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SSB Code of Conduct Panel officially disbanded

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The Super Smash Bros Code of Conduct Panel was formed a few years back after giving a set of recommended instructions to TO's. In their official statement, the mostly anonymous group of Smash community members cited the hardships Nintendo shutting down tournaments, and the many allegations this past summer. While it is possible that COVID-19 and the lack of tournaments played a role in this, it is not confirmed. Even before the hardships faced this year, the team cited being small with not enough resources. They also cited that, to even get through the number of allegations in the summer, it could have taken years.

While this is an unfortunate moment, the team had this following bit of hope to share,

"The spark of hope still remains, however. One of the best sentiments I heard regarding this summer was that the thing that made our community different from other communities was not that we had these issues of exploitation or predation within our subculture. But rather, it's that we were the community who looked at it straight in the mouth when we found out, and as a collective agreed that that's not what we want to be. We feel a little better about stepping down from our role knowing that all of you have the passion it takes to be the warm light of your local communities."

As of December 14th, 2020, The Code of Conduct Panel has officially been disbanded, but the Code of Conduct document will be available for anyone who wants a guideline for future situations.

Note: Smashboards was a signatory to the panel. Despite the disbandment, we intend to continue enforcing its rulings, alongside banning people who have demonstrated that they pose a threat to Smashboards users.
 
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Lucas "Thirdkoopa" Guimaraes

Comments

It's like reconstruction, reconstruction didn't happen overnight, it took years for all the Confederate States to rejoin the US.
 
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This year has been the worst year in history of gaming pedophiles everywhere and the downfall of EVO
This was coming like the clouds gathering before the storm. If the Smash community wants to be respected they had to act like adults. They didn't, they treated it like a party a party without rules or conduct. This misconduct was going to be brought to light sooner or later.
 
"I just want to say on behalf of the Smash community Reggie you suck"

I can DM you the video if you want to hear it for yourself. HBox put it at the beginning of one of his FreeMelee videos.
Is it on his youtube? The only thing I remember Hungrybox saying is "Reggie, for being the president of Nintendo, you suck at Smash Bros." which was right after he anhilated him at big Nintendo thing. Then he got burned by Reggie who said "I spend 16 hours a day running a company. You spend 16 hours a day playing Smash Bros" lol.

I'm confused why Hungrybox would even be talking about Reggie with #Freemelee
(Not saying you're wrong, I just hope you're not taking a quote out of context, and that Hungrybox has a different quote saying Reggie sucks. I just don't see it from a quick google search)
 
Is it on his youtube? The only thing I remember Hungrybox saying is "Reggie, for being the president of Nintendo, you suck at Smash Bros." which was right after he anhilated him at big Nintendo thing. Then he got burned by Reggie who said "I spend 16 hours a day running a company. You spend 16 hours a day playing Smash Bros" lol.

I'm confused why Hungrybox would even be talking about Reggie with #Freemelee
(Not saying you're wrong, I just hope you're not taking a quote out of context, and that Hungrybox has a different quote saying Reggie sucks. I just don't see it from a quick google search)
HBox cropped it to make it sound like a diss. I don't know why he chose to mince words and edit it like he did but that was still uncalled for.
 
The Smash community really has gotten too big for its own good.
It has especially the Melee community, its fine that a lot of people like the game but one shouldn't go around demanding that Melee be given red carpet treatment. Melee has no major incentive for Nintendo to continue unlike Ultimate which is fresh and new. So the fact that Nintendo even allowed Melee tournaments to begin with is more than enough gratitude on their part.

The Melee crowd has to recognize that they are really small in the eyes of the Smash community and that they shouldn't bite the hand that feeds them. The Melee community need Nintendo, Nintendo doesn't really need them. I hope the Smash community can bounce back from this, grow up and be treated with respect in the community.
 
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It has especially the Melee community, its fine that a lot of people like the game but one shouldn't go around demanding that Melee be given red carpet treatment. Melee has no major incentive for Nintendo to continue unlike Ultimate which is fresh and new. So the fact that Nintendo even allowed Melee tournaments to begin with is more than enough gratitude on their part.

The Melee crowd has to recognize that they are really small in the eyes of the Smash community and that they shouldn't bite the hand that feeds them. The Melee community need Nintendo, Nintendo doesn't really need them. I hope the Smash community can bounce back from this, grow up and be treated with respect in the community.
How does the competitive Melee community need Nintendo? Nintendo pretends they don't exist; the Melee community built themselves from the ground up via grassroots movements.

Would support from Nintendo help matters? Of course. But most likely, nothing will change for the foreseeable future.

Do older communities not deserve to have a scene for their game too? Because it's not only Melee.
 
I volunteer to take the helm of the new Code of Conduct Panel.
I shall rule with an iron fist.

First order of business:
All participants must swear allegiance to the Communist party and prove it by getting a hammer and sickle tattooed on their left arm.

Second order of business:
All male participants are prohibited from shaving their face. Beards make our platoon more intimidating to the enemy.

Third order of business:
At the end of each set, all losers must agree to eat an entire grilled cheese.
For those with allergies or vegan diets, gluten-free, lactose-free, and plant-based accommodations will be made.

Fourth order of business:
Supporting Sora in any way (Fighter, Mii Costume, Spirit, music, etc) is prohibited.

Fifth order of business:
Showers are mandatory at 0900 hours every day including weekends and holidays. Dr. Squatch Pine Tar soap will be provided.
Allergies will be accommodated.
 
Lol, that’s funny. That’d be if Stalin controlled the whole thing.
Not sure if you're aware of my posts, but that was basically a compilation of my personal memes.
I filmed myself eating a grilled cheese and posted it here, because I bet the community that if Spring Man was NOT the ARMS fighter, I would eat a grilled cheese on camera.
I also am known for being SmashBoards' resident Communist.
I also have a big beard, which used to be my profile pic.
And I always get dogpiled upon when I mention that I don't think Sora will get into Smash because he's a Disney character.
 
It's a real shame, but it's understandable. I, like many others I'd assume, didn't fully understand the CoC's role and how it worked before this summer. I remember the back and forth about how CaptainZack's ban was upheld after the *lly stuff came out, and how I didn't really get how they had sensitive information that warranted the continuation of the ban but shouldn't have been shared with the public. Now I do, and wish there was an easier way for the Smash community to be informed and communicated to about how the CoC worked. But I guess it's too late. I hope in the future either a new CoC will form, or the community works responsibly and effectively to keep smash a safe and open community.
 
This news would have probably had less emotional weight on me had I not finished Season 7 of The Clone Wars. Now I'm comparing the end of the CoD Panel as if the Republic just died.
 
I think this is just another example of the typical American tradition of demanding a lot from public infrastructure while refusing to invest in it. The Smash Community, as well as the FGC on the whole, were promised more investment if we got on board with corporations getting into the scene by various TOs and community organizers. And as it turns out all of that money just went into making those individuals wealthier and their events flashier without actually improving the overall situation. Maybe if we spend less time on griping about pots being larger or making events' production overly gratuitous then we might have been able to save important stuff like the CoC.

Now I do, and wish there was an easier way for the Smash community to be informed and communicated to about how the CoC worked.
I don't really think the issue was unawareness so much as frustration with how slow these things go and a general unwillingness to understand why. People should be aware by now that criminal investigations take a long time to complete, in order to be certain there is an issue, and that information about these proceedings are withheld from the public to protect privacy and the sensitive nature of the proceedings. It's not uncommon for the public to immediately assume guilt based on allegations or harass alleged victims if who they are accusing is popular and you might have otherwise innocent people be harmed.

Something that we found out in the confusion and moral panic over the summer when quite a lot of people were jumping from allegation to denial and back again without actually getting closer to the truth. And it turns out that not only did some innocent people get falsely accused, but one of the accused may very well be the victim. Having anonymous or even known individuals publicly broadcast claims isn't really helpful and at least one case was against the wishes of the alleged victim. And all that stemmed from impatience and a desire for instant gratification on what were very complex issues and processes.

I can certainly sympathize with concerns over a small and deliberately obfuscated committee controlling these aspects that can affect large swaths of the community, and I think their identities should've been made public in the interest of transparency and accountability during their tenure, but democracy isn't necessarily better as the debacle over the summer proved.
 
It has especially the Melee community, its fine that a lot of people like the game but one shouldn't go around demanding that Melee be given red carpet treatment. Melee has no major incentive for Nintendo to continue unlike Ultimate which is fresh and new. So the fact that Nintendo even allowed Melee tournaments to begin with is more than enough gratitude on their part.

The Melee crowd has to recognize that they are really small in the eyes of the Smash community and that they shouldn't bite the hand that feeds them. The Melee community need Nintendo, Nintendo doesn't really need them. I hope the Smash community can bounce back from this, grow up and be treated with respect in the community.
first off, "Melee community"...? why are you treating Melee as its own separate faction? they're part of the larger Smash community just like Brawl and Smash 4 is.

second, this statement gives off the impression that Melee is apparently actively competing with Ultimate for the public spotlight. if it turns out to be doing such, it's not really on purpose. the pandemic has forced Tournaments to go online only, and some dedicated people decided to help their game adapt to that situation. Nintendo... doesn't REALLY have that much interest in doing the same, and the proof is in the pudding. Ultimate's (nevermind Nintendo games in general) online quality is serviceable at best, and it kind of reveals the mentality when Nintendo would rather break out the lawyers instead of, say, buying Slippi outright and using it themselves even though they never invented it.

I'd argue TOs who wanted Melee brackets would be perfectly okay to go on without Nintendo if that's the way it is... it's not really a case of the community biting the hand that feeds them, it's more like Nintendo is trying to put a leash on the Smash community and the Melee generation is having none of it.
 
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Does this mean that people accused of heinous acts in July walk away unpunished? I hope not...
Definitely not. The CoC didn't even have enforced bans, they were just strong recommendations to TO's, which pretty much everyone followed. People that did terrible things still won't be welcomed back to the smash scene at large, since TO's of major tourneys are still gonna uphold these bans,
 
Another casualty of the COVID lockdowns. If the government wasn't so drastic about the virus, people wouldn't be rebelling this much.
 
So it'll probably be up to TOs and whatnot as to what our code of conduct is going forward. Which will hopefully work out alright - no TO is going to allow banned players back in or anything, lest they face a book's worth of backlash on Twitter/Facebook. And perhaps we'll even form a second code of conduct panel once tournaments start running again.
 
So it'll probably be up to TOs and whatnot as to what our code of conduct is going forward. Which will hopefully work out alright - no TO is going to allow banned players back in or anything, lest they face a book's worth of backlash on Twitter/Facebook. And perhaps we'll even form a second code of conduct panel once tournaments start running again.
I have faith in the TO's. I'm concerned that some nasty people are going to weasel their way back into some locals, but I'm pretty confident that we won't have anyone that was exposed this summer to be returning to the smash spotlight.
 
I have faith in the TO's. I'm concerned that some nasty people are going to weasel their way back into some locals, but I'm pretty confident that we won't have anyone that was exposed this summer to be returning to the smash spotlight.
Same. I think the issue going forward is preventing as much of this stuff from happening again as we can. By all means, having our list of banned players is good, but there are no doubt going to be new abusers showing up. We need to try to prevent their actions as best we can going forward.
 
t!MmY t!MmY actually I take it back, read the twitlonger, it mentions COVID 0 times. Smashboards should edit this article to reflect that.

The Twitlonger doesn't even mention Nintendo taking down tournaments! The CoC is solely disbanding because of the allegations in July, nothing else.
 
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t!MmY t!MmY actually I take it back, read the twitlonger, it mentions COVID 0 times. Smashboards should edit this article to reflect that.

The Twitlonger doesn't even mention Nintendo taking down tournaments! The CoC is solely disbanding because of the allegations in July, nothing else.
Edited to reflect this. My bad.
 
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The Super Smash Bros Code of Conduct Panel was formed a few years back after giving a set of recommended instructions to TO's. In their official statement, the mostly anonymous group of Smash community members cited the hardships of COVID-19, Nintendo shutting down tournaments, and the many allegations this past summer. Even before the hardships faced this year, the team cited being small with not enough resources. They also cited that, to even get through the number of allegations in the summer, it could have taken years.

While this is an unfortunate moment, the team had this following bit of hope to share,

"The spark of hope still remains, however. One of the best sentiments I heard regarding this summer was that the thing that made our community different from other communities was not that we had these issues of exploitation or predation within our subculture. But rather, it's that we were the community who looked at it straight in the mouth when we found out, and as a collective agreed that that's not what we want to be. We feel a little better about stepping down from our role knowing that all of you have the passion it takes to be the warm light of your local communities."

As of December 14th, 2020, The Code of Conduct Panel has officially been disbanded, but the Code of Conduct document will be available for anyone who wants a guideline for future situations.

Note: Smashboards was a signatory to the panel. Despite the disbandment, we intend to continue enforcing its rulings, alongside banning people who have demonstrated that they pose a threat to Smashboards users.
Given how the Smash Community has been acting I'm kinda glad the competitive scene has been hit.

How Hungry Box disrespected Reggie was just uncalled for. No wonder Nintendo doesn't like the Melee community.
I agree. But I also feel a large microcosm of that comes from Twitter enabling people to act like animals. Places like Smashboards at least have moderators to step when people resort to yelling fights via keyboard brawling. With that said, I'm with you when I say I have zero sympathy for the Smash community at large. They dug their own hole and they can rest in it.

I won't miss the Smash Conduct Panel. As I used to say, they were what I like to call "The Anonymous Raw GM." This was a WWE angle from the early 2010s where an unknown administrator - as a villain or a "heel" - would make up rules and stipulations on the spot.

I feel without the trust of transparency, we didn't know who these people were until they finally revealed their identities upon the closure of their group. Their lack of transparency is what made them suspect to a number of players despite their apparent benevolent intentions.

Even then, their rulings were, at best, a "recommendation." They could not control a local, state, or regional scene's choice. As such, their rulings could, and would, be disputed by players (see: Ally).

In the end, it was the perfect example of an idealistic intention crushed under the weight of reality. There was no way an anonymous conduct panel could handle an international competitive scene, with thousands of players, and expect to gain both the trust of everyone and the authority to manage dozens upon dozens of claims of sexual harassment.

At the end of the day, it might be best to let local, state, and regional scenes take responsibility for their scenes and their players instead of attempting to do it on a national scale.
 
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