PC1 Pcars: A community divided

Continuation of Part 1: http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/banned-for-no-reason.47384/

Its hard to believe a game has taken a community over like this. Now with legal proceedings, its kind of become a joke for simmers. I have been at this a while now and have never seen a game invoke so much negative and positive reaction. May the discussions continue :)


Ps. While i continue to support pcars, i respect RD for allowing the freedom of expression to all its members.
 
Alejandro is right. You are not helping. Allow Bram, Xose, Tom and Ian Bell the time and space to resolve this matter carefully and fully. Posts should not be inflammatory in ANY WAY, allow peace between the two parties to set in, otherwise the whole community will be at stake.

And a word of caution: freedom of speech is a right but people should not abuse it. Using a picture of the soviet regime and Stalin to stigmatize another simracing site (NG) is of very poor taste.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the matter were in the beginning, they have been lost in a miasma of accusation and counter accusation. I'm glad the mods at NG locked the thread. It does no good to the community. I've been a member there since about 2003 and before that BHM, never in that time have I seen such vicious posts. Neither side comes out of this with any credit.
This thread has done nothing to enhance RD or the sim racing community.
And I hope I've had the last word in this thread.
 
In realization that I've already made my farewell post here a few days back, I think I should probably reiterate a few things.

First, as has been said over and over again, and which anyone with any familiarity with WMD knows, I don't work for SMS. I'm not an employee, or a partner, or affiliate. I simply have business arrangement for pCARS. It's very similar to any other WMD membership for the most part.

That said, being the cult of personality here has been one of the strangest things I've ever seen on an internet forum. It's flattering in a way, but also disturbing. I'm quite happy to be the easy symbol for all the angst, because, ultimately, to me this is just another internet forum, of which there happens to be about 50 billion on the internet. I care for this one about as much as I care for some Chinese web site dedicated to the joys of banging rocks together.

You might, however, stop to consider the cause and effect here. I was not the reason why the "banned for no reason" thread was created. I have nothing to do with the technical development of pCARS. I was simply the response to the aggregating of negativity towards SMS and pCARS - and for that I would never apologize.

And since we are so fond of opinions here, I offer mine. In my opinion, all the drama that has played out over this forum, in regard to me specifically, will have zero net effect on anything at all. It won't affect pCARS. It won't affect SMS. It damn sure won't affect me, because I'm tucked away quite nicely in Dallas Texas, enjoying the fruits of my labor.

Now, it is quite apparent that some people disagree in that regard. That too is an opinion, and a quite fine one to have. I suggest we table that because we can actually find out the answer to that question in about year. Why don't we have an agreement that I'll just avoid responding to what I, in my opinion (remember, we're all about "opinions" here) has been undeserved hysterics about pCARS. It's just.. a... video.. game. I have a wad of money involved in it, and I don't take it as seriously - honestly to epic proportions - as some people here.

It is also my opinion (and I do love opinions), that the lack of any sense of humor is only exceeded by the manic behavior of a small group of individuals. I've never seen people so dedicated in such a negative way. It really is quite remarkable. I'm not sure if language is a barrier, but clearly everyone here is wearing the serious face at all times. It became something of a game for me - entertainment if you will. I'd write something a little more absurd than the last, then sit back to watch everyone take it completely seriously. It was a wonder to behold, and just when I thought that surely someone would catch on - no one ever did.

Then I realized why. This is, well and truly, manic. I could post that I am training an army of pigeons, via google maps, to poo bomb each of your houses, and there is about a 100% chance that would be taken absolutely seriously.

So, in conclusion, allow me to sum up. First - I'm not a representative of SMS. Second, Ian and I do not chat about what I should post or not. We chat about the weather where he is on holiday, and sometimes I'll ask him about his cars.

Second - I do realize that some people think that I have single handidly destroyed SMS. Behold my power! I just disagree on that. A year form now, this will be dust in the internet bin.

Finally, I will refrain from posting here and on NoGrip. I'll probably come by to read occasionally, because I'm interested in how long an internet cult of personality persists. Will I still be emblematic of all society's ills one month from now? Six months? How long does the manic hive persist when starved of new material?

I wonder, is the entire issue here that I am beyond any sort of "punishment" for my affronts to the One True Sim Community? Would everyone feel better if there was some sort of negative consequence to me for my sins?

I'm sorry, but it can't happen. Now I need to run for an early morning meeting with some colleagues in one of my businesses. It's my turn to bring the lattes. Byeee
 
They just spent weeks defending freedom of speech and if you think SMS giving up on the lawsuit means no more negativity about SMS/pCARS then
tumblr_m5y52aJhMq1r8jk2do1_500.jpg


It isn't what the admins themselves said they want. They want freedom of speech. It's my right to say how I feel, it's your right to tell me the way I feel is wrong. It's a freedom worth defending, is it not?
 
Micas post

I don't even read it, because I suspect this would just start the flame again, and I have 0% interest in doing that.

So I will just say that I thank Ian Bell on his effort, even against the interest of his company, did in undestanding and respecting our position, that created the possibility to terminate all this trouble happening here lately.

I just want to encourage the community to discuss and talk freely about PCARS, but at the same time taking always into consideration that we all have to try to be fair.

I sincerely hope PCARS ends up being the hell of a SIM and we all can enjoy it, win-win situation.

Have a nice day Micas.
 
I don't even read it, because I suspect this would just start the flame again, and I have 0% interest in doing that.
In RD terms it It was more than a reasonable message. Why don't you go ahead and read it (wouldn't be surprised if you already have :p). I suspect there has been a lot of 0% reading though. The times I and others have tried to inject a fact or say something reasonable, here and elsewhere, it's routinely ignored and a few messages later the same stuff (that would need some facts to counter/balance it) is repeated. That's one of the ways things snowball.

I sincerely hope PCARS ends up being the hell of a SIM and we all can enjoy it, win-win situation.
So do all true sim fans. That's the purpose of the project, and sim-racers ought to embrace it.

Hopefully there are lessons learned, but I'm not betting on it :laugh:
 
I can actually confirm this. Just read the happy news myself. Good sign and a very positive gesture to get this all solved after some very turbulent days.

Although the last couple of days were stressful they were also very interesting as I have done a lot of reading on the local law again.

Even if this "case" had gone to court we would have won as libel and slander is first very hard to proof but mainly because we do have the right procedures in place.

As a forum administrators we do have some obligations to take care off in case of libelous or defamatory posts but our ToS is clear that we are not responsible for the expressions of our users.

Secondly we have repeatedly offered to help as the so called notice- and takedown system dictates. Person X can report a post or thread to us; if a complaint is received that is obviously correct, the board administrator intervenes.

The latter we always do when the evidence is clear. The first word however is very sensitive. For us it wasn't obvious (and still isn't) that some postings are factual wrong and since nobody can bring proof to the table they are just personal opinions.

This is what the Dutch law dictates for access providers (and forum admins) and that is in our rules since the early days of RaceDepartment and PlayDepartment.

We really don't condone negative slander and everybody that has been a long time member here and also reads in our other (sub)forums knows that in 99,99999% of the time the atmosphere here is very friendly. Also in this pcars forum where there are positive than negative threads. But you must want to see them first.

It's very good news that this has been resolved. It really didn't help anyone.
 
Its hard to believe a game has taken a community over like this. Now with legal proceedings, its kind of become a joke for simmers. I have been at this a while now and have never seen a game invoke so much negative and positive reaction. May the discussions continue :)


Ps. While i continue to support pcars, i respect RD for allowing the freedom of expression to all its members.


Fact is the people that were originally banned were only telling their side of the story. "Banned for no reason". hahaha. That makes absolutely no sense. They WERE banned for a reason.



Anyways, this is all very childish. I'm embarrassed to say I'm a sim racer with all this pCars drama going on.
 
Fact is the people that were originally banned were only telling their side of the story. "Banned for no reason". hahaha. That makes absolutely no sense. They WERE banned for a reason.



Anyways, this is all very childish. I'm embarrassed to say I'm a sim racer with all this pCars drama going on.
You're about a week late to the party. It's been sorted, let's not start over.
 

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