The banning of GS.

Alright, I've kept my mouth shut about this, mainly because Grav is my friend, and I didn't see any reason to involve myself in this predicament. I am now going to post the only opinion I have on the matter and then I'll be done with it.

Grav knew precisely what he was doing when he flamed Sov, and he knew precisely what the consequences would be. He's an extremely intelligent individual and he doesn't need you guys fighting his battles for him. The fact is, Grav has always done this. He's been breaking the rules and getting banned constantly since the day I registered, and that will likely never change. Seriously, I'd honestly like to know how many times he's had his main account and his numerous alternate logins banned from this fourm. That, I think would be a pretty amusing statistic to have handy. (Seriously though, WetWired, is there any way to figure that out?)

Grav has done this so many times that he is beyond any sort of preferential treatment. He knows the drill by now, and he doesn't get warnings anymore. Wait, what the fuck am I saying, he is getting preferential treatment! He's been banned so many times, that any other member would be looking at permanent banishment by now. We, however, don't completely ostracize him because he's one of the best members we have when he's not giving the staff any static. The fact is, Sov's response to this situation was precisely the way it should have been handled. If Grav was a one or two-time offender, it would be a different case, but he's been doing this constantly for over two years, and by this point, Grav is no longer afforded the luxury of the benefit of the doubt. He knows exactly what he's doing, we know exactly what he's doing and it can no longer be trumped up to a "newbie's lapse in judgment".

The more important thing to make note of, however, is this: Has it not yet occurred to you people that getting banned is exactly what Grav wanted to have happen? Have you not yet realized that he flamed Sov solely for the purpose of being banned? He did it solely to be a nuisance, because it entertains him to do so. There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Grav went into this situation expecting anything different, because he's not a stupid individual!

The fact is, he's using his banishment as an argumentative tool. He will use this later on as his factual backup to underline the fact that he thinks this place needs a serious management overhaul. Everybody that's arguing for him is completely missing the point. He did this on purpose. Either simply to amuse himself or because he wants to use it later to his advantage.

Grav is most certainly my favorite member here. He is consistently entertaining, he's blindingly intelligent and he contributes a great deal to the atmosphere of this place. I hate it when he does these things though, because I want to defend him, but I know just as well as he does that he's not an innocent victim in these situations. Every time he gets banned, he knows that banishment is the only possible outcome for his actions, and it's hard to defend someone based on that precept, regardless of how much you like them. I want it to be known that should the day come that Grav is truly unfairly banned will be the day I enter berzerker rage mode. However, Grav has not been unfairly banned, because that's exactly what he's been aiming for all along. Maybe he's been hoping for something else, but certainly not expecting anything different.

Stop talking about him like he's a helpless victim that needs your assistance, people. He's a hell of a lot sharper than you people are giving him credit for. End this nonsense now.