LKE Off-Site Forums and Discord Administrative Statement

Between 05:00 and 09:00 UTC today (17 August), Edgar Jorgmund Kjærsgaard III ([nation]Droiden[/nation]), Sarkos Tunchix IV ([nation]South Reinkalistan[/nation]) and Adrian Willzhelm ([nation]Greater Bastion[/nation]) abused their moderation powers on the Imperial Forums (granted to them as junior members of the government) by maliciously editing a large number of posts, deleting and altering content as well as inserting inappropriate content in place of the previous content. Edgar Jorgmund Kjærsgaard III and Sarkos Tunchix IV appear to have been the primary instigators, with the latter using Edgar Jorgmund Kjærsgaard III's account for part of the incident, while Adrian Willzhelm was also responsible for deleting and editing a smaller amount of content.

Overall, the forum threads and posts affected include the Imperial Housing Act (2018), Roll of Electors, Estates Noble logo, multiple documents in the office of the Mayor of Onderford, Culture Service Sign-Up, Naturalisation Service Sign-Up, Foreign Broadcasting Service Sign-Up, lists of staff for government departments, the 10 days project within the Interior Ministry private offices, and discussion posts by Crown Prince Akillian in Imperial Square. The affected content also includes parts of the World of the LKE role-play, specifically our map. Apart from removing existing content, offensive and inappropriate content was inserted in some instances.

Prior to and during the edits made to forum posts, Edgar Jorgmund Kjærsgaard III, Sarkos Tunchix IV and Adrian Willzhelm spammed the regional Discord server in the Imperial Square and Tiberius Street channels. The spam consisted of a stream of insults directed primarily at me as well as comments lacking respect and courtesy made towards the monarchy more generally. Subsequent to the spam and insults, they posted messages pinging my account 66 times. I was not online at the time.

Taking into account all this conduct - particularly, the scale and severity of the abuse of moderation powers on the forum - the only proportionate response available to the administrative team is a permanent ban from our off-site properties. Edgar Jorgmund Kjærsgaard III, Sarkos Tunchix IV and Adrian Willzhelm are permanently banned from all off-site platforms. We will also not permit them to reside within our on-site region. In addition, having witnessed what they have done, Atticus Versalius has (instead of honouring his allegiance to the LKE as a region) supported his fellow members of his political party, defending their actions and even moving to their splinter region. As Atticus Versalius has aligned with a group which has threatened the integrity of the forums, he is subject to an indefinite ban while he acts in concert with the individuals responsible for perpetrating the incident.

My understanding is that the pretext for this completely unacceptable behaviour was a perception on the part of the perpetrators that the enforcement of Discord rules was too heavy-handed and, in particular, that I was too heavy-handed in policing content on our Discord server. Even if that were true, it would not excuse the abuse of moderation powers to maliciously edit content, or indeed posting a stream of insults directed at anyone within our community. However, the reality is that the enforcement of rules on our Discord server is proportionate and in keeping with our long-held standards. Far from preferring a heavy-handed approach,  I only decided that we needed formal written rules very recently - before then I preferred relying the good judgement of our members to act civilly and appropriately, with only very occasional interventions being necessary. The need for formal rules now was the result of a fall in standards involving these individuals - including profanities as well as offensive and inappropriate jokes and references. On some occasions, new members had left the region after being offended by this conduct. The LKE is a mainstream region and is not the place for that kind of content. It is my responsibility as chief administrator to safeguard our off-site platforms. I will continue to perform this responsibility with care and attention. Frankly, through their actions today, the members concerned have illustrated the immaturity which required introducing formal rules and proactive enforcement.

Finally, on behalf of the administrative team as a whole, I would like to thank the overwhelming majority of our members for their cooperation and steadfastness in the face of the disruption created by Edgar Jorgmund Kjærsgaard III, Sarkos Tunchix IV and Adrian Willzhelm. I am particularly grateful to John Spencer-Talleyrand for his quick response in clearing up the vandalism on both the Imperial Forums and the Discord server. John Spencer-Talleyrand acted promptly to kick and ban the perpetrators from our Discord. I am also very grateful to Lord Rayregalia Von Arcadia-Sova, Julio Von Arcadia-Sova and Erica von Claire for their roles in restoring content, recording evidence and reporting offensive content.

[b]OnderKelkia[/b]
Chief Administrator of the LKE Forums and Discord server.