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Since moderation is a big topic these days in Wintreath, I thought it'd be interesting to make note of some moderation controversy happening on NationStates that seems to have upset their roleplay community in particular.

It started when moderators deleted The Kraven Corporation and all their topics/posts for malicious content and glorifying Nazism. The Kraven Corporation has been roleplaying as a 'bad nation' for nearly 20 years, something which they were recognized for by the World Assembly in 2011. In the course of playing as a bad nation, they apparently used Nazi imagery such as "photos of Heinrich Himmler, people dressed in SS uniforms, swastika flags, and Dachau concentration camp victims being experimented on", as well as roleplayed scenes such as torture in extreme detail beyond a PG-13 level. However, it would seem most of those posts happened before NationStates introduced stricter rules against glorifying Nazism in May 2021, and at least one poster claimed that after a moderator had warned them about explicit gore they stopped posting scenes in such extreme detail. 

It was mentioned that due to The Kraven Corporation's long history, the nation/posts were only deleted after five moderators, including three senior moderators, weighed in support of that action.

The main issue that they have is that it appears to be an ex post facto enforcement of the current rules against content that was permissible at the time it was posted. To a smaller extent, they're also concerned about the fact that the deletion of The Kraven Corporation's posts leaves nearly two decades of roleplays unreadable. One poster even brought up a RP post a current game admin made in 2004 with detailed descriptions of torture as well. The admin's response was that it was a time when edgy mature posts were in style on NationStates, which then opened them up to accusations of hypocrisy. I recently posted about how moderation standards have changed over time, and it's not surprising that a site as old as NationStates would also have these issues come up from time to time.

The matter is still ongoing, with discussions going on both on the Moderation forum and behind the scenes among moderators themselves. However, these are the relevant topics so far:

• 2023.04.28 - [Q] What happened to Kraven?
• 2023.04.28 - [Discussion] Mod Term Limits/Oversight and conduct
• 2023.04.29 - [Q] Self-moderation for very old content
• 2023.05.01 - [Appeal] The Kraven Corporation
• 2023.05.02 - [Discussion] Rule changes and retroactive enforcement

For anything following along, some things have happened. Ultimately Kraven's appeal was granted and his nation was restored, but his posts were not because it was claimed that they would have violated the rules at any point in the site's history without ever explaining how hundreds if not thousands of posts were missed over the decades if that's the case. Apparently discussions are still ongoing behind the scenes on moderation transparency and retroactive enforcement of rules.

But then on 5/29 Kyrusia, a former senior game moderator, posted about the topic, accusing the current moderation of not doing their jobs, of attacking players' characters, and of gaslighting people. They specifically called for two long-time members of moderation, Sedgistan (who is also the Gameplay game manager with some authority decide changes and new features to the game) and Crazy Girl, to be stood down. This post was then deleted by [violet], who claimed that staff members agree not to comment on moderation matters after they retire.

Most of the current discussion is still happening in the Rule changes and retroactive enforcement topic, but most of the last few pages is an angry mess. Judging from the signatures, so far it seems like moderation has just made martyrs of Kraven and Kyrusia, and it's worth wondering if it was really worth outright deleting Kyrusia's topic as if that would make it go away.