My Confession and Apology.

piranha · Post by **piranha** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:07 pm

is basically the premise of this post.
You guys I'm really really sorry about this whole thing, and I have been allowed to make one final statement before the mods vote on me.
I created 2 other accounts on these forums, one named Jenny, the other named da_man.
At first, the Jenny account was kinda real, as she is into OSdev and is helping my with my OS. However, she didn't want to deal with an account here, and asked me to make her presence know to the OSdev community. I did so, but not with my account (I made one for her). The only access to this account was from my computer, for the one post that 'she' made. The post did contain her words.
My personality contains a 'pranking' side. I realized I hadn't ever pulled an April fools here, and I did so by creating the other (da_man) account and created a PM to the Jenny account that was kinda sexual harassment. It was a stupid and pointless (and late, it's April 30th) thing, and I was feeling pretty bad about the whole thing all day, and I debated announcing it. I had a feeling that it would be found out.
I realize that this was extremely poor taste, completly pointless and stupid. I feel terrible.
I don't want to make excuses, as what I did was inexcusable. I will say that I am very sorry and it will never happen again.
OSdev is my hobby. It is the thing that I spend most of my awake time doing (while not in school), and this is the best, largest forum of OSdev out there. Please don't ban me, I'd really like to continue being part of this community.
I've been a member here since late 2006, about 1.5 years, and I love being part of this. I spend a lot of time looking at these forums, having fun looking through all the topics. I really care about staying here, and I am really really sorry about this entire thing.
I haven't been a guy who has offended people a lot. I've tried to help out others in these forums.

I do expect to get yelled at, I already feel terrible but I deserve it.
Mods/Admins, I'm sorry for wasting your time.
Chase, thank you for letting me post this.
I am really really sorry. Please don't ban me.

-JL

JackScott · Post by **JackScott** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:15 pm

Did you hurt anybody? No, except your own sanity.

For whatever it was that you did, you've been remorseful and pretty much indicated you're not going to be repeating it. You haven't annoyed anybody. I personally can't see any ban coming out of that.

But maybe a visit to a psychiatrist wouldn't be out of the question?

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:17 pm

most april fools jokes are supposed to be funny.
I guess I don't get why you did this in the first place, it seems kind of pointless and with the only result being bandom.

piranha · Post by **piranha** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:28 pm

Yayyak wrote:You haven't annoyed anybody.

Chase had to dig through the database to un-ban me so I could post this.
I wasted the mods time, and I feel bad about that too.

Looking back, I don't know why I did it either.
It was pointless, and I'm apologizing and confessing, really hoping that the mods can vote to not ban me.

-JL

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:31 pm

WTH?

You:

Created account for your friend 'Jenny'.
Posted, and, based on the info in you post, controlled said account.
Created yet another account.
Sent a prank PM to 'Jenny's account, which you apparently controlled.

So, if I understood you correctly, you prank PM'd yourself?

I think I shall tell you a piece of wise advice that an old high school teacher told me many times: "Don't drink the bong water".

EDIT: Wait, you got banned for creating 2 extra accounts? Did I miss something? Are the mods here really that severe?

EDIT2: My head just exploded from trying to understand this thread. I'm done here....

piranha · Post by **piranha** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:37 pm

The Jenny account posted a message on the forums about the prank PM.
But yes, it was through me.
Yayyak: Thank you.
Edit: Yes, I was banned. But I did do a bad thing.

-JL

chase · Post by **chase** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:50 pm

Alboin wrote: EDIT: Wait, you got banned for creating 2 extra accounts? Did I miss something? Are the mods here really that severe?

Yes (you missed something). The public thread by Jenny complaining about the message. It was moved to a mod area so we could discuss what to do about the sender.

The mods wanted the da_man account banned for the PM. Since the account was obviously created just to send the inappropriate PM there was really no reason not to ban it. When I went looking in the DB for was the best thing to ban(ip,subnet range,email, etc) I found the connection between the three accounts. I decide to ban all the accounts without asking the other mods until I got some explanation. I IM'ed piranha and we agreed that a public confession was in order. The other mods haven't had a chance to voice their opinions yet.

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:55 pm

chase wrote:
Alboin wrote: EDIT: Wait, you got banned for creating 2 extra accounts? Did I miss something? Are the mods here really that severe?
The mods wanted the da_man account banned for the PM. Since the account was obviously created just to send the inappropriate PM there was really no reason not to ban it. When I went looking in the DB for was the best thing to ban(ip,subnet range,email, etc) I found the connection between the three account. I decide to ban all the accounts without asking the other mods until I got some explanation. I IM'ed piranha and we agreed that a public confession was in order. The other mods haven't had a chance to voice their opinions yet.

Ah, okay. That makes a lot more sense now. Thanks for clearing that up.

Zacariaz · Post by **Zacariaz** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:18 pm

How serious this "incident" is, is not for me to decide, but it is not the end of the world, that much I know, and as long as you know that you did something wrong, understand why it was wrong and don't do it again, I really don't see a problem.

We all make stupid mistakes from time to time (especially me), but as long as we learn from them it is not that bad and is certainly something we all can get over.

It's not like drunk driving or anything...

inflater · Post by **inflater** » Thu May 01, 2008 1:53 am

I totally agree with Zacariaz. We're all people and not robots. I make fun of people too, teachers, mates,... If it's not over-extented, it's totally alright. For example, in school we were secretly playing with 230 volts attached to some resistors, to see who would stand the (low) current and how long.

It didn't injured anybody.

It's just normal, your conscience will strick after the pranks. You'll make a confession in your inside, for those religious, with a priest. That's normal, everybody is making errors. Even me.

piranha · Post by **piranha** » Thu May 01, 2008 8:13 am

Thanks guys.
Yeah, I didn't feel to good about it at all.

-JL

os64dev · Post by **os64dev** » Sun May 04, 2008 3:18 am

@inflater

For example, in school we were secretly playing with 230 volts attached to some resistors, to see who would stand the (low) current and how long. Wink It didn't injured anybody.

There is one major different thing between what you describe here and what piranha did. You and the other voltage seekers did it voluntary and if the issue from piranha were real then it is involuntary. Not to mention the major difference between pranks and sexual harassment, if you have trouble seeing the gap between the two i suggest you volunteer to work at a rape center. This may sound harsh but in my opinion sexual harassment constitutes a rape of the victims mind as it influences every decision after the harassment.

@Zacariaz

It's not like drunk driving or anything...

The problem with drunk driving is, if nobody gets hurt there is no problem wright. So in theory you can sometime do no harm, you only increase the chance of doing harm. With sexual harassment you always do damage. So it is in the eye of the beholder to see the most severe of the two. With regard to drunk driving: don't get me wrong i think everybody who drives with any amount of alcohol should be fined and put to jail but i think that sexual offenders should be punished more severe.

The fact that piranha does a full confession here and pleads to stay on board does show remorse and improves his chances but it should be unwise to skip over the severity of the issue that easily.

but again that is my opinion...

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Sun May 04, 2008 8:04 am

What kind of sexual harassment are you talking about that it constitutes the 'rape of the mind'? Surely not the playful office 'sexual' harassment' you hear about so often...

sexual offenders should be punished more severe.

Sure, but sexual cases are tricky. Often, it seems that the courts believe women over men, so it ends up being she said "he raped me", and a man, innocent or not, is sent to jail, and his life ruined. Making that more severe doesn't seem right for the people who didn't do anything to begin with.

JamesM · Post by **JamesM** » Sun May 04, 2008 9:38 am

Alboin wrote:What kind of sexual harassment are you talking about that it constitutes the 'rape of the mind'? Surely not the playful office 'sexual' harassment' you hear about so often...

sexual offenders should be punished more severe.
Sure, but sexual cases are tricky. Often, it seems that the courts believe women over men, so it ends up being she said "he raped me", and a man, innocent or not, is sent to jail, and his life ruined. Making that more severe doesn't seem right for the people who didn't do anything to begin with.

Digressing this conversation slightly (and I apologise for that), that same argument could be applied to cases or murder, child abuse, pimping, etc etc.

Surely the sentence imposed on a person found guilty of $CRIME should be applied on the pure assumption that the person is guilty - how he/she is found guilty is, and should be, an entirely different system.

As soon as you create more lenient sentences for crimes because the perpetrator may not have actually done them, then you undermine the process of finding that person guilty. Instead of reducing sentences for everyone, guilty or not, one should focus on fixing the system that wrongly judged him in the first place, surely?

piranha · Post by **piranha** » Sun May 04, 2008 12:29 pm

@os64dev: Are you calling me a sex offender/harasser? Because I don't think that this falls into that category.

To put it like Alboin did: I prank PM'ed myself.

-JL