[Pharmaciest]

Hello, I am RobotBowtie from DN.

Before you read on, this isn't just the boring corruption story about how people give exemptions to their friends or admins ignoring their duties to watch and/or play Yu-Gi-Ohs. That's not really a big deal. I honestly don't care about that. That kind of stuff happens everywhere...

Please note that nothing that sounds like me defending myself is, in any way, me trying to get my job back or something. I don't care about it. In fact, I don't want it back, because I'd have to deal with all the idiots there. That site got on my nerves some times. It's fine to deal with the occasional idiot in a duel, but when everything you do while you're on DN (on your admin account, at least) is dealing with idiots, it gets sickening. Especially with all the design flaws of DN. I got constant PMs about adding matches and Xyz monsters, as well as literally half of my PMs being about A.S.S. abuse. The button shouldn't even exist. An admin can deal with anything that the A.S.S. button can, and often do it better.

Prior to Dueling Network's existence, I was a part of the former MarkAndDavidsCardWorld.com which was run by Mark Roxburgh, who is now the head admin of Dueling Network. The site was for players in the Midwest region of the United States and often featured myself and Red W Mage trolling the **** out of the ******s that go to my locals and regionals. Because of this, Mark hated me. But, eventually, I went to a regional that he was at and met him. I did a few favors for him and he wound up not hating me anymore. I stopped trolling HIM and trollled the other people more, which made him go from not hating me to actually mildly liking me. When he became the head admin of Dueling Network under the screen names "pikachu" (main account), "raichu" (former dueling account, promoted to admin for some stupid reason. As you will soon see, Mark doesn't quite have the best judgment and this isn't the dumbest thing he's done by any means), and "mziiza45" (his current, and formerly secret, dueling account. It was made when somebody signed up for DN using that username and the email "pikachu@duelingnetwork.com" Mark took the account and now uses it. If you feel like it, say "Hi pikachu. RobotBowtie told me to drop in and say hi" whenever he is online.), he began adding new admins. Since I knew that we had a friendship, or acquaintanceship, I almost knew that I could get the spot, so I applied. On my application, I even said that I've only been to one regional and half a dozen locals in my life, yet I was still hired. However, people that I admit are better/more experienced/more fit for the job are NOT being accepted. Upon closer inspection, I saw that around 6 or 7 (possibly more) of the 87 admins that were on at that time go to locals in either Omaha, Nebraska or Lincoln, Nebraska. I found this strange since Mark sometimes goes to those same locals, but each only gets around 20 people at a time. To me, it already seemed a little bit corrupt, but I didn't wanna point it out because it really wasn't that important and I knew that I could easily be fired for not deserving my job and/or ratting out on Mark. After I became an admin, I immediately started abusing my powers. I would pop into rooms and tell people that I wasn't getting enough PMs so they should start cheating. Whenever I joined a room, I said "What's the f***ing problem, b****es?" (in an uncensored manner, of course) as a direct rebellion to Dueling Network's strict professional way that administrators are supposed to operate. I called people various insulting names when they annoyed me, and took many shortcuts to save time and be able to do other stuff. Of course I shouldn't have been doing this, but there are worse admins on there so shut the hell up about it.

Early in my administrating on Dueling Network, I went on the public chat (hereinafter 'pubic chat', because it's such a ****hole that it deserves to be compared to genital hairs), and said "Seven day bans are fun". Some guy took that as offensive and took a screenshot before sending it to either PIkachu or BLS. Because I knew Mark in real life prior to this, I had him on Skype. He added me to the call between him and Chris (BLS). Chris wasn't talking, but Mark confronted me. I said that it was a joke and that I wasn't actually banning people for seven days, but Chris didn't think of it as a very funny joke. That was mehish and, after I promised that I would only ban for three days at a maximum (note that this is contradictory to the resources page), I felt that my job was not at risk, at least not for that reason. So I continued on, except without the trolling. But I did feel that my job was actually in question, if only slightly, so I toned the swearing down a notch. After maybe the 3rd day in, I was a perfectly well-behaved admin. At one point, I thought I could lose my job because a DGz user named Domino reported me. I don't even remember what happened with Domino because I don't remember every single thing I deal with, and I don't really care enough to want to clear my name. I thought I would get in trouble for that, but I told Mark about it before he found out and told him that I was linked to a Wikia page that did NOT prove me wrong, which is, as far as I know, true. But I didn't get in trouble because Mark automatically believed me. At this point, I would think that anybody would've fired me by now. I mean, even if it's not true (which I really don't remember or care about), it still got passed around enough that I was told by 2 people, and I'm only in contact with 3 people that are consistently on DGz. With that in mind, I would have a bad name and any sane manager of a site wouldn't want someone with a bad name staying on the site in a high position. So, I continue on with admin work and nothing really interesting happens. Mark called me again about mentioning bans on pubic chat, but I stopped doing that, too (I only did it in the first place because I didn't know it was wrong). At one point, I saw someone unjustly get their rating reset and get banned for 5 days, but that can't be fixed so meh. While talking on pubic chat later, I noticed quite a few people saying that they needed an admin on there instead of PMing one. So I said something along the lines of "If you PM me, I can solve any problem. And I mean ANY problem." I got a couple of trolls, but I also got a PM from CuddleClawz, the former (and now permabanned) admin. As I predicted, she did want her job back. I joked that I would rent my account for 15 hours spread out over 5 days if I received $50 via PayPal. I also joked with a few friends prior to this about taking bribes to ban people that don't deserve it. Not only do I not believe that anybody would actually give me money, I don't trust that I would actually give them what they wanted. It eventually led to a conversation on MSN in which I (also jokingly) mentioned a game that Problem? and I had talked about that involved randomly banning people (please take note that the conversation did actually happen, but neither of us was serious). But I mentioned that it was a joke. At a different point, I also said something about banning random people for fun, but I never did that. There are 3 people that I banned without a very good reason, those being two guys from another forum, along with Slysheen from the pubic chat. I banned the first of them because I just don't like him in general, AND I banned his alts (this much probably looked like I banned a bunch of random people). I feel bad about it and I DID unban him. The second was because I figured that one would act in a similar way on DN as they would on YCM. And Slysheen might not have been a mistake, but I banned him for being dickish on the pubic chat. He would say that he's the best player with his Samurai deck and theen lose to the people who challenged him. Afterward, he would ignore those people's PMs and disregard them on pubic chat, whilst bragging more about being the best Samurai player etc. I didn't want to discuss the morals of it and he was annoying me, so I just banned him. Then, he made 2 alts, "Slysheen2" and "Slysheen." which I banned permanently. That much IS a bannable offense. So, even with this in mind, I found myself without an administrator options button the next day. I found out that it was CuddleClawz and that she did take screenshots of the conversation, disregarding the bit about it not ever happening, being a joke, etc. And, because I mentioned Problem? in there, his administrator permissions were revoked. Which is pretty stupid because he didn't do anything wrong. He was a perfectly good admin and deserves his position. We just joke around a lot. That's not something worthy of punishment at all. Anyway, another thing that was shown to me by CuddleClawz are these two screenshots:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/827/3daybreak.png/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...wannasees.png/

Yes, I do know that this is not sexual harassment, because she did not deny it or tell him to stop etc. However, it still shows perversion and corruption. There's not much else to say other than that Mark has a girlfriend and I REALLY feel like getting in contact with her and showing her. I dunno. I'm still contemplating the morals to that.

That ends this showcase of Dueling Network's corruption. I've got more, but I've promised not to post it. That doesn't mean that I won't, though.

Also, go nuts on the posting. I'm gonna be on tomorrow and then I won't be back for a week.

[PlayboyAtWork]

This isn't the place for that sort of thing.

[doksSirmAdods]

DGz user named Domino
^ he still plays ygos?

sounds like normal unprofessional and somewhat poorly run staff drama.

when you consider the fact that guys like tits i dont really see how you can consider it a remarkable amount of "perversion and corruption"

edit: also i dont really know if we have a subforum that is a suitable place for people to pust wall-of-texts rants about their experiences on other ygo sites...

[haittiweerved]

You're dealing with a non-professional member running a fan site. This happens all the time; not a big deal. When a site reaches the size that DN has, the likelihood of a member crying foul to otherwise common behaviors increases.

Should staff watch their tongue more and act more responsibly? Certainly. I suggest bringing this up to him. If he's reasonable, he'll listen to your comments and adjust accordingly. If he's not? Well, not everybody is. Doesn't mean you should harbour any hard feelings towards him; he's just some bloke running a Yugioh site.

I do agree that the A.S.S. button is silly though; if anything, it should be focused on +rep'ing members rather than -rep'ing them. I honestly question DN's development (or lack thereof). Still; can't remark on BLS's abilities or skillset as I have never interacted with him.

I miss Domino; fun guy. Wonder if he even remembers me.

[fuesquemill]

Moved to off-topic and opened the thread since you guys decided to post.

[unfolaReemoma]

Domino is Mike Powers and the guy is a mod on dgz lol. pretty sure he has 3-4 tops in the modern era of yugioh.

and there is no way i am going to read/care about your long post but yes i think its established the game is ran very poorly. its to be expected when the player base is so huge and has demands. *shrug. just dont take the game seriously obviously.

[Xibizopt]

Maybe I should set up a donations thing... donate enough and Crad will actually work on a dead-end application! Yaaaaay!

[Cwvnyfsj]

shouldnt you put this on DN's forum it'll be more use there

[TyncTyncSah]

shouldnt you put this on DN's forum it'll be more use there

Was thinking of this.

[DonnyKong]

What does the ass button do anyway?

[crycleascentyv]

What does the ass button do anyway?

It makes you lose the duel and tells your opponent he wins but was unsportsmanlike. It also drops his rep by 5 points.

[aNoBVsUW]

You're dealing with a non-professional member running a fan site. This happens all the time; not a big deal. When a site reaches the size that DN has, the likelihood of a member crying foul to otherwise common behaviors increases.

Should staff watch their tongue more and act more responsibly? Certainly. I suggest bringing this up to him. If he's reasonable, he'll listen to your comments and adjust accordingly. If he's not? Well, not everybody is. Doesn't mean you should harbour any hard feelings towards him; he's just some bloke running a Yugioh site.

I do agree that the A.S.S. button is silly though; if anything, it should be focused on +rep'ing members rather than -rep'ing them. I honestly question DN's development (or lack thereof). Still; can't remark on BLS's abilities or skillset as I have never interacted with him.

I miss Domino; fun guy. Wonder if he even remembers me.

Well if nothing else, I have to commend you on having the patience to actually read through all of that because I honestly couldn't do it.

[panholio]

Huh? Of course I did.

[shinesw]

tl;dr

[JEWELMARGY]

i agree, the staff is terrible. upon my modding, ive spent at least 5 hours (the only 5 hours ive been on) dealing with other people's problems. this wouldnt be such a problem if the other staff was useful. i literally have 9 disputes at a time for 1-2 hours. it calms down for 10 minutes and repeats. i brought it up to pikachu and all he said was 'okay.' then i told him that i had been telling the other mods to stop being so useless and to do their work. his response was 'you're overstepping your boundaries, they will work if they want.' i was like ROFL. that idiot sharx20 or w/e doesnt do **** but play. i want him fired so badly. him along with a handful of other mods. someone who recently got promoted here too. hes the only one that isnt mod on here iirc.

the players are also pretty stupid. i mean someone pm'd me asking how to attack, then there are the annoying ones who wont stop pm'ing you. i tell them ill get to it since i have 5+ other disputes before theirs and all they do is whine. although, most of the time the members tell me they appreciate the effort im giving into modding since they say none of the other mods ever respond to them.

tldr; the site is run by idiots who are only hiring more idiots (for the most part)

and mike powers is cool. ive only played him once tho, and i won lol. he got sharked out of a nats top 8 finish

[pouslytut]

First off: wall of text hard to read. Please space it a little more so it's easier on the eyes (had to highlight lines to keep track of the correct line to follow onto).

As a point: Power corrupts. He has power and thus is corrupted in some form or manner. It's a shame really, I never really bothered with the mods or admins really because any idiot I saw was not enough worth the effort. As for the A.S.S. button, it's quite a well titled button because you only use it on asses or if your being an ass. Oh dear, they lost rep. yeah, bad deterrent.

The actual program is good but the actual caretakers of it need their own caretakers. The main problem is uniting people that actually give a damn. Guess dueling network would be better and less retarded if cards had their rulings and how to use DN along with the rules of the game on the site. Oh silly me, that sounds reasonable whatever was I thinking!

[wmcelesta]

tldr dn sucks

[Frannypaync]

If only DN was open source.

[vesiasmepay]

I stopped reading after you said you abused your powers as an admin and that you troll and continue a wall of text from there on. It's just a game go outside and embrace life and don't get mad at such things by wasting your time and writing walls of text, put those skills into something else. With this energy you could of made a very constructive book. Just a thought.

Also porch DN doesn't suck, but in your personal opinion it might our member base would prove that wrong.

[Abaronos]

I stopped reading after you said you abused your powers as an admin and that you troll and continue a wall of text from there on. It's just a game go outside and embrace life and don't get mad at such things by wasting your time and writing walls of text, put those skills into something else. With this energy you could of made a very constructive book. Just a thought.

Also porch DN doesn't suck, but in your personal opinion it might our member base would prove that wrong.

You should take to reading the entire post.

Even though his actions are questionable, you need to consider that there is some validity to his claims, otherwise he wouldn't have brought it up in the first place. If you just write him off, you can't learn from his critique and improve.