CL7 - TRUTH & INJUSTICE

[PaulatPeace]

Greetings Everyone,

I am writing this message because I strongly believe the Truth needs to be heard, and up to this point, it has been concealed from your view!

Before I begin...I want it clearly understood I am writing this message solely and completely as a player here in CC. and NOT as a member or Leader of my clan. I am currently ranked 5th in all of CC and 1st in the USA....but there are many who deserve this position more than I and are much better players. I have played in CC full time now for over 7 years, but this is my first time playing in any Clan Tournament. It has been my first experience as First Contact for a Clan in a Clan Tournament and my first experience with the TOs of the CL7 tournement. It may also by my last...as our clan may not wish to participate in ANY further Clan Tournaments from this point forward!

There are likely some of you who may not care for me as a player. There are some of you I probably do not care for either......but what I am abut to tell you is Factual Truth...and not merely my opinion or point of view. My message can be independently verified, and most of the statements I will make are direct quotes from messages exchanged between the TOs of the CL7 tournament, the Head Clan Director and myself. I have complete original Documents of all these messages and am happy to provide them to most anyone who asks for them.

It all began when our clan entered the CL7. There was a lot of talk in the thread so I jumped in and added my 2 cents. Of course there was the typical back and forth comments as to who was going to beat who and what Keefie likes to refer to as "light hearted banter". Things then began to turn a little ugly and some rather nasty remarks ensued.

On March 9.2016 shoop76 posted this comment in the CL7 Division II thread:

Re: [CL7] Second Division (R10 Start: March 6)

Postby shoop76 on Wed Mar 09, 2016 5:54 pm
How is the punishment for the infractions decided. Atlantis was given a warning for 3 infractions. Twice we missed 1 invite before the deadline and a 3rd time I forgot to post the games in the thread, though they were all created and filled. We received a warning, which I understand because we were late. However, I see that ATN had 4 infractions before receiving a warning. This is not to pick on ATN, just asking for a little clarity.

Up to this point I had never looked at the Infractions section of the Division II as TOP had not committed any violations. TO Lindax then responded with an explanation and I offered a comment. Following this was some vulgar language and incendiary remarks by IAmcaffeine and things declined rapidly....Then Mr Coffee complimented TOP on having done well so far in the tournament and I responded with the same compliment to him.

The "feud" between IAmCaffeine and I ended there on a conciliatory note. All of these entries can be found in the CL7 Division II thread and verified.

Being now aware of the Infractions section of the CL7, I made a study of the various infractions to date and took careful note of the frequency in which some violations were committed by the same clans and when and where "Reminders", "Warnings" and Game Forfeitures were handed down.

This is where the real story begins!

I became aware of and concerned about a problem I saw within The Division II CL7 Tournament. Having read the General Rules contained within the CL7, and noting the particular passage "if you feel that a clan or a player has broken a rule, please report this to the TOs. Same goes for any other problem you encounter during this clan event."... it was clear what the proper course of action to be taken was. I wrote a short note to the TOs bringing this problem to their attention and indicating that I felt it was becoming a habitual occurrence and a serious issue. I was polite, courteous and respectful to the TOs, as I had always been. (I have the note in my files in it's original text and would be happy to forward it to any one who is interested.)

I then received a reply back from TO Lindax. In this reply he voiced his considerable displeasure at my sending him the note and told me, and I quote: "it is none of your business". Additionally he said "We are also very much aware of the (concern/problem). We do not need a clan contact from another clan to point out a (concern/problem to them)." & "There is no need whatsoever to remind the TOs."

Lindax then reiterated that he felt the concern I had expressed was "none of your business" and followed with "We don't need anybody telling us about possible infractions". He further added to his remarks with "Your whole PM shows utter disrespect and I'm not having it. I do not wish to receive an answer on this PM other than an apology. Furthermore I do not want to see another PM in any way, shape or form similar to this one."

In conclusion Lindax warned me "If you ever try to do our job...appropriate action will be taken."

At the bottom of Lindax's reply he added "PS: Stop including MagnusGreeol in your PMs where CL7 is concerned. He/she may be a clan leader, but he/she is not a clan contact for CL7."

I am not sure how any of you feel about this type of response from a TO or how you would have handled it. If Lindax felt the TOs were already on top of the situation, all he had to do was say "We've got it covered Paul" and that would have been the end of it. Instead I received an insulting and inflammatory reply to my letter of concern, which according to the General Rules, I was encouraged to write.

I replied to Lindax! I have in my files the entire response from Lindax and my entire response to him. I will again provide them to who ever is interested. Below you will find excerpts from my response:

"I am sorry you feel this this is none of our business. You are mistaken. This tournament is administered by the TOs, but it is run by the Clan Department, and belongs to every clan who is a participant. It is every clan's right and responsibility to be involved in this tournament. It is not Your tournament. It is all of ours!

I am also sorry you feel the need to address me and our clan with threats and bullying tactics. That is not the job of the TO and it also does not carry any weight with me sir. We are not attempting to "do your job, tell you how to handle infractions or try to influence your decisions." Threaten us with all the "appropriate action" you wish. The appropriate action is to listen carefully to all concerns brought before you and reply to them in a respectful and courteous manner.

Indeed the "ethical thing to do" is exactly what we have done. If there is a concern that involves the "rules of engagement" or principles upon which this tournament is run, then coming to the TOs regarding this concern is the responsibility of every participant.

The "rules" are to be administered in a fair and indiscriminate manner to all participants without bias or prejudice being an influence. If decisions are not made in an open, fair and just manner, why have them in the first place.

This is something that affects All Clans and participants in this tournament. Infractions must be dealt with in the same manner for all clans or they will not be just. There must not be bias or prejudice factored into these decisions. The possible appearance of impropriety or interpretation of such must be avoided, or there will be no respect for these "rules" or the administrators.

If you are wanting an apology sir, you will not be receiving one. You had my respect. You no longer do! Your threatening and bullying manner is unbecoming of a TO and you should be ashamed of yourself. You have abused the authority you have been entrusted with.

I will continue to include MagnusGreeol in all CL7 PMs as it is his right as a Clan Leader. I am also including our Tournament Director and the Owner of CC in this PM, as you have personally threatened me and our clan."

I will not belabor you with all the PMs and details of such which followed. I have them if anyone wishes to view them. I will tell you I was subjected to vulgarity and abusive threatening remarks by yet another TO.

The result of my bringing to the attention of the TOs what I sincerely felt was a valid concern and problem was:

"Hereby TOP receives a warning for trying to manipulate and influence the decisions taken by the TO's of CL7.

Furthermore, the first clan contact has been utterly disrespectful to the TOs/CDs and will no longer be dealt with. His privileges have been removed. TOP needs to appoint a new first contact for CL7."

This decision was then Appealed and the original punitive action against TOP and myself upheld.

I have nothing more to say on the matter. I have presented factual statements which can be verified and direct quotations from correspondence regarding the matter. Everything I have written is the absolute TRUTH! Interpret as you will.

The membership of TOP has decided to finish the CL7 with little or no further communication regarding the issue in this post. Whether TOP decides to compete ever again in any clan run tournament in which the current TOs are administering is currently under discussion and will be decided by it's membership at large.

I will conclude by saying I am personally extremely disappointed in the way JUSTICE has been handed down in this situation. In candid honesty...I do not believe it has at all! As I have told the Head Clan Director "Respect is a 2-way street". There are those who will cower and bow down to abusive authority my friends, I will not!

Respectfully submitted,

PaulatPeace

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

[IcePack]

Greetings,
I will keep this short, as ultimately Paul and I have discussed this ad nauseam, and more directed to "everyone else" reading.

Paul & TOP had a disagreement with Lindax (which is fine, nobody has to agree with us 100%. Even CD's disagree with one another from time to time).
He had a full appeals process, and I looked at all the information provided by both Lindax and Paul/TOP before coming to any conclusions.

The appeal was rejected, and during the course of the appeal the manner in which Paul handled himself it was made clear that he would not be able to continue as the First Contact for CL7 for TOP without further disruption of the event.

He then took his case and appealed to the site admins, who listened to everything he had to say, read all of the correspondence, and had this to say:

So I can see that you, PaulatPeace, sent the TOs a pm about another clan's supposed violation of a Clan guideline/rule.

Icepack told me that Lindax was already in the process of how to deal with the other clan's violations and your pm to them wasn't necessary. Unfortunately, your pm wasn't taken as how you expected and then the series of pm exchanges is what escalated all of these as to where you are in right now, not to mention the including of people in what was suppose to be just between you and Lindax or the clan directors. This is like bringing out the dirty laundry to the public. Bringing in other people in a discussion should be the last resort after you and the person you are talking to has made all efforts to settle things between yourselves. The issue became no longer about your original message.

Now I understand that you have been removed as TOP 's contact as a result. I am trying to weigh in on both sides but I have to agree and respect their decision on this. I understand you feel like the victim here and you want justice. No one is a victim here. It's not easy for them to have resorted to this but this is also to avert further possible tension. This is probably for the best as emotions are running high right now and preventing further conflicts between people who are emotionally involved will produce an undesirable exchange of communication, especially for this case.

If I remember correctly, I think this is not the first time that a mode of contact from a clan has been replaced.

After some time, maybe you can appeal to them or to IcePack if you still want to be in charge of your clan and be the mode of contact again but for now, let's show them that you can respect the clan mods whether you are in agreement with them or not, and that you can still work with them in spite of your conflict. This misunderstanding has been temperamental between you and the other Clan moderators that whenever you make contact with them about this issue, it tends to end up in a sensitive stance. I understand your passion in representing and playing for your clan no matter what, but we also need other people to make things work overall in the Clan world.

He had his justice, both the Head of Clans (myself) reviewed it and the Admins. Paul continues to dispute the ruling, and proceeded to spam the forums last night with this message in many different locations which earned himself a 72 hour temporary forum ban. To me, this further reinforces that he could not continue as the 1st Contact of TOP in CL7 without further disruption of the event.

This is not any issue with the clan (TOP) as a whole, or a vendetta against them. It's the unfortunate action needed to take against a single individual who refused to conduct himself appropriately.

We all have disagreements, and when something is appealed I handle the cases as neutrally as possible, and do on occasion agree with the appeals and overturn the CD's decisions. I opened myself up to them for questions or clarification and tried to be as open and communicative with Paul & TOP as possible, even after the Admin ruled and agreed with the original ruling by Lindax, and the appeals decision handled by me.

All of this has been broken down, discussed, and disected in depth with both Paul and TOP. How he / they choose to move forward from here is up to them.
Thanks,
IcePack