"I wasn't active at the time, and have no frame of reference; however, I do have an opinion about the subject matter and I'm quick to trivialize the issues that occurred. Here's my generalized thoughts on "fighting" and how it applies to this incident, which I'll reiterate again, I know nothing about."
I've gone through the trouble to fix your post bud, no need to credit me if you decide to change your original one.
Just because I wasn't active during that month of warfare doesn't mean that I know nothing about it. It was a fight over the internet, typed over the internet, and read over the internet. Reading it after it happened instead of while it happens does not provide less of an understanding of what's been read, because it's text, not a physical altercation in which those who are not there are forced to base their opinions on the observations of others. If anything, reading the same text after the fact provides a better understanding than reading such text during the conflict due to taking part in neither side and having limited bias.
You can continue pretending that everyone who was banned was a hero, if you want, but in reality, it was started by trolls on one side, and then escalated by both sides. The trolls did whatever they could to make it seem like a fight for freedom, when really they were twisting the story of what happened to gain followers. Well-intentioned people ended up succumbing to both sides and then those attempting to bring order to chaos were inaccurate in differentiating the trolls from their sympathizers as they took action against both. Ignorance was rampant because those with the understanding of the situation and ability to use reason to decipher the truth were too busy distorting it for their own agendas.
I'm not a Christian, however their belief that the Devil will come pretending to bring good change is spot on; those with malicious intent, if they are intelligent enough to do so, will offer a twisted perception of reality, appearing to be good, and appealing to other intelligent minds by showing their own intelligence. You have to remember that just because someone appears more intelligent than those they oppose, it does not mean they want to use their intelligence for the benefit of others.
The trolls brought up legitimate issues. They demonstrated their own intelligence and attacked the credibility of those in authority at the same time. They could have worked to inform the community and Ralle of the whole truth, but they took the truth that was already being misunderstood, and twisted it, telling it in a way that would incite anger from both sides, because they weren't interested in the truth, they were interested in creating chaos, and using honest people's appeal to truth and what appears to be reason, as their method. Meanwhile, those on the right side were still mistaken because most of them didn't understand the situation either, as they were being misled as well.
I'm not saying everyone that was banned deserved it. Some good people were banned in the confusion, even from the start. That's what gave the trolls so much ammunition; they took legitimate complaints, and used them to create chaos and incite anger instead of trying to fix the situation.
They could have expressed sadness that those who were gone, were gone, and explained why those people should still be here. But they didn't express it through sadness, they expressed it through outrage. Yes, they had a legitimate reason to be angry, but they were intelligent enough to know what their posts were doing; they wanted to start a violent revolution within the community that would destroy it in anger instead of bringing it together in a polite search for the proper solution.
If a hundred people sadly say "I'm sorry this person is gone, they shouldn't be gone because X and Y, it didn't happen the way the administrators think it did, and I hope they will believe this", instead of "I'm angry this person is gone, they shouldn't be gone because X and Y, the moderators are evil and Ralle is the devil", there's a much better chance of bringing that person back.
It's not like real life, where a person could be executed when the judge makes the wrong decision, and it's too late to go back. That doesn't mean nothing from real life is applicable, though. In a U.S. courtroom, you can end up in jail for knowingly providing false evidence and testimony, or even just for insulting the judge or instigating conflict between either side of the courtroom; anything that is meant to twist the odds in your favor instead of using honesty and hard facts until the odds shift themselves. Unfortunately, the only rule relating to courtrooms that is regularly enforced is the judge's ability to hold anyone that argues with him in contempt; people are rarely held accountable for the integrity of their statements.
However, similar rules apply online, in the virtual courtroom with Ralle as Judge and a Jury of Administrators and the community as a few hundred defense attorneys and prosecutors. If you cut a piece from the truth, twist it into a thread and tie it into a pretzel before offering it as the whole truth to create chaos instead of understanding, you will be subject to consequences. This is a community, and it has no place for those who wish to use issues to incite conflict to the detriment of the community instead of with the intention of solving the problem that they are increasing awareness of.
This is a website. You can't start a revolution, kill the king, and establish a new government. In the end, the king can end you all with the click of a button. Starting a revolution will never fix anything; it will only divide the community and cause many to be banned.
