First off, I think it needs to be said that Trues are pretty far in the back of any lists of bans we were going to effect; this is at least in part due to the fact that most of the True Slaves / True Citizens we've seen on the Summit have been portrayed in a highly uncliched, actually interesting manner. If we had as many people rolling TS alts that were some kind of cliched borg copy or something, this would be more of an issue. Thankfully, it is isn't the case.
Now a question for Lyn -
Is your post about the proposed blanket ban on all slave characters, or the existing rule/habit of banning slave or slave-owning characters who prove to be drama-filled?
For the blanket ban ofc.
If drama slavers get banned, I guess it is not because they are slavers but because they are drama whores.
Lyn: In my opinion, the rule isn't a segregationist policy in the slightest, even IC. It's a move to reduce the prevalence of things that almost without fail trigger a hostile and unproductive atmosphere in the Summit that often requires moderators to step in to get people to calm down before action needs to be taken. A number of Amarrian RPers have stood up and said it made sense to keep presence of slaves on screen limited because matters of a given Amarrian household should stay within the household and as far away from the public eye as possible. What's the point in going out of your way to show that you have any in the Summit, besides deliberately trying to get a rise out of people, or fapping about how much of a badass you are on camera?
The actual presence of slaves in the channel typically turns into an acid-spitting match between a spontaneous horde of white knights, and the slave who doesn't want to leave for some reason (insert bdsm references here) and/or his/her Holder. And should the slave not have an excuse for leaving and openly express a desire to, then there's more acid-spitting because of the response of the Holder. All of this results in a headache for any moderators on duty.
In short, yes, I suppose it boils down to "dramawhores will be smacked for being dramawhores" both IC and OOC. In some ways it's also a way to save everyone the headache that results when shit goes off a cliff with cinderblocks tied to its feet - if you can't put yourself into the position where you're going to instigate a dramashitstorm, you sure as hell can't complain about the backlash of said dramashitstorm. But the specific case of slaves has nothing to do with segregationism, and in fact helps the Amarrians by keeping certain outwardly negative aspects of the society out of view. They don't exactly look too kindly on people who cause trouble within their society, I doubt they'd look too kindly on people who make them look bad when they're trying to appear better than everyone else. "I don't need to prove that I'm better than you by showing off, I simply am."
Briefly regarding the toaster-lovers: I'm personally a little skeptical of most claims of players being proper True Slaves because there's literally nothing locking you into that for the rest of your time with the character. Not to mention, I question why an actual True Slave would bother wasting time with the rest of us.
Regarding servants: I don't have a problem with them, really. But why mention them explicitly if not to draw attention to their presence? And why draw attention to their presence, if not to fish for a reaction? If people are bringing you things, why wouldn't they do so while staying off-camera? It's less disruptive to the person on camera for it to be placed down nearby where they can reach over and grab it, than it is to interrupt that person in order to hand it to them. Just leave it as one of the elephants in the room. People know they're there, but if nobody brings it up, who's going to blow it out of proportion?
ICly Lyn thinks it is segregationist, and I do think it OOCly as well. As I said above, you shun slavers because they are slavers. Which means a good part of the eve population. If this is not segregation, I do not know what it is. That is, of course, about the blanket ban of slaves and slavers.
Now then you think it is better to get rid of what causes the drama for you (the slaver), fine, but I do think that what causes the drama in most cases is not the slaver, but actually the people that always get butthurt over it. As I said above, welcome in New Eden and deal with it. If some characters can't get over it, then it might be better for them to reconsider speaking with slavers in the first place. It would be up to me, I would ban those ones instead. Reacting to a slaver because you can see slaves around, telling him how you disagree, creating a good discussion or debate over it with good RP is fine. Overeacting and being a bitch about it while actually being the drama whore here, and in the same way violating all the rules of the Summit about insulting behavior... Yes, I do not understand why it is to the slaver to gtfo and not the actual drama whore or emo character that couldnt just hold his/her tongue instead of going out all guns blazing. When you are speaking about "creating a dramashitstorm", I think that it is an usual "blame the victim" syndrome.
I find it totally normal for a slaver, or even a Holder, to have from time to time slaves bringing him a cup of tea for example, like a servant would. It also seems normal to me that we can see slaves going on their business in the background. This is part of what creates the environnement of the character in question. Some choose to materialize the environnement surrounding their characters when connecting to the summit, and I think it is part of enriching one's RP to add more flavor and depth to the universe in which they evolve. Same for servants. It is not always about drawing attention to their presence, it is like when you say that your character is sipping a glass of wine, or scratching his head, or whatever. It is about making your characters look more alive with all of their environnement.
Then of course, if some slaver starts to be provocative in an obvious way with his slaves, starting to pet them and cuddle them or doing dirty things or whatever... That is another story.
"If you and your behavior make the Summit community feel like it would be a better place without you, it will be."
This would be perfect, if not for the points raised in the first paragraph of Ghost's last post. Some people get very seriously butthurt over this shit.
Yes, because the way Casiella said it, it brings back ideas about "ostracism by the mass". Better to be careful with such things, but of course eventually, it is our community, our channels, our rules. Deal with it, indeed.