IMPORTANT: Harassment Investigation Findings
- Thread starter Malashaan
- Start date
I know the hour grows late on this thread, but I think I might as well comment here, now or never.
Firstly, I'm glad this has finally been given the attention it deserved and action taken to mitigate this problem into the future.
There can be no doubt in anyone's minds that this has been taken seriously when the 3rd highest poster in this community, and a distinguished former quadruple term President - has been unconditionally banned for at least a year.
But, the real question here - is why has it taken nearly 10 years to deal with this?
Personally, I have long been aware of the vague nature of Anumia's activities, and you pick up these things when you are working in an Intelligence capacity - even if they aren't directly relevant to the remit of the EIA.
It's been known for some time that Anumia is a bit of a philanderer for instance. Indeed, in my signature, I've referenced him as a "general pervert" in the quote section of my sig for many years now. But, despite these established notions, there has never really been any indication that his OOC interactions were non-consensual - or a real problem to members of the community. The consensus over the years has always been that Anumia was a bit of a deviant, but harmless.
And the reason for that I think is simple. The people that have now come forwards to say that they have a problem with the sexual nature of his interactions with them, didn't feel comfortable to do so before. We only heard about the interactions where the other party was at least prepared to talk about in private at the time it happened, and in those cases interactions were indeed, relatively harmless and consensual.
The issue is we don't like to talk about this, we've been conditioned to think that this is something best not discussed. That's why no one ever asked for this to be investigated until this month. Even now the general public haven't really been told any of the details about the kind of things that went on. That wouldn't compromise anonymity. If we were more open about this sort of thing years ago, I believe we could have stopped this 9 years ago, and saved a lot of female players a lot of nuisance.
That's my tuppence worth anyway.
Firstly, I'm glad this has finally been given the attention it deserved and action taken to mitigate this problem into the future.
There can be no doubt in anyone's minds that this has been taken seriously when the 3rd highest poster in this community, and a distinguished former quadruple term President - has been unconditionally banned for at least a year.
But, the real question here - is why has it taken nearly 10 years to deal with this?
Personally, I have long been aware of the vague nature of Anumia's activities, and you pick up these things when you are working in an Intelligence capacity - even if they aren't directly relevant to the remit of the EIA.
It's been known for some time that Anumia is a bit of a philanderer for instance. Indeed, in my signature, I've referenced him as a "general pervert" in the quote section of my sig for many years now. But, despite these established notions, there has never really been any indication that his OOC interactions were non-consensual - or a real problem to members of the community. The consensus over the years has always been that Anumia was a bit of a deviant, but harmless.
And the reason for that I think is simple. The people that have now come forwards to say that they have a problem with the sexual nature of his interactions with them, didn't feel comfortable to do so before. We only heard about the interactions where the other party was at least prepared to talk about in private at the time it happened, and in those cases interactions were indeed, relatively harmless and consensual.
The issue is we don't like to talk about this, we've been conditioned to think that this is something best not discussed. That's why no one ever asked for this to be investigated until this month. Even now the general public haven't really been told any of the details about the kind of things that went on. That wouldn't compromise anonymity. If we were more open about this sort of thing years ago, I believe we could have stopped this 9 years ago, and saved a lot of female players a lot of nuisance.
That's my tuppence worth anyway.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Our community, its administrators, and its leaders are also much more mature than they were 9 years ago. Asking 13 year old HEM to handle a harassment investigation? Perhaps we were in a position to handle these sorts of issues sooner than now, but our community is a much different (more open and more supportive) place than it was or could have expected to be all those years ago. There was no one capable of dealing with something like this who also had the power to take action.
I don't disagree that in an ideal world we would have addressed this sooner, whether 9 years ago or last year, but when your community leadership consists of naive young players, that's asking an awful lot of people with very little life experience. Even some of the victims may not have realized that what they were experiencing was harassment, or even that it was wrong.
When I first started out a number of years ago, I had an experience with an older male player that today I would 100% call inappropriate, harassment, and possibly even illegal. But then, that didn't even cross my mind. I was young, and rather than trying to deal with it, I just laughed it off, ignored it, and hoped that it would go away. I'm not sure I even knew that I could do anything. I certainly don't think the leaders of the region I was in at the time (not Europeia) would have been prepared to deal with such allegations. I'm not sure when I became aware of harassment, or that what I experienced was harassment, but I know when I was 15 it just seemed like something I had to deal with on my own.
Fortunately, we are blessed today with a more open environment for these sorts of issues both in our region and in our (real) world, and we had people who took the problem seriously and worked hard to resolve it. I just don't think we were in that position way back when.
I don't disagree that in an ideal world we would have addressed this sooner, whether 9 years ago or last year, but when your community leadership consists of naive young players, that's asking an awful lot of people with very little life experience. Even some of the victims may not have realized that what they were experiencing was harassment, or even that it was wrong.
When I first started out a number of years ago, I had an experience with an older male player that today I would 100% call inappropriate, harassment, and possibly even illegal. But then, that didn't even cross my mind. I was young, and rather than trying to deal with it, I just laughed it off, ignored it, and hoped that it would go away. I'm not sure I even knew that I could do anything. I certainly don't think the leaders of the region I was in at the time (not Europeia) would have been prepared to deal with such allegations. I'm not sure when I became aware of harassment, or that what I experienced was harassment, but I know when I was 15 it just seemed like something I had to deal with on my own.
Fortunately, we are blessed today with a more open environment for these sorts of issues both in our region and in our (real) world, and we had people who took the problem seriously and worked hard to resolve it. I just don't think we were in that position way back when.
I agree with much of what Sopo and NES both said above, and while I have at times over the past few weeks wished I could turn back the clock and prevent things .... I know that I can't. So, instead, I'm trying to focus my time on what I can do to protect the community I love going forward.
I've got a few things in the works (including a new Mouse Poll xD), but a lot of the details on my end will probably wait until this weekend/next month due to RL stuff interfering. As always, I hope everyone feels that they can reach out to me (or one of the other admins) if you have ideas or suggestions for our community going forward.
I've got a few things in the works (including a new Mouse Poll xD), but a lot of the details on my end will probably wait until this weekend/next month due to RL stuff interfering. As always, I hope everyone feels that they can reach out to me (or one of the other admins) if you have ideas or suggestions for our community going forward.
- Pronouns
- he / him / his
I don't disagree with what Sopo said, but let me make clear: in my entire time in Nationstates no behavior of Anumia's has ever been brought to my attention to my (usually good) recollection. Nor was I ever made aware of his "perverted" nature.
The problem we faced here, apparently, is that people either didn't know they had resources, or didn't trust those resources. That's exactly what we are working to fix now.
The problem we faced here, apparently, is that people either didn't know they had resources, or didn't trust those resources. That's exactly what we are working to fix now.
Charles Cerebella
New member
Good to see firm action was taken in this case. It is also pleasing to see that RP/IC matters do not interfere with the OOC administration of the board.
For the record, this is the MousePoll I referenced above, and people should take it. A number of the questions were inspired by this investigation or discussions I've had since.
It'll probably be open until the weekend or so.
It'll probably be open until the weekend or so.
Lethen
Nissan: commendable cars for Commended players
Forum Administrator
Supreme Chancellor
Honoured Citizen
Citizen
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Everyone -
Please note that due to an oversight at the time, Anumia's nation was allowed to stay in Europeia for all of these months. I have ejected and banned his nation accordingly as a result of the earlier findings, and the ban-jection will be lifted should the Administrative Ban be lifted after review at some future time.
Thank you
~ Lethen
Please note that due to an oversight at the time, Anumia's nation was allowed to stay in Europeia for all of these months. I have ejected and banned his nation accordingly as a result of the earlier findings, and the ban-jection will be lifted should the Administrative Ban be lifted after review at some future time.
Thank you
~ Lethen