WhiteWizard purges The Lining from Tapestries

MUCK head WhiteWizard purged the popular Tapestries location known as The Lining this Monday.^[1] The action was in response to an ultimatum posted two days earlier by its owner, Banner, who had threatened to close the bar himself at the end of the month if he did not receive an apology for what he termed "abusive and obnoxious behavior" on WhiteWizard's part.^[2]

The matter began as a local staff action against a player accused of having an ageplay-related character description. Ageplay was banned within the main bar, since Banner believes it to be illegal and immoral.^[3] The player was warned, and banned after an argument. He took his complaint to WhiteWizard, who disagreed with the assessment, telling Banner and the staff member that they had handled the situation "extremely poorly."^[4]

Banner took issue with the way WhiteWizard had not come to him first, as he considered staff actions his responsibility. Conversely, WhiteWizard took the position that staff were answerable to the wizards and not to Banner for complaints made by other players, even if they were enforcing the area's rules. The argument escalated until Banner left a link to his ultimatum on the entry point to The Lining.

WhiteWizard subsequently purged Banner's rooms and items, including both The Lining and the StarrBucks coffee house, primarily on the basis that the ultimatum was an attempt to "drag the patrons of his establishment into the dispute," which rendered Banner "not qualified to run a public area."^[1] He also said that Banner had demanded immunity to review for himself or his staff, although Banner denied this.

Banner was later toaded - but not permanently banned - for his response to the purge, which included the name of the original complainant.^[4] He reportedly refused offers to transfer ownership to another player prior to the purge, and has since re-established The Lining in DarkFurr.

The Lining was founded in October 1996, just five years after Tapestries itself. It was consistently one of the two busiest locations in Tapestries, with 30-55 present at any one point during an evening; roughly equivalent to Fox Plaza, the MUCK's central location.

Many regulars were dismayed to find that their favourite location - and, in some cases, their home - had vanished. Even WhiteWizard expressed regret over the action:

I'm missing the place too. I mean, where do you think my alts were getting picked up? :/ [5]

Tapestries member Sansigual noted that:

. . . what Banner has said about WhiteWizard carries a lot of truth. WhiteWizard does respond from his moods, and a lot from frustration and anger. He does ignore people. He does engage in rash actions.[6]

However, WhiteWizard denied charges of rashness, stating that he had "sought out the opinions of no less than a dozen people" and "spent six hours debating the course of action with GreyWizard" before making his decision.^[7]

At the same time, Banner was well known for having his own attitude:

I'll be the first one to admit that at times I can be a difficult person.[4]

Indeed, this was not the first wizard action against The Lining in response to Banner's actions. In October 2006 WhiteWizard removed the location's teleport pattern after Banner adjusted the property lock embedded within the rules to insult another player, Skiltek.^[8] Such "prop locks" are commonly embedded within area rules to ensure the player has read them; the lock was changed as Skiltek had posted a list of them. WhiteWizard toaded Skiltek shortly after, due to this and other actions.

It is also not the first time that a popular location has been shut down. The Tavern, a similarly well-known brothel-themed area was closed in February 2004. The reason cited was the inability by the absent owner to police against violations of MUCK policies against intolerance and harassment, which WhiteWizard felt had become ingrained in the area.^[9]

At the end of his announcement, WhiteWizard invited players to "submit applications for a 'seedy BDSM bar'" to replace The Lining. As of this date, several have been proposed, including the Cross Leather Bar and Dungeon, the Gilded Cage and the Cross and Paddle Inn.^[10]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Removal of the Lining - initial post by WhiteWizard (April 16, 2007)
2. ↑ To all of my patrons these last ten plus years - Banner (April 14, 2007)
3. ↑ So about the whole Tapestries/Lining thing - Banner's LiveJournal (April 17, 2007)
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Okay, so lets look at what happened, shall we - Banner (April 18, 2007)
5. ↑ Response to Sansigual (1) - WhiteWizard (April 18, 2007)
6. ↑ Removal of the Lining, post by Sansigual (April 18, 2007)
7. ↑ Response to Sansigual (2) - WhiteWizard (April 17, 2007)
8. ↑ List of Room Access Key Props, Skiltek et. al. (October 23, 2006)
9. ↑ Closing the Tavern - WhiteWizard et. al. (February 15, 2004)
10. ↑ Public Building Queue: Applications forum