Reminder: I am not an admin, don’t take this as gospel.
About me…
If somehow anybody from PST reading this doesn’t know me… well I have no clue how that’s possible, but I’m Toth. Most well known for being a massive Windranger simp, content creator, and an incessant shithead/memer. I think Clare said something about me a few weeks ago, that he could never tell if I was being serious or not. And to be clear, about idk, 98% of the time when I’m talking in PST… I’m not. This is unfortunately part of that 2%. So yeah, this blog is not a meme. In fact, it’s long overdue. I was actually fully expecting someone else to drop content of this nature, but as it has yet to happen, here we are. Maybe that’s for the best, because I’ve actually been able to observe the admin discussion surrounding all the bans (I’m holding shady-committee hostage with the auction bot, it’s pretty based ngl), albeit I’m not directly involved in the decision making.
An ode to Admins everywhere
Poor admins. You guys really shouldn’t give them so much grief. And when I say you guys, I’m mostly talking to one or two people, but the point still stands. Being an admin/mod is hard. That’s not even a joke. Running any online community requires time and energy, maturity and impartiality, competence and charisma, and most importantly a drive to make that community better. Most of us lack at least a few of those things. I know I do. So when you disagree with a decision or rule or whatever else, try to remember that. And instead of shit stirring or manifesto writing, maybe trying DM’ing them. But like, politely! I’m sure they would be happy to have a honest and respectful conversation about it. Well, maybe not Tree, but you get the idea. Speaking of Tree, he’s kept this division afloat for what, 20 seasons? I don’t know the actual number but it’s a lot. So how about we stop grief drafting him, yeah? (he paid me to include that part)
The Paradigm Shift
I don’t know what PST and RD2L as a whole were like before I joined. I imagine it as a lawless frontier, a wild fucking west, but like, DOTA. Teams with 7(!!) players. N words flying left and right. Content dropping everyday. Fucking Purge casting Grand Finals. I’m sure it’s nostalgic to a lot of the old hands, but…
I think back in January, there was a discussion about banning two specific players (those two players are now indeed banned, although one was spared until a later date) who we all knew were bad for league health. I remember this specific point, because yes, all the admins/mods wanted to ban them, but there were worries about ‘well, have they done enough to get banned?’. At some point in the conversation, Danny linked a very compelling article. I’d highly encourage you to read this in it’s entirety. If that is too much to ask, the main sticking points are thus: Rules generally don’t work, people will find ways around them. In fact you only really need one rule, ‘Don’t be a dick’. This rule is probably sufficient, because the only people who will break it are dicks. Furthermore, there are a ton of nice, great people in a community. But dicks will drive those people away. And in the end, all you will be left with is a sea of dicks. God ok just go read the article. I’m not as eloquent as the author and I can’t summarize this. Seriously just go read it. But the key takeaway was essentially admins should just use general guidelines and their own discretion instead of having specific rules in place.
To that end, (and I think Buck/Vuvu/Tree have mentioned this multiple times, but maybe it’s gone over some heads) admins are going to be much less lenient on toxicity or behavior that is harmful to the health of the league moving forward. That’s not like, an official announcement or something. Just my (very good) assumption. And that could definitely change! (Maybe when we finally depose Vuvu and get Itachi in his rightful place!) But it probably won’t given the conversations I’ve seen.
Admin Discretion
So what does that mean? Basically exactly what it says. Admins will feel much less restricted by a set of rules that are bypassed on technicalities and abused by dicks. People like Eli won’t be able to galivant around the discord spreading their toxicity and driving good people away. Some might have issues with that. I can think of someone in particular who will have many issues with it, but I won’t name names. I do hope those people will understand that admins aren’t gunning for anyone. They aren't laughing maniacally and rubbing their hands together over the prospect of banning someone. It’s the exact opposite. I’ve seen firsthand how long the discussions are about any ban, much less the ones that are colored more gray. They literally look at all the angles and evidence and details (they are human, of course they will overlook some things), because they don’t want to shoot someone unfairly. Just a reminder, to everyone, we are under no obligation to and we shouldn’t accept asshole/toxic behavior, just because this is a community of DOTA players. So… Don’t be a dick! And you won’t have problems.
The Bans
Specifically, the Eli and BBA bans
Eli
Eli should have been banned 2 years ago. I legitimately don’t know how it took so long. He’s been toxic to a very high percentage of the community. People wanted to avoid him so badly that back in the EU draft era, he would consistently go in the low 2nd/high 3rd rounds as a Divine mid. I don’t think a single person argued against the Eli ban. We all knew it was coming eventually, it was just a matter of when would he cross that line in the sand. But. He never did. And that’s the thing. There’s been a lot of people who should have been banned, but we’ve waited for this arbitrary line to be crossed. Why? When you have people that are consistently bad for league health, that make going into the discord a miserable experience, they should just be banned. And, yeah, I get it. Eli was marginally better than he was before his first ban. But, this isn’t a daycare. Almost all of us are adults with classes or jobs or real life to deal with. We play this league to have fun in a competitive environment, not to babysit or parent children over discord. At the end of the day, it’s not our responsibility. Not the Admins, not the mods, not the content makers, not the players, not anyone. Eli is the shining example of why admin discretion is the best way to run PST.
BigBoiAnus + Krulani Ban
Alright. The one everyone is here for. Honestly if you’ve read all of the above, I salute you. If you’ve skipped down to read this section, I understand. This ban was actually the whole point of deciding to write this. I really did not at all expect it to be so controversial. I’ve seen a lot of people whose opinions I trust and respect come out against it. It’s not only Itachi, and he even brought up some points that deserve to be talked about.
Bans:
Krulani left his team in the middle of a game. There are obviously extenuating situations where this would probably be acceptable, but in this particular case (and most cases) it was not. Krulani left his team, and is banned for it. I don’t think anyone will dispute that or find anything wrong with it. Now it can be argued that given a certain level of toxicity, you could probably justify his action. But what BBA did and said was not that. So why is BBA banned? Because…
BBA was in fact, toxic:
I’m fairly certain everyone knows that, but I feel the need to talk about it anyway. BBA initiated the conversation in a pretty minorly accusatory/hostile way, saying that Krulani’s lane should just be winning. Keep in mind that BBA picked him this unfamiliar hero against Krulani’s wishes, so there’s already conflict there. Krulani then gave a very clear verbal signals that should make BBA understand the conversation should end there. That is not what happens. Instead BBA chooses to further explain in a slightly condescending voice why Krulani’s lane should be winning against a hero that Krulani himself has 200 games on. This continues for a bit, with both sides at about the same level of disagreement. And then, BBA raises the stakes and escalates the conversation from disagreement to toxic with his pulling the card comment. Obviously Krulani could have also handled things better, he probably shouldn’t have called him a dick and raging asshole, but at that point BBA had escalated and Krulani responded in kind. The ultimate ‘Fuck off, and sooner rather than later’ is the worst part of all of this however, because that’s probably the most toxic thing I’ve personally heard in RD2L, and it’s not something we should accept.
Good Character:
Teammate opinions on BBA seem wholly positive (maybe excepting Dream and Krulani). They have mostly nice things to say, and I’ve also read that he was fully willing and often did coach/help lower MMR players. And that’s great. Truly, it actually is, because that’s basically the purpose of RD2L. I’m sure that BBA is mostly a great dude. Unfortunately, this clip came out. And this clip is quite bad. He displayed behavior that none of us should accept. This might be the only negative thing he’s ever done in RD2L; if his present and past teammates are to be believed. But none of that matters when it comes to this particular incident.
Turned in the Evidence Himself:
I’ve also seen an argument that because he cooperated and turned in the stream himself (initially to show why Krulani left), that there should be more leniency. But, why? It honestly makes it worse to me, because he clearly had no idea that his actions were remotely toxic or else he wouldn’t have turned in the stream, and that’s a large red flag.
Teammate Opinions:
The most compelling argument against the ban, to me, was the fact that not a single one of his teammates, not even Krulani, were in favor of it. They were actually very against it. And that should hold some weight. Especially because the teammates are the ones who were there and know the full story. Despite how clear it might seem from the clip, there’s potential other things happened outside of the stream, there could have been buildup, etc. This is basically an argument that admins are overstepping, and policing teams against their will. Which, yeah. That’s kinda what admins are there for. Not to discount anyone disagreeing with that sentiment, because it’s probably a debate that should be had. I’m not sure what the answers are, because I’ve been going back and forth on this.
The Manifesto/Lack of Remorse:
BBA showed a very clear lack of remorse and very publicly wrote a manifesto in which he was critical of the decision. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a fair and reasonable thing to do. But, that manifesto was riddled with holes. He mentioned the ‘ridiculous banning spree’ stemming from ‘admin incompetence’. I would challenge anyone to find a PST ban they find ridiculous in the past 6 months, outside of this one. Anyway, he also wrote a transcription of the clip, which was uh, very favorable to himself. But the absolute biggest issue, is that later on, he explicitly stated that he was not apologetic nor would apologize for the ‘fuck off’ portion.
Ultimatum:
After Krulani left, he specifically stated he wouldn’t play if Krulani rejoined. I think this was the tipping point for the admins, because at this point everything could still potentially be fixed, however unlikely. But to give that no credence, and not even attempt it, seems pretty manipulative and shitty.
Punishment:
Now this is something I have no idea on. I think they gave two seasons because that’s the standard. Maybe it should have been one. Maybe he should have been allowed to play out this season because his team wanted him to, and then been banned for the next season (or two). Not totally sure. But I’d probably lean towards that option, just because of his team’s response. But I don’t necessarily think the two season ban is egregious either, we don’t want his behavior in PST, and that’s a very clear way to indicate such.
