Hey, just a message to every friend on Kotaku. There is a social network-type site that has been put together for Kotakuites to get together and play games and exchange friend codes/gamertags etc. Check it out at [kotakuites.ning.com] and join up. When I get my PS3 I need some people to add!

I can give you a little info on Kirby getting banned. It seemed to start back in December when Kirby's comments and username were whirling around winning the KoK contest more than anything... I think that really turned Witz off... not because Kirby was competition in the contest, but just because Kirby took it pretty far.

The "popularity contest" part was definitely the start. For Witz, popularity was a natural process, but for Kirby there was a point where it was more of a quest.

Since then, Kirby had kinda gotten on Witz shit-list gradually. It started innocently enough... Witz saying "dude, come on... knock of the goofy crap", but some of Kirby's commentary continued to grate on Witz nerves. Not all of it, mind you, but enough to keep the annoyance on the forefront.

I think Witz ended up overly aware of Kirby everywhere he commented until Kirby's insinuation of "this is how Nazism happens" pushed the wrong button.

It was inevitable, really... the high volume of Kirby's commentary and the subtle annoyance factor that was being generated were certainly leading this way for a while.

It's not that Kirby wasn't saying some of the same things other people were saying... but I think Witz felt that his status as a lead commentor should have given him more pause before hitting "submit". At the very least, Kirby was certainly aware that he was driving Witz nuts and probably could have done something to diffuse the situation rather than keep pushing the same buttons.

In a nutshell, I think Witz looks at anyone who has a "star" (as Kirby would likely have had) as someone who needs to hold themselves that much more accountable for their comments... a higher standard, as it were.

It wasn't all Kirby's fault, mind you, I don't think he was consciously poking at Witz... but the signs were definitely there for a while and he didn't seem to be interested in resolving the situation either. It wasn't a cut-and-dry good vs evil battle... but it played out the only way it was likely to.

One gun town + two gunslingers... bound to go down poorly.

Thanks for the info. I was out at the game expo for most of the day, just got back an hour ago.