Banned from Mahjong Soul Discord

It is unfortunate, but I did my part lightening up the place in there.  However, that was not enough.  Instead, I ended up with multiple infractions that render this ban.  After all, it is their house, their rules:

• Am I guilty of these infractions?  Yes.  
• Was it my intention to trigger this ban?  No.

For the record, this is the list of infractions:

• June 14, 2020: Case ID: 257
  Posting a borderline NSFW image of Hisa.
• July 4, 2020: Case ID: 276
  Political criticism, where I said, "Trump sucks".
• July 11, 2020: Case ID: 288 and 289
  Unsolicited harrassment, where I pinged one mod who I perceived as a friend at the time.
• July 30, 2020: Case ID: 1074
  Unlisted and unrecollected warning.  This must be the first ban warning.
• October 22, 2022: Case ID: 1177
  Inadvertent off-topic discussion regarding Starcraft with a few others.
• December 7, 2022: Case ID: 1238
  Typed a basic German sentence, but failed to provide an English translation.
• December 12, 2022: Case ID: 1239
  Posted a Discord invite to my own club, while conversing with a possible contact.
• December 22, 2022: Case ID: Blank
  Posted the URL to the Hololive event from Sega MJ.

Of these, the latter four lead to my ban.  As for the cases in 2020, my disappearance during the year 2021 into 2022 rendered them expired, I presume.

The real irony: I actually did sign up the application form to become a moderator there myself back in the beginning.  In addition, if anyone wonders the background to my struggles with mahjong itself, it is due to very quick witted decisions that leads to consequences.

I just happen to be sharing a source of joy with mahjong overall; and to be frank, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  Then I have an added enthusiasm as a big Hololive fan.  Many can relate to the misery that mahjong may bring sometimes, particularly with ladder ranked play as well as competition modes.  I've experienced my fair share of rank point downturns.  To counter that, any inch of joy is needed.

As a result, my personal rule to share my mahjong is incompatible with their Discord rules; and this ban was inevitable.  I was threatened with a similar ban well over a year ago; and to alleviate that, I actually disappeared from there until recently.  This time, my addictive personality could not stay away.  Nevertheless, I will treat this with a breath of fresh air, as I no longer have to deal with their oppressive modding policies.  So as for this ban, I will accept it and render it permanent.

Beyond Mahjong Soul, I am free to do as I wish with mahjong itself, along with everyone else.  If there is one thing that is clear, Mahjong Soul is interested in Mahjong Soul itself.  When it comes to playing elsewhere, that is out of the question.  Yet, there is one thing to understand in all this: They have a mahjong platform to make money with.  After all, it is business.

As for my playing account, I will continue to play on this platform, for I will treat it like any other platform.  It's a place to play.  As long as people play, it's fair game; I will play accordingly.  Among the player base, I am merely one among many.

I will not hold any grudge on Mahjong Soul as a platform itself for one big reason: The work of the platform itself contributed to the latest growth in the overall riichi player base in the West, particularly in the United States.  People have picked up riichi because of Mahjong Soul, and the results show. To this, I will forever be grateful; and credit is given where it is due. 

I note this as a direct observation on my part.  I cannot speak the same of their Discord moderation, because of its strict lawyer level rule enforcement.  It creates an oppressive environment, where the rules are absolute.  For certain, many other users are found to be in violation of their code numbered rules.  In turn, this creates a feedback loop of stress from the users into their moderating team and back.  I know: I have seen this before many times among forum communities.  As to why this is the case, I actually do not understand.  I do not envy their positions; but rather, I pity them.

Here, I will share one regret.  I will no longer be in contact with any of the online mahjong friends made in there.  Though a handful can be found in other Discords, so there is at least that.  It was a fun place to post my puns.  Either people enjoyed them and/or were tortured by them.  Thankfully, I collected them as I posted them.

Finally, my work in the general mahjong community continues.  That includes my own club, the Riichi Wiki, moderation of the mahjong subreddit, and my general involvement with the riichi community in the United States.

To reiterate, the fault here falls onto me.  Thus I am rendered punished.  Case closed.  In true mahjong fashion, I made a discard choice, that resulted in lost points.  One of the base rules to mahjong involves accepting the result.  I did just that here.  Now I move on to the next game.

Addendum

Fast forward to today at the time of this entry's publishing date.  I still refer to this.  And since then, others have gone through the same thing, including one of my club members.  His ban was slightly different than mine, but the principle was the same.

Here and there, the ban gets mentioned in conversation.  Sometimes the topic comes up randomly.  Other times, both to criticize and compare.  Despite not being in that discord anymore, I hear a few things about it.  Not to my surprise, it is what it is over there; and it's sad.

Two questions:

• Why did I wait this long to post this?  The above was written within hours of said ban, but I did not want to bring this out in the open immediately.  Some time was needed to fester.
• Why was this posted at this time?  Well I was talking to a friend about it, and just like that, it was the good time to post this.

As things as they are now, it has been better, as the Internet itself provide spaces for all of us.  And that's how it's going to go.  To the next game I did move on.