To put it bluntly Leo, as an ex-member of Stillwater (when it started long, long ago), there were no "set in stone" modus operandi. If there were, someone clearly forgot to point it out to me. It might have helped.
So, as an ex-member, and knowing that Stillwater was intended as a "legitimate face" to Cartel/Thukker operations
at the time, I'd say for some people it goes beyond "rumor".
Personally, I don't deal with Stillwater anymore aside from sparse IC interactions with members in The Summit. Probably never will again, just because this whole fiasco just hurts my brain and it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth when someone brings it up in The Summit. It doesn't bother me one bit whether Stillwater is or isn't Cartel. But when someone flat out tells me that I'm
wrong, that my perception of a situation was not true, it kind of pisses me off. No offense, it's just who I am and how my brain's wired. I can also see how this could piss other people off, and I try
not to get in the middle of this kind of cluster****.
On both sides, I'd say take a step back and look at it objectively. Leo's made an effort to explain his position, and has made minor attempts to improve that interaction by including OOC markers in Stillwater's corp description. At this point, it's out in the open, and Leo is
perfectly within his rights to claim it is a rumor. Conversely, since Leo has responded IC, there is a potential for this to actually
enhance RP on both sides. Stillwater trying to put up a respectable face, others looking for damning evidence, etc.
If others consciously choose to ignore this, then it's not Leo's fault.
Now, an old post that (as an ex-member) should be easy to dissect for information:
http://nikiruu.blogspot.com/2009/04/personal-log-entry-003-fallout.htmlSince I play the character who's blog this is from, I say it's fair game. It's been stated, many times (
by my character) that this information is available if the proper search methods are used. I think both sides could use it as ample ammunition, without giving either side a decisive "smoking gun".
Instead of seeing this as immersion breaking, why not look at it as an opportunity for
civilized immersioneering*? Find an interaction point and pursue it. Pissing contests in The Summit and IGS pretty much turn into he said/she said situations. Neither side's going to "win" the argument, and point scoring is pretty much pointless. So, find the evidence, put the case forward, and start locking and loading.
*
yes, I totally just made that word up.