Removal of BangBangOw in the leadership - introducing Blue Shark

[HeiligWahrheit]

Dear HelloClan Community,

We would like to inform you about the recent events. Please take the time to read through all of this if you want to be informed about what's going on.

1. BangBangOw was removed and banned​

You did read that correctly: BangBangOw was removed due to incidents over the past years. Such a decision is anything but easy, but we want to be transparent and would like to give you a small insight into what has happened:

• First of all, HelloClan stands for a friendly community. Of course, this is gaming, and keeping everything friendly at all times is impossible. But we expect this from our staff, and this can be expected from us.
• There were several incidents where BangBangOw had disputes with his DC admins, so the other leaders (some years ago IceSkater and I, then LTShaun and I) had to step in. This was the first time we had to understand that these problems were not solved (one admin with a big impact on the server also resigned because of that). Independent of whether the admins were right in their points, or at least in how they articulated their concerns, we simply expected different behaviour from Bang - to find solutions. One of the main arguments of BangBangOw, when the problems were addressed by LTShaun and me, was: "The numbers in DC are good, so everything is fine." And: "We cannot have it like in BFV regarding the numbers." In some way, he was right: DC was running way better than BFV regarding the numbers. But in BFV, we trust our staff and try to implement a friendly atmosphere. And this is what we want to provide as HelloClan. This dispute came up again and again. To avoid that LTShaun and I did not have a neutral view and could be biased, we made an impartial staff member an admin in DC to investigate the situation on the server. It did not take long until this staff member made an independent statement, which confirmed nearly everything we thought. At this time, Bang just deleted everything from our DC admin channel in Discord, where all of the discussions with his DC admins were written.
• We have clear rules and guidelines, which BangBangOw must have agreed to when he joined HelloClan (at a time when IceSkater was the only leader). Besides the fact that we expect our staff to be transparent and ask them to create ban threads for every ban (which BangBangOw did not do, meaning anyone could have been banned for any reason), we also have rules. In these rules, it is clarified that racism is not tolerated on our servers. However, we had to notice that a player named "autism speedrun" (maybe not the best player name created by someone from the leadership) wrote things like: "I wanna be white more and more", "so i can bitch at the nigger next door", and "guys im black, please don't make fun of my disability". After asking BangBangOw if he knew who "autism speedrun" was, he lied to us and did not tell us that it was him (but the server logs CLEARLY show that the IP of this player is the same as BangBangOw's IP that he uses in-game and here on our forum).

With these points, we made everything ready to remove Bang. He did not act like a leader and just looked at the numbers, he broke the HelloClan rules he should stand for, and he lied to us. There was no basis for teamwork anymore. To make sure we were doing the right thing, we always reassured ourselves about our actions with the prior leaders of this clan.

2. What happened after the removal?​

After preparing everything, we informed BangBangOw about our decision. As you might expect, he felt backstabbed. But the way and speed with which he started to threaten us was hilarious. We even provided him with all the DC files he had been working on for years. Why shouldn't we? It was never about Bang's work, it was about the way he was leading DC. He threatened us several times that he would take everything of HelloClan down if we were going back to 1942 DC. We saw this behaviour from him before when he left his prior clan. The deal was clear: No DC from HelloClan, no BFV from BangBangOw. We will see what time will bring... it seems like he was upset after we banned him from this forum and Discord, since he threatened and insulted us again, saying he would take down 1942 Vanilla and DC (we never started those servers until now!), otherwise "he's not going to be nice". Whatever that means, we are ready to defend ourselves against IT attacks and other things. He deleted some messages in our chat, but luckily we have screenshots if he starts telling people different stories.

After being removed, BangBangOw tried to join Moongamers - a community well known for the good atmosphere on their servers. After their leader asked us why we removed him, we simply showed him the chat logs from the player "autism speedrun" - it was enough for him to avoid working with Bang.

BangBangOw launched his own clan and is heavily recruiting - and that is good for the whole community. Losing DC would be a huge loss - and we expect BangBangOw to let HelloClan be HelloClan, just like before he joined us. Because that was the deal, we will see if he is going to be an honest guy. We were, and we also provided him with several GB of data/work in DC modified maps. Without this data, he would start at 0; now he can just continue.

A last sidenote/conclusion: We were thinking about the right way to tell Bang that we wanted to go different ways. I can understand that he feels backstabbed, and that is the last thing we wanted to do, as we appreciate his work in this clan in recent years. But all his actions, insults, and threats showed us that we were right in simply kicking him out. Normally, we would say it is the best that could happen for both parties: We can provide a friendly HelloClan atmosphere, and BangBangOw has his own DC server and doesn't have to coordinate with us. Some people might say it is the best for everyone.

3. @Blue shark joined the leadership​

Some weeks after the removal had been completed, LTShaun and I talked about the future of the leadership. As we both do not have enough free time to carry this clan alone, we would like to introduce Blue shark to the leadership after kindly accepting our proposal to join us. We are very happy about the support we are receiving and are looking into a bright HelloClan future!

Best regards,

HelloClan Leadership – LTShaun, Blueshark and HeiligWahrheit

 

[IceSkater]

Not that anyone asked for it, I feel that I should chime in here as I can see there is definitely conflicts happening during a time there shouldn't be and I feel it is unfair toward Heilig & LTShaun.

Foreword:​

When I took over HelloClan completely from SK, I was doing it alone. I had the admins to help me, but it was not ideal as I was doing quite literally everything. It may not seem like much from the outside looking in, but I can assure everyone reading this, it was a lot of responsibility and headache. I wanted to grow the clan as well as game coverage, which led me to seeking help as I couldn't do it alone...enter BangBangOw, then Heilig and ultimately LTShaun.

As for BangBangOw​

Initially, it should be said, when I played around with the idea of branching out with other games I brought in LuccaWulf, whom unfortunately wasn't able to spare the time...this resulted in me looking at BangBangOw because of his practice in Desert Combat and knowing him partly from BFV. He was known in the 1942 community as an outstanding modder. However, there is also the inverse when it comes to his actions.

There were a few incidents early on as well as not too far from when I left the community involving BangBangOw and how he portrayed himself on other servers. Namely the EA117 community, of which I had a few discussions with the leader there as well as an admin or two whom warned me about Bang, but I chose to side with Bang and placate the situation between communities. It boiled down to Bang simply being a bad sport and poor representation of HelloClan through his actions. I discussed this with Bang at length a few times. Hoping it would change.

It did for a while until it did not.

When I setup the server(s) for BangBangOw to do with as he pleased with DC and 1942, he could do whatever he wished with the only catch being that our community is exactly that. A community. We work together, discuss things and grow together. This meaning that our rules we set out to enforce must be respected and that as a leader he would set an example.

Bang did indeed set an example. A rather poor one.

He was set to be dedicated to the 1942 "department" of HelloClan and be responsible for what happens on the 1942 server. As well as the recruiting and also monitoring of any staff thereof. Of course, assistance on the forum, such as approving members at a point, monitoring possible spam or dealing with any reports was expected.

The amount of input BangBangOw has had on the forums is quite frankly laughable now that I look back at it. He simply didn't care. Only unless there was a dire need where I personally told him to visit the forum would he. I told him a few times, that the forum is here for a reason. For the community to interact, for things to be discussed as well as player reports etc. etc. It however never truly mattered to him. Thus, Heilig & I was the prominent ones here.

Then the rules of the 1942 server(s) were decidedly ignored for the most part by BangBangOw. Instead, he picked and chose who got punished. This in turn caused internal friction with the 1942 admins who were understandably aggrieved by the fact that they didn't know what to do anymore. When the admins took action such as banning a player, Bang unbanned the player without even notifying the admin as to why. Then there was a case of an admin being harassed, took fair action and got scolded by bang for fulfilling the purpose of being an admin.

It was to a point where his admins, and dare I say people whom he knew longer than they knew me, chose to contact me directly with their complaints about the server and how he was leading it. Frankly put, this was themselves indirectly saying they didn't see him as much of a leader cause he heard them complain but rarely listened.

Bangs reasoning for the hit and miss rules was "quantity over quality", he didn't want to scare off players, didn't want to stop his admins from being harassed or subject to verbal abuse or trolling. Just wanted to see the numbers.

I threatened bang with removal, because of his actions and how his conduct was not what HelloClan is supposed to be about. Ultimately, I did not...and it was because he promised to change. Unfortunately, I believed this because despite his actions, he did do a "good" job at getting the 1942 servers seeded and active.

I will not begrudge BangBangOw of the fact that he does know what he's doing when it comes to mods etc on a 1942 server.

Closing​

Unfortunately, after I left HelloClan, it seems BangBangOw grew increasingly cumbersome thus regrettably Heilig & LTShaun have had to deal with him and what is currently resulting from his removal. I never did expect Bang to become so malicious; however, I have been made aware of his threats against HelloClan as well as the dear Battlefield Vietnam server. For these alone, he could not be forgiven by me when he knew the problems faced before.

The fact that he went and opened his own community now, I will dare to say is only as a result of his confidence gained while at HelloClan. Without our input, he would never have had the freedom he enjoyed under HelloClan’s umbrella. Notwithstanding my abilities to pacify situations and save what reputation he had thus protecting him. Clearly, in hindsight, it was efforts wasted.

Whilst I’m not a part of the community anymore, HelloClan is still a very special place to me. To see it wrought by such issues resulting from my own fault is not something I had ever wished or truly foresaw.

I can only say that Heilig & LTShaun still have my unwavering support because I know what it was like to handle this entire community on my own. I made time when I had none and it was never truly appreciated. But I still did it because I loved this place and many of the characters. I’m very proud of these two gents for stepping up and clearing my own shortcoming with Bang, as well as keeping the community going as best they can.

Welcome @Blue shark , I hope you’ve realized there is quite a bit more to the scene than one may assume. It’s not always peaches and cream but I personally thank you for becoming the person you are now and helping the two people I consider “old” friends out.

@HeiligWahrheit , @LTShaun , @Blue shark , look to one another and rely upon each other for it is a shared weight to manage. Help each other, that was and is the whole idea of there being at least three leaders.


I'm wishing HelloClan and it's leadership all the best along with the community, it will always have support from me. One way or another.


Old time sake...
Regards,
Ice