Being Removed Unfairly

Chris Lemler | November 30, 2008
For all you players and Scott think that it wasn't fair. Maybe you guys are mad cause i took both the R5 and R8. The ones that are cheating are the Woods and Wilhelm in the tournament. That is my opinion on that

Kelly Lee | November 30, 2008
I'm going to say this because other people are too polite. Scott has put up with it for longer than I would have if I was running this website, and it was I who recommended writing a letter to you telling you if you would do anything like this you would be banned. And now instead of say, admitting you were wrong and proving you can be a better person and accept that you did something wrong, you instead try to lay the blame on other people and minimize anything you yourself did, and you are doing it publicly, which only makes you look even worse.

You are cheating. Bringing in your mom to play with 4 minutes on the clock just so you can win the game, as well as you creating multiple accounts to ghost your way through these games with the same exact password as you have means that you obviously think Scott isn't bright enough to see what you are doing, or you aren't thinking through your plans on how to cheat very well.

So you will argue that it isn't cheating to bring in your mom just so you can win a tournament last second? No, its not against the rules, however it proves that you will do anything to win a silly little game, including being as dishonorable as you can be in order to slink ahead.

You can argue that Scott is angry because the only person to truly lose out is Scott himself from your dishonorable act. And since he is the webmaster, he holds all the power and therefore is being unfair to you because you won. He did not receive cards, but you did. If he was that upset about it, and that petty about it, he would give himself his cards. But he isn't, and he would never cheat to get ahead. Unlike you.

If I was in charge, I would have booted you the moment that you created multiple ghost accounts so you can beat yourself and get more cards. You have proven yourself time and time again that you are a parasite, doing anything you can to win a game. If this is how you have fun , I feel sorry for you. This game is about having fun, and you sir, have drained just a bit of that fun from Scott by your acts.

This website is Scott's fun. I should know, working on this website is what he does all the time. This is his hobby, and you have made it less fun for him, and that's something I will not tolerate, and Scott is the most fair person I know. Scott has far more tolerance for you than I could ever have imagined, more than I could have.

Sarah Kyle | November 30, 2008
I was accused of cheating by several players over playing a game with chris that involved a rock block.. I started a game and he accepted it late at night. I was up with my son with nothing to do. When it was brought to my attention I let scott know that there was no way to cheat especially with an invisibility spot playing in the game..

I was also asked about ghost accounts and I let scott know that I made them at my house for my sister. I have two other siblings lilly and elizabeth.. Lilly has quit playing and elizabeth was only on at my house when she would spend the weekends.. I believe she canceled because now she doesn't come up with her working and me having a baby.

I will keep it to myself who is cheating.. I know it for a fact.... I do know for a fact that both of chris's parents play the different games on here. How do we really know that he is cheating??? His mom really could of played.

I do have a question though.. How can you tell what the passwords are. If you guys have the passwords then can't you log in on us and read our email and things like that???

Lori Lancaster | November 30, 2008
[hidden by request]

Sarah Kyle | November 30, 2008
I was not insulting anyone at all.. I was just simply asking a question. I did not phrase it to accuse anyone. While rereading it I don't see anywhere where there is an accusation.. I don't trust anyone and that is just because of who I am. I don't expect others to understand.

Yes I do have a problem with a couple of members but I do not talk to them. I keep to myself. I know that this is the internet and I know what it does. I am not that stupid. Not saying that you are calling me stupid..

I understand why scott asked me about the other accounts because they were set up at my home via my little sisters..

I did not insult kelly at all as well.. I just simply was asking a question. If you reread it you will see that there are question marks behind it to state that it is a question not a accusation..

I am just going to not even comment anymore so no one reads further into it than what it is.. I hardly am ever on here simply for the fact that I spend most my days taking care of my son and sleeping and spending time with his dad.. I don't have time for this..

Kelly Lee | November 30, 2008
I wasn't insulted. And I don't read people's stuff, nor does Scott. As Lori said, he would never do something like that. And for the record, if he did, I probably wouldn't be dating him now.

Does it say anything against it in the rules? Honestly, I don't know, I haven't looked. But neither does it say in the rules that it's cheating for Kelly to accidentally walk into the office while Scott is working on a goo and see the image on the screen, which is one of the reasons I don't play that game anymore, so I don't accidentally cheat. Hey, its not in the rules, I didn't know that was cheating. Nor does it say that it's cheating for me to use Scott's computer and look up a bunch of info about the games or figure out how to make me win the random card every day. Hey, I didn't know.

And yeah, Scott has access to the passwords. I don't know if you are aware of this, but the admin does have access to your passwords. Every single forum you are on, the admin has access to your password. For everything that you have a password on somewhere, someone has access to your password. Is he EVER going to do anything with them? Hell no. Do you think he would ruin his most favorite hobby by reading people's stuff or messing with people? No, never in a million years, and I'd like to say that for dating the man for 12 years, I'm an expert on Scott.

Sarah Kyle | November 30, 2008
I understand.. I also understand the frustration with cheating as well because it makes it impossible for others to enjoy the game..

Erik Bates | November 30, 2008
[hidden by request]

Amy Austin | November 30, 2008
I wouldn't call it TC drama... it was about RB -- and if it isn't your drama or affecting you somehow (other than by reading), then I wouldn't read or comment.

Scott Hardie | November 30, 2008
An incident happened on Friday that seemed like Chris was cheating in Rock Block. I discussed it with Chris, his mom LaVonne, and a few players who suspect him of cheating. I had wanted not to discuss it publicly beyond that group, since I don't think it's anyone else's business, but it's public now, so here's what happened.

All day long Friday, players participated in a block party event that encourages playing lots of different people. The player who takes on the most opponents gets a free R5 card, and who plays the most concerts overall gets a free R8 card. Chris was arguably among the most aggressive players, challenging everyone and refreshing the "I'm online now" button all night in an effort to be challenged. At 11:56pm, four minutes before the deadline, LaVonne suddenly returned to the game after months of inactivity, challenging Chris to a concert. She ignored pending challenges from other players, making me think that she wasn't really back to play the game, she was just there to help Chris win a free card. I didn't even know if it was really LaVonne playing; if Chris knew her password, he could have logged in to play himself. The outcome of the two concerts they played that night also made me suspicious. I granted Chris his prizes, thought about it further on Saturday, and finally confronted him on Saturday night, telling him that his pattern of cheating on the site had to stop, and that I would like to have him continue as a user only if he told me it would stop.

Chris denied wrongdoing and asked LaVonne to write to me herself. She did, at length, in a lucid and understanding email. She had always been intimidated by the possibility of losing cards to better players and having no good collection left, so she drifted away from RB even though she enjoyed it. When she saw Chris playing RB so much on Friday night, she remarked to him that she missed it and was thinking of playing again, and he showed her how she could get a card by coming back that night. She challenged him to a themed concert, but still didn't want to play others because of the intimidation factor.

I accept LaVonne's explanation. I apologize to Chris for accusing him, and to both of them for causing them distress. My role as site administrator compelled me to take action, and this apology doesn't change that in the future.

What brought this on isn't just the incident itself. If another player's family member had suddenly showed up at the end of the night, the thought that it was cheating might have occurred to me and it might not have, but I wouldn't hold it against them like I did against Chris. Unfortunately, Chris has a reputation as a cheater on this site, for a long series of questionable incidents going back to when his account was created. How much of the reputation is legitimate is something that only Chris knows for sure, but I can say that it works against him as a snowballing effect. Minor questionable activity that wouldn't raise eyebrows for any other player is held against him as evidence of cheating, and that becomes part of his history of cheating that results in the same accusations the next time it happens. That circular reasoning isn't fair to Chris, and yet he continues to be involved in questionable activity on this site, things like his friends and family quickly guessing his goo requests when everyone else is stumped. That could be because he gave them the answers, or it could be because they know him personally and know his frame of reference for writing a clue, so they understand his meaning instantly. Again, the rest of us will never know for sure.

I was reluctant to accuse Chris this time because my personal feelings caused a conflict of interest. (I would have received cards in the block party if not for this.) However, my feelings were irrelevant as site administrator, and I had an obligation to take action necessary to preserve fairness. I've done that with other cheating incidents in the past; you'd be surprised at some of the major names on the site who I've caught in the act. When it happens, the person apologizes and accepts my actions to restore fairness in the game, and we usually agree to keep what happened to ourselves.

I can't do that in this case because it's already public. I can say that I believe Chris didn't cheat in this case, and I believe he didn't cheat in some earlier incidents where other players suspected him. But if I am being completely honest, I admit that I will continue to be suspicious of him in the future as well, and I'm certain that the other players will too. His reputation for cheating is just too much to give him the benefit of the doubt, and his denying it isn't enough. Anyway, I hope that we can put this incident behind us, and that time and unquestionably fair play will eventually eliminate Chris's reputation. He is an enthusiastic fan of this site, and players like him are what keep me going. I'm lucky to have him.

Scott Hardie | November 30, 2008
On passwords: I'm privy to a lot of secret information as site administrator, and I tend to be an incorrigible gossip anyway. Unless someone specifically asks me to keep something secret, it's going to be shared sooner or later. Without saying exactly what the passwords were, I did mention how one of the easier ways for me to spot a ghost account is when it has the same password as the person who created it. Kelly and a few other people have heard me discuss this in the past. No one's security was compromised, on this site or elsewhere. I occasionally log in to goo.tc as another user to test some code that I've written, but I usually use the account of Kelly or a close friend.