# Necromancer Games Under Fire?



## Morrus (Dec 5, 2013)

One  of the first companies to take advantage of the Open Gaming License and  the d20 System Trademark License was Necromancer Games, under the  leadership of Clark Peterson - a popular and generous man, and a good  friend to EN World and to the gaming community as a whole.  It seems now  that Clark has come under a bit of fire because of his gaming  connections and how this allegedly conflicts with his job as a judge in Idaho.

The Spokesman Review's Scott Maben has posted an article entitled Kootenai County judge’s job, fantasy game hobby blur together  which contains remarks like "Many know him as the demon prince  Orcus, Lord of the Undead" and accuses him of, amongst other  things, immaturity.  It even mentions at one point that "he posts  well past midnight" and that on his birthday he posted a message on  Paizo's messageboards during his lunchbreak.  At one point, a  complainant claims that "We don’t know if he’s demon lord in the  courtroom or if he’s Judge Peterson in the courtroom".

A couple of people in cases which Clark presided over claim that his  gaming hobby "falls short of the high standards of conduct expected  of judges" and are preparing to file complaints.  Peterson himself  says "I continue to believe that my hobby activity does not violate  any of the canons of judicial conduct, but the perception of the public  and the litigants who appear before me is of paramount importance to  me."

Clark Peterson's colleague Judge Haynes said Peterson is  "extraordinarily engaged in his work.... rather than being distracted, I  find him to be an extraordinarily focused judge on the cases that are  before him".

I can't speak for anyone else, but I hope that this whole broohah dies down and things work out OK for Clark.


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## TwoSix (Dec 5, 2013)

A bit of a typo there, he's actually a judge in Idaho, not Nevada.


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## Morrus (Dec 5, 2013)

TwoSix said:


> A bit of a typo there, he's actually a judge in Idaho, not Nevada.




Thanks!  I think he used to be in Las Vegas, which is what confused me.


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## Dausuul (Dec 5, 2013)

Clark Peterson is a judge? Wow! I had no idea.

And yeah, this is appalling. The whole piece echoes the hysteria of the '80s. As for posting from work... let that one who has not posted from work cast the first flame.


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## the Jester (Dec 5, 2013)

Wow. 

I don't even know what to say- would we also attack a judge for participating in a local theater group or writers' circle?


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## Dannyalcatraz (Dec 5, 2013)

Great!  Satanic Panic Part 2.

Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail.

OTOH, as Isaac Asimov once said, "Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”

This IS the country that made Judas Priest defend their lyrics in court, after all...

OTOOH, JP wasn't held accountable for the kid's suicide, so maybe cooler heads WILL prevail again.


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## TwoSix (Dec 5, 2013)

Dausuul said:


> Clark Peterson is a judge? Wow! I had no idea.
> 
> And yeah, this is appalling. The whole piece echoes the hysteria of the '80s. As for posting from work... let that one who has not posted from work cast the first flame.




To be fair, I'm not sure Idaho is even aware that MASH has ended yet.  So it might not be an 80s echo there, it's more of an arrival.


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## howandwhy99 (Dec 5, 2013)

Having spent some time in Idaho I can say it's a great place to live. I do feel sorry for Clark Peterson given the spot he's in. It's difficult to see how these accusations are anything other than a smear campaign or a big misunderstanding, but I do hope everything is cleared up soon. This smells like it may be local politics given how some judgeships are elected. It would be nice if playing RPGs could simply be accepted as akin to playing boardgames or card games.


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## RevTurkey (Dec 5, 2013)

Good grief!


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## Janx (Dec 5, 2013)

It seems that he's fallen into a trap.  Everybody has a hobby outside of work.  Everybody posts from work on some site (facebook anybody?).

But because 2 litigants didn't win their cases in his court, they did some digging and are using what they found against him by ignoring the fact that everybody (including judges) have lives outside of work.


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Dec 5, 2013)

What a truly bizarre article from a generally respected paper. My guess is that the unusual complaint by the litigants got an editor's attention and they assigned it to someone with Internet skills but no background in geek culture.

The notion that this hobby is somehow any more distracting than, say, judges messing with their fantasy football rosters, is ludicrous. And given Clark's regular and extended absences from gaming social media, I'd say it's pretty clear his priorities are pretty spot-on.


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## Scorpio616 (Dec 5, 2013)

Judges make enemies and judges are held to a high standard by folks who have LONG been set in their ways. You do anything differing from community norms, you are gonna bring cross-hairs on you. 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/new-jersey...ng-panned-by-judicial-panel/story?id=20307110


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## DaveMage (Dec 5, 2013)

Clark sold Necromancer to Bill Webb and Frog God Games a while back so as far as I know he is no longer involved with it.


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## Jan van Leyden (Dec 5, 2013)

Who decides what kind of behaviour is appropriate or not? This rules in Idaho mean just one thing, IMHO: more power to the lawyers who can continue a lost process easily by hurling dirt at the judge.


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## Umbran (Dec 5, 2013)

Yes, this is more Clark being under fire, rather than Necromancer Games.

Clark is a good guy.  If he gets called onto the carpet, it should be for honest potential issues, not the fear and ignorance stuff.


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## Scorpio616 (Dec 5, 2013)

Since this person has shown to be litigious, I'll choose my words carefully.


> After his mother died in 2010, Tyner contested the will. He claimed that his mother, who suffered from dementia, changed her will and left most of her money to Tyner’s sister as a result of undue influence by the sister, who served as their mother’s caregiver.



 Wow...




DaveMage said:


> Clark sold Necromancer to Bill Webb and Frog God Games a while back so as far as I know he is no longer involved with it.



Year and a half ago. http://tsathogga.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/press-release.html


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## Scorpio616 (Dec 5, 2013)

Jan van Leyden said:


> Who decides what kind of behaviour is appropriate or not? This rules in Idaho mean just one thing, IMHO: more power to the lawyers who can continue a lost process easily by hurling dirt at the judge.



http://www.judicialcouncil.idaho.gov/Idaho Code of Judicial Conduct.pdf


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## Jan van Leyden (Dec 5, 2013)

Scorpio616 said:


> http://www.judicialcouncil.idaho.gov/Idaho Code of Judicial Conduct.pdf




Well, I've read this (or rather read section 2 and glanced over the rest) but failed to receive an answer. 

Sections like "A judge must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety. A judge must expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny" or "The test for violation of this Canon is whether the conduct would create in reasonable minds a perception that the judge’s ability to carry out judicial responsibilities with integrity, impartiality and competence is impaired" don't help.


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## billd91 (Dec 5, 2013)

Janx said:


> It seems that he's fallen into a trap.  Everybody has a hobby outside of work.  Everybody posts from work on some site (facebook anybody?).
> 
> But because 2 litigants didn't win their cases in his court, they did some digging and are using what they found against him by ignoring the fact that everybody (including judges) have lives outside of work.




That's pretty much witch hunting for you. It's pretty ridiculous. It's not like he's taking pictures of his genitals and tweeting them.


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## Janx (Dec 5, 2013)

Jan van Leyden said:


> Well, I've read this (or rather read section 2 and glanced over the rest) but failed to receive an answer.




From who?  Nobody here owes you an answer or is an authority on it. Did you email Idaho and ask them?



Jan van Leyden said:


> Sections like "A judge must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety. A judge must expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny" or "The test for violation of this Canon is whether the conduct would create in reasonable minds a perception that the judge’s ability to carry out judicial responsibilities with integrity, impartiality and competence is impaired" don't help.




That quote tells me that I should be careful about where and how I engage my non-work activities.  Since D&D had a bad rap, and Idaho might host more than a few stereotypes that ring true, I'd be very careful to keep the two separate.  Including obfuscating my identity, and NOT posting from work.  I don't think I'd want my real name associated with ANYTHING except court cases.

Heck, just presiding over divorce cases while in the midst of a divorce is possibly a conflict of interest to the right observer.  Imagine empathizing with a male litigant because you're in the same situation in battling your own crazy wife and her ridiculous demands (choosing male because he is male, not that all or any divorcing wives are bat-crap crazy).

Ignoring the D&D angle, I could see somebody playing an angle on the premise that you shouldn't be judging a divorce while you're in the midst of your own divorce because it colors how you perceive a case and its sides.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Dec 5, 2013)

Jan van Leyden said:


> Well, I've read this (or rather read section 2 and glanced over the rest) but failed to receive an answer.
> 
> Sections like "A judge must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety. A judge must expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny" or "The test for violation of this Canon is whether the conduct would create in reasonable minds a perception that the judge’s ability to carry out judicial responsibilities with integrity, impartiality and competence is impaired" don't help.




That's almost boilerplate language for most USA judicial CoCs.  It also pops up in CoCs for most of our higher elected officials.

The reason it is so broad is because they're trying to cast a wide net, covering as many things as they can think of as well as those that haven't been thought of..._yet_...while using an efficient amount of text.

All that said, I find it improbable that he'll actually be disciplined for D&D...and I wouldn't want to be the attorney who filed this complaint if he ever had to go before him in the future.


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## Argyle King (Dec 5, 2013)

Maybe it's just me, but having to write rules for a game as complex as a rpg and create products for the same game seems to be a complimentary set of skills to the job of judge in which you're dealing with laws (the rules if you will) of the courtroom.


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## Janx (Dec 5, 2013)

Johnny3D3D said:


> Maybe it's just me, but having to write rules for a game as complex as a rpg and create products for the same game seems to be a complimentary set of skills to the job of judge in which you're dealing with laws (the rules if you will) of the courtroom.




It's not just you.  There's similarities.

I write code for a living.  There's overlap in that as well with law.  Some of my clients are lawyers, so it becomes even more obvious with working with them on common ways of looking at things.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Dec 5, 2013)

Yeah, but the entire TTRPG has an undeserved stigma in the USA, some linked to the occult, some to nerdiness.  I've had colleagues laugh in my face about it.


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## Cergorach (Dec 5, 2013)

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that Orcus is a judge in Idaho? (No offense at Clark ;-)

Honestly, just disregard the Neanderthal that didn't like how Clark judged 'his' probate case. Folks that are 'famous' or have 'power' just get a lot more crap thrown their way. I suspect The Honorable Judge Clark is perfectly capable of dodging this mudslinging contest by two disgruntled customers and a hackjob reporter (everyone with a blog is now a reporter)...


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## Serendipity (Dec 5, 2013)

Politics aren't exactly known for fact-based mudslinging really.  I have no doubt it's politically motivated in some form or fashion. 
In any case, I wish the best for him and hope this fizzles out soon.   Most of my favorite 3e memories come from NG products.


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## Nightfall (Dec 5, 2013)

*So they wish to incur MY wrath?!!*

I tolerate few things in my life. People that are fools and then go fooling with my favorite former Publisher man/The Undying Prince? 

They get this:


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## NotZenon (Dec 5, 2013)

yikes!  Hope this all blows over for him, sounds very politically or perhaps 'revenge' motivated.


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## Scorpio616 (Dec 5, 2013)

Janx said:


> Heck, just presiding over divorce cases while in the midst of a divorce is possibly a conflict of interest to the right observer.



Agree 100%


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## Nightfall (Dec 6, 2013)

I still say...BLOW THEM TO THANATOS!!!


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## smiteworks (Dec 6, 2013)

The only angle that makes sense is if they could prove that every campaign he runs ends in a TPK.

On a more serious note, I do think the sort of biased viewpoint on D&D impacts a number of us in the workforce  today in our professional careers. I am definitely a little reserved about who knows that I'm an avid gamer and I only share information about it with other co-workers who are also gamers. There are always those in an organization that will view this as a negative. These same people are normally the same sort who view tattoos as a sign of being unfit for leadership. It's really pretty sad. I make sure not to do anything gaming related when I'm at work and even on break and definitely never on corporate computers, networks or printers. By the same token, I don't FB or otherwise for similar reasons. It's easy enough to save this for the evenings and it would be a huge stretch for anyone to insinuate that my abilities to do my job are even minimally impaired.


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## kitsune9 (Dec 6, 2013)

In my professional life, I kept my hobby gaming in the closet. In the division that I work for now, it's far more open, but I have in the past worked for companies where if it was found out that I was a gamer, I would be immediately fired because only IT/programmer folks do that "kompuuter" stuff, grow beards, look scruffy, wear jeans, etc. The finance guys must be immaculately professional 24/7, no exceptions. We manage the finances of multi-million projects and clinical trials, no fun and games allowed here.


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## TarionzCousin (Dec 6, 2013)

Clark, if you're reading this, we support you in whatever you choose to do. You have been a force for good in this hobby and we appreciate all the hard work you have done and, hopefully, will do in the future.

Everybody in every gaming group I've been in for the past five years has been envious of my _Eldritch Sorcery_ book. It kicks ass. Apparently, Frog God games still has some for sale.

We wish you the best of luck in this difficult time.


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## dd.stevenson (Dec 6, 2013)

I sort of regret that there's a link to the Spokesman Review article on Enworld. It's giving them outrage clicks, which is undoubtedly more than half the reason they posted this garbage in the first place.


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## Lord Rasputin (Dec 6, 2013)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> This IS the country that made Judas Priest defend their lyrics in court, after all...
> 
> OTOOH, JP wasn't held accountable for the kid's suicide, so maybe cooler heads WILL prevail again.



A minor point of clarification:

Judas Priest didn't have to defend its lyrics, which would be odd since the song was a Spooky Tooth cover and thus Gary Wright wrote the song. (Which would have been funny to see court; Wright also wrote "Dream Weaver," notoriously successful bubblegum.) Judas Priest was sued for putting in backwards lyrics with a suggestive message for the listener to kill himself. The judge ruled (erroneously) that the alleged hidden message wasn't subject to First Amendment protection. Thus the trial focused on whether or not the band recorded a backwards message and whether this message asked the listener to kill himself, both of which were of course silly and found as such.


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## Jester David (Dec 6, 2013)

This is hilarious. 
It's like arguing Regan would be a bad president because he might confuse acting with reality and suddenly think he was a football player.


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## Lord Rasputin (Dec 6, 2013)

Underneath the skin of this badly-written article contains a legitimate contention: was Clark Peterson dealing with RPGs on taxpayer time and, really more of an issue, dealing with other business (selling RPGs) on taxpayer time? Unfortunately, this is twisted with the usual sensationalism of the content of his posts, which is irrelevant to the real issue.


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## Tom Strickland (Dec 6, 2013)

I coincidentally stumbled across this within the past couple of weeks:

"Dungeons and Dragons is a tragic and tangled subject. It is     essentially a feeding program for occultism and witchcraft." "On top     of that, the second issue is that the materials themselves, in many     cases, contain authentic magical rituals." "There is hardly a game     in which the players do not indulge in *murder, arson, torture, rape     or highway robbery*."
http://www.chick.com/articles/dnd.asp

The "cartoon" is here in all of its horrifying drama:
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

Why, I just had NO idea!

Actually, the former sites were referenced by this pro-gaming site  (theescapist.com) and that is how I learned about them [which is  sometimes what happens when you search about the Web for all things  D&D]:

Dark Dungeons
http://www.theescapist.com/darkdungeons.htm

And if you are not scared away by now, an "advocacy" FAQ:

http://www.theescapist.com/basic_gaming_faq.htm

Note: I did not do more than briefly glance at all of the above  material, pro or con, but I did find several allegations to be "over the  top". I endorse or warrant nothing from the above, but provide it as  "food for thought" if any are so interested in indulging, and because of  this thread subject and some comments.

However, I did rather enjoy a quote from an article at theescapist:

"_Abusus non tollit usum. (Abuse does not take away use.)_ "

And to the point of the article regarding the gamer judge: I already  emailed my family and friends about this. A couple of points I'm  interested in sharing:

[Regardless of what that person did] "look at the slant     regarding "make-believe" gaming, probably to boost the civil     case--but at what cost to public perception"

And, I had bold-ed phrases from more complete quotes, but assemble now just the crunchy bits for sake of emphasis:

"...*disturbed by how           involved Peterson has been with role-playing games and related           activities..."

"...**caught up in           the world of role-playing games*."

"...*level of immaturity..."

"...**Orcus, a           character described as a bloated,           15-foot-tall demon with ram-like           horns, bat wings and a long tail with a poisonous tip..."*

"...he imagined being *transformed into a             Smurf, the fictional blue creatures that inhabit mushrooms*..."

"...*got hooked on fantasy games..." *[while young, below 13 certainly]*

"...**ghosts and mad scientists to werewolves,         vampires and witches*."

“*We don’t know if he’s demon lord in the courtroom or if he’s         Judge Peterson in the courtroom*"


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## dd.stevenson (Dec 6, 2013)

Tom Strickland said:


> I coincidentally stumbled across this within the past couple of weeks:
> 
> "Dungeons and Dragons is a tragic and tangled subject. It is     essentially a feeding program for occultism and witchcraft." "On top     of that, the second issue is that the materials themselves, in many     cases, contain authentic magical rituals." "There is hardly a game     in which the players do not indulge in *murder, arson, torture, rape     or highway robbery*."
> http://www.chick.com/articles/dnd.asp



Chick's articles are old, hilarious, and well-known to rpg geeks. There was a kickstarter for a deadpan dramatic reanactment of his cartoon a while back. Come to think of it, one of Necromancer Games' adventures featured a misguided thief named Black Leaf.


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## Nightfall (Dec 6, 2013)

Mad_Jack said:


> As for the article, please... Everybody knows Orcus is ruling in Hell, not making rulings in Iowa.




Actually it's the 133rd layer of the Abyss. Hell is for those wimpy devil guys.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Dec 6, 2013)

dd.stevenson said:


> Chick's articles are old, hilarious, and well-known to rpg geeks. There was a kickstarter for a deadpan dramatic reanactment of his cartoon a while back. Come to think of it, one of Necromancer Games' adventures featured a misguided thief named Black Leaf.




Heh -- Dark Dungeons the OSR retro-clone uses Marcie and Blackleaf in a lot of their game examples.

As to Clark -- utterly ridiculous unless it were somehow proven he was gaming or running Necromancer business on taxpayer time, which for a judge is almost too ludicrous to consider.  Just proves that fear, superstition, and jealousy continue to rule the ignorant.

I remain in the "gaming closet" professionally for just that reason.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Dec 6, 2013)

Lord Rasputin said:


> A minor point of clarification:
> 
> Judas Priest didn't have to defend its lyrics, which would be odd since the song was a Spooky Tooth cover and thus Gary Wright wrote the song. (Which would have been funny to see court; Wright also wrote "Dream Weaver," notoriously successful bubblegum.) Judas Priest was sued for putting in backwards lyrics with a suggestive message for the listener to kill himself. The judge ruled (erroneously) that the alleged hidden message wasn't subject to First Amendment protection. Thus the trial focused on whether or not the band recorded a backwards message and whether this message asked the listener to kill himself, both of which were of course silly and found as such.



100% correct, and thank you.  I was just phrasing it the way most people would have heard it in the news.


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## Kobold Boots (Dec 6, 2013)

I feel badly for Clark.  But I think I may be the only person on this forum community that thought these things in order:

1. Man, Clark's had a rough run the last two years.  I sympathize.
2. Man, Clark's got a job with significant social impact and heavy responsibility too.  I could see wanting to delve into a hobby to break some stress.
3. Oh, crap, he's been posting during work hours considering point 2.  He's toast.

People make mistakes, but there's a real difference between posting on a game forum from your job at Gamestop and doing it in your chambers on County property between hearings.  A LOT of work can get done during what is popularly referred to as down time.  Judges and lawyers don't live in what I'd call the "normal" work world either.

I'm rational enough to know that I don't know what I don't know and I don't know Clark.
Ditto for the fact that media and stories have bunches of sides.  We got one.
But come on.. anyone that's like "he who has not browsed at work cast the first.. " get real.  Not even remotely relevant.


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## barasawa (Dec 6, 2013)

*Ignorant scum.*

He posted during lunch at work. So what. Do you expect him to read legal findings during lunch? Heck no, lunch is a time to eat and unwind a bit before going back to work. Only a dumb workaholic who doesn't care about totally eroding his efficiency obsesses about work during lunch.

He's a fantasy gamer. It's something he does for fun. You know, a hobby. It happens to be a social hobby that promotes strategy & tactics, as well as exercising imagination and creativity while often fostering an interest in other things, such as history for fantasy (as most are somewhat based on actual history in one way or another) or in science if it's a science fiction based game. On top of that, most campaigns are heroic, ie you play a hero that is saving the town/world/whatever from the evil villain. 
If there's something wrong with that, then perhaps we should ban hunters from being judges as it is often a loner activity and involves killing animals from a distance, often involving hiding. It is known to foster an interest in various ranged weapons, especially guns. 
How about NASCAR fans?  They sit around watching cars drive really fast in a circle. Obsessing about crashing and dreaming about driving at insane speeds themselves. Perhaps while swilling beer. 

Basically I find this a really low and scuzzy way to try and impugn the judge with false innuendo and lies. 

I'd like to game with someone like that judge. Anyone that can make it through what he had to in the process to become a judge, and still retain enough fun to play, is someone worth  gaming with.


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## dwayne (Dec 6, 2013)

small minded people who can not understand something, thanks to people like this we had the dark ages. If it was up to them we would still be riding horses and using candles to read by with books only approved by the same small minded people. Creativity and forward thinking have always suffered at the hands of those without it, some day I hope mosst are removed from the pool and we can move past superstitious rhetoric and beliefs.


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## Kobold Boots (Dec 6, 2013)

barasawa said:


> He posted during lunch at work. So what.




Replying to the only part of your post that's relevant.  Read the article.  None of the quoted posts were posted during a lunch hour or lunch break.


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## scourger (Dec 6, 2013)

Sad.  More sad that he is going through bankruptcy and divorce.  I hope he doesn't lose his job on top of it.


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## Libramarian (Dec 6, 2013)

The most ridiculous thing about this article is the balance of emphasis on the fact that he plays RPGs vs. the fact that he's filed for bankruptcy twice in two years and is getting divorced. I mean it actually seems reasonable to me to criticize the character and capacity of a judge while they're going through divorce and bankruptcy. But this article is 95% about an irrelevant hobby. Sad illustration of contemporary American culture that playing RPGs is more embarrassing than being unable to manage your finances or keep a marriage together.


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## tomBitonti (Dec 6, 2013)

Janx said:


> Heck, just presiding over divorce cases while in the midst of a divorce is possibly a conflict of interest to the right observer.




Additional text omitted.

But, the issue is not just an actual conflict, but also the appearance of one.  (I thought.)

A divorce _might_ be an actual conflict; a divorce _might_ give a judge a good insight into the process.

The potential for an actual confict seems pretty high.

Thx!

TomB


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## tomBitonti (Dec 6, 2013)

The article maligns both rpgs and Judge Peterson.

Being an enthusiast hobbyest is hardly abnormal.  If such is a problem, then folks who, say, have a similarly strong interest in golf, or sports, or music of several genres should be in a similar bind.  Or, say, a scout leader, or an amateur painter.

What I obtain from the listed activities is that Judge Peterson had a small business, and has had a strong involvement in community activities.

The strongest points, pertaining to divorce and bankruptcy, are themselves meaningless without context.  Without knowing any details, these tell us very little.  Without those details, they seem intentionally prejudicial.

Anyways, this sort of article rather gets under my skin.

Thx!

TomB


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## billd91 (Dec 6, 2013)

Kobold Boots said:


> Replying to the only part of your post that's relevant.  Read the article.  None of the quoted posts were posted during a lunch hour or lunch break.




Doesn't really matter. He's not on an hourly wage.


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## Jhaelen (Dec 6, 2013)

Wow, what an awful mud-slinging campaign. Shame on the whoever brought that up!


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## Cergorach (Dec 6, 2013)

Libramarian said:


> The most ridiculous thing about this article is the balance of emphasis on the fact that he plays RPGs vs. the fact that he's filed for bankruptcy twice in two years and is getting divorced. I mean it actually seems reasonable to me to criticize the character and capacity of a judge while they're going through divorce and bankruptcy. But this article is 95% about an irrelevant hobby. Sad illustration of contemporary American culture that playing RPGs is more embarrassing than being unable to manage your finances or keep a marriage together.




Really? The divorce rate in the US is around 50%, few States besides Idaho have higher divorce rates...
Law school could easily leave you with a debt of $200,000+.
Buying a house pre-house market crash would leave you with a lot of debt and little value.

Debt isn't a problem, most individuals and businesses trive on debt, the problems start that when there's a economic downturn certain agencies start collecting debt early and drives debtors into a corner they can only leave by declaring bankruptcy.

btw. where did you find that he declared bankruptcy twice? Didn't think you can file that often...


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## Holy Bovine (Dec 6, 2013)

Dausuul said:


> Clark Peterson is a judge? Wow! I had no idea.
> 
> And yeah, this is appalling. The whole piece echoes the hysteria of the '80s. As for posting from work... let that one who has not posted from work cast the first flame.




To me it looks likes some shyster lawyers are trying to cast Peterson in a negative light so that they have a (tiny) chance to get their cases overturned.


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## RSKennan (Dec 6, 2013)

I do stand up comedy at the open mic level, and this situation reminds me of this judge who was told he had to quit stand up. He quit being a judge instead.


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## Alzrius (Dec 6, 2013)

That article puts the "yellow" in "yellow journalism." 

I don't know Clark very well, but everything I do know about him speaks to his professionalism with regards to both his job and his hobbies, and his excellent character. For this article to try to hard to portray him in a negative light says more about that writer than it does about Clark.


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## lrsach01 (Dec 6, 2013)

Nothing but love to Clark.


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## Scrivener of Doom (Dec 6, 2013)

This is what you get when you politicise the judicial system. And now please excuse me while I go and sing, "God Save The Queen".


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## Bedrockgames (Dec 6, 2013)

Sad to see people still think rpgs are somehow different than any other hobby. If he had been into antiques, baseball stats, or model trains, I doubt anyone would care that he posts messags past midnight or on his lunch break. My sense is the lawyers in this case know they can use a misunderstood hobby to paint him negatively.


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## Scrivener of Doom (Dec 6, 2013)

kitsune9 said:


> In my professional life, I kept my hobby gaming in the closet. In the division that I work for now, it's far more open, but I have in the past worked for companies where if it was found out that I was a gamer, I would be immediately fired because only IT/programmer folks do that "kompuuter" stuff, grow beards, look scruffy, wear jeans, etc. The finance guys must be immaculately professional 24/7, no exceptions. We manage the finances of multi-million projects and clinical trials, no fun and games allowed here.




I must admit, I have done the same thing for the same reason.


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## malcolm_n (Dec 6, 2013)

Mad_Jack said:


> When I saw this I immediately thought of the article awhile back about the lady politician who made the news after her opponents made a big stink about her playing WOW... I mean, if you want to question her moral character for playing a Horde orc, that's one thing (lol), but for playing video games?
> 
> As for the article, please... Everybody knows Orcus is ruling in Hell, not making rulings in Iowa.
> 
> (Ya know, I think if I ever hit the lotto for half a billion dollars, I'm going to run for office - I'll build my whole campaign around being the nation's first openly gamer presidential candidate, and when asked about my platform I'll simply respond "PS4"...)



You'd have my vote without further question .

This is just absurd. Somebody needs to TMZ the article writer and find every little thing he's ever done that was even remotely questionable. I'm sure you'll find out quite a bit more is wrong with his life than a judge who plays D&D.


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## Janx (Dec 6, 2013)

tomBitonti said:


> Additional text omitted.
> 
> But, the issue is not just an actual conflict, but also the appearance of one.  (I thought.)
> 
> ...




Indeed, and your words are more clear to what I meant.

the gaming matter is just sensationalizing something that some ignorant folk think is scary.

The divorce matter is something that is being ignored, despite being more relevant to the matter at hand of whether the Judge was suited to manage a certain case.

The humans involved in this story have stumbled on a potential issue, but have chosen the more sensational aspect rather than the more serious aspect.

Either the humans are stupid in their priorities, or a human is attacking the Judge's character for a longer term goal of getting him fired/preventing re-election (ammo to use this fiasco against him at the next election). Basically, somebody's playing politics.


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## Scorpio616 (Dec 6, 2013)

dd.stevenson said:


> I sort of regret that there's a link to the Spokesman Review article on Enworld. It's giving them outrage clicks, which is undoubtedly more than half the reason they posted this garbage in the first place.



What? I felt that was a balanced article with plenty of research done. The article author went through a lot of trouble to provide even handed information. Hell, it looked to me the author even gave some extra information on one parties raising the issue _to give the impression_ that the person ignored their dying mother and sued when he was cut from the will. Did the author need to give those details? No, nor did he need to show that person with their noticeably younger wife, again something one might do to give further hints at a possible motive.

Personally I think there is a LOT of bias right here in this thread. Just because there is a gamer involved, there is an assumption he could have done no wrong.


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## Morrus (Dec 6, 2013)

Scorpio616 said:


> Personally I think there is a LOT of bias right here in this thread. Just because there is a gamer involved, there is an assumption he could have done no wrong.




Of course there is.  He's not just "a gamer"; he's someone we know and like, a member of this community, and a friend.


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## Umbran (Dec 6, 2013)

Scorpio616 said:


> What? I felt that was a balanced article with plenty of research done. The article author went through a lot of trouble to provide even handed information




Balanced?  Even-handed?  One commenter noted:

_"I'm far more concerned about the points that were simply glossed over in this hatchet job. His messy divorce was mentioned in five paragraphs. His custody battle in one paragraph, his bankruptcy in four and his tax issues in two. But his choice of hobbies shows up in about 60 paragraphs: more than five times as many mentions compared to the distractions of his divorce, child custody battle and inability to handle his finances."_

I don't think he is capable of doing no wrong.  I think men in his position occasionally must bear scrutiny and review, and can't be above criticism.  But, critique things that matter!  The article gives the hairy eyeball in a decidedly unbalanced manner, with real issues given passing mention, and a huge focus on the sensational over the mundane issues of life.

There are several reasons to write an article this way, but most of them are not, "Give a fair and balance report of what is actually going on in the community."


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## Bedrockgames (Dec 6, 2013)

Scorpio616 said:


> What? I felt that was a balanced article with plenty of research done. The article author went through a lot of trouble to provide even handed information. Hell, it looked to me the author even gave some extra information on one parties raising the issue _to give the impression_ that the person ignored their dying mother and sued when he was cut from the will. Did the author need to give those details? No, nor did he need to show that person with their noticeably younger wife, again something one might do to give further hints at a possible motive.
> 
> Personally I think there is a LOT of bias right here in this thread. Just because there is a gamer involved, there is an assumption he could have done no wrong.




Sure we are biased here, because this is a gaming forum and the article opens with that aspect of the story, then focuses on it almost exclusively, leaving many of us to wonder how the writer would have handled the piece if another hobby were involved. I used to do freelance work as a stringer for local papers, and this article did not strike me as balanced. I agree it was well researched, but mainly just to emphasize the enormity of his posts on gaming forums. I had way more questions than answers after reading it.


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## Janx (Dec 6, 2013)

Scorpio616 said:


> What? I felt that was a balanced article with plenty of research done. The article author went through a lot of trouble to provide even handed information. Hell, it looked to me the author even gave some extra information on one parties raising the issue _to give the impression_ that the person ignored their dying mother and sued when he was cut from the will. Did the author need to give those details? No, nor did he need to show that person with their noticeably younger wife, again something one might do to give further hints at a possible motive.
> 
> Personally I think there is a LOT of bias right here in this thread. Just because there is a gamer involved, there is an assumption he could have done no wrong.




Have you read my posts on this thread dude?  I (and others) have pretty clearly noted where he may have made mistakes.

aside from the fact that the guy is a well known  person in RPG-land (and friend to many), the main beef with the article is it is capitalizing on anti-D&D/RPG sentiment in order to butcher the guy's character by making him look silly because of his posts on a forum.

Imagine somebody dredged up all your posts and used the times of some of them against you, or the more silly ones in an article to the public to imply that you haven't been doing your job.

Most of us can empathize that while there's likely nothing wrong with our online activities, when cast in the wrong light, they can be used against us.

that's not a good thing for anybody, and the sooner you belly up to the picket line with the rest of us, you'll find that scab will peel right off.


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## Nightfall (Dec 6, 2013)

I'm sorry but I don't see how anyone with even a smidge of writing talent could conceivably believe this article meets ANY journalistic standards. Sure there are facts in here, but there's no a) clear presentation of order nor does this article even remotely contextualize the fact there are OTHER factors that MIGHT have hindered Mister Peterson's judgement. Just focusing on ONE aspect to the exclusivity of others does not make for good journalism. It's just cherry picking yellow journalism at its most basic. 

So that's my two cent.


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## technoextreme (Dec 6, 2013)

Bedrockgames said:


> Sad to see people still think rpgs are somehow different than any other hobby. If he had been into antiques, baseball stats, or model trains, I doubt anyone would care that he posts messags past midnight or on his lunch break. My sense is the lawyers in this case know they can use a misunderstood hobby to paint him negatively.



Its not that.  Even if you were to strip RPGs out of that context a lot of his stuff would be incredibly stupid to have posted like flirting on the internet.  Though I have to say I'm actually more surprised this hasn't happened more often given the preponderance of incredibly stupid stuff people open themselves to in this industry.


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## Janx (Dec 6, 2013)

technoextreme said:


> Its not that.  Even if you were to strip RPGs out of that context a lot of his stuff would be incredibly stupid to have posted like flirting on the internet.  Though I have to say I'm actually more surprised this hasn't happened more often given the preponderance of incredibly stupid stuff people open themselves to in this industry.




And thats part of the trap of the article.  Anybody can be made to look bad, especially if the article paints it in such a way to make it look wierder than anything else we've all done.

I'm sure there's a valid concern to the point that the Judge may or may not have done his best work on some cases given other factors going on his life at the time.

D&D isn't likely part of the problem, and use of his hobby posts to make him look ridiculous aren't good for the rest of us if this practice catches on.

It's one thing to post stupid things on Facebook that your boss is friends with you on, so he can catch you playing hooky.

It's another to have a muck-raker journalist dredge up your online goofiness from under an alias to paint you in a bad light to prove a point, all the while ignoring the completely valid real issues (presiding over a divorce while in the middle of a divorce).

It's not good for those of us in the hobby (and on forums like this).

It's not good for actually getting justice in the matter on the real issue at hand.


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## Bedrockgames (Dec 6, 2013)

technoextreme said:


> Its not that.  Even if you were to strip RPGs out of that context a lot of his stuff would be incredibly stupid to have posted like flirting on the internet.  Though I have to say I'm actually more surprised this hasn't happened more often given the preponderance of incredibly stupid stuff people open themselves to in this industry.




I think if it had been other things, it wouldn't be a story. As far as i can tell from the article, the things he was using it for were all permissible uses of the internet connection he was using. If there are laws or rules he is breaching by making comments online, that is certainly deserving of attention, but the article doesn't indicate this was the case (it mentions briefly commenting on upcoming games, which is a possible problem but then never really explores that). Now maybe there are broader concerns here that need to be addressed. Maybe i am missing something he was doing that he wasn't supposed to. But the article doesn't really make that case. It just lists off a bunch of game related stuff he was doing online, never giving you a context to assess it in. My impression, is readers are just supposed to assume its bad because it is a wierd hobby. But i dont honestly think the article would had done the same if he was commenting on baseball league message boards.


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## mach1.9pants (Dec 6, 2013)

Only in the US 

Best wishes to Orcus in all his endeavours, a great guy who made some awesome stuff.


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## Scorpio616 (Dec 6, 2013)

Bedrockgames said:


> I think if it had been other things, it wouldn't be a story. As far as i can tell from the article, the things he was using it for were all permissible uses of the internet connection he was using. If there are laws or rules he is breaching by making comments online, that is certainly deserving of attention, but the article doesn't indicate this was the case (it mentions briefly commenting on upcoming games, which is a possible problem but then never really explores that).



If any of the comments on message board include links to his company, like say in a signature, that is a commercial use because he is advertising his company in a quasi public message board. Heck if his Screen Name / Avatar is connectable to his company, *any* post he makes is arguably advertising.

EDIT:


> Judicial branch employees may use state-owned computers and email and Internet services for personal use on their personal time, according to department policy. But that personal use may not include political or commercial purposes, the policy states.


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## Bedrockgames (Dec 6, 2013)

Scorpio616 said:


> If any of the comments on message board include links to his company, like say in a signature, that is a commercial use because he is advertising his company in a quasi public message board. Heck if his Screen Name / Avatar is connectable to his company, *any* post he makes is arguably advertising.
> 
> EDIT:




Again, like I said, the article raised the issue (the quoted text is what I had in mind) but doesn't follow through with any exploration of that subject to help the reader conclude anything. Certainly possible his sig or screen name had a link to the company, but the article doesn't say. He spends is all his research on finding the guys posts and post count, where he should have had legal experts weigh in on points like this. I am still left with the impression that the point of he article is the issue is the guy is a gamer.


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## Morrus (Dec 6, 2013)

I also find it hard to believe this far into the 21st century that there are people on the Western world not fully familiar with basic concept of a messageboard username. To even begin to suggest that they think that Clark thinks he's the namesake of his username on a messageboard doesn't speak well of their ability to navigate this modern world. I can't imagine the array of challenge and confusion they might find at, say, an ATM or a vending machine.


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## Lord Rasputin (Dec 7, 2013)

Nightfall said:


> I'm sorry but I don't see how anyone with even a smidge of writing talent could conceivably believe this article meets ANY journalistic standards.



As someone with a journalism degree, I can confirm that it does not.


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## Nightfall (Dec 7, 2013)

Morrus said:


> I also find it hard to believe this far into the 21st century that there are people on the Western world not fully familiar with basic concept of a messageboard username. To even begin to suggest that they think that Clark thinks he's the namesake of his username on a messageboard doesn't speak well of their ability to navigate this modern world. I can't imagine the array of challenge and confusion they might find at, say, an ATM or a vending machine.




Well not that I don't agree with you Morrus (cause I do!) but sometimes I think I'm my name sake for this username...

That being said, even I realize he's not Orcus. But he does a great impersonation of one! 

Also I want to thank Lord Rasputin for his insight. I might have only attempted an English degree, but I'm glad someone with a Journalism degree can at least see that I'm right.


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## GameDaddy (Dec 7, 2013)

Well, I'm pleased he a Judge these days. That a GM could become an actual Judge, that's pretty awesome!

Don't envy his job though... putting up with every shade of stupid from a group of his former peers (_attorneys_) who have nothing better to do than to pick apart his public and private life, and (they are...).

What he does with his personal time (and hobbies) is his business, _and not the folks that are in his court room because the folks that are in his courtroom are the ones that can't (or won't) get along well enough to reach an agreement._ If they can't get along well enough to reach an agreement without him, why should anyone believe anything they would have to say, about the schedule that is setup for Judge Peterson. Not the Judges fault the Lawyers are playing namby-pamby games with the court-room schedule, filing new motions for this, and that, and often nothing at all, in a ploy to gain more time for their client to pray up a case out of thin air.

Not his fault he has a staggering and crushing load of court cases from a bunch of retards that can't get along, sometimes the folks in his courtroom can't even get along with their own attorneys, the ones they hired to represent them.  

...just sayin'


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## Le Noir Faineant (Dec 7, 2013)

Just saying...

If Clark is as great a judge as he is a game designer... He is one of the very best judges out there.


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## Scrivener of Doom (Dec 7, 2013)

Le Noir Faineant said:


> Just saying...
> 
> If Clark is as great a judge as he is a game designer... He is one of the very best judges out there.




If you can master 1E then you have a massive headstart on mastering the law.

Seriously.


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## smiteworks (Dec 7, 2013)

I bet he's really good at handling rules lawyers.


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## GreyLord (Dec 7, 2013)

If you guys are offended by the writer Scott Maben, it would be best to complain to his bosses and Scott Maben.  Perhaps point out that he offended a LOT of people and a whole community that plays these games.  Perhaps point out a LOT of the community leaders that have played.

His email is

scottm@spokesman.com

His bosses are

garyg@spokesman.com

And

geoffp@spokesman.com


If enough of us complain to them about the article and it's ignorant bias against normal people in the community...something MIGHT be done about such a slam job against all of us.


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## joethelawyer (Dec 7, 2013)

Clark and I have had our differences of opinion in years past, but I genuinely feel bad for the guy for this. Every nutjob who ever stood before him in court and lost, is now going to claim it was because Clark was on the bench slaying dragons in his mind.

Clearly someone is trying to do a hatchet job on Clark here.  He either pissed someone off, screwed the wrong person over--intentionally or not, or someone just wants his job, plain and simple.  That's what's really behind all this.  They are using the nutjobs, from the paragraph above, to make the stink from below.

And if there is nothing that a judicial branch of government hates more than a stink on its reputation.  It doesn't matter that Clark did nothing wrong, technically.  The appearance of impropriety is enough to get the higher ups in judicial to put pressure on him to step down.  We have enough of that here, along with the nutjobs pressuring from below, to get that pressure applied.  

I hope Clark make it through this, but it will depend on how much stink and pressure are generated, and how badly the guy who ordered the hatchet job wants Clark out, and how much clout he has.

It's all politics and power plays.  And that's a shame.

Edit to add:  Don't read that much into his personal finances.  In divorces today it is common to have to claim bankruptcy to get out of debt.  You used to be able to refinance to do that, and also to get one person off of the note, but with housing values shot to hell, that's not usually possible anymore.  Also, a second mortgage I would bet is part of the dividing up the household assets as part of the divorce.  There may not have been enough liquidity to do so without it.  Lastly, tons of people who run their own businesses owe the gvt taxes.  Expecially in this economy, its hard to gauge how much to put aside, and if things take a downturn, its easier to dip into the tax money and pay the rent to keep the business going, hoping it will pick up and you can replenish what you took, rather than to close up the business.  What he owes isn't a lot at all.


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## BOZ (Dec 7, 2013)

I recently started a Wikipedia article about Clark Peterson, and was somewhat astonished by the recent additions to the article within the last few days.


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## I'm A Banana (Dec 13, 2013)

Morrus said:


> I also find it hard to believe this far into the 21st century that there are people on the Western world not fully familiar with basic concept of a messageboard username. To even begin to suggest that they think that Clark thinks he's the namesake of his username on a messageboard doesn't speak well of their ability to navigate this modern world. I can't imagine the array of challenge and confusion they might find at, say, an ATM or a vending machine.




Probably what they're banking on. In fact, *possibly* even what the article writer and the other party in this scenario actually believe.

Idaho, like large swaths of America, is mostly rural. Internet connections are rarer than they are in most other places (they'd cost more to put up than the folks would make back). It's also an older population (as rural communities trend toward these days). A big chunk of them probably don't even HAVE personal computers. There's no need and no benefit. They're grandmas in the countryside, but even more isolated. And, because this is the US, quite a bit more politically adversarial. 

Certainly the whole place isn't a retirement home in an empty field (there are cities! Not everyone is old and marginalized!), but it's quite possible that the area Clark in currently is mostly that, or at least that they are heavily influenced by that mindset. The people this article is talking to probably don't fully know or understand what a message board is, or why one would use it to talk about that game that they had heard vaguely was satanic from their local pastor or TV preacher, maybe 20 years ago (or maybe just last year!). 

To those people, the words "demon prince of the undead" probably just reinforce a worldview where activist judges are influenced directly by Satan to do wickedness. 

Certainly, this isn't universal in Idaho, and there's no telling if "cooler heads" may prevail -- they totally could! This is just to explain why the article writer might think their audience is really interested in the salacious accusation of D&D playing more so than financial troubles or marital troubles. Everyone's got those. What everyone doesn't have is a possible demonic alter-ego that engages in satanic activity from the judge's bench!

Clark doesn't have that, either, but folks in Idaho might not know that as much as most others.


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Dec 13, 2013)

Kamikaze Midget said:


> Idaho, like large swaths of America, is mostly rural. Internet connections are rarer than they are in most other places (they'd cost more to put up than the folks would make back). It's also an older population (as rural communities trend toward these days). A big chunk of them probably don't even HAVE personal computers. There's no need and no benefit. They're grandmas in the countryside, but even more isolated. And, because this is the US, quite a bit more politically adversarial.



Also, newspaper audiences are older than the average American and many regional newspapers are full of older reporters who have a _mixed_ relationship with the Internet. (I've worked in newspapers since the 1990s, and I still run into editors who insist that the Internet is "just a fad," like they did in 1996.)

So this is likely a perfect storm of a novel complaint about a local official, reaching a newsroom that may not be terribly tech-savvy, writing for an audience that needs it all spelled out in copious detail, which makes it all seem even stranger to people entirely new to the concept. (The last story I wrote at my first newspaper was explaining Fidonet -- the precursor to the World Wide Web -- and my editor was sure I had it wrong, since the whole network of distributed computers seemed cuckoo to her back in 1993.)


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## Le Noir Faineant (Dec 14, 2013)

Kamikaze Midget said:


> Probably what they're banking on. In fact, *possibly* even what the article writer and the other party in this scenario actually believe.




Don't listen to him! His screen name implies that he is a Japanese rightwing terrorist!_ And that he targets our navy!_


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## BOZ (Dec 14, 2013)

And is very short, at that!


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## TarionzCousin (Dec 15, 2013)

Le Noir Faineant said:


> Don't listen to him! His screen name implies that he is a Japanese rightwing terrorist!_ And that he targets our navy!_



The French navy?


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