Recent Judge bannings

[Goblin_Ski_Patrol]

Well, it's certainly going to be difficult having tournaments in the South Eastern United States. Seriously, I understand Wizards wants to protect their brand and product, but banning people who had nothing to do with the leaks, including the person who reported them, seems waaaaaay over the top.

(For reference: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/statement-concerning-recent-suspensions-2015-12-21


http://magic.wizards.com/en/content/suspended-dci-memberships)

P.S. For those of you who like rules, you may recognize two of the three members of Judgecast on there.

P.P.S Looks like the judges aren't thrilled either: http://apps.magicjudges.org/

[RedNightmare]

I heard the murmurs and figured I could find a good summary here, thanks Goblin_Ski_Patrol

This seems all kinds of wrong. I get they want to protect their property, but this is throwing out the babies with the bath water (plural intended).

[JayBlanc]

My thoughts are... A six month suspension is slightly long, but I think that participating in a private forum for leaking and distributing cards is worth a suspension as a Judge. Judges are not ordinary players, they're in a position of authority and expected to show good... well, Judgement.

[Jenelmo]

It is a 3 month suspension not 6, and from what i can read they have had access to spoiled cards from multiple sets, compering to earlier bannings and the 3 years some got, it seems more like a slap on the wrist.
My problem is more with banning the guy that informed them of the spoilers

[korvys]

Here's the best summary I've found: http://www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2015/12/wwl-judges/

It seems to be the case that these judges were all in a facebook group, someone posted leaks to this group, and then they got into the wild. However, based on Helene Bergeot's statement, and other stuff, it's sounding like leaks have been posted into this group before, and so they've banned people who have discussed leaks over a longer period of time, without reporting them, so even those that were not involved in the current leaks, or even reported the current leaks, weren't completely without fault.

But a lot of that is speculation. WotC hasn't handled it well, and hasn't communicated it well, adding to some existing low-level complaints the Judges already had with WotC, and blowing up into something much bigger.

[Kapol]

One thing that bothers me is that people keep latching on to employees saying they wanted 'disproportionate response' and acting like what this is. The truth is, this seems like a somewhat heavy handed, but on par response to the leaks. Especially if the allegation that this has been happening for a while is true.

One other thing I've seen mentioned that I think is true: this doesn't seem like a 'judge issue.' This seems like a player issue where those involved are also judges. I think that the punishment would have been the same if the people in question had been regular players too. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up getting suspended for three months if I was part of the group. I'd be upset, but I would be regardless. That is, of course, assuming all the allegations are true.

Though it does seem we're learning a bit more now. Here's an interview with one of the people suspended for leaks and Helene Bergeot. I haven't had the chance to listen to it myself. Looking over some notes people have taken about the events, it sounds like this is only for the Kozilek and Wastes leak, not the huge one. It also sounds like this has been going on since at least March, and involves a WotC employee leaking it to a judge friend, who posted it in the Facebook chat in question, which then leaked out further.

[Jenelmo]

One other thing I've seen mentioned that I think is true: this doesn't seem like a 'judge issue.' This seems like a player issue where those involved are also judges.

This is a thing i think it is very important to remember, with people shutting down the judge app, and others calling for a complete strike.
Nothing about their banning has anything to do with they being judges.
They are players being banned, and they have gotten one of if not the shortest banning i remember anyone getting

[SixFootTurkey]

Let's all calm down here.

1) All of the players suspended have access to appealing this. They were all informed as such and the process to do so.

2) Which player was suspended that informed them of the leaks? If you mean the podcast host with the 3 year suspension, he was the one that posted them on twitter (as at least one of the avenues they reached the public); he has admitted this, although claims this was done thinking they were 'fake'.

3) Jumping straight to a strike/boycott/etc with limited information is exactly what WotC is being accused of doing - though WotC has spent weeks investigating, not a day of hearing one or two accounts and then making up one's mind.

I am not saying WotC is necessarily in the right (although for disclosure I do believe they are in the right), I am saying we should take a step back, and wait for the dust to settle before assuming a blurry picture shows what has transpired.