and visit the IA agent who wanted me earlier, and talked to him about the incident with the bartender earlier. I called him some names because he was being annoying, but then we both made up when he apologized to me, and I apologized back because I admitted I was stressed out.

So, I thought we were both good (I was wrong).

 

 

Anyways, we now have another cultist in the brig, and I am not told this. I am told he assaulted an officer and that he is in custody. I tell the warden to confiscate his equipment and have him demoted. Again, Jonah yells at me because demoting a cultist is not SOP. I retracted the order to demote him, because I did not actually know he was a cultist, since I was only told he assaulted an officer.

 

Things get more fuzzy from this point on, but Jonah then yells at me about not knowing my SOP, which is a very deep insult to me, since I take great care to attempt to follow SOP to my best abilities. I fire back about him being insubordinate and tell him to learn his place.

 

We deconvert 3 more cultists, and I have time to actually think straight again, so I apologize to Jonah, admitting my stress earlier. I get no response.

 

 

I go to my office and ask the warden to bring be coffee, which I drink while relaxing and playing some casual games on my computer to try to get back to my senses.

 

I get notified by the captain that CC wants to demote me, which comes at a surprise, since I thought we had left the past incident behind.

 

I banter with the NT Rep (who, by the way, I have no complaints against since they were pretty decent), who gets sided with by the AI and I succumb and come to the bridge. It is here that I find Jonah standing here with the NT Rep, an IA Agent (the same one from earlier, who I thought we had came to terms to). The captain tells Jonah to leave, and the rep hands me the demotion notice. I read it, with the first page being a signed notice from CC to demote the HoS, with various offenses. The second page suggests Jonah Bright as my replacement, which is rather infuriating. I try to roleplay it out, but both the AI, HoP, and NT Rep are apparently turned against me. Beepsky enters the bridge, so I know what is coming next, so I try to turn it off, then get out my baton to break it. I'm not fast enough and get detained, with everyone randomly insulting me and the AI saying rather demeaning things to me.

 

I'm on the verge of rage at this point, so I just SSD out, to try and recollect myself and not do anything stupid. Now, some of you might be wondering what the actual complaint is at this point.

 

I'm rather mad so I go on google and search "ss13 jonah bright", out of curiosity. The first result was a link to a page on this forum with Jonah Bright's bio, of course, being written by the admin and player of the character: TullyBBurnalot.

 

The main complaint here stems from the fact that, seemingly, Tully involved himself in an IC matter of which he was a part of, seemingly to his own gain.

 

I'm not sure who authorized the actual demotion, since CC is admin controlled, but I can only assume it his Tully, but nevertheless even if another admin sent the fax to the station, I would still interpret it as a conflict of interest.

 

 

The main complaint here, is that, while I understand my actions may of came off as incompetent, the issue with the cultist and such was mostly contained. I didn't hear any other security members vocally upset, and that was mostly the only issue with my character I could see that I had that round.

 

Additionally, it was Tully who filed the complaint with IAA, which I can only assume since his recommendation for my replacement was himself.

 

The main issue here is the fact that, from my point of view, an admin:

 

1) Insulted me IC (which I don't have a problem with, mostly, it's IC)

 

2) Filed a complaint with IA, which got sent to CentCom, which is admin controlled.

 

3) Either sent the response back himself, creating a HUGE conflict of interest, as an admin should never involve themselves OOCly when they're ICly part of the issue.

 

3b) Or had another admin OK it, which is still a conflict of interest, since I'm assuming other admins would have ties or some sort of friendship with Tully

 

4) Has me demoted, suggesting himself as a replacement.

 

So, from my point of view, it almost seems as if he:

 

1) Called for my demotion over the sec channel over an issue which I admit was very sketchy, but which I apologized for and took responsibility. The issue was resolved through IC manners when I apologized to Jonah and acknowledged my mistake.

 

2) Complains to IA, spinning the wording of the report. I tried to get a screenshot of the fax, but couldn't, but the issues stated were along the lines of:

 

-HoS tried to perma a cultist without deconverting

-HoS doesn't know how holy water works

-HoS calls his subordinates insubordinate when called out on the above issues

 

If someone can get a screenshot of the fax that'd be appreciated, as I assume there are admins logs of the faxes, but it seemed as if my actions were turned against me maliciously. The wording was such that it implied I repeatedly tried to break SOP and permabrig cultists, when in reality, there was really only the aforementioned incident which I apologized for. The report seemed to make what I did seem very incompetent, when I apologized, and handled the rest of the round with competence.

 

3) Either okays the demotion of me myself, which is a HUGE no-no, or gets another admin to do so based on the above mostly libelous fax.

 

 

 

Now, I don't know what really happened behind the scenes, so this complaint is half a demand for explanation/half a publication of what the admin did. I do not know his reasons for doing this, as there was no admins PMs involved, and I think, if an admin wanted me to be demoted or had a problem with my behavior, they should PM me and do it themselves or job-ban me, rather than slander my reputation and breach the IC/OOC barrier by doing so.

 

 

So in short, the main complaint here is the fact that (TullyBBurnalot), the admin in question. got IA to ask for a demotion request, which he approved, or got someone else to, and was very indirect in his way of doing do. This seems very nonprofessional and I would be fine if he had just PM'd me and asked me why I did what I did. The main complaint here is the conflict of interest when dealing with a player that seems wholly unfair.

 

Had Tully not been the player of Jonah, or had not been the admin approving the demotion, I would not be making this complaint, as I would acknowledge my mistakes and moved on, but the fact that the IC character who was the biggest advocate of my IC demotion also happens to be an admin who seemingly authorized the demotion, almost seems like a convoluted form of bullying.

 

 

 

I have some logs and will be pasting them here, as soon as I find how to convert them to those fancy colored logs other people post (I ripped them from BYOND with the right-click > Log feature on the output box.

 

EDIT: Minor word choice fixes for clarity

 

Edited January 18, 2016 by Guest

[Vivalas]

If anyone knows the utility you use to parse logs into a readable format, please tell me.

[TullyBBurnalot]

 

Greetings.

 

Obviously, I won't be handling this Complaint, that's for the Seniors/Heads of Staff. However, I would like to clear out any potential bad blood.

 

My attitude as Jonah does not actually reflect my real attitude. I do intentionally play as someone with a short trigger, and yes, he tends to get yelly. A lot. I can understand the impact this may have had, but I can assure you, this wasn't in any way personal.

 

I should, however, clear out a misconception. I did not, in fact, contact an IAA or the Representative. While I may have had gripes with your performance ICly, I could tell it was just inexperience, either due to inactivity or novelty. In addition, I have seen far, far worse, and personally didn't feel like I should be issuing a written complaint. Like I said, Jonah is yelly, but very rarely do I formalize complaints.

 

In addition, I never suggested myself as a replacement. In fact, I was not even aware the fax had named me as the successor, and only when I went back to re-read it due to a typo (about five minutes after the response fax was sent) did I notice the one line that said that. I had, in fact, skipped to the list of infractions the Representative wrote down. In fact, after you were demoted, I specifically turned down a promotion, not only because it was so late in the round, but also because I personally dislike playing Head of Security. In fact, I never actually told the Representative to name me as a successor, I simply told them they had permission to demote you.

 

As it stands, the Representative simply took it on himself to fax Central Command with a list of what you did, naming me as a replacement (again, something I was not aware of). I was notified of this fax, but knowing that I was involved (and that, frankly, we had better things to deal with), I chose not to respond to it.

 

Shortly afterwards, another report was sent in by an IAA regarding another incident where you were involved and, again, I chose not to respond due to more pressing concerns.

 

I would be lying if I said I didn't see how this feels like personal satisfaction or, in some way, me trying to usurp your position. However, for what my word's worth, I wasn't actually trying to step into your shoes or enact some sort of vengeance. The fax that the Representative sent over contained a quite extensive list of infractions, and I simply responded accordingly. This was late in round, and far after the cult had been detained and deconverted in its entirety.

 

However, I understand where you're coming from, as it would seem that I was abusing my position in order to punish you. But I can assure you, none of this was done with any desire for vengeance in mind. The fax had remained unanswered for quite a while, and when I finally got around to it (about half an hour after it was sent? Maybe even more, not sure), I just took a look at what the Representative listed, and provided a response. The list was, in fact, extensive.

 

That said, I apologize for any misconceptions that may have arisen from this situation. For what its worth, you have my word none of this was personal, as answering faxes is just sort of second nature for me at this point.

 

[Vivalas]

 

This indeed clears a lot of things up, I believe I stated somewhere I didn't hold this personally against you, it just seemed that from my point of view these things added up to seem like you were abusing your power. I'm indeed glad I didn't rage to hard, after all, it is a game, and I can understand why you were ICly upset with my performance. The whole shark tank thing on the bridge was somewhat humiliating though.

 

Anyways no hard feelings, I was just wondering what was happening behind the scenes, I don't really feel like pursuing this complaint anymore. I apologize for my somewhat poor performance as HoS during that one spot, and I am thankful for this clarification.

 

This was a somewhat knee-jerk reaction to the fact that I was wondering if your character was played by an admin, and when I googled it, in indeed was.

 

[TullyBBurnalot]

 

There's no need to apologize, a fucking lot has changed in 6 months and, admittedly, I should've requested that another Administrator take that response, rather than taking it myself, and I'll strive to do so in the future.

 

In addition, the whole thing in the Bridge just sort of... happened. The Representative requested my presence, and I was far too relieved when the Captain gave me the perfect excuse to leave it.

 

[MindLeaker]

 

Hi, I was the Representative during that round, and feel like I should also add a little input.

 

It was most certainly my character that recommended Jonah Bright as the replacement HoS simply for the fact they appeared well-versed in dealing with cultists throughout the round, neither Jonah nor Tully OOCly had any actual choice in said process, and in hindsight I realize that my second recommendation of the Warden would have been much better. In the end it was the Warden who took over, as Bright had no desire to take the reins on that hectic round.

 

I agreed to filing this fax not on a personal basis, but as I believed that you were better suited to be a Security Officer and needed more experience dealing with the Cultists that were aboard. And the part of bringing Jonah on the Bridge was because he was the first Security Officer I saw when I went to the Brig, in order to make sure nothing rowdy occurred

 

[Earthdivine]

Well considering Vivalas is content with that explaination, and Tully himself has stated he will try to not answer faxes that he is apart of, I will be moving this to resolved.