>The handling by the Immortal was poor (at best) and resulted
>in forcing a wedge into the growing divide between players and
>Immortals, eroding trust and respect. The trust, respect and
>mutual interest is what has kept CF going for the last 15
>years.

Probably that Immortal could have been nicer to you, but I don't fundamentally disagree with their judgement. They've flagged more roles than I have in the last week, and I know I've seen a good three or four obvious recycles.

In my case, I just didn't give those people XP, and probably they'll never get any XP for their role and may have to wonder why. At least in your case you knew why they were looking down on you and had a chance to try to do something about it.

Consistently, the players say that they would rather have feedback while a character's alive, and, while there are exceptions, consistently they react badly to that feedback, as you did.

I can't think that you're actually upset about losing 200 XP, so at the end of the day this must be about the fact that an Immortal thought you were doing something they didn't like and didn't believe you when you said you weren't. That's just the way it's going to be sometimes. Most of the people I've caught passing gear (not at all the same thing, but maybe reminding you of the kinds of things we deal with) have denied it too.

Occasionally (and I don't think that's what's happened here, but you may disagree) and despite our best efforts, we will as a staff make the wrong call. Maybe you've been in a hundred fights, 97 of which are solo and 3 of which are gangs, and 3 gangs happen to be the fights I see and base my opinion on you off of. That's just one of those things that comes with having a game where any kinds of standards are enforced or encouraged. Keep in mind that we're players also, and while playing mortals these things have happened to us, as well. It's rough when it happens to you, but if you play long enough, it will happen. The right response is to roll with it and turn it around.

>The Immortals closing ranks, removing the log, locking threads
>so that no discussion can be had in this forum of free speech
>just leaves a bad taste.

A few things here:

First, keep in mind that the staff is not a hive mind and does not always consult each other before making minor decisions. You had your altercation with one Immortal, a second one removed your log, a third one (me) came and argued some about it, and a fourth decided the thread probably should just get locked.

Second, this isn't really a forum of free speech. It's a forum for discussion of the game and for the benefit of the game. You're not guaranteed the right to complain here about something if we don't agree, to go very off-topic, or any number of things. You retain the right to free speech in that, certainly you can continue the discussion somewhere, but that isn't guaranteed to be here if we feel like it's dragged on to a point where it doesn't serve the game.

>I only posted the log to show the
>Immortal in the log that I was not full of #### and telling
>lies and in fact did deserve to be heard by them and not be
>treated like a citizen of a glorious Empire.

I don't think that log conclusively proves that, FWIW. It does prove that you had more role chapters ready to go and (playing devil's advocate) could add a sentence or two explaining a name change.

>Some recognition of the Immortal screw up would save CF losing
>yet another veteran player and make you all seem like you do
>listen and don't just see an 'US - always right' and 'THEM -
>always wrong' when dealing with the players.

CF's veteran players are, and always have been, something of a double-edged sword with regards to the benefit of the game.

Obviously, there's a lot of good they can do. They can help guide new players, create characters who rise to a high standard of RP and skill, and much more.

Unfortunately, the flip side is that they often have a hefty sense of entitlement.

Let me share a story with you: A week or two ago I watched as a player lost a PK and flipped out and went off on their killer OOC. (To be perfectly clear, this isn't Abernyte.) An Immortal pulled this player aside and said, essentially, "Hey, that's not cool." The player in question went off about how they were a veteran player, how they had made all these great characters, and how the game might lose him for our mistreatment. At no point was he able to even admit that he had done something wrong.

We like our veteran players, but at the same time, we can't allow that to keep us from intervening when rules have been broken or when we see something that we don't think is cool. We think that these things are important to maintaining the quality of the game, and many of those same veteran players also tend to get upset when they think another player is getting away with breaking the rules, using an inappropriate name, etc.