KOF vs SM / SM vs KOF Options

[Playla Diamond]

Hello honorable Player of SM

it dont seems fair/nice to ban all KOF-members,
the most are innocent and dont know about the rumors.

in the past you(members of sm) told me(summarized) that this game attracts troublemaker/trolls,
and i have to deal with it, and i shouldnt judge all or a complete server...
conzentrate on the trolls and report it...

Monkeyfiend, i know that your server and your clan is an affair of the heart for you, and that someone ddos/attack it, IS NOT OK!

the most KOF player are honorable player too, just play and have fun, and a lot dont even know about a twist between clans,
or dont care about it, or other never play on EU/SM server becouse of ping.
And when i was talking to someone of kof about it, he reasked me if i really believe the rumor that kof is responsible for the ddos attack???
- i couldnt answer yes....

i dont do that to bring up the gasoline for a bigger fire,
and i dont want now that everybody is texting about little fart of conflicts there ever was with KOF or SM under it,

i also had disagreements with sm & kof members, but sometimes its necessary to get to know each other better.
and yes i know about some private conflicts some members of both clans are involved- they should clear it too!
i hope for, but thats a different problem, what dont belong in a public discussion..

For the most like me this game become more than just a game, its a second home and a place to forget or talk about problems,
or just fool around and having a fun time;)

there have to be another way to solve the problem, this game is dying and there are just 3 playable server
-at the moment for me sometimes just 1- only FFA and i can not play missions;(
-becouse brokeback appears very late for eu player.

so i ask for 2 things
can the clan founder pls talk to each other? maybe monkeyfiend and foose to solve the problem?
and can i get unban for just beeing in another clan, i never was ban before, and i try my best not to get;)
i dont know if it is necessary that every single KOF member have to ask here for getting unban,
or there is an option to lift the ban- thats up to you...

to all- respect the game & the player, if there are problems pls dont bring the innocent into your conflict!
there are other ways than ban or ddos attack, maybe a fistfight or someone gives in and say sorry!
or buy your enemy a pizza and give ya a hug;)

see the complete, and lets start the new year with new options of a better playing together!

feel free to contact me private in here if you got questions, i dont want that everybody use this here without having a plan,
or without the right informations!

i dont feel well to bring that up in here becouse i dont got all the informations about it too, but some,
and to play on both server and got no problem with no player of both sides make me feel standing between the lines...

best regards & stay healthy & merry christmas

[MonkeyFiend]

Hi,

Thanks for the post. The decision to ban all players using a KoF tag was mine. It's an auto-ban rather than instigated by an admin. The ban is permanent.

The reason for this is following on from the ddos attacks that have plagued SM intermittently for the last year. While we were being attacked, initially it was guessed it was being done by players on Brokeback as a means to fill the server as well as some personal issues against one of our admins, we then confirmed it was the player "Karen", a regular rather than member on Brokeback, performing the ddos attacks via a bunch of VPNs.

Ironically when SM had been attacked we've seen reprisal attacks against Brokeback and even official servers. In an attempt to try and harbour some good will I shared the technical details of the attacks on us with DankLongReindeer.

However the behaviour of KoF generally has been appalling from start to finish. Aside from some KoF members claiming responsibility for the attacks, which muddied the waters, the amount of hateful and gloating messages posted either in game, discord etc., has just been frankly shocking.
Now I'm aware not every KoF member may be like this. However pretty much the majority of dealings we've had with KoF have been overwhelmingly negative.

While trying to get to the bottom of the attacks we turned some longer standing KoF players and not one but two have helped out with evidence of stuff posted internally between KoF members. While it became obvious it was not KoF responsible for the ddos attacks directly, the stuff being posted about SM was frankly appalling, cringy and pathetic ranging from talk of doxxing to planning actual ddos attacks. Just super childish stuff that I want no part of.

At this point it's now irrelevant that the attacks are from a regular player on Brokeback, it's now that the various actions of KoF have subsequently have earned a blanket ban.

In fact after we couldn't stop the attacks on the server provided by NFOservers (due to lack of granular firewall control) we were going to shut the server down. One of the things that prompted us to re-open the server was some of the hateful good-riddance type messages from KoF members who delighted that'd we'd have to close our doors.

I placed the tag ban as a permanent ban. I'm sick of spending time trying to keep a clanky unstable old game server afloat to then have KoF members join, misbehave, troll, gloat or attempt to get people to join their server.
Of course, we started a proportionate response of banning individuals for breaking the rules but then of course obviously we started seeing alts joining and continuing to cause trouble. So the blanket ban became the final action after various individual bans.

SM has run since 2006. In that time we've placed a blanket clan ban twice previously. Once for a clan that widespread cheated and once for a clan of trolls who harassed and hounded a disabled player. So that's now 3 times in 15 years, I hope this demonstrates the seriousness of the actions, that this is not something we take lightly.

Honestly at this point, SM has the servers now paid up for another 10 months, so attacking the server will bring it down for an hour or a day, but otherwise it'll just pop back up. Likewise someone not happy about being forced off the SM server has ddos attacked brokeback and other servers. As much as I've tried to stop this I can't really argue passivity in the face of the server being attacked repeatedly. The logic being if the player attacking SM won't let people play here, why should they and their friends get to play unhindered. In a game that's a decade old with a couple of hundred players this kind of tit for tat attacks are just going to lead to the game dying out. It's now at the point where SM gets attacked, every other server gets attacked in reply. I've long said this is idiotic. But ddos attacks of this kind through a VPN can't be stopped by us, by brokeback or anyone else.

While I appreciate the KoF ban may target a few innocent players, unfortunately this is necessary because of the actions of the majority and due to the use of alts.

At this point KoF are auto-banned and it's my sincere hope that I nor other members of SM need have any interactions with KoF ever again.
Literally you guys are a US based server, we shouldn't even have the same player base. Honestly I just don't want to hear about KoF as you're pretty irrelevant to chivalry or SM except when the attacks start.
I'll just focus on the SM servers and leave you guys to do whatever you want on your server, preferably with out trying to threaten us or drum up more drama

Ultimately there is currently nothing, outside of a clan majority vote, that would make me lift this ban.
We've gone well past the point of peace between SM and KoF as there is too much bad blood. But I would like a truce on the attacks, ddos, threats and postings and hopefully this will be achievable.

p.s. I've already asked members to keep away from your servers and not to message your members on steam. So you shouldn't be getting people messaging you and starting anything from our side. If however this does happen, send me the evidence and I'll deal with it.
p.p.s If ex-KoF want the ban lifted they can apply on the forum, but the tag ban remains