[Closed] complaint against Kruse

[danieljbcampbell]

Server name: EU Commander
Your in-game name: Fingolfin
Your GUID: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7656...82544/home
Name of the admin: Kruse
When did it happen: 12/29/2025 6:00pm
What happened: Admin "Kruse" was banning players for swearing, banned one player for referring to himself as a "funky cracker", then banned players for arguing with him who were neither swearing nor using racist language.
Proof (screenshots, videos, witnesses, logs): Not available, because admin kicked me before I was able to screenshot the logs.
Additional comments:This is absolutely not in the spirit of the EUCommander community. I have been a player for years and I love this community. There are no players who take issue with me and the last thing I would want to do is to hurt someone's feelings or to make them uncomfortable. To be banning players of this already small and shrinking server so aggressively, especially without them having broken any rules, absolutely runs counter to the spirit of the community and runs cotrary to the best interests of the server. There are so few players left, banning veteran players for using swear words (which I did not due) or for arguing with the admin is absolutely unacceptable. This person has absolutely no business as an admin for this server.

[Dr. Hasse Ravelli]

Complaint               

I was banned by this so called admin "Kruse" for no stated reason. He decided to check logs on me late night while I was engaged in my usual pastime of hefty polemic against other players, including this time an apparent denier of the Armenian genocide and classical antisemitical retards who spread mantras about "MUH JEWS" and Israel. I admit my wrongdoings and that it was certainly worthy of a ban, and that my language was very unruly, insulting and at times even racist and bigoted.

However, I find this way of ruling and methods very disturbing. First of all, it is very hypocritical for an admin to ban me, for what I assume is making general statements about different ethnic groups (he provided no reason for the ban), while also allowing antisemites and genocide-deniers roam free on this server. If he bothered so much to ban me, that he would stay up until 4 AM to check the logs so thoroughly to find the incriminating reasons to do so, he would have seen the argubably equally or even more disturbing behavior of the player "Lemmon" who denied genocide of armenians. Making negative statements about certain ethnic groups should be seen in proportion to denying an outright genocide of millions of people. Yet I was the only one who was punished and this without a formal procedure or anyone really filing a complaint and during the low-hours of the server when usually the most retarded discussions take place on the server. 

Besides this, I find it very laughable that this so called "admin", who I have never noticed in my 4+ years on this server decides to show up on the server recently just to set his own bar for what constitutes a bannable offence. He does this by lavishly handing out bans for the most minor verbal transgessions and completely disregards the praxis set by other and more active (and arguably more mature) admins of the EUC Community. For example, a player (Turd_Burgler I Think) was temporarily banned for a seemingly harmless and absurd childish insult that most people would leave aside and simply laugh at.

RealNutCase and Dima on the other hand, who are some of the most active admins of EUC keep an active dialogue with the players and very rarely, if ever hand out punishments for "bad speech". I have even seen Dima ignoring some rants made by the most hateful players on the server, simply because sanctioning every instance of it would leave very few active players left. It is a very common jargong to call bad players on this server for "retards", "goons" and make jokes that can leave a bad aftertaste among leftists but I have vey rarely seen any other admin sanction this type of behavior. That of course doesn't justify bad behavior, but in comparison I think this goes to show the arbitrariness of the punishments and a very different standard set by this so called admin "Kruse". And that suddenly this admin who is inactive for most of the time, and I really haven't heard of, even have the audacity to come on the server, uproot the praxis set by other admins, while not giving a shit about the server for the remainder of the time just to ban people that are testing the limits by directing seemingly childish insults in chat is beyond laughable. It is not an overexaggeration to say that this admin pays more attention to what people say in chat than to actual rule breakers in the game.

As long as Kruse is allowed as admin on this server I have no intention of appealing ban.

[liryan99]

I’ve been playing EU commander for many years, and this mod since it was released in 2012. That is over 13 years of experience. Players know me as Kaluros (and before about 2018 as Caboudal). I have never been kicked or banned in this time. I continue to play almost daily/weekly. 

Kruse is new. I have seen him maybe 2-3 times. Kruse is certainly a new admin. He kicked me arbitrarily without warning as I criticised him banning other players who broke no rules, but by his own admission, annoyed him and challenged his authority. He banned others for saying words close to swear words. He used slurs himself at this time. He notified no one about his change in policy and his new histrionic and stalinistic approach. Hence, there was not even any time for players to adjust or learn his standards. Naturally, he failed to moderate important things like ramboing. Kruse has banned so many people in so few days that I am receiving DMs from my brothers in arms. 

This is bad for NW and for EU Commander:
1) Other admins have demonstrated that this job can be done well.
2) Like it or not, EU Commander is the only active server for NW Commander, and hence, private or not, it shoulders a greater responsibility. It is `too big to fail' and has a fiduciary duty beyond the usual requirements for a server. 
3) The user base is small and fragile; Kruse may well kill it. I have had discussions with players who are united in their opposition to Kruse (even players who heartily debate with me and insult me on the server in the heat of battle).
4) One of the attractions of EU commander is that it is one of the last free speech zones on the internet: we come there to speak freely with our friends and enemies. 
5) Everyone but Kruse is a human who can take an insult (maybe give it), laugh at a joke, and understand that this is a game. Many players can be angry at me one day and my best friend the next, and vice versa, and if ever any of us doesn't want to engage we can always MUTE the other player on our own. It is interesting to note some players I have had disagreements with over the years rally in opposition to Kruse. We all respect one another even when we are enemies (call this the spirit of the Napoleonic age where people confront challenges like gentlemen, respect their enemies, and leave the fighting on the field of battle, in obvious contrast to Kruse's infantile woke ideology). 

I would like to see Kruse removed as an admin and banned from the server for his horrendous attitude, lack of accountability, and arrogant response to criticism. His responses to criticism are childish mantras, ``free speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences": logical fallacies trotted out by all authoritarian regimes to label criticism of their authority as `hate speech' and `consequences' as carte blanche for them to destroy the critic. Anyone with a working brain knows that punishment for speech means there is no free speech. Further, I declare that by his own reasoning, Kruse's actions are hateful and that banning him is the natural consequence of his free action. 

I speak for very many veterans and I think new players too.



APPENDIX:

Kruse should read the following before even considering any position of leadership again:

The Morality of Law
Fuller, Lon L. The Morality of Law. Revised ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969.

Positivism and Fidelity to Law
Fuller, Lon L. “Positivism and Fidelity to Law—A Reply to Professor Hart.” Harvard Law Review 71, no. 4 (1958): 630–672.

The Authority of Law
Raz, Joseph. The Authority of Law: Essays on Law and Morality. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979.

The Rule of Law and Its Virtue
Raz, Joseph. “The Rule of Law and Its Virtue.” Law Quarterly Review 93 (1977): 195–211.

Practical Reason and Norms
Raz, Joseph. Practical Reason and Norms. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.

Jeremy Waldron, The Rule of Law and the Importance of Procedure

Brian Tamanaha, On the Rule of Law (Cambridge, 2004)

Here is a summary for how good laws work in case Kruse cannot/will not read:

I. Existence & Form of Law (Fuller)

These are the conditions for something to count as law at all.

Generality
Laws apply to classes of persons and actions, not ad hoc individuals.

Publicity (Promulgation)
Laws must be publicly known, not secret.

Prospectivity
Laws govern future actions, not punish past behavior retroactively.

Clarity
Laws must be intelligible; people must be able to understand what is required.

Non-Contradiction
Laws must not demand incompatible actions.

Possibility of Compliance
Laws must not require the impossible.

Relative Stability
Laws should not change so frequently that people cannot plan their lives.

Congruence between Rule and Official Action
Officials must actually apply the law as written, not subvert it in practice.

If these fail, legality itself breaks down (Fuller).

Action-Guiding Capacity
Laws must give people practical reasons for action they can rely on.

Predictability
Similar cases should be treated alike so people can foresee legal outcomes.

Limited Discretion
Officials’ discretion must be constrained by rules, not personal judgment.

Institutional Integrity
Courts and legal institutions must be independent, competent, and rule-bound.

If these fail, law ceases to function as an authority (Raz).

Rule-Governed Governance (Non-Arbitrariness)
Power must be exercised through rules, not whims, moral improvisation, or expediency.

[Dr. Hasse Ravelli]

Given some rather lighthearted complaints so far, it is important not to resort to ad hominem insults. Therefore, I want to articulate my criticisms more clearly and precisely concerning the poor adminship of the aforementioned admin in these following points:


Inactivity
1. One of the most important roles as an admin besides enforcing rules is to be an active player in the community in order to get to know the playerbase and keep a dialogue with the players. He fails at all of these. I can see that he posted his application for adminship on 11-02-2020. For 5 whole years he hasn’t had any regular activity, not even on the forum where hasn’t been posted anything between 03-10-2020 - 11-01-2025  and is therefore unbeknownst to many. Therefore it is to no one’s surprise that people get upset when he suddenly appears out of nowhere after ignoring his admin duty for this long just to lavishly hand out punishments. 

Enforcing rules by his own standards 
2.By harshly enforcing speech rules by his own standards and ignoring the informal culture of relative allowance by admins on this server he is alienating a seizable part of the playerbase by banning people for the most infantile and childish insults. 

Procedural error and unfair treatment

3.In cases where he bans people for more serious trolling / language he doesn’t do so equally, instead he stalked me in the logs during night time and suddenly joined the server, just to ban me without providing reason nor warning before issuing the ban. Even if this ban was valid, it is stainted by a huge procedural error. At the same time he ignored bigotry and genocide denial from other players,

4. In a complaint posted in this thread: https://nwpublic.eu/thread-1656.html, he treats  this player differently despite the antisemitic and hateful language, instead giving him multiple warnings. In the previous case he banned a person out of nowhere after stalking logs without issuing warning or reason. He did give a temporary ban but failed to uphold the normal procedure. No equal treatment here.

5.The principle of predictability and due process can not be said to be upheld when he hands out punishments as arbitrary and unequal as in aforementioned cases.

6. As a result of unpredictability and unequal treatment, law ceases to function as an authority, see Raz (1975)

Inattention
7. He fails to observe rule breakers in the actual game, focusing instead on misdemeanors in the chat (as pointed out by other players).

Dehumanizing language use

8. According to another person who filed a complaint this admin referred to another player as a “monkey”, a largely dehumanizing word usage that stigmatizes people and was used during the Nazi-regime to denote Jews and other minorities.


Given this, I want to call his adminship into question. I hope I have formulated my criticisms in a clearer manner than previously.

[CoffeeStain]

Good morning all. The EUC admin team and I have spent some time reviewing the situation and the logs. After reviewing the logs, it is made very clear that Kruse was being targeted by trolls and acted as well as could be expected given the situation. It has become clear that most of the accusations against him are lies in a continued attempt at trolling.

To address the accusations, I will provide evidence from the logs below for the day of the 29th.

#1. The accusation -  Admin "Kruse" was banning players for swearing, banned one player for referring to himself as a "funky cracker", then banned players for arguing with him who were neither swearing nor using racist language.

#1.1 Response - Kruse only banned one person that day. That player was Fingolfin. This ban was only temporary. https://prnt.sc/S888XBx_0AFA - (Note the word banned only appears twice in the entire log, Both of which are from Fingolfins temporary ban.)

#2. The accusation - banning veteran players for using swear words (which I did not due).

#2.1 Response - After viewing the logs, I have counted eight swears, three insults and solicitation of inappropriate acts towards children during your confrontation with Kruse. Replacing letters in swears does not bypass any rules.  https://prnt.sc/57bC4ffEKrR5 ( Note, This is not the complete log as that is not possible to post)

#3. The accusation - According to another person who filed a complaint this admin referred to another player as a “monkey”, a largely dehumanizing word usage that stigmatizes people and was used during the Nazi-regime to denote Jews and other minorities.

#3.1 Response - You are correct Kruse did refer to someone as a "Monkey". That was a players username, This is in no way racist. The screenshot also proves that the players "Kaluros" & "Fingolfin" are targeting Kruse. https://prnt.sc/PJgp--_q9maf


This case will be closed, Any further questions can directed towards myself or Mask on Discord DM's not EUC chat in Discord. 

Sincerely,
EUC Admin Team