The following is an altered version of a couple messages I have sent in non-public discord channels.
I am DCS, Head Tournament Admin for ÜBERFEST, and involved in the project lead. I am not employed by Being Esports. However, I was the one working with Gideon in this process which resulted in the decision of not banning Roticher and Nicky for the event. I was the one who brought this case to the attention of Being Esports and initially reach out to both the accused and the harmed. While I did not make the final call (and I don‘t know if I would have had the stones to make it), I agree with it.
We, and Gideon in particular, invested an immense amount of time. In addition to working through the aforementioned 100 ish pages of documents, Gideon talked to all three people who were directly involved on both sides for over an hour each in voice. I was present in voice in a second voice meeting where we informed the accused of our decision. We sat down with them for another 30 minutes each, explaining to them in detail what we expect from them and how to behave and not behave at our event, should they decide to attend.
I am not saying everyone would come to the same conclusion as we did after the work we have put in. But I daresay we have a much more informed picture of everyone’s feelings, intentions and thought processes than the entities that decided to apply bans.
However, all these conversations and the depth of which personal information was revealed to us were only possible because we agreed to confidentiality (something all three of them wanted and appreciated).
It is simply not our information to share, not from the accused or the harmed side of things.
People online, and especially victims of harassment or of any kind for that matter, would come forward and confide in us admins even less often if they knew their highly private information will be shared with third parties.
While we will not share such information without consent, you should consider the possibility that we were told some things that are not public knowledge which played an important role in the process.
We believe Roticher and Nicky are not a threat and will not harm anyone at our event.
On a personal note, I would love people who are thinking about not attending the event because of our decision to consider the following:
I have been a member of this community for 14 years. 3 of which as an ETF2L Head admin. Some of you have either attended or worked multiple if not all events I have been involved in the project lead in going all the way back to 2015- DeutschLAN, Copenhagen Games, RCADIA, ÜBERFEST. I daresay all of which have been successful and memorable events.
Some of you know me well from these events, others know me well privately.
I like to think that in all these years I have not shown a willingness to put anyone, regardless of gender, age or origin, in harms way.
I like to think that I have always shown a willingness to make controversial and tough decisions if it is the right thing to do.
I have advocated for those who did not dare to speak up against people who were well known members of the community (the very public case of degu & predz for instance).
I like to think that none of you would think I would agree with a decision like this for the sake of revenue money of one more sold ticket (an argument which doesn’t hold much merit to begin with because the likelihood of losing money here is much higher than the one team ticket we sell). I never did this to get rich, and neither is Being Esports.
It is totally okay to disagree with our decision. I value and respect differing opinions, I enjoy them and they make me constantly reflect my own behavior and view on the world. From what I have seen, this is even more true for Gideon.
We can have different opinions on things and still be friends and work together to make a great event happen.
We are not enemies.
You are not working for/attending an event or an organisation that condones, encourages or supports harassment.
You are working for/attending an event and an organisation that creates unforgettable memories for people that will last a lifetime.
You are working for/ will spend time with the awesome TF2 community and its members.
Being Esports has been a godsent for this community, especially at the point TF2 is in its lifespan. An actual company who is willing to risk their financial balance and literally its existence for a game and for a community they have no part in.
It would break my heart if you thought I would be such a person as described above or if we let our differing opinions destroy what we have achieved together since the first iteration of ÜBERFEST and what we could achieve together with Being Esports in the future.
If you do not wish to attend or work the event even after you have read through our statements, fair enough. Obviously we hope to see you all at ÜBERFEST.
I would ask only this: please respect the thousands of unpaid hours we have invested in the past and put in each year to make this happen and do not work against our event - do not try to convince people to boycott it - especially behind closed doors.
2 LANs each year (in EU) is not a whole lot. Please do not seek destroy one of them because you have a different opinion.