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MODERATION NOTICE: 2025.03.11 - The Dack / Dackians
Discord Username: dackians_45252
NationStates Nation: Dackians (deleted by NationStates moderation) / The Dack (Wintreath Nation)

Introduction and Initial Investigation
Earlier this month, Chanku contacted me about a potential rules violation by one of our members, The Dack when she observed a conversation about NationStates moderation deleting another of his nations for threatening to dox another nation, East Sugma.

An initial investigation confirmed that his nation was deleted (disgraced) on February 20th, 2025 and that NationStates moderation made this post confirming that he had threatened to dox another player. The incident also spawned the creation of a dispatch, ”Obituary of Dackians” with background information about who he is and reactions from other players.

Because the decisions of NationStates moderation are generally believed to be evidence-based, objective, and without the biases or potential alternative agendas that regional administrative teams may have, their actions and statements can be acted on in lieu of evidence. This is the only case where this is allowed. However, in discussions with The Dack and East Sugma over the last week, other conflicting claims about the context and intent were brought up that required additional consideration, which are listed below.

Critically, East Sugma identified the conversation that led to moderation action as starting here. This is likely correct given that the conversation mentions doxxing and there are several posts that have been deleted by NationStates moderation. Unfortunately, because the key post was deleted by NationStates moderation in the process, we can only make a best judgement based on context and the additional information provided by the people involved.

An Inside Joke?
East Sugma alleges that the behaviour that led to Dackians’ deletion was an inside joke (and “a little harmless trolling”) between them that NationStates moderation took out of context, and that there was no real intent by Dackians to carry out any threats. This is consistent with their initial reaction to the deletion. There have also been other cases where NationStates moderation acted without the full context of a situation. In fact, it’s understandable that this would happen given the sheer volume of work that they have. They simply don’t have the luxury of doing deep dives into every situation they come across.

However, The Dack denies that they were joking, saying that East Sugma “thinks everything is a joke”. His actions within the conversation suggest that he was not taking it as a joke at the time either, especially when he responded with “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU”.

Ultimately, I believe that this is most likely a case where one person thought it was joking around while the other person did not, which may explain why the conversation went the way that it did. It’s easy for jokes made through text to be taken the wrong way, which is why it’s important to make the intent obvious through joking emojis or the /j tone indicator. Regardless, because doxxing is such a serious threat, it’s not advisable to use it as a joke in any context given how easily it can be mistaken as serious, especially by moderation teams who must err on the side of caution.

What Is Doxxing?
East Sugma also alleges that The Dack used the word doxxing incorrectly, in that he was threatening to reveal their private NationStates puppet nations rather than personal information about the player behind the screen. The Wintreath rules define doxxing as “revealing information about another member that identifies them offline without their consent, such as their name, photos, or contact information” while the NationStates One Stop Rule Shop defines privacy violations as “posting or otherwise sharing another player’s personally identifying information (i.e. social media accounts, IP addresses, postal addresses, E-mail addresses, telephone numbers, or other real-world identifying information)”.

Incidentally, this dispatch alleges that The Dack previously accused someone else of “doxxing their alts” (see section “Dacks(2)”).

The Dack alleges that it’s actually East Sugma who threatened to doxx him, and that NationStates moderation ignored this even after filing a GHR (getting help request). However, in the  conversation East Sugma makes clear they’re referring to puppets: “doxxing all your puppets soon”. This is likely why NationStates moderation did not delete their nation as well. Because The Dack’s response has been deleted, it’s not clear what exactly he said, but it’s likely that his post did not make such a clarification and because the post happened as the discussion was becoming more heated the context cannot even be inferred.

Other Considerations
The Dack has also been involved in other less-reputable activities. Specific to this instance, he has publicly claimed that their nation was deleted for a number of implausible reasons, including swearing and sabotaging an election, an action he’s admitted to here. NationStates moderation does not punish people for in-game, in-character actions unless they also violate the out-of-character rules, which sabotaging an election does not.

However, these actions are not rules violations, and it could be argued that manipulating an on-site poll with puppets is a legitimate in-game action. The purpose of these considerations are merely to provide additional background information concerning The Dack’s overall behaviour.

Conclusions
This investigation was initiated because accusations of doxxing are very serious. Communities are built when people have the trust and comfort to share who they are with each other, and including someone who’s suspected may reveal people’s personal offline details harms that trust. It is troubling that we cannot ascertain the full context of the situation that spawned the deletion of Dackians. However, we can conclude that the behaviour that led to it was both immature and inappropriate, even if the context was a joke and referred to revealing puppet nations instead of personal information.

While none of this behaviour happened in Wintreath, it does call into question The Dack’s ability to conduct themselves in the “measured, considerate, and responsible behaviour that’s required for a community of friends to function” which our rules call for. As we’ve seen in our own past, unchecked immature behaviour also erodes trust to the point that people tune out and then leave. It is important that we consider these impacts as well.

Therefore, The Dack is barred from the forums and Discord, where our most close-knit discussions take place. These spaces require a higher degree of trust, and until The Dack demonstrates a sustained pattern of responsible behaviour, this precautionary measure will remain in place. Incidentally, he only joined the Discord as this notice was being drafted and he has never been on the forums, but should they wish to join in the future, they may request reconsideration after at least 6 months. Moderation may grant this request based on a positive presence on the RMB and a pattern of responsible, mature behaviour elsewhere on NationStates. They may remain on the RMB, which will allow more opportunities for such positive interaction on a less personal platform.

We believe that this response balances the need to protect the trust and safety of the Wintreath community with our belief in providing chances for our members to develop and grow.

Acknowledgements
Thank you to Chanku for doing such extensive research into this matter as well as to East Sugma for providing additional information and context. This was a particularly convoluted case where there was a lot of information to go through, even as the most essential evidence was deleted by NationStates moderation. Their assistance made it much easier to understand what was going on so we could come to an appropriate conclusion.