what ever happened about the thing that guy did
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 6:06 pm
The webDip team has failed the community... Sure, that very team has exceeded expectations countless times, but based on their statement that they are always looking to improve the site, I'd like to see some action taken regarding the following situation:
1. A webDip dev, on behalf of the webDip team, blatantly and intentionally lied about the state of anonymity on the forum to the webDip community.
2. Said dev leveraged that lie as a player during the finals of webDip's most prominent anonymous tournament to gain an advantage for himself and his team.
I suppose I can get past the lying, if that's how the webDip team chooses to conduct themselves, but if you are going to lie about anonymity right before the start of the 2018 World Cup, seems that the webDip team should maintain that lie for the duration of the tournament, otherwise it's akin to changing rules mid-tournament, which is absurd.
If the webDip team deemed it important to "level the playing field" and reveal exactly how to break anonymity on webDip to all, again, that should have been done before the tournament started, not in the middle of the final round by one webDip team member as a player in the tournament.
To be more specific about the lie told by the webDip team, it has to do with the state of anonymity, per this thread:
http://webdiplomacy.net/contrib/phpBB3/ ... ?f=5&t=603
This is the sequence of statements that do not add up:
1. Acknowledging that anonymity can be broken by the online indicator (which is to say, knowing when someone is on webDip allows people to break anonymity).
2. Stating, "there is still 1 vulnerability that makes breaking anon in non-gunboat games theoretically possible"
3. Not deleting and/or hiding the .json file/site that lets people see when others are on webDip.
It is clearly acknowledged that if you know when someone is on webDip, then you can break anonymity, so to then say there is only 1 vulnerability that *theoretically* allows others to break anonymity, when the powers that be know good and well that the .json file exists and anonymity can absolutely be broken using it (rather than theoretically), then the state of anonymity on webDip has been falsely characterized to all.
Personally, I agreed to be my team's permanent bench-warmer only because of the work done regarding anonymity, at the time assuming the .json file/site had at least been hidden because of the statements made by the webDip team on the forum. Of course I should take a portion of the blame since, in this day and age, I suppose it's understood that people in a position of power are allowed to tell "alternative truths" and that "fact checking" is an unspoken requirement. That said, this situation can at the very least be described as poor judgment and/or an ethical/moral blind spot that, if is determined to go unpunished, should at least be addressed so it never (or is very unlikely to) happens again.
To be clear, this is not an accusation that anyone broke any of the stated rules in the World Cup, which is my main point, you cannot write exhaustive rules, who would have thought that the World Cup would need to specifically state "No webDip team member is allowed to leverage lies they tell to the webDip community on the forum to gain an advantage in a tournament game." This situation is about having good judgment, and since we all have moments of poor judgment and ethical/moral blind spots, one person should not be given such latitude to conduct themselves however they see fit, unless of course they are the Saudi crown prince and the one determining the repercussions for their actions is the POTUS.
1. A webDip dev, on behalf of the webDip team, blatantly and intentionally lied about the state of anonymity on the forum to the webDip community.
2. Said dev leveraged that lie as a player during the finals of webDip's most prominent anonymous tournament to gain an advantage for himself and his team.
I suppose I can get past the lying, if that's how the webDip team chooses to conduct themselves, but if you are going to lie about anonymity right before the start of the 2018 World Cup, seems that the webDip team should maintain that lie for the duration of the tournament, otherwise it's akin to changing rules mid-tournament, which is absurd.
If the webDip team deemed it important to "level the playing field" and reveal exactly how to break anonymity on webDip to all, again, that should have been done before the tournament started, not in the middle of the final round by one webDip team member as a player in the tournament.
To be more specific about the lie told by the webDip team, it has to do with the state of anonymity, per this thread:
http://webdiplomacy.net/contrib/phpBB3/ ... ?f=5&t=603
This is the sequence of statements that do not add up:
1. Acknowledging that anonymity can be broken by the online indicator (which is to say, knowing when someone is on webDip allows people to break anonymity).
2. Stating, "there is still 1 vulnerability that makes breaking anon in non-gunboat games theoretically possible"
3. Not deleting and/or hiding the .json file/site that lets people see when others are on webDip.
It is clearly acknowledged that if you know when someone is on webDip, then you can break anonymity, so to then say there is only 1 vulnerability that *theoretically* allows others to break anonymity, when the powers that be know good and well that the .json file exists and anonymity can absolutely be broken using it (rather than theoretically), then the state of anonymity on webDip has been falsely characterized to all.
Personally, I agreed to be my team's permanent bench-warmer only because of the work done regarding anonymity, at the time assuming the .json file/site had at least been hidden because of the statements made by the webDip team on the forum. Of course I should take a portion of the blame since, in this day and age, I suppose it's understood that people in a position of power are allowed to tell "alternative truths" and that "fact checking" is an unspoken requirement. That said, this situation can at the very least be described as poor judgment and/or an ethical/moral blind spot that, if is determined to go unpunished, should at least be addressed so it never (or is very unlikely to) happens again.
To be clear, this is not an accusation that anyone broke any of the stated rules in the World Cup, which is my main point, you cannot write exhaustive rules, who would have thought that the World Cup would need to specifically state "No webDip team member is allowed to leverage lies they tell to the webDip community on the forum to gain an advantage in a tournament game." This situation is about having good judgment, and since we all have moments of poor judgment and ethical/moral blind spots, one person should not be given such latitude to conduct themselves however they see fit, unless of course they are the Saudi crown prince and the one determining the repercussions for their actions is the POTUS.