Well all I know about HAL is that thanks to him, we lost a member of the actual dub cast from our forum. So as far as I'm concerned the fucker can stay banned.

Not sure why ran1 is banned though. Looking at his posts he seems a chill guy, and he seems well liked.

I remember that HAL was unnecessarily aggressive and confrontative for a long time before the ban. Ran was a pretty cool guy as long as he refrained from dumb trolling, but judging by the way he acted before his ban we might be better off without him and his flame wars.

HAL had the tendency to go berserk over nonexistent provocations, and his hostility reached uncontrollable levels. The way he insulted AWL was unforgivable. Ran1 started out as a really cool guy, but he soon turned into a troll and he gave us more headaches than just about any other troll/spammer. It was a relief when he was gone.

HAL was given a three-year ban(this was during a period when we had decided not to ban anyone permanently) and he should be back in a little under two weeks. However, he's going to be watched closely, and if he shows the slightest sign of his previous hostility, he'll be banned forever.

I hope that answers the questions posed in this thread.

Wait, let me get this straight: we had a member of the cast as a forum goer...and it was Rei Ayanami, no less...and this guy HAL went after her?

What....why...what...wuh....

I feel I should look at the original post, but that's more gloom than I am prepared for today. I mean...holy crap! AWL! In the forums!

...I know not this HAL, but with him I am greatly displeased....

The original post has been purged anyway, so all you can see is the aftermath. It was pretty ugly.

I can imagine. That whole setup sounds like an emotional boil.

The past is past, people can change. Can't say much since I wasn't around at the time, but while I'm highly disappointed to learn we had someone like AWL on the forums and then left because of the bashing from a hostile member, I hope to see this Hal person mend ties with the veteran community of EGF.

It doesn't appear as though anyone who is familiar with him, miss him. The best that could apparently be said is that he "brought a lot of energy", which is to say "he would churn out hateful and insensitive remarks without provocation."

If that's what you're into then, then crack on with it yourself - don't rely on an old member coming back, that no one even seems to much care for.

I dunno...I'm all for forgiveness, but a person has to have a pretty big come to Jesus moment if they have something like that on the record.

then again, I am a hypocrite who holds nasty grudges. Not that I know HAL (and therefore can't truly hold a grudge against him), but I can't help but know that, should i perchance enter into communication with him, that he went and did that.

UrsusArctos wrote:HAL was given a three-year ban(this was during a period when we had decided not to ban anyone permanently) and he should be back in a little under two weeks.

Wait, is Hal wanting to come back? Or is that simply when the ban ends?

I will forgive nearly anything if offered genuine remorse, but the key word there is "genuine". If it's the "I feel bad because this got me in trouble and now people don't like me" variety any apologies he cares to make would be worthless. It would have to be the "I understand what I did wrong and regret the harm I caused" variety, and I have an awful lot of trouble squaring up that level of empathy with the sort of mindset that would lead him to think saying those things was anything close to okay to begin with.

But who knows? Sometimes people do reform, so I guess anything's possible.

I know Hal left the forums on pretty terrible terms and what he did to AWL is awful and there isn't any sort of excuse for it, but you'd think after three years the level of hatred towards him would have died down. Honestly, after looking over all the recent replies, I don't think he should come back simply because the latent hostility here is going to leave him no chance if and when he does return. I'm also going to take this opportunity to say that some of you just need to get over yourselves: throwing around words like "unforgivable" for something that was at the end of the day, someone flaming someone over the internet, seems excessively harsh. You all act like he sucker punched your mother after spitting in her face.

We've all done terrible, awful things in the past, that we hope our peers never find out about, but we seem to think that one bad act that occurs in public means that person can never be redeemed, ever. I've done things in the past that make me look like the biggest asshole on the planet, but I recognized that it was a mistake, and I've moved on and tried to not let it define who I am. I have deep shame over some of the things I did, and I'll carry that shame with me for a long time, possibly until I die, but I'm a different person now. That stupid kid is long gone, and I'm all that's left.

Now, if Hal does come back and starts acting like a belligerent asshole again, then yes, the forums should ban him again. But how can a person redeem himself if you all won't even consider the possibility that maybe he's changed? Three years can be a pretty long time.

Gob Hobblin wrote:Wait, let me get this straight: we had a member of the cast as a forum goer...and it was Rei Ayanami, no less...and this guy HAL went after her?

What....why...what...wuh....

I feel I should look at the original post, but that's more gloom than I am prepared for today. I mean...holy crap! AWL! In the forums!

...I know not this HAL, but with him I am greatly displeased....

wut

Seriously, though, I can't believe anyone would actually do such a thing...I'm almost inclined to agree with Squig on this one.

EDIT: Quite frankly, just the reactions of posters in this thread gives me the distinct impression that the AWL rant was beating-worthy. Still, seeing the actual rant would probably be too much to adequately deal with anyway.

Trajan wrote:I know Hal left the forums on pretty terrible terms and what he did to AWL is awful and there isn't any sort of excuse for it, but you'd think after three years the level of hatred towards him would have died down.

Why? I don't see any reason to give deliberate cruelty a pass, no matter how much time has passed. If he has a "come to Jesus moment", as Gob put it, that's another matter, but in lieu of that why let it pass? It wasn't an error or a simple outburst; he made it clear that his intent was quite deliberate. And honestly, I don't wanna be around someone who thinks that sort of thing is okay.

Being an asshole is forgivable, since as you say we all have those moments and generally don't intend to be assholes. But when there's genuine malice involved it's a rather different matter IMO.

Why would you want AWL on this forum? Cast member or not, she's a total [ableist insult redacted]. You should all be grateful to HAL.

delispin25 wrote:Why would you want AWL on this forum? Cast member or not, she's a total [ableist insult redacted]. You should all be grateful to HAL.

Your trolling skills need work.

Bagheera wrote:Your trolling skills need work.

Yeah, because when someone says something that isn't the norm it's trolling.
You're making all kinds of sense.

delispin25 wrote:Yeah, because when someone says something that isn't the norm it's trolling.
You're making all kinds of sense.

That was me giving you the benefit of the doubt, deli.

Bagheera wrote:That was me giving you the benefit of the doubt, deli.

Sorry to disappoint you.

I'd rather not have the history surrounding that event dug up; it was a shame that it happened, and Hal was punished for it in a way that seemed appropriate at the time. That should be the end of that discussion. If once his ban is lifted and Hal does decide to come back, I still expect everyone to leave the topic alone and move forward with their lives.