I have received a PM from user Nutz expressing his discontent towards me, my actions and TF2Maps.net. As per our policy these matters are not to be handled in PMs so I am posting my statement here publicly, as well as his message to me for context.
Firstly, the actions taken were 100% on me. No other staff were around at the time and after I investigated, I weighed my options for half an hour before beginning to taking action.
I would like to direct you to a statement in the main post of the contest voting:
Next, a quote from your own website. I was unable to locate a website/community with activity of which TeamNightHawk was a member during my investigation. So I thank you kindly for providing it.
This is in direct contradiction to the spirit and guidelines of all our contests. You are asking your members to go vote for their friend and ignore all other contestants. Again, we are not running a popularity contest.
I never claimed in my post that they were "fake" votes on dummy accounts, or anything of the sort. The assumption of apparent illegitimacy was in context of the guidelines of the contest, which was, in light of your website posting, the correct assumption.
I would greatly appreciate it if you, good Sir, would make sure you do the right thing and investigate, rather than bash and defame our whole community in a rage.
I personally ask if you could find it in you to remove that latest post from your website.
Nutz said:Hello , I would just like to say I run a TF2 gaming group{www.fith-gaming.net} and have over 150 members, when one of our members received votes for this contest the admins decided to question his votes.This is bogus, and before you ruin a contest, make sure you did the right thing and actually investigate, rather than say they were false votes.Its a rigged contest when guys you and your friends vote for are doing well and admins don't like how.His votes were legit, and I personally think what you have done to my guys and ladies for supporting a friend is absurd. Sincerely, {FITH}™NutZ_MuGiLaCutTY-OWN
Firstly, the actions taken were 100% on me. No other staff were around at the time and after I investigated, I weighed my options for half an hour before beginning to taking action.
I would like to direct you to a statement in the main post of the contest voting:
We specifically request that all voters view all submissions before making a decision. This has been standard for our contests for quite some time. We are not running a popularity contest here, we are looking for quality and ability.- Please don't vote on screenshots alone. Have a look through the areas!
Next, a quote from your own website. I was unable to locate a website/community with activity of which TeamNightHawk was a member during my investigation. So I thank you kindly for providing it.
"it'll only take a few seconds of your time"fith-gaming.net said:Please go to this site register and vote for swamp_teamnhk. http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=9146
Guys it'll only take a few seconds of your time, and he is making great maps for us to play on all the time, so give back some of the love.
This is in direct contradiction to the spirit and guidelines of all our contests. You are asking your members to go vote for their friend and ignore all other contestants. Again, we are not running a popularity contest.
I never claimed in my post that they were "fake" votes on dummy accounts, or anything of the sort. The assumption of apparent illegitimacy was in context of the guidelines of the contest, which was, in light of your website posting, the correct assumption.
I would greatly appreciate it if you, good Sir, would make sure you do the right thing and investigate, rather than bash and defame our whole community in a rage.
I personally ask if you could find it in you to remove that latest post from your website.