I oppose death threats 110% and I hope your friend goes to police and gets justice.
But Mearls didn't issue said threat. Some of us miss hearing from Mearls, and wish folks would leave him alone so he can start doing his happy hour again.
WotC Is Mike Mearls Happy Hour still a thing?
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I oppose death threats 110% and I hope your friend goes to police and gets justice.
But Mearls didn't issue said threat. Some of us miss hearing from Mearls, and wish folks would leave him alone so he can start doing his happy hour again.
Ruin Explorer
Legend
She did, and one of the people was so extreme that, for once, the police might actually take action (he was making specific terroristic threats). Most people don't get that kind of action though, the police typically ignore or dismiss it, often belittling the victim in the process.
Mearls didn't get threatened like that either, AFAIK. Mearls got some snippy comments and rudeness, after lying about something he shouldn't have lied about, and seemingly passing information on to a scumbag. Those were bad actions on his part and some consequences should, morally at least, follow.
The idea that he's off Twitter because people won't "leave him alone" has no basis in fact. He's been off so long, that you can no longer claim that there's even a connection. He's not "being harassed" present-tense on social media. He was mildly insulted and sneered at for a while quite some time ago.
At this point his exile is completely and entirely self-imposed. You want to hear from him? That's on him. Blaming other people for his self-imposed Twitter exile is completely irrational special pleading, that you wouldn't apply for other people in the same position. It's up to Mearls to stop hiding out, not up to imaginary people to stop imaginary harassment.
To be completely honest, I strongly suspect he was bored of Happy Hour, and that part of the reason he hasn't brought it back is that it was a hell of a lot of work, and his job now is probably considerably more demanding than it previously was. If he goes back on Twitter, yes, he has the risk people are like "Oh this dick!", but he also has people like you, who will be leaping at him like Labradors left alone for 12 hours (or 30 minutes... bloody creatures!), going "WHEN MORE HAPPY HOUR!??!?!?!" over and over. And I feel like he's the sort of person who hates to say no.
Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
Thank you for restating the obvious - which is why I said "for an extreme example". Was your clue the death penalty for stepping on an ant? Did I need a smiley face to make it extra special clear it was silly?
Well I disagree that's what the punishment is in this instance. Indeed, that's a rather self-serving view you just proposed which somehow doesn't involve anything you or anyone else does concerning this topic.
And what should be the punishment? That's why I posted the President Obama bit above.
Ruin Explorer
Legend
Obama was talking off-the-cuff, and made a slightly silly and sadly Boomer-ish comment which has been widely mocked because it demonstrates a lack of understanding and meaning, not actual wisdom. It's not "insightful" or "meaningful" or "clever" - most particularly it's nothing new. Just a lot of right-wingers have boners for the comment because a centre-right black dude (by my country's standards) dude said it (I understand he is centre-left by US standards but if he was in the UK he'd be in our Conservative party, policy-wise, no doubt), who is only nearly 60, rather than a 65+ white dude who is clearly on the right.
As for "what should the punishment be", well I'm glad you think I possess the Solomonic wisdom to help you out here, and for lying to people and passing information on to a sex offender so that said sex offender and his buddies could better harass the people involved? Well in an ideal world it would probably be at least formal admission of what you did, followed by a public apology, neither of which Mearls has given. In many companies he'd have been fired (because the company was involved) - I don't know if that's necessary, but him being promoted is pretty funny in all the senses of funny.
He went the coward's route instead and decided to simply hide out until people forgot. That's fine. That's an alternative strategy. But at this point, he's no longer "being punished" by even the remotest sense of the word. It's like if someone gets a 2-week suspension on a message board or something, and actually doesn't post again for six months, or maybe ever. That's on them.
I mean, the stuff Mearls was saying in 2014 was stuff like this:
Which is just totally messed-up, because he's actively discrediting people that it later turned out definitely were victims (and that WotC has acknowledged as such), and sneering at them and calling them "emotional", which he knows perfectly well is a naughty word thing to call a woman accusing someone of sexual abuse, particularly. And he's done things like this:
Which is sleazy at best. And he issued a limp non-apology.
I mean, congrats guys, you all have managed to remind me that Mearls actually was pretty rubbish here! The ironic thing is, Mearls would be literally better off without this thread. You guys complaining about his "harassment" have done a better job bringing this back up and giving him a reason to stay off Twitter than the supposed harassers.
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Son of the Serpent
Pupil
Honestly i could care less if someone of ill repute is credited in a game book. If they had good suggestions and bettered the game that is literally all that matters. If he was real and his influence bore any coherence to the actual pop culture about him and his legions (and i think we can all say said pop culture had an enriching effect on d&d) id give a credit to satan himself for influencing the lore of the game. Im not forced to play at a table with him. A name credit is just that. Credit. And aparently jak s is due credit. I gladly grant him it if its the case.
Son of the Serpent
Pupil
People need to stop being so posessively controlling is what it boils down to. And they need to stop being busy bodies.
I've been reading the arguments of both sides with interest, and I may regret getting involved in this conversation, but I am curious about something. Assuming that Mike Mearls is 100% guilty of everything he's been accused of, at what point, if any, should he return to social media? Or if there's something else he needs to do first, what is it? (I see you mention a public apology above; is that the extent of it, or is there more?) Basically, how does he "pay his debt to society" in this situation?
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How do we know it was self-imposed? (not debating the larger issue, but he may have been ordered offline, which would be a punishment cause I'm sure he enjoyed communicating about D&D with the public.)
Son of the Serpent
Pupil
In a legal context exactly what would his crimes be listed objectively? Not believing people and telling them he believed the wrong guy? Thats a lot of things but not a "crime". Even if you find it contemptable, again, not a crime. There are other actions he took to to be sure. But before "punishing" someone, we should probably consider which crimes exactly he committed.
What are you referring to? Mike Mearls has not been accused of criminal behaviour, or been criminally punished in any way. To my knowledge nobody has been fined or imprisoned. Why would you apply criminal proceedings to (apparent) social consequences?
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