Everything Rebelscum

[Jesse James]

I wouldn't say we care about only who is in here.  Anyone is welcome to join if they're going to be a good addition to the site.  We welcome anyone that wants to join and be a part of things in here though...

We've basically dropped out of the Scum stuff though.  Sure we had people banned randomly, and sorta similar, but not under similar circumstances if I've heard everything correctly.  We tried rational dialogue with Philip Wise and got met with his irrational behavior.  From what I gathered, Banthaskull was making a concerted effort to derail, screw up, and generally mess with the boards there through sock accounts and whatnot.  That's not the same thing really then.

And ultimately, rational or irrational, you'll get the same response from Wise...  Take it from the group that indeed tried to open a rational debate on some issues, and got met with a childish reaction in turn.  Or if you don't want our opinion, ask Bill Cable what kind of backlash you get for doing something they consider out of bounds.  I'm sure he can enlighten you.

Anyone who will be a good member is welcome to join though, and bail on their boards.  Why try to change a forum run by people you don't like though?  Just leave and get a new home for yourself.  You'll be better off in the long run.

[JediDre]

First, Efranks, I call bull **** on you.  You said you read the thread on Bantha Skull?  Are you a member there?  That's the only way you could have seen said thread.  It's in a private area for members only.  How do I know this?  DarthDre758, creator and Admin  of Bantha Skull at your service. 

Second, I'd like to clear up a few things.

From what I gathered, Banthaskull was making a concerted effort to derail, screw up, and generally mess with the boards there through sock accounts and whatnot.

Wrong.  We never used sock accounts.  We aren't afraid to show our faces.  We would post what we did, where we did with our own screen names.  We didn't get together and decide what thread to screw up that day.  Stupid redundent threads would pop up usually made by noobs that would start off by saying, 'I know this is in the wrong spot but...' and we just got tired of it.  We didn't mean harm, and we actually had rules.  #1 being meaningful threads are left alone.

When I started the web boards for the fighting 365th, it was so we could have a place to hang out with out being reprimanded for talking about things that weren't on topic.  It was our own place.  And we felt we could take it to the next level.  Bantha Skull was born.  Thread derailing was at the bottom of the bag at that point.  We got on board with the Hasbro Q&A, and started regular weekly articles.

I also want it to be known that we NEVER would advertize for our web site on Rebel Scum, Jedi Defender (I think I'm the only BS member on here) Galactic Hunter or any other web board in threads.  It's not right, and we don't condone it at all. 

You got the general story about what happened.  It doesn't all surround Devo, but it does have a lot to do with the member Grak.  He joined our site under a different name, converterlurker, and quickly had his identity outed.  He admited on Bantha Skull to trolling and baiting Rebelscum members, specifically our members who were still active at the time on there.  After being told where to go by Bantha Skull members, he went back to RS and told Dustin Roberts his side of the story.  Dustin shorly there after joined Bantha Skull.  45 minutes later, 10-12 Bantha Skull members were banned from Rebelscum, with no explanation.  Even when emails were sent to Dustin, questioning as to why we were banned, there was no response.  When emails were sent to Phillip Wise, the same cut and paste response was sent to each inquiring member.  When it was questioned as to why members were removed from the boards at Rebel Scum, every trace was deleted.  Three threads worth.

We at Bantha Skull see it as one of the best things that has happened to us.  Our membership is up(31 members since 8/8/08) and continuing to rise as I write this.  We have cut ties with Rebel Scum, and have become our own entity, relying on our own sources for information.

I'm not digging for sympathy.  No, no.  What I'm attempting to do is get ALL the information out to the posting public.  Something Phillip Wise seems to avoid doing on his site.

Thanks for reading.


Dre

[RebelTrooper758]

From what I gathered, Banthaskull was making a concerted effort to derail, screw up, and generally mess with the boards there through sock accounts and whatnot.  That's not the same thing really then.

You gathered that from Phillip, I can tell. The point of Bantha Skull was NOT, in fact, to screw up Rebelscum. They took pride in the fact that they could help police the forums when the Notify Moderator button was taking too long. No one used a sock account, just like JediDre said. I give them credit with the fact that they had the guts to do it in public. They never de-railed an important thread, just like "Where is the TRU Exclusive Y-Wing sold?"

So please, I don't blame you, but unless you know the whole story, don't spread this around. Please investigate on your own before their reputation is tarnished!

Now, to Hasbro forums...

[efranks]

First, Efranks, I call bull **** on you.  You said you read the thread on Bantha Skull?  Are you a member there?  That's the only way you could have seen said thread.  It's in a private area for members only.  How do I know this?  DarthDre758, creator and Admin  of Bantha Skull at your service.

How else would I know you guys called me a doucebag, in more than one thread I might add, going as far as to post my userid and RS avatar in a thread which actually LISTED who you guys were calling out? 

And yes, I read through all 2,000+ posts in the thread talking about the survivors of the 8/8/8 board purge.  I did this because, if you read my previous post, I said I had some reading to do.  That reading was figuring out what happend.  Grak is a piece of ****, I agree with you, and I was even starting to come around to your side till I found out I was such an ******* in your (that's the collective "your") opinion.  That's when I decided I didn't really need to be on your side.

   E...

[Greg]

I wouldn't say we care about only who is in here.  Anyone is welcome to join if they're going to be a good addition to the site.  We welcome anyone that wants to join and be a part of things in here though...

We've basically dropped out of the Scum stuff though.  Sure we had people banned randomly, and sorta similar, but not under similar circumstances if I've heard everything correctly.  We tried rational dialogue with Philip Wise and got met with his irrational behavior.  From what I gathered, Banthaskull was making a concerted effort to derail, screw up, and generally mess with the boards there through sock accounts and whatnot.  That's not the same thing really then.

And ultimately, rational or irrational, you'll get the same response from Wise...  Take it from the group that indeed tried to open a rational debate on some issues, and got met with a childish reaction in turn.  Or if you don't want our opinion, ask Bill Cable what kind of backlash you get for doing something they consider out of bounds.  I'm sure he can enlighten you.

Anyone who will be a good member is welcome to join though, and bail on their boards.  Why try to change a forum run by people you don't like though?  Just leave and get a new home for yourself.  You'll be better off in the long run.

I'll try to respond as best I can...

As a member of Jedi Defender, Bantha Skull, and previously Rebel ***, I've come to appreciate finer points of each site.
Jedi Defender has the greatest serious talk about the hobby plus other stuff (movies, other toys, and politics... even if I don't post much in the Pit, it's still fun to read.)
Bantha Skull has the best laid back chat... plus it was always nice to rant about the happenings on the 'Scum and just the hobby in general. It's almost like talking with friends at school... (Of course in school my friends don't have a love for Star Wars)
Two things I liked about Scum... high traffic and the NC Finds thread. The high traffic led to the ability to read through many opinions (although many were the same or unable to be read) and made selling stuff very easy. Wider audience and all that mess. Plus many the North Carolina collectors seemed to flock there at one point or another.


In any case, what's done is done. I'd hate for there to be a hatred/competition between Jedi Defender and Bantha Skull due to me bringing this up. I've made it clear at BS that I'm a member of these forums... and I've made it clear here that I'm a member of Bantha Skull. Anyone is welcome to join either site, and I'd be happy to help break the new guys in on either forum.

Even though BS may seem like it was started to instigate at Scum, the founders only began to de-rail threads due to the poor moderating on Scum. (especially in the Hasbro sections) This is something never seen on Jedi Defender because the Mod/Admin staff is top notch.

Now, I'd hate to be torn between my memberships at BS and here at JD. I request that if you guys here have issues with any/some/all BS members, either recent or from several years back, if you could be the bigger people and bury the hatchet I'd appreciate it. I'm not asking you to join BS or I leave (I don't think you'd care, anyway) but I'd just like you to keep the insults and such to yourself. I feel that members of both communities have good things they could bring to the table at the other.

efranks, I'm unsure of where you've been insulted on BS. I have no beef with you, and I'm sure many members of BS don't either. In any case, don't get too riled up over it because sometimes people need to vent...

Lastly, I'm not trying to advertise BS or anything, but ya'll are more than welcome to join. We could use some more opinions in the discussions, even if it's only for a short time while you folks test the waters of something new. I'd be happy to work to patch up any qualms between members.

[Scott]

As lJesse already said, as long as you bring something to the table here, we will welcome each and every BanthaSkull and banned RS member.  I got banned for no reason almost 3 years ago, I was probably in the top 3 for post counts at the time, since then the quality has gone from **** to cesspool and continues to grow worse...sucks to see the biggest egos of the net continue to screw over their membership and continue to make money off everyone...Grandpa Wise, Dave M. Myatt, Dustin, Greggers, Suckssince2007 etc etc they all grate me the wrong way and it irritates me that they are viewed as the #1 spot for Star Wars collecting news (notice the exception of Curto who I feel is top notch)

[Jesse James]

Even though BS may seem like it was started to instigate at Scum, the founders only began to de-rail threads due to the poor moderating on Scum. (especially in the Hasbro sections) This is something never seen on Jedi Defender because the Mod/Admin staff is top notch.

There is what I was basically replying to though, as I really don't know much of anything else that went on, and haven't heard anything from the Scum POV (I was given a very loose breakdown by a 3rd party)...  I've certainly not talked to Philip Wise about this.  

The consistancy I see though is that there were attempts to disrupt threads at Scum, and I'm not even judging WHY you did that or what/who it was against...  Believe me, I'm sure there is a pile of dumb posted over there daily.  Their moderation is terrible...  They really put it on the downhill track when they made a guy that basically created the art of post-padding a moderator.  The forums are a mess and I guess you can't even start threads there anymore without running it past one of the power-trippers?  But basically you're gonna piss off any staff if you try to take it into your own hands to police their forum.  And to that end I cannot blame Scum if that was really becoming some kind of a problem over there.  That doesn't mean they don't suck either, but I'm just sayin' why bother trying to change a place run by other people, who you know won't do what you want them to?

That said...  Scott's 100% right.  You're preaching to the choir about Rebelscum over here...  Besides Curto and Shane, I either don't generally care for or don't know their staff to have an opinion.  From the clearly "bought" Fan Club presidency, to the screwing over of the BHC, you won't find many fans of the site aorund here...  And everyone's welcome to sign up here if they're going to be cool members and add to our community.  Love to hear from new folks who want to join in.

Will the thing with Scum ever be resolved?  Don't count on it...  Like I said, we tried to actually be rational with them and discuss the issues, and it resulted in pretty much the same thing you guys are seeing now...  Lots of bannings, many that were completely unwarranted, and people happily leaving to find a new home.  You're at least among like-minded company here for the most part.

[Greg]

The forums are a mess and I guess you can't even start threads there anymore without running it past one of the power-trippers? 

Ironically enough, members cannot start threads in the two big Hasbro forums. (Legacy and Clone Wars)

That was one helluva good guess on your part. 

[Jesse James]

I think it's been discussed in here recently...  Somewhere.  It's dumb, but I imagine it was some attempt to curtail the dumbass posts you guys were complaining about too...  It's still dumb.  I'm more a fan of banning stupidity than just tolerating it.

EDIT:  Yeah it was a few pages back the whole, "Only staff can start threads" thing came up I think.  A quick way to basically kill the supposed "fun" in talking about toys, but hey whatever it takes to control the group home I guess.   

[Chris]

What is "Bantha Skull"?

[Smartypants1635]

bantha skull 

[Scott]

BTW Bantha Skull members, you are not the first site or forum where you can say

****
Piss
****
****
****sucker
************
knockers

If you can't read those, turn your cuss filter off, **** knob

[Chris]

Oh. Another new Star Wars collecting site. Hasbro's really letting just anyone submit stuff to the Q & A anymore. That's cool of them, I guess.

[efranks]

I should get in on that Q&A thing then.

   E...

[Tracy]

Wow -- I feel like I'm somebody now.  I've been banned from BanthaSkull.com