Explanation of Ban on RoyalRoad.

Hello. You may have seen my explanation on Discord, but I thought it would be best to have a standalone series of posts explaining the entire situation.

My name is M.G. Driver. I write A Black Market LitRPG. I have been (currently) permanently banned from RoyalRoad due to alleged site-wide manipulation of ratings and reviews. This is due to my association as a moderator for a discord where this was happening, the name of which is called 'Secret Mafia'.

The age of this 'author group' is four months old. Starting on 1st April 2023.  Keep that date in mind.

There are plenty of accusations going around now that are an attempt by rival author groups to skew the public perception of the true nature of the situation, so I will try to address them.

Let's get the accusations out of the way before we talk about the series of events. Here are my factual replies to the various accusations floating around + moderator reasons for banning me.

Accusation 1: You have participated in review brigading.

Yes, I have.

I have upvoted and downvoted reviews on other authors' fiction, as well as asked patreons to upvote reviews. I do not believe this is a unique action for me (e.g I'm not the only author to do so).

Accusation 2: You have actively advocated for review brigading of other fictions beyond your author group.

No.

There is no screenshot nor message of me saying that we should downvote, nor negatively brigade other author fictions outside of our own.

Any reddit comment, author remark or assumptions that we, as a group, gave 0.5 stars or downvoted positive reviews on other non-author groups fiction is categorically untrue and cannot be proven.

Anyone who tells you they have proof cannot reveal it. Moderators have confirmed as well that we did not perform any 0.5 brigading.

Accusation 3: You have actively advocated for review brigading of fictions within your author group.

Partially yes. I would like to argue I took a passive role. If being hands-off moderator of a group where it is happening is considered an active role, then yes. However, I do not believe I am the arbiter nor executioner of RoyalRoad Terms of Service.

There is no message of me saying 'yes you should upvote other people's review' or 'yes you should downvote other people's negative review'. I have indeed asked for patrons here to upvote positive reviews. So my answer to the accusation is 50/50.

Accusation 4: You have participated in review chains.

An explanation of what a review chain is: Author A reviews Author B, who in turns review Author C. Author C then reviews Author A. Therefore bypassing the review swap icon.

I have not participated in ANY review chain initiated by ANY discord.

I have not received nor been the beneficiary of ANY review chain by ANY discord.

Accusation 5: You have actively advocated for review chains.

I have not actively advocated for ANY review chain in ANY discord.

If there are still accusations of me participating in a review chain, the best proof is my latest reviews, three of the most recent ones being Non-Author Group fictions.

I give reviews out with the knowledge that I am not expecting anything in return. I have reviewed books from Virlcye, Zechamp and Hayster, all three of which are non-author groups. If anything, Zechamp is an author from the other discord group, COTEH, which was the server that originally began the vigilante witchhunt.

If there are continued accusations of me manipulating reviews for self-benefit, then Zechamp is also part of this supposed 'manipulation' following the logic.

Accusation 6: You have malicious intents about 'gaming' the system.

No. Just no.

I have 19 0.5 star ratings on blackmarket, none of which I have ever reported to the moderators. That's right, my rating on blackmarket is not 'gamed'. I have never once requested for a review to be removed, only changed due to spoiler.

I have twenty shoutouts given to non-mafia members (including Zechamp, whether he knows it or not) for no payment and no expectation of return.

I have written reviews for non-mafia members, for no payment and no expectation of return.

I have donated my writathon premium to a non-mafia member.

I have never ever dealt a 0.5 star rating to ANY fiction save for one (which was an MTL copy of a well-known chinese novel. Removed from RoyalRoad)

I have never reported another author to try and get them banned.

Accusation 7: You used bots to downvote rival author fictions.

No.

I have never used bots or any code to systematically downvote other fictions. Moderators have also cleared me of this wrongful accusation.

Any continued assumptions or rumors of us as a group systematically downvoting author fictions is a spun up lie through and through.

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This is the end of the factual replies to the multiple accusations floating around social media now as well as forums. The next post will cover the entire series of events leading up to this. I believe I owe this an explanation, as moving forward there may not be any blackmarket chapters posted on RoyalRoad anymore, dependent on appeal of the permanency of the ban.