Months of harassment

[Chie_M]

Hate speech isn't even recognized as a legal term in the US as most things that would be considered hate speech are legally protected by the First Amendment.

"Free speech" doesn't mean that you have the right to say whatever you want. It means that you have the right to openly criticise the government without fear of judicial repercussion. It's not relevant to this.

[Verendal]

RE:Free speech.

1:That's a defense against *government* retribution and it doesn't apply to everything, for example you start yelling threats at people, especially government officials, you will VERY swiftly find out that no, it is not 'say whatever you want without consequence'. You still have responsibilities and limitations to rights, alongside those rights.
2:SE is a private company, and terms of service exist. You agreed to them. They have the right to refuse you service if you refuse to follow their rules. Yes, there are rules they can't make, IE, can't legally exclude by race/gender.
3:There is legal precedent, in the US court system, for 'fighting words'. "Fighting words are, as first defined by the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in Chaplinsky v New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942), words which "by their very utterance, inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace." The interpretations and legal definitions vary over time and from region to region, but basically if you start speaking to someone in a way clearly intended to anger them into a fight...You can be found legally to have 'struck first' making their actions self-defense.
4:When you're on the servers, even on these forums, you're on their private property. Not a public place, they quite literally own the servers and the data legally.

Now, for the final point you all seem to be ignoring.
5:SQUARE ENIX IS A JAPANESE COMPANY. NOT A UNITED STATES ONE. They operate in the US but are not, primarily, a US company. This influences a great many of their components of terms of service, due to privacy, copyright and data related laws in multiple nations applying to them...but it also amplifies point 4.

[demonofelru]

False. If you walk up to a person of color and call them the N word you can and most likely will be charged with something. It may only be a misdemeanor and forced community service, but hate speech is NOT protected by the 1st amendment.

You are 100% incorrect. The Supreme Court has upheld on many occasions that hate speech is protected speech. What isn’t protected is direct threats of violence or speech that incites violence.

Under current First Amendment jurisprudence, hate speech can only be criminalized when it directly incites imminent criminal activity or consists of specific threats of violence targeted against a person or group. - American Library Association

As the law stands now, government (including public colleges and universities) generally can’t bar hate speech unless it’s direct, personal, and either truly threatening or violently provocative. At the same time, laws against hate crimes don’t violate the First Amendment, because they’re based on actions rather than expressions of an opinion (Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 508 U.S. 476 (1993)). - Lawyers.com

[Awha]

I do not think many refutes that free speech is freedom of consequences. Though issues regarding what people consider "hate speech" are not as black and white as some would like it to be. Though as stated it is largely moot since none of this applies to SE.

[SturmChurro]

Don't try to de-rail the point. You know what I'm going for. Racial Slurs and other derogatory words and phrases only cause trouble and inflict pain. This series of events having been left unaddressed for as long as it has is a failure on SE's part.

It's because there is nothing to be done about this person. Even if they banned the mentor main supposedly inviting them, that's just a bandaid fix. It wouldn't be that hard to get into the NN without it. This person is using throwaway free trial accounts, supposedly. Without sweeping changes to how they ban people, added restrictions, or the removal of features (*cough*, NN), what can they do? Law enforcement over "hate speech"?

[Verendal]

Lawsuit over damages as they've no doubt lost business to his behavior, would be entirely doable. Combined with breach of contract and intentionally bypassing the consequences thereof. Would it hold up in court? Maybe. Better question is, 'could they get a judge to issue a gag order to avoid slander of the company, and then bury him in legal debt to ruin him.' That is VERY much doable if they try it.

[AstraBraifort]

The thing is, new players could search Google for answers, but let's be real ... so many are just lazy. Even my husband is. He would rather pester people for an answer instead of asking me or looking it up.

To be fair, it's a bit difficult to search for something without knowing enough about it to search for it. Ever see a picture of something you wanna buy and just start googling in hopes you find the shop to buy it from? It's just a lot faster and easier to ask your question to a group of people who will be able to figure out what it is you're talking about. Not to mention a LOT of the information you find on Google can be outdated, even if posted within the last year. The game changes mechanics all the time. Google "ffxiv gathering rotations" like a new player would and you'll see most places will bring up old rotations (Single Mind, Methodical Appraisal, etc) as opposed to what's current (Scrutiny, Scour, etc).

[Vinupra-Rosa]

To be fair, it's a bit difficult to search for something without knowing enough about it to search for it. Ever see a picture of something you wanna buy and just start googling in hopes you find the shop to buy it from? It's just a lot faster and easier to ask your question to a group of people who will be able to figure out what it is you're talking about. Not to mention a LOT of the information you find on Google can be outdated, even if posted within the last year. The game changes mechanics all the time. Google "ffxiv gathering rotations" like a new player would and you'll see most places will bring up old rotations (Single Mind, Methodical Appraisal, etc) as opposed to what's current (Scrutiny, Scour, etc).

Yeah... brought this up earlier as well, and I've had an unfortunate firsthand experience with this too... joined at the start of stormblood, read a guide on scholar from heavensward without realising it. Many people I help in NN also come in confused because the guide they read didn't match what they saw in-game and so on. NN also helped me correct bad advice I had unfortunately given (whether outside of NN or in it), thanks to how willing people there are willing to crosscheck and verify.

[SomeRandomHuman]

It's because there is nothing to be done about this person. Even if they banned the mentor main supposedly inviting them, that's just a bandaid fix. It wouldn't be that hard to get into the NN without it. This person is using throwaway free trial accounts, supposedly. Without sweeping changes to how they ban people, added restrictions, or the removal of features (*cough*, NN), what can they do? Law enforcement over "hate speech"?

Considering what we currently know: SE has done absolutely nothing. They can at least make a statement that they are aware of the situation and are looking into it. But as is the only thing we see is their inaction.

[SturmChurro]

Considering what we currently know: SE has done absolutely nothing. They can at least make a statement that they are aware of the situation and are looking into it. But as is the only thing we see is their inaction.

I presume SE has been banning the free trial accounts, but just banning someone who will just make a dozen more isn't going to stop them.