Statement regarding Escade

[Kris Kringle]

Normally I'd say NS has drama in its definition, but even this event was too much. I do hope Escade gets some rest in during her LoA.

[Rebel-topia]

Now, why do weird things happen in TSP when I'm away? :/

 

 

Its not just when you're away, B&N. Weird things happen in TSP ALL THE TIME!

And I think this was just someone knowing Escade is new, and trying to see if she could be manipulated...

[Escade]

And so now that this is over (?) and if you haven't figured out my IRC messages, I'd like to be informed to exactly what happened by Belschaft and Hileville in a clear and direct manner.

 

IRC? Skype? Email? Do you need my cell number? It's usually nice to tell a person what they just were put through.

 

From my perspective, a random nation sent me a weird TG which I didn't understand and actually didn't think of as much more than gibberish the first time I read it.  I did share it with my VD but as a weird joke rather then something serious.

 

That nation then (?) reported me as a sleeper agent and suddenly a state of emergency was declared based on a random nations report?

 

I find it a bit rude and insensitive to screw around with me like that. I'm not sure what security clearance is for delegates but I'd like to know exactly what happened from A to Z and find the wall of silence to be extremely off putting.

[Horse]

I know I'm rather late on this, but sorry that this happened to you

[Belschaft]

Escade, based upon the blackmail attempt and the... sexually perverse... TG you received today, I would guess that someone is targeting you. I don't know who, I don't know why, but that looks to be what is happening. You've reported them to the mods, which was the right thing to do, and hopefully that will be the end of it.

 

All I can do is suggest that you share such information with the CSS in the future, so as to provide us with the information we need to do our jobs. We have to investigate such matters, and whilst it's not pleasant or fun (please try to remember that me and Hile spent x-mas day doing it) it is our job. Had you told us before hand that someone was trying to blackmail you, and threatening to 'report' you as being Neenee, then we would have been able to handle matters much more quickly.

[Escade]

Not to be rude but I wasn't aware of the first attempt being a blackmail\etc. or accusing me of being someone else. I didn't take it seriously and thought it was some sort of joke. It's written like some 12 year old and the "eye" part made me think of Sauron\Lord of the Rings reference more than anything else.

 

And I did share it with the head of CSS, my vice delegate Kringalia.

 

In fact, I'm very interested in knowing how CSS works and all.  For example, the former head of CSS should be Rebel-topia and he should have debriefed Kris by now on his roles and responsibilities. However, nothing of that sort has happened at all.

[Belschaft]

Who wasn't online, and even when he was didn't pass the information on, presumably because he didn't connect it or take it seriously.

 

At the end of the day, the CSS did not have the information. We can only deal with what information we have.

[Escade]

The CSS is to headed by the vice delegate, aka Kringalia.  He was never told of his responsibilities or in any way "handed over the reigns."  While Bel and Hile acted very quickly maybe too quickly, I would have appreciated being contacted before a state of emergency was declared.

 

If someone completely random sends me a TG saying, "so and so member of your government is a sleeper agent" then I'm going to contact the person in question first before making a spectacle. I will not send out public messages all over the place with a blatantly false and reputation harming accusation.

 

I actually found Bel and Hileville's dealing with matter to be highly unsatisfactory and extremely rude to me. In fact, I'm seriously angry about this. I had to force contact with both of them on IRC. I didn't get a TG or a PM or anything. I had to run after them asking, "What's going on?" Is that normal? No.

 

If I hadn't logged in that morning then I might as well have been couped for all I know or otherwise removed from office.

 

What are the facts?  How did this go down? I want to know exactly why and how Bel and Hile and whoever made the decisions to reveal their sources, their evidence, etc.

 

Which reputable individual made the accusation?

 

And if it was such a serious accusation then I'd like to take this to the courts so that I may see the evidence and thinking behind the mob mentality and be exonerated publicly.

[Kris Kringle]

Part of the thing here is that Escade is the affected party and I'm the Chair of the CSS. And yet we both found out because of that big banner in the WFE and not because we were informed by the CSS, and even now we only know what Hileville and Belschaft think of all this. They two are not the whole Committee for State Security. I'd like to know if SB, B&N and Fudgie were also notified, or if they had any voice at all in this.

[Escade]

WFE banner, mass TG to the entire region - you know the usual way to get in touch with the particular people involved.

 

In case anyone doesn't have it:

 

My Skype Id: escade.escadian

My NS email: iescade@hotmail.com

My Cell #: Ask for it via one of the above and you can have yet another way to verify my identify as well as find out that I'm a real person and not a pawn.

[Brutland and Norden]

I'd like to know if SB, B&N and Fudgie were also notified, or if they had any voice at all in this.

To be quite honest, I was away when all of this happened (hence my previous post), being swamped with work during the holidays. I was only able to log in on the 27th (my time), when everything was over.

 

Here's the gist of what I've seen: Belschaft had made a thread on the 25th of December about some person TG him that Escade was Neenee. (That's what I assume the notification is.) He tried to immediately confirm this, but lacked info/intel despite help from others. He also asked to declare a SOE, which Hileville also approved. 7 hours later, they were able to contact Escade, who then supplied her part of the story. The entire picture was then pieced together and the threat was judged to be untrue. The SOE was called off.

 

My personal observations: Was this an overreaction? It was, in retrospect. Hindsight is 20/20. We all probably would have a different reaction now if the accusation turned out to be true. Was the SOE implemented with malicious intent? Probably not, as I think that Belschaft and Hileville believed they were acting in the best interests of the region. If Bels was really intent on gaining power he'd still be the delegate now, and we have a coup in our hands. So in principle, I think there was justification to act.

 

How it was carried out is a different question. I do understand the need to be quick when it comes to possible coupers - some people even thought the CSS response was slow. With Fudgie (relatively) inactive and me away, only Hileville, Belschaft, and Kris and possibly SB could be online. We can't wait for me or SB or Fudgie to come online to take action immediately, or else responses could be really really slow. We can't wait for the Assembly to act or to file complaints with the judiciary. If we waited for the legislature to act last April, I would've legally acted only six days into the coup.

 

Secondly, I believe the spectre of April 2013 and May 2011 still loomed large. Bels & Hile were there during both times and they know what to do and thought they were doing the appropriate actions. Heavy-handed yes, but perhaps they don't want to risk TSP becoming coup-prone. Now I'm only speculating on their intentions, but that's a vibe that I've been getting on TSP since the events last April: we are becoming more proactive about regional security, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

Third, and the most important: could there had been any other way in which the issue had been dealt with? In my opinion, yes, there are, but those are strings of "should've/would've/could've". IMHO, the Vice-Delegate and the CSS should've been communicating. Kris could've told the CSS of the things that Escade had been receiving (they didn't because they thought it was a joke) and Bels & Hile could've told Kris about what they received and their planned courses of action. Then they'd get the entire picture of what was happening. It is difficult to do that if discussions are kept only between people, behind closed doors, and we exclude people who should've been included.

 

Were the public declarations in the WFE, the mass TG, and the forums necessary? Probably not. If the previous communication between the VD and the CSS were done they might have seen no reason to do that. But if they did see a reason, could the possible "coup" be prevented without having to resort to these drastic measures?

 

Perhaps we could. Escade wasn't the delegate yet, and her "imminently taking the delegacy", it could probably be prevented if the people who harbored suspicion drop their endos of her. They could also get the NSA to drop endos of her for a while through the MoA (that is, if the MoA was also informed of the situation). Bels could also quietly change the WFE to temporarily remove Escade's name on it. That should buy time for them to quietly confirm or disprove the accusations. Then they should also contact Escade to try to get her side. Even though she might've looked suspect to them, they should still try to contact her.

 

IMHO, the "SOE" could've been kept under wraps, no WFE banners or mass TGs sent until the accusation has been confirmed. I think what was discomfiting was see the accusation plastered all over the place when it wasn't even remotely confirmed - it's like a 'trial by publicity' (possibly the 'mob mentality' Escade was referring to). That is one thing we should avoid, since it would also create distrust between the leaders and the public.

 

I would imagine I'd feel the same way if I was in Escade's position. I also get where Bels & Hile were coming from. We all have good intentions, and it is indeed unfortunate that things turned out this way.

 

With all of these statements, I am not seeking to pin blame on anybody. That is the worst thing that we should do - blame people, and hurt others' feelings. There is no need to aggravate the situation. What we should do is to try to determine why this situation evolved in the first place, and how we can avoid it in the future. That's how we should move on forward from this unpleasant event.

[Kris Kringle]

That is true B&N. I honestly don't believe there was malicious intent at all with what was done (except the original accuser). What I'm saying is that certain things that could have and should have been done in a certain way were not. The most important and simple of them being actually notifying Escade and me of what was happening.

About telling the CSS of what Escade received. To my knowledge it had only been one telegram (not two as it turned out) and I judged it to be an inexperienced player trying to role-play with Escade. The same conclusion she had reached. Of course now I realize that was not the case, but we could not have known that this specific person was serious about what he said.

[Escade]

Edit: Thanks, Kris for the reminder.

[Kris Kringle]

Alright, let's all take a time off and calm ourselves. Here and now are neither the place nor the time to start pointing fingers or accusing people of doing stuff. That is honestly inappropriate and shouldn't happen, at least not in this way. I know a great deal of the criticism is fair and has been earned, but let's not take it over the top with baseless accusations, this I'm saying as moderator of the CSS forum. Please all take a break and think about what you will post before doing so.

[Belschaft]

I think that B&N's summation/account of what happened is both comprehensive and fair. As I've said previously, me and Hile felt that the safest thing to do was to act as in a worst case scenario. Whilst we didn't think that the claimed threat was credible, we concluded that a brief period of awkwardness and a ruined Christmas day was preferable than the risk of having to fight another GCR war, and that until we were able to clear up the matter we could not risk letting Escade take the Delegacy until we had investigated and talked to her. It was a question of weighing up the positives/negatives of each option, and we decided that the possibility that there might be substance to the accusation had to be the overriding factor.

 

All I'd like to add to B&N's summation is a comment regarding my thought process on whether or not to declare a formal SoE. By the time the accusation was received Escade was roughly a half dozen endorsements ahead, and this had been noticed by a considerable number of people. I'd sent out a mass TG congratulating her, and people had been posting similar on the RMB. As such, had we not declared an SoE but instead moved WA's in and had people switch endorsements, it would almost immediately have been noticed and drawn comment. We would have had people asking what was going on via TG and on the RMB, and demanding that we explain what we were doing; as such, we would have then had to make the same public statement that we did. Further, when taking extraordinary action such as declaring a SoE not informing the region what is going on would seem to me to be improper. Even so, we had people standing by to switch endorsement/move in relatively early on, and we held off declaring the SoE as long as we felt possible, hoping that we would be able to locate the Empire WA's or that Escade would come online. I honestly think that the SoE was the best of a number of bad options we had to choose from.

[Alv]

Its sad to see such a rocky start for such a nice person. 

Never the less good luck on the delegacy Escade 

Oh and happy new years from the land of the dead.