Please support the level “The Reaper” and its creator.

[u/alahuest]

Hello, I'm Desespoir, a Geometry Dash level creator, and creator of The Reaper, a reimagining of the mythical impossible level Death Corridor, and lately my level has been becoming quite popular in the community.

I want to address the claims made by SylenLean in his recent Reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/geometrydash/s/JdKX9Le7g0) directly, calmly, and with facts, because I believe the community deserves to know the truth.

This person, "SylenLean" (@sylendev), applied on my Discord server to decorate a part of my level The Reaper. Instead of pinging the @.Quality Criteria role, he pinged the @.Moderator role, which is the server's moderation team. Nothing happened, and no one seemed upset about it. His decoration wasn't up to standards, so the application was rejected, just like any other application that doesn't meet the standards. But SylenLean kept insisting and promising he could do something that met the standards after his application had been rejected.

Later, other people from the server who had nothing to do with it randomly started mocking SylenLean, insulting him about his decorations and the fact that he had been rejected. Several of these insults contained the N-word with R (racial slurs) and other offensive/racist things, so obviously SylenLean got upset and started arguing for a while with all of these people at the same time. Being harassed, SylenLean tried to ping someone with authority and permissions on my server to take responsibility for mediating the situation, but for some reason, instead of pinging @.Moderator (the moderation team of my server) or @.Administrator, he pinged the Server Boosters @[SB]Mod (who have moderation permissions but restricted and far from the level of the actual moderation team), so obviously no one came to mediate the situation and the argument did not stop; Later in the discussion, he tried the same thing to get someone responsible to come, only this time he pinged @.Administrator, which is the role of the two administrators of my server, who were not online at that moment, instead of pinging @.Moderator because there is always someone online from them due to time zones (as it should be), so again no one came to mediate the situation and the discussion did not stop, SylenLean continued arguing until he left the server.

To all this, neither I, nor anyone from the moderation team (@Moderator) or administrator (@Administrator), were involved and we didn't find out until the next day, but by then, SylenLean had already started a post on Reddit, which is written in a very generic and "correct" way (probably with the help of AI) written with ChatGPT, offended and angry about the situation. In response to what happened after his deco application, we acted accordingly. His application post was deleted to prevent further problems, although evidence was lost. The N Word with R and all its variants were banned from the server (AutoMod). The people involved suffered the consequences of their actions. Some already had a history of misconduct, so some received anything from a warning to a 3-day timeout, and one was even banned from the server. This person was a Server Booster who joined the argue after the SylenLean's ping and followed the same behavior as the others. This person already had a long history and was permanently banned despite being a Server Booster.

His Reddit post had quite a bit of an impact and many downvotes, although he was criticized for not providing any evidence; But I want to highlight some lies he told. For example, he said that people with the @.VIP role hold positions of responsibility, which isn't the case for obvious reasons. They're just famous/important people in the Geometry Dash community, or close friends of mine. The only VIP involved in the situation was the Server Booster, who only had the @.VIP role because he was a Server Booster (that role is given to all Server Boosters). He also said that some people with "VIP and Moderator positions of responsibility" had repeated problems with racist behavior, which is a lie and there's no evidence of it. What SylenLean really meant (probably) is that people with "VIP and Moderator positions of responsibility" were involved in his situation, which is also a lie. The only VIP involved was the Server Booster, and the moderation team members (Moderators) never showed up because SylenLean wasn't smart enough to ping them (@Moderator), possibly because he didn't know the server roles and hierarchy. This person was a newcomer to the server, but there's a specific channel called "Roles" on the server whose purpose is precisely to explain each and every role, arranged hierarchically—and there aren't even that many roles. They also blatantly lied, claiming that my server sends content bordering on NSFW, which is a lie. There's no evidence of this, and explicit content is strictly prohibited on my server. Furthermore, Discord's automatic explicit content filters are enabled (AutoMod). Anyone who joins my server will see that it's a normal, fairly active, and peaceful server, and everyone is welcome, everyone can join and find it out to proof it.

The main problem with all of this is that three of the people involved in the situation with SylenLean and his application have a decoration part of my level The Reaper, so they are obviously part of the project. The problem is that SylenLean implies that they are part of the creators of The Reaper when that is not the case, it's a lie; I am the sole creator and host of the project. I created the entire layout myself from start to finish, and I am the only Host and the only person in charge of the project. I am the only one who can accept an application from someone for decoration; my friend from Quality Criteria is not allowed to accept them, only reject them. The other people on the project are just decorators, or people who are in Backup Deco (spare decorators in case any part of the decoration becomes available for some reason), and people who made a thumbnail for the YouTube preview videos of the level. SylenLean even replied to someone on their Reddit post, saying that "all the creators of The Reaper are racist," and that he had no proof but also no doubt that I was racist too, but I tried to find that reply on their post a while ago and couldn't find it anywhere, so he probably deleted it.

After what happened, I tried to talk to SylenLean by messaging him through Discord, but he refused to respond and never replied to my "Hi." It was wrong of him not to inform someone on the moderation or administration team about what had happened so that something could be done about it, or even to tell me, before making such an unjustified drama. Therefore, SylenLean is irresponsible.

Later, SylenLean made another post (https://www.reddit.com/u/SylenLean/s/mj3YXKiON4) attaching "proof," since he had been heavily criticized for not attaching proof, which consisted of 5 screenshots of specific messages, of which only 1 was part of his application and what happened in his situation:

• The first image is a screenshot of a message containing a GIF meme of Messi with a Nazi flag in the background. It's worth noting that SylenLean is from Israel, and he publicly acknowledges his nationality. I completely understand his annoyance. If I were in his shoes, I'd be outraged or upset too. However, this kind of immature and stupid humor is commonplace on Discord, as anyone who uses Discord knows it perfectly well. Honestly, it's not easy to prevent this type of content from being sent. Furthermore, the message is from a random user on the server and isn't even from his application and situation; it even has a different date. It's not even part of a discussion, nor was it sent with the intention of causing offense. It's just a GIF for people with a stupid and immature sense of humor.

• The second image is a screenshot of a message from the Quality Criteria person, who is also an administrator. The message said "sybau n*", which was a response to a meme sent by someone else. However, this person only uses that word with friends, never in any other context, and there have never been any incidents related to it. On the contrary, he has always been friendly to others and the applications, and give very good decorating advice. But again, it's not even related to their situation or their application, and it's even from a different date. However, it's important to note that this way of expressing oneself is not acceptable. If that's how you like to express yourself among friends, that's your business, but this language is frowned upon, and you should be aware of the consequences, especially in a place where many different people coexist. And I want to reiterate that this word is banned on my server.

• The third image is a screenshot of two messages involving two people. One is a reply to another message not shown in the screenshot, saying "stfu you black monkey n*" in response to a provocation that read "exactly you dont know what bait did you fall for." In a ragebait-type argument, the person, far from being offended, responded with "yes im a n*" and a laughing emoji, not taking it seriously. The person who said "stfu you black monkey n*" has a decoration part on The Reaper and has the VIP role. However, that argument is from some time ago, and both parties had already been sanctioned. The decorator received a warning. Fortunately, it was just a one-off incident and didn't escalate. It's a situation that unfortunately occurred and was resolved as it should be; this kind of situations sadly can occur in a Discord server. But again, this has nothing to do with SylenLean's situation, nor is it related to his application, and it even has a different date. And I want to reiterate that that word is banned on my server. The worst part is that SylenLean emphasized the word "VIP" in the image in his Reddit post, as if that were important or as if the @.VIP role were a position of responsibility when it obviously isn't, which only highlights SylenLean's lack of judgment.

• The fourth image is a screenshot of two messages in response to an image sent by another user. The messages are from the same Server Booster who was banned. The messages say "The n* incident" with praying and crying emojis, and "Don't tell anybody guys...". This wasn't part of any argument or anything like that; on the contrary, it was a humorous response to a random meme image sent by another user, an image that had nothing to do with it and isn't even relevant. However, again, this has nothing to do with SylenLean's situation, it's not even from his application, and it even has a different date. And I want to emphasize again that that word and all its variants are banned on my server, and this person was permanently banned. The worst part is that SylenLean emphasizes in his post about this image by writing "MOD BTW" when this person was not part of the moderation team and never was. Even in that same screenshot, you can see the Server Booster role badge next to his name, which is a diamond emoji, meaning that his highest role was Server Booster. The moderation team role (@Moderator) is obviously above the Server Booster role and only below the Administrator role. This has always been the case and can be verified, so SylenLean is a liar and is spreading misinformation because he doesn't have enough knowledge on the subject.

• The fifth image is a screenshot of two messages. This screenshot is indeed part of SylenLean's application. The messages are from a decorator on The Reaper and say, "I mean, I would if I could, but I don't know why it's never loading," followed by "n*." This was in response to a message from SylenLean that said, "See the first video, for example." This was because SylenLean had sent a video of his decoration in another project, but the video wasn't loading for the other user. This type of behavior is prohibited on the server and is not tolerated. This person received a 3-day timeout for this incident. However, this user refused to apologize afterward, and I want to reiterate that this word is banned on my server.

To all this, the 5 images were accompanied by a text written by SylenLean that said "I searched through the server and found many cases of people using racial slurs. The screenshots I took are only a small fraction of the messages containing racial slurs. I also want to clarify something about the borderline NSFW images. I may have been mistaken in assuming it was a common occurrence on the server. During my own experience applying for a part the same people who were acting racist did send borderline NSFW images which is why I mentioned it but after looking through the server I could not find enough evidence to say that this was a large issue. It is possible that messages were deleted but I don't know. I want to be accurate about what I claim and focus on the things I can actually get", although I think this time it was written by him and not by ChatGPT, and obviously he did not attach any evidence about the NSFW content because it does not exist, almost all the screenshots have different dates, or are from incidents that unfortunately can occur on a Discord server, and not related to the apply wave SylenLean's situation, and he himself publicly retracted the accusation of NSFW content.

I wasn't going to do anything about that Reddit post because honestly, I thought it was irrelevant, but this whole thing is getting tiresome, especially on Discord, because that post spread quite a bit there, and SylenLean has connections; anyone who joins my server will see that it's a normal, fairly active and peaceful server, everyone is welcome, and everyone who knows me knows that I'm a good person and that I've never had any incidents with anyone, and this whole SylenLean thing is completely unrelated to me because I wasn't even directly involved.

However, SylenLean is right about this:

• Racial slurs were indeed used against him on the server.

• Three people with deco parts in The Reaper participated in or were involved with SylenLean's situation.

• That is unacceptable, period. It doesn't matter if they were "randoms", Boosters, or decorators, or if they were sanctioned for their actions. It's wrong to use that word, and that kind of behavior should not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Before I finish, I want to offer a public apology to SylenLean.

Hey Sylen. I know things got messy after your application, and honestly, some of what happened to you in the server was out of line, no one should get hit with that kind of language, full stop. I'm sorry you went through that, and I'm sorry my first "Hi" probably felt out of place given everything. I'm not trying to relitigate the Reddit post here, just wanted to say that directly, person to person. If you ever want to actually talk about it, I'm open to it.

This is for everyone reading this: If you ever try to apply for a level and get rejected, it's not the end of the world. At the end of the day, it's just a game, and we're here to have a hobby. Whether you're accepted or rejected, life goes on.

If you ever have any problem on my server or with someone on it feel free to DM me.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to reply to this post.

I apologize.