The long investigation that led to the new sponsorship rules

As some of you know we used to have a member on here that went by several variations of Notch and was a complete arse on this site and caused all sorts of trouble for us here. In our ignorance of how this stuff works we decided to delete his account and a couple subsequent accounts before realizing that banning him was the correct route. I won't go into to much detail but that was a big part of the reason it took us so long to figure out that CockRoche and Straight Shooter were in fact Notch. I realize also that those handles provided some decent hockey posting and there was little public forum posting to suggest it was in fact Notch. It was thanks, in large part, to the persistence of rooneypoo to keep the investigation alive because he and N4L/Neely4Life (deleted his account over this) strongly believed these two handles were in fact Notch. For the most part, these new incarnations of Notch were behaving in a decent manner and were posting about Hockey and not causing trouble. The problem is this is a site run on a volunteer basis and this Notch character burned his bridges and did not deserve another chance after his multiple attempts to ruin the integrity of this site. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Hemlock for finding ONE OF the final pieces of evidence that was literally a needle in a hay stack with how this system is set up. There were also a couple of PMs that SpezDispenser and myself received from on of Notch's handles that finally tipped the scale in order to make this decision. I'd also like to thank wprager for his efforts as well in this matter. I personally spent hours upon hours on this issue and I'm glad it has come to it's conclusion. rooneypoo and N4L had endured some personal attacks from Notch (CockRoche & Straight Shooter) and will be given a bit of lattitude considering the source of the attacks and the behind the scenes PM attacks that were sent to fellow members. I will say that two wrongs don't make a right and I don't want the forum to become policed through vigilantism.

It should be noted that I, the other founders, Admin and Mods do not condone inappropriate behavior regardless of anyones suspicions and would like to remind people that should you feel you're being attacked personally that there are ways of dealing with that. The first is to click on the button that looks like this found in each post or you can PM one of the Admin or Mods. Again keep in mind this is run on a volunteer basis so if actions aren't taken immediately it's not because we don't care.

Cap'n Clutch on behalf of GMHockey.com

EDIT: The bolded areas were edited in after for a more complete picture and for accuracy.

Job well done. I resign my Tin Foil Hat.

I don't know the history other than what is listed above, but just being the curious person I am, was it something as simple as noticing that the IP's that were being used to log onto GMHOCKEY were similar or the same for each ID?

Just curious really more than anything else. I really could care less either way, no offense Rooney, but he never really did anything to me and for the most part some of his posts brought some good insight (or at least I thought).

I'm glad though that there is now at least a method that can be used to prevent harassment in whatever form it takes.

22_4_ever wrote:I don't know the history other than what is listed above, but just being the curious person I am, was it something as simple as noticing that the IP's that were being used to log onto GMHOCKEY were similar or the same for each ID?

Just curious really more than anything else. I really could care less either way, no offense Rooney, but he never really did anything to me and for the most part some of his posts brought some good insight (or at least I thought).

I'm glad though that there is now at least a method that can be used to prevent harassment in whatever form it takes.

The IP was just one of many things that lead to this final decision. The IP in and of itself was not strong enough proof. I don't want to go into more detail than that as it could compromise what little controls we do have on this site. As for the posts made under the nick name Roche I agree they were pretty good for the most part and that wasn't the reason his account was banned.

fair enough...well done..

I'll leave the discussion for the new rules for the other post.

Rooney,

I was unaware of the PM attacks and engaged with CR(Notch) on various threads. My apologies to you. I look forward to you being able to focus on hockey talk now that CR is gone.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

22_4_ever wrote:I don't know the history other than what is listed above, but just being the curious person I am, was it something as simple as noticing that the IP's that were being used to log onto GMHOCKEY were similar or the same for each ID?

Just curious really more than anything else. I really could care less either way, no offense Rooney, but he never really did anything to me and for the most part some of his posts brought some good insight (or at least I thought).

I'm glad though that there is now at least a method that can be used to prevent harassment in whatever form it takes.

The IP was just one of many things that lead to this final decision. The IP in and of itself was not strong enough proof. I don't want to go into more detail than that as it could compromise what little controls we do have on this site. As for the posts made under the nick name Roche I agree they were pretty good for the most part and that wasn't the reason his account was banned.

The ironic thing about all this is that Notch is a Dobber member & did a number of articles for that site, largely on the Sens '09 training camp. There's no question that he was a close follower of the Sens; I don't doubt, either, that he knows hockey -- he's actually one level above me in the Dobber 3-tiered pool, lol, at the very top, in the 'experts' division with guys like Dobber, etc. Even more ironically, nobody lamented more loudly and often than me about what happened with Notch last time around, because I knew all this about him. But Notch proved himself a poison on this site, repeatedly, not just to me, but to a number of people; I felt bad about what happened last time, but he brought it on himself with all his antics. I honestly wish he hadn't, but he did, and he pissed off way too many people here, esp. among the leadership, the be able to expect a warm welcome back.

As for the Roche persona, all I can say is that if you we're tuned into the fact that he was a fraud from the beginning, talking like he was a former NHL goalie and had practically written the CBA himself, many of his posts took on a different hue. Hence, my increasing displeasure with the guy. It's one thing to talk hockey; it's another to drum up a character for yourself that, authority-wise, trumps everyone around you, and then to wield it like a sledgehammer. If he wanted to come back, he should have come back honestly, cap in hand, apologized to the owners and membership, and then see what could have been done. I don't know if it would have worked, but it would have been the better and more honest approach. This cloak and dagger nonsense -- creating multiple accounts & a false identity; minusing mine and N4L's accounts until the rep system had to go; fomenting dissent via PMs -- is just more of the same from this guy, however. Kid just never learned how to play nice.

Oglethorpe wrote:Rooney,

I was unaware of the PM attacks and engaged with CR(Notch) on various threads. My apologies to you. I look forward to you being able to focus on hockey talk now that CR is gone.

No problem. It's a relief to see this come to an end, tho'.

rooneypoo wrote:
The ironic thing about all this is that Notch is a Dobber member & did a number of articles for that site, largely on the Sens '09 training camp. There's no question that he was a close follower of the Sens; I don't doubt, either, that he knows hockey -- he's actually one level above me in the Dobber 3-tiered pool, lol, at the very top, in the 'experts' division with guys like Dobber, etc. Even more ironically, nobody lamented more loudly and often than me about what happened with Notch last time around, because I knew all this about him. But Notch proved himself a poison on this site, repeatedly, not just to me, but to a number of people; I felt bad about what happened last time, but he brought it on himself with all his antics. I honestly wish he hadn't, but he did, and he pissed off way too many people here, esp. among the leadership, the be able to expect a warm welcome back.

As for the Roche persona, all I can say is that if you we're tuned into the fact that he was a fraud from the beginning, talking like he was a former NHL goalie and had practically written the CBA himself, many of his posts took on a different hue. Hence, my increasing displeasure with the guy. It's one thing to talk hockey; it's another to drum up a character for yourself that, authority-wise, trumps everyone around you, and then to wield it like a sledgehammer. If he wanted to come back, he should have come back honestly, cap in hand, apologized to the owners and membership, and then see what could have been done. I don't know if it would have worked, but it would have been the better and more honest approach. This cloak and dagger nonsense -- creating multiple accounts & a false identity; minusing mine and N4L's accounts until the rep system had to go; fomenting dissent via PMs -- is just more of the same from this guy, however. Kid just never learned how to play nice.

I have to say, I started thinking about this very thing. All his posts and opinions changed now that I wonder was he ever a Junior player, did he play at a high level. You're right not knowing everything sounded good. If I had that knowledge, I don't know that I would have been able to not let loose on him. I give you complete kudos, as I've reread several posts and while you two went head to head a couple of times, you seemed to keep you cool which must have been difficult.

I agree, come back apologize and then ask forgiveness and don't make a persona that isn't you. Unfortunately it's too easy on boards like this to be 6'0" tall, a model and former pro player.

Hell my claim to fame is High School Hockey and 2 bad knees from baseball and rec-touch football. That's who I am, nothing more.


Edit
is the rumor that this N4L guy is returning true?

He's back.

wprager wrote:He's back.

Indeed.

wprager wrote:He's back.

You love it.

NEELY wrote:

wprager wrote:He's back.

You love it.

Oh my.

Ahhh my posts are being deleted already, haha. Good to be back!

NEELY wrote:Ahhh my posts are being deleted already, haha. Good to be back!

Really? What was deleted?