UCD bannings

panda100

20 people banned in one day??

Beruthiel

panda100 wrote:

20 people banned in one day??

and...?

Chinafoot

Truckle was totally right.

Everyone who was banned (including myself...past mod...for shame!) was off-topic. We are repeatedly told on that forum to stay on topic because the level of spam is absolutely ridiculous and it makes the forum crap to read.

Nobody has paid any attention to the warnings and banning is the only way the point will be taken in this case.
Some people are constantly at it and others not so much but in fairness, there'd be cries of unfairness had he only banned the perpetual rule-breakers and not everyone who slipped up this time.

It's only a week.

Red Alert

Which thread was this performance on anyway? Or did he delete it?

Beruthiel

I went looking...

Javion Sweet Sitcom wrote:

Banned for one week for completely ignoring a moderators instruction.

Stepharunie is banned indefinitely at the discretion of hullaballoo.

There's a message behind this: it's do what the moderator tells you to do. Get back on topic means exactly that. PM me when your ban expires please

Seems quite clear to me.
It has been suggested to Hulla by some of us Mods that he has been too lenient in his Modding, resulting in some people thinking they can treat him like sh!t and throwing personal abuse in his direction.
Anyone spoke to me in that manner or constantly ignored my warnings, would not be getting back into a forum I mod.
I suggest you lot take your bannings and when let back in, make an attempt to act like grown ups

Chinafoot

Beruthiel wrote:

I went looking...



Seems quite clear to me.
I has been suggested to Hulla by some of us Mods that he has been too lenient in his Modding, resulting in some people thinking they can treat him like sh!t and throwing personal abuse in his direction.
Anyone spoke to me in that manner would not be getting back into a forum I mod.

Yup, when I modded last year I was far too lenient and as a result nobody paid a blind bit of notice when told to get back on-topic or to cut out the spam. Yet as soon as you ban someone you're "over-moderating". Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I accept the argument that a lot of posters know each other and there's a fair bit of banter which is why I wasn't too keen on handing out bans when I believed the issue could be resolved via a PM but tbh certain posters take the piss. The UCD forum is getting busy and at this time of year there are a lot of new posters and the spammy in-jokes between people make it impossible to read.

When I was finishing up my degree myself and Truckle discussed who we should propose to the admins as my replacement and hulla was picked as he is firm but very fair and hopefully himself and Truckle can tidy the forum up a bit.

The thread was the "Sex in the disabled toilets" one.

panda100

Yep I can see why he done it and tis a good idea to get a bit of order in the place. Is that the most simultaneous bannings there has ever been?Have I made it into Boards history?

Chinafoot

Why post a feedback thread if you agree with it?

Beruthiel

peachypants wrote:

I accept the argument that a lot of posters know each other and there's a fair bit of banter which is why I wasn't too keen on handing out bans when I believed the issue could be resolved via a PM but tbh certain posters take the piss.

I don't think Boards is here for that reason, there are plenty of other places you can go online and in real life if you wish to take the piss.
They are all old enough in that forum to know this.

Beruthiel

panda100 wrote:

Yep I can see why he done it and tis a good idea to get a bit of order in the place. Is that the most simultaneous bannings there has ever been?Have I made it into Boards history?

If you agree with the bannings, what is your feedback issue?

Chinafoot

Beruthiel wrote:

I don't think Boards is here for that reason, there are plenty of other places you can go online and in real life if you wish to take the piss.
They are all old enough in that forum to know this.

Yup I totally agree and said as much on the forum. We even had a sticky about it for a while. But not a blind bit of notice is paid.

Sure I had one user PM me to basically tell me that the reguar users should be allowed have the craic and that by telling them to get back on-topic I was ruining their fun.

lostexpectation

peachypants wrote:

The thread was the "Sex in the disabled toilets" one.

how can you off-topic in thread like that, jeez lighten up :rolleyes:

Chakar

Actually I agree with the bannings there was a serious number of spamming going on.

Anyway I don't think it will make a difference, it'll just start up back again in September.

Chinafoot

lostexpectation wrote:

how can you off-topic in thread like that, jeez lighten up :rolleyes:

That thread was just the last one in a long line of off-topic chatting that goes on.

The mods had do something to get their point across.

ozt9vdujny3srf

Chakar wrote:

Actually I agree with the bannings there was a serious number of spamming going on.

Anyway I don't think it will make a difference, it'll just start up back again in September.

You are one of the most spammy people on that board, and the only reason you arent banned because i said the next time I banned you it would be permanent. An you're moving along a very, very thin line.

Chakar

Javion Sweet Sitcom wrote:

You are one of the most spammy people on that board, and the only reason you arent banned because i said the next time I banned you it would be permanent. An you're moving along a very, very thin line.

I believe you.

RuggieBear

bloody oiks :rolleyes:

antSionnach

I was the one who started this thread, because I heard people having sex in a certain UCD bathroom on two occasions. Weird or what. I wasnt contacted to say this was unsuitable at any time if it was i would deffo have apologized.

But can I see the post where I was off topic. Im not trying to be smart with you, but I dont use boards Im just an occasional poster and tbh i fail to remember what I said that got me banned.

20 people?

Chinafoot

PM Truckle.

The thread itself wasn't the problem. It was the off-topic crap that the thread descended into.

Mr.Nice Guy

The level of spam on the UCD forum reached ridiculous levels a while ago and it turned a lot of people off, including myself.

I regarded the anti-moan thread as the worst one and I note that one has since been dealt with.

The main culprits know who they are.

From the sounds of it, is was a reasonable ban (Panda doesn't even put forth an argument why it shouldn't have been done).

There never used to be problems like this in the past. The problem is, people on the UCD forum know each other in real life so they decide to talk about the great time they had in Barcode, Aunty Mavis' dog who injured his paw etc.

Most of us don't care about this as it doesn't belong on what is a public message board.

Crash

How is aunt mavis's mutt btw Mr. Nice Guy?

Riamfada

Alright folks how about a Private Forum for those of use who "Spam" the crap out of the place where they can keep their RL annoyances to themselves?

To be honest most threads ,in any forum , descend into OT crap after 8 pages. What do you expect?

I think some of you are taking this way too seriously and really don't like the way there is a "you know who you are" thing starting. Permban if its that annoying and turn it back to the old days. (Peacheh what about the other posters who posted OT after Hulla's warning but were not banned? Is this an attack on the usual suspects?)

Beruthial wrote:

I suggest you lot take your bannings and when let back in, make an attempt to act like grown ups

Comments like this are not constructive and the high and mighty atmosphere sometimes makes me sick.

Grimes

Id also like to apologize to Hulla for not heeding his warnings, as a matter of fact the thread moved so fast I didn't get a chance to see them . Great mod and greatest Respekt!

Chinafoot

Grimes wrote:

Alright folks how about a Private Forum for those of use who "Spam" the crap out of the place where they can keep their RL annoyances to themselves?

The spam was never just on the Rant/Bitch thread and you know that.

Grimes wrote:

To be honest most threads ,in any forum , descend into OT crap after 8 pages. What do you expect?

The bannings for this thread were very much a last straw type thing I'd imagine and Truckle can hardly just ban those who do it constantly and not ban the others who were off-topic this time. There are plenty of other threads that have gone off-topic almost immediately over the past while.

Grimes wrote:

I think some of you are taking this way too seriously and really don't like the way seriously

Warning has been given to all of us time and time again on the forum. Truckle was dead right in what he did. Would you rather everyone was left to their own devices there to post whatever crap pops into their head?

Grimes wrote:

Comments like this are not constructive and the high and mighty atmosphere sometimes makes me sick.

I think Beruthiel knows a bit more about these things than you do Grimes and I think that comment was pretty constructive myself. As she said, we're all old enough to know better.

The bans were deserved, it's a kick up the hole the forum needs. It's only a week ffs.

irlrobins

peachypants wrote:

The bans were deserved, it's a kick up the hole the forum needs. It's only a week ffs.

Agreed. I'm happy to sit out my weeks ban. *sound of cherry popping*

Beruthiel

Grimes wrote:

Comments like this are not constructive and the high and mighty atmosphere sometimes makes me sick.

High and mighty atmosphere?
Are you suggesting that it's ok for adults to act like they are five year olds who don't know how to behave on a public forum?
Adults who don't understand the Moderators instructions and just ignore him or throw personal abuse his way is fine by you?
Having this pointed out is apparently high and mighty :rolleyes:
As this is a college forum, I would have thought the age of the adverage poster to be between 18 and 25 no? An age where you are supposed to be able to follow instructions.
Reading some of the threads in there would lead you to believe differently.

I consider my comment to be very constructive, when the posters are let back in they could attempt to act like adults.
What part of that comment makes you sick exactly?

Riamfada

I just think you could tone down on the attitude a bit there . Im not arguing the ban and im not saying that you are wrong.

Beruthiel

Grimes wrote:

I just think you could tone down on the attitude a bit there.

I'm not following you at all.
What attitude?

blondie83

but..but its going to be so boring in there now, we'll have no one to talk to Ah well, we can always chat to each other on our Thursday night drinking sessions in the porterhouse - Truckle I sincerely hope you're coming tonight! (I'll protect ya )

CuLT

panda100 wrote:

Yep I can see why he done it and tis a good idea to get a bit of order in the place. Is that the most simultaneous bannings there has ever been?Have I made it into Boards history?

Actually the record for most bannings in one day is most likely held by Lemming.

InFront

Didnt get a ban wohoo!

whats the story some of the banned have been put back.

So was the decision reversed? Gwan let them back its boring *high and mighty*... I'll make sure they are good.

dajaffa

InFront wrote:

I'll make sure they are good.

I'm always good... I only posted once on that thread, which was admittedly off topic but it was funny enough (imo) to be worth it.

Jonny Arson

Actually there's has been alot less spamming and chit chat on the UCD forum in recent weeks. Ok that may be partially due to the summer upon us but I think alot of posters copped themselves on a bit.

One of the problems with the forum is due to the likes of the Disabled Toilets thread.... threads like that always desend into spam chat fests. Usually if there's a thread started on say more normal college matters you don't tend to get the spam.... you could say maybe it's case for the mods to stamp out threads which will invite chat which it may be but the main problem is with a good 6/7 posters who's posts are mostly spam and that as a result drags some of the less spamful posters into the action.... maybe the bannings might kick them up the arse a bit? I hope.

Personally I do find the bannings OTT and harsh. I do understand that everyone has to be treated as equally as possible or there would be all types of favouritism allegations being flown about. However the UCD forum has a very good community, many of us know each other in person and drink beers with each other (like tonight hopefully!) and inevitably there is going to be a degree of chat and banter but I don't want to see a complete totalatarian banning of any chat whatseover or that may kill the good community on the forum, to get the right fine balance is the key. I may not completely agree with the ferocity of the bannings but overall the mods on the forum are very good most times, usually call things right and seem to be there in a flash to put out any fires!

ferdi

look, i'm here long enough to know that boards,ie is a safe haven for sad individuals to weild power, dispense discipline and impose authority that they will never have in the real world.ignore it. this is not a dig at the ucd mod, just a general observation.

Blush_01

I think it's pretty fair to say that the people who were banned know they deserved it. Nobody has said that they personally felt that they were wronged by being banned.

I do think, however, that singling Stepherunie out for an indefinite ban was a bit unfair, when someone who didn't get banned treats the board like it's their duty to reply to each individual post (we ALL know who I mean). The whole Stepherunie thing was a misunderstanding (which was obvious to me from having read the whole thread at once, but probably wasn't to others, I just happen to know her IRL - funnily enough having initially become friends via another website...), and I appreciate that Hulla isn't available to discuss it at the moment, but does she really deserve an indefinite ban on the basis of a misunderstanding when everyone else only got a week, regardless of exactly how spammy they have been?

hullaballoo

I'm not too sure what the point of this thread is, because it seems plainly clear that most people seemed to have grasped the reasoning behind the bans. However, I've always said that this is the place to discuss moderation in threads, so I suppose this is my chance to talk a bit about it. (I've only ever had one feedback thread before, but that was the whole SC debacle and doesn't really count).

So, what happened was this. Truckle and I agreed that the spam had to go. One of the first things was to lay down the rules so that people had a warning about it. This was made easier by the fact that peacheh kept going on about how strict on spam I am and as it turned out, there was no spam for the first few weeks.

Then the Bitch/Moan/Rant thread started getting excessively off-topic. Bear in mind that Truckle started the original thread, then I started one that was merged with it, and then there was a third one created to save the DB from too much needless hassle. It's easy enough to stay on topic: you just talk about the topic in the thread title/OP. However, a lot of people seemed to lose the plot in that thread. Just because it's a little bit light-hearted, people think it's time to have a full-blown conversation in the middle of a thread. It's a bit like telling school-kids they don't have to wear their uniform for a day; they just go ballistic.

Then the spam quietened.

Then there was no real trouble until this thread. From the outset it was a disaster. It's an interesting topic, so I thought that if it got back some way on topic, it could be funny. I sort of thought it might turn into a bit of a "Where's the weirdest place you've seen people at it in UCD, D?" or something. But no, it just went wildly off-topic from the first page. I left a warning and then left it for a day or so. When I came back I saw a post from Stepherunie that had me a bit gobsmacked.

I read and re-read it to check if I was seeing things or not. Anyway, I was fairly fed up then. Because of that and various other reasons, I had to take some time out of moderating for a bit but last night, I couldn't resist the urge to do something about that thread. It was such a mess that I couldn't just delete off-topic posts. Out of 10 or so pages, I'd say there were 10 on-topic posts (I just picked that figure randomly, I'm not bothered actually counting them). I wanted to just delete it completely so that none of the posters could have the benefit of their "postcount ++" comments but some deep-seated weakness inside me made me have a change of heart. Then I realised that I'm still not ready to come back to moderate!

Realistically, if I was on form, more or less the same thing would have happened re bannings and I doubt any moderator would have done any differently.

For Stepherunie: as I said before, I'll talk to you about it when I'm back moderating properly in about a week.

To be honest, I can't see how your comment could have pertained to anybody's post except mine. And that's not a good thing.

Bonjour.

Stepherunie

I accept it was fair enough to ban us all for going off topic, I've no qualms with it.

I'm not going to go into the whole issue of my indefinate banning here, i've tried to explain where i was coming from with what i said. I have apologised to both mods and stated that it was not my intention to insult any mods and at the end of the day that is all I can do.

Too all, hope to see you all again someday.

Chinafoot

hullaballoo wrote:

To be honest, I can't see how your comment could have pertained to anybody's post except mine. And that's not a good thing.

In relation to this I just have to say that when I read it initially I had the same response as you and I found it very odd coming from Stepherunie as she is generally a very good contributor to the forum. However I can now totally see the misunderstanding and while your initial warning was ignored (by pretty much everyone) Stepherunie was responding to your second post which she thought was a response to her post just before it.

I know thats not explained very well but I'll show you for those who are interested...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054960421&page=3

Starts at post #89

hullaballoo wrote:

Could this get back on topic at all? Thanks.

The conversation continued and went off-topic again. Grimes said something dirty at #101 and Stepherunie replied at post #102

Stepherunie wrote:

Did I really need that mental image? No I didn't thanks grimes!

Then hulla replied at #103

hullaballoo wrote:

So would that be a no, then?

He was of course referring to his request for the thread to get back on-topic whereas Stepherunie thought he meant "so that would be a no, then" to the mental image Grimes had given her. Hence her reply at #105

Stepherunie wrote:

You would be correct in that assumption alright.

I honestly don't believe there was anything nasty about her reply and it was honestly just a case of crossed wires. I'm sure she'll sort it out with the mods herself but tbh I felt she was being a little hard done by with the indefinite ban and she should have the week's ban along with the rest of us.

Stepherunie

Thanks a million Peachy,

Was actually going to post it all here myself this morning with the same post i sent to both mods.


Just a few additional comments:


a) There was over twenty four hours and 14 posts between hullas two comments and the fact he didn't quote the first post in his second made it less obvious to me that he was referring to the off topic warning.

b)As peachy knows (as i always apologise to her when i meet her) she only once had to warn me for going off topic before, yes I was off topic in the thread, and deserve the same ban as everyone else (1 week) which I'm happy to accept. But the indefinate ban is unfair imho

c) I really don't see how it's right that when hulla is taking a break from modding that he is in charge of when I'm allowed to return, if he's modding he's modding, if he's not he's not, he came back for an evening to ban people and is refusing to deal with my banning for at least a week (in his pm hulla stated it would be at least a fortnight before he would be prepared to discuss my banning, here he said a week)

hullaballoo

Don't be so quick to jump to any conclusions on when I "came back" or not. As a matter of fact, I didn't ban a single person. Truckle made that decision. Then he decided that since it was I who had been offended by your comment, it should be me who dealt with unbanning you.

Which I will, when I'm back.

Now, for anyone who thinks that is unfair, it isn't. Irrespective of whether there was a misunderstanding about to what each of us were referring, Stepherunie is banned for the week for posting off-topic anyway. That means that even if I don't deal with this for the week, she isn't losing out because she would be banned anyway.

Capiche?

irlrobins

hullaballoo wrote:

Now, for anyone who thinks that is unfair, it isn't.

Well it is a bit. You're going to leave her waiting for a week (at the very least) to see if she'll be unbanned or not. Not exactly fair to leave someone hanging like that.

Both sides have stated their case, you have all the info you need to make a decision now. Why wait?

Dave!

Are new people really afraid of the banter in the UCD forum? How long has this been going on? Was there none when I joined? Cos I don't remember feeling discouraged or anything...

hullaballoo

This is getting tedious. She's banned for a week anyway. She'll either be let back in at the end of the week, or she won't. I'm not dealing with it now because I'm supposed to be taking a break.

I don't think there's anything wrong with staving off my decision until I'm feeling a bit more rational. That would probably result in a more fair decision than the one I'd make if I were to be pressured into it now.

ozt9vdujny3srf

OK look at it this way. Until Hulla comes back, there is only one person modding the forum - me. My decision is to permanently ban Stepherunie. However IF Hullaballoo decides to let her back in at some point, thats cool with me, but thats irrelevant right now because he's not modding the forum.

panda100

Sorry you can Lock this thread if ya want. I thought thaT 'FEEDBACK' was allowed for all types of feedback,positvie and negative.This thread was meant to be positive feedback.My starting post was meant to be lighthearted in that 20 bannings in a day is rather a lot. I think all of us that got bannings deserved it. I know myself that I have stopped writing on the anti moan, wahoo type threads cos they are boring and tedious. I know in the past I have spammed a bit and made the forum uncomfortable for some to read (sorry blush:o ) by my union bashing but I havent done this at all in the last couple of months.
Forgive me truckle for I have sinned...............:)

God you remind me of Elliot out of scrubs.(panda100)

Mr.Nice Guy

Just read the thread in question which Peachypants linked to (oy vey, what a read. Aaargh) and it didn't seem to me like Stepherunie was giving lip but rather that she got her wires crossed.

I guess it's open to interpretation but I think she should be given the benefit of the doubt.

hullaballoo

Good God. Just leave it be people, will you? It's doesn't have anything to do with you at all and it has been repeated in this thread so much that you'd be pretty sick not to miss the point.

InFront

you mean "pretty sick to miss the point"?

irlrobins

hullaballoo wrote:

Just leave it be people, will you? It's doesn't have anything to do with you at all

Your actions as a mod has everything to do with the posters in the UCD forum. And therefore they are entitled to give their feedback on the situation as they see it.

The_Minister

I skimmed the page that Peachy linked to and most posts seemed to be about sex in UCDD in general. Can threads not "evolve" as they go along. Such a topic was always going to be slightly spammy due to the high hilarity factor, but most posts focused on college sex. Is this not an acceptable destination for the thread?

Terry

Grimes wrote:

Alright folks how about a Private Forum for those of use who "Spam" the crap out of the place where they can keep their RL annoyances to themselves?

To be honest most threads ,in any forum , descend into OT crap after 8 pages. What do you expect?

this post is a blatant plug for the forum proposal in my sig.

as a favour to Grimes, i hacve fixed the bbcode in his post.