Moderator bullying on weather forums..

ninebeanrows

Over the last few days i have found myself being target by moderator "snowbie" on the weather forums. I posted threads and comments on a weather event and i was the target of specific saracstic and snide remarks. The thread titled changed to that of a ridiuclus riddle in order to rise me if one could say.

He duely got a slightly condescending comment out of me and he was very happy to pull the trigger and ban me. The guy obviously dislikes me but i would expect a non partizan moderator on the forums.

I would to complain about this moderator as i feel he is holding back what could be a very interesting forum.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054991878

TerrorFirmer

Reading that thread reveals two things:

1) From what I can see, you did not deserve a ban.
2) Equally, from what I can see, there is no evidence that you're being personally picked on

Stark

Ah "Day after tomorrow" guy, you're back.

We're all still here. Noone's been killed in freak weather conditions yet. Though looking at your nasty weather forecasts, I wonder why you feel the need to complain about Snowbie. Sure the wind and ice will take him first.

ninebeanrows

Thanks for your posts guys!

Weather is a really fickle thing. Everything i post does come from a proper
source but as with weather its' never certain:)

As for the upcoming Gordon storm is could prove to be a windy/ wet miss
or a severe event with wind gusts to 80mph and loads of rain;)

At the moment the ECM model which the irish met use is showing the
storm on the south coast with sustained 55mph winds on Thursday midnight:)

Again thanks for your opinions;)

Asok

We didn't listen stark WE DIDN'T LISTEN!!

aidan_walsh

The thread titled changed to that of a ridiuclus riddle in order to rise me if one could say.

You were told that the thread title changed because the thread was merged with another relevant one.

He duely got a slightly condescending comment out of me

Thats a matter of opinion, though condescending answers to a moderators decision are hardly ever seen as "due" on any board here.

i would expect a non partizan moderator on the forums.

Would you prefer a moderator who didn't know his stuff? Good luck finding a non-partisian, informed person.

he was very happy to pull the trigger and ban me.

When you were asked to stop changing the title of the thread, you threw your toys out of the pram, and promised not to come back. Why, therefore, does the ban bother you?

aidan_walsh

HavoK wrote:

you did not deserve a ban.

It could be argued that he was deserving for a possible contravention of the charter by img linking a pic without the permission of the copyright holder. If you wanted to be pedantic, and possibly reaching.

TerrorFirmer

aidan_walsh wrote:

It could be argued that he was deserving for a possible contravention of the charter by img linking a pic without the permission of the copyright holder. If you wanted to be pedantic, and possibly reaching.

Hey, don't selectively quote me.

sudzs

aidan_walsh wrote:

When you were asked to stop changing the title of the thread, you threw your toys out of the pram, and promised not to come back. Why, therefore, does the ban bother you?

Well I suppose choosing not to come back to a forum is one thing.

Being baned (without justification) is quite another.

aidan_walsh

sudzs wrote:

Well I suppose choosing not to come back to a forum is one thing.

Being baned (without justification) is quite another.

Perhaps its not so unjustified as we might be lead to believe...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=52073736&postcount=11

Tristrame wrote:

Any breach of the charter,(which WC has clearly breached as per post 2 by ignoring the thread creation guidelines) can lead to a ban at the mods discretion.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=52073700&postcount=10

Tristrame wrote:

What you may not realise is that WC behind the scenes does not like being moderated.He tends to send rather not nice pms to mods.
Thats why he got a site ban on TWO and unfortunately he is carrying on the same way here and theres only one thing thats going to lead to.

Funny how that got left out of the original version of the story, eh? Any truth Weathercheck?

ninebeanrows

Truth in what Aidan?

That i got banned from a weather forum 2 and half years ago?? ( when i was 14 and half years of age?)

Anyway all im off to bed i never believed i win over you all but
i just felt quite offended and felt like getting a consensus, keep
your posts coming:D

6th

Using the fact he was banned over 2 years ago is ridiculus. If he was banned for what happened on that thread then its unfair, if he was banned based on past events even though other regular posters have said he is a good contributor then its still ridiculus.

I hope his fellow posters stand by him and boycott the forum until he is unbanned.

@ 6th

(1) WC's thread was a charter violation.
That part of the charter was put in place by me when I was mod of that board to keep the board tidy and to stem the flow of several ridiculous threads by WC.

Many of his armageddon threads have been merged or locked on that board.

Now snowbie's first reaction to WC's charter violation was to merge his thread with another...
It's WC's actions afterwards that escalated the matter.

Not to mention abusive pm's

(2) I have a catalog of abusive pm's from WC stretching back over his tenure on boards,I've laughed most of them off tbh because he's young.He's not a very nice person behind the scenes though and has in my opinion a lot to learn as regards his behaviour.
He knows this but he couldn't care less,he'd rather be petulant.

As regards his ban on one of the UK's biggest weather fora TWO well that was for behaving much the same way as he did here but it was made permanent when he sent some awfull abuse to one of the admins of that site.
I was made aware of this but I didnt ban him because of it.
But of course when he started at the exact same lark over here, thats when he got the heavy hand of moderation and rightly so.

6th

First off I read the forum a bit here and there but never post, its usually WCs posts I find interesting.

Tristrame wrote:

(1) WC's thread was a charter violation.
That part of the charter was put in place by me when I was mod of that board to keep the board tidy and to stem the flow of several ridiculous threads by WC.

So you put things in place to stop WC type of posts because you believe they were ridiculous? So there is no room to post things which might not happen? Did you spot the Sunami?

Tristrame wrote:

Not to mention abusive pm's

Abusive pms? ... take it to the mod forum and i'm sure a permanent site ban will follow. Abuse isnt tolerated on Boards.

Tristrame wrote:

(2) I have a catalog of abusive pm's from WC stretching back over his tenure on boards,I've laughed most of them off tbh because he's young.

So you got abusive pms from him and you didnt follow the correct procedure - yet you throw them back at him now?

Tristrame wrote:

He's not a very nice person behind the scenes though and has in my opinion a lot to learn as regards his behaviour.

They are your personal opinions and seeing as you are not the mod that has banned him in this case are irrelevant. I'm not always a nice person "behind the scenes" should i be site banned cos i may not be likeable? I'm sure there are people who dont like you and feel there is room for improvement.

Tristrame wrote:

As regards his ban on one of the UK's biggest weather fora TWO well that was for behaving much the same way as he did here but it was made permanent when he sent some awfull abuse to one of the admins of that site.

Again its irrelevant here, should background checks be done on all posters incase they've used other message boards?

Tristrame wrote:

I was made aware of this but I didnt ban him because of it.

But you'll us that info now to discredit him because you want to stand up for a mod of a forum you once moderated.

Tristrame wrote:

But of course when he started at the exact same lark over here, thats when he got the heavy hand of moderation and rightly so.

If he was banned for abuse now why wasnt he before when he sent so many to you as a mod in the past? Were you not moderating correctly? If the ban is because of abusive pms to snowie then why was he informed of the ban in the thread that the mod obviously had a problem with - this could very easily have been taken up as a ban solely due to that thread. That is how many see it and why many see it as unjust, if its not the case fair enough, still poor mod'ing

Its only happening now because the mod doesnt (as you dont) like how he posts extreme (yet unoffensive) and interesting threads?

pH

6th wrote:

I hope his fellow posters stand by him and boycott the forum until he is unbanned.

I for one vow never to post there again until this terrible injustice is righted.

I was thinking of "Free Weathercheck" as a campaign slogan, but it sounds more like an offer from a dodgy double-glazing salesman, so maybe not.

Crash

I for one vow never to read there until this terrible injustice is righted.

and then, i'll find some other injustice so as not to read there. oh well.

6th

6th wrote:

First off I read the forum a bit here and there but never post, its usually WCs posts I find interesting.

I'm glad you do.I wish he was a little less petulant though.Snowbie only merged two threads and he had WC doing an indian dance.Thats simply not on.

So you put things in place to stop WC type of posts because you believe they were ridiculous? So there is no room to post things which might not happen? Did you spot the Sunami?

Theres tidiness.
As for the Sunami,that has nothing to do with weather, thats to do with under sea earthquakes

Abusive pms? ... take it to the mod forum and i'm sure a permanent site ban will follow. Abuse isnt tolerated on Boards.

have you been looking in then?

So you got abusive pms from him and you didnt follow the correct procedure - yet you throw them back at him now?

Theres no one procedure.

They are your personal opinions and seeing as you are not the mod that has banned him in this case are irrelevant.

And yours are?

I'm not always a nice person "behind the scenes" should i be site banned cos i may not be likeable? I'm sure there are people who dont like you and feel there is room for improvement.

Well If I had a penny for the number of times,I've observed bans lengthened because the pm reply from the banned person was abusive,I'd have a lot of them.
It's a fairly standard understandable procedure.

Again its irrelevant here, should background checks be done on all posters incase they've used other message boards?

It's all information and incidently why shouldnt one take the information and use it? I didnt ban WC and neither did snowbie because of that information.
It is relevant as it shows you that this isnt his first time at that.
Mind you I usually ignore it.
I gave WC huge latitude actually.

But you'll us that info now to discredit him because you want to stand up for a mod of a forum you once moderated.

Not at all I'll just present the facts.

If he was banned for abuse now why wasnt he before when he sent so many to you as a mod in the past? Were you not moderating correctly?

Well I did ban him before after his elastic band broke...

If the ban is because of abusive pms to snowie then why was he informed of the ban in the thread that the mod obviously had a problem with

He was pm'ed that the ban was for a month,thats fairly normal.For what its worth,I dont think he should be sitebanned now.But I do agree with the forum ban and I do agree with the lengthening of it based on wc's response to snowbies pm.

this could very easily have been taken up as a ban solely due to that thread. That is how many see it and why many see it as unjust, if its not the case fair enough, still poor mod'ing

The charter is there,you go to after hours and flaunt its charter or any of the boards charters and see what happens.

Its only happening now because the mod doesnt (as you dont) like how he posts extreme (yet unoffensive) and interesting threads?

No its not only happening now,its happened before.
Often,I and DapperGent spent too much time tidying up many of WC's funny threads.He's been warned by the mods of that boar a gazzillion times.

He's an awful attention seeker,but shur let him at it, it doesnt bother me to be honest

Bob the Builder

MOD'S HATE ME: Get over it, if you've got a problem with a user,warn them...dont ban them.

TWO YEARS AGO: wtf? he made his mistake. Give him a chance....

ABUSIVE PM'S: No Mod's seem to remember a post in the Mod forum, you (imo) disobeyed the correct course of action for abuse.

Weathercheck, I think bringing it to feedback was also a bit of a silly decision, bring it to an admin who will actually follow the rules of action as this is "bullying"

6th, yep, some people dislike you but ur a fair guy...and you must have spent a long time making that post in Weathercheck's defence. Great Work...

...and for any other mod like tristame, get lost. It aint your battle, if you were abused, report it, instead of standing up for another Mod who asn't tried to defend him/herself yet.

I hereby will not access the weather forum at all until justice has been served and ask that someone PM me when justice is accounted for...

I'm beinning to get the impression that the Weather forum is like a bookmaker's...you make a wrong decision about the weather and you pay hell. The tSunami in the middle east was not foreseen until about 2hours after it happened, then everyone jumped up and down telling baout how they predicted it.... I think I might as well ring God now and ask him to join boards and go onto the weather forum, he's about the only person that will guess all the weather events, and the only one willing to go low enough to access it...

It's Scum like this that drag down Boards to dog pooh...

aidan_walsh

ur a fair mod

Half right. He ain't a mod

fade2black

Weathercheck, how many forums have you actually been banned from in your time. I noticed you were banned from the Horse Racing forum in the past. Are you a bit of a bogey? Or are you just misunderstood?

Bob the Builder

aidan_walsh wrote:

Half right. He ain't a mod

Ur quick there, I made a bad slip up*

[size=-2]*thanks for telling me[/size]

Stark

Also, he's not fair, he's strawberry blonde.

Bob the Builder

Racist!!!
is he actually ginger?

el rabitos

imagine getting into an arguement about the weather...jaysus

fade2black

I feel like arguing with you now about the spelling of the word argument. We can play some verbal tennis for a while and then go back to abusing each other about soccer. Each to their own I guess.

ninebeanrows

This isn't the weather forum. You're being banned from the weather forum, rightly or wrongly, does not turn other forums into the weather forum.

BigCon

My 2c:
I think WC always goes for the most extreme likelihood as forecast by the many charts. He also adds a bit of sensationalism to them.

However, anyone that frequents the weather forum regularly knows this, so I don't see it as a problem (plus there's always the possibility of his forecast coming off - I believe he was the first person to predict snow on Christmas day, 2 years ago, a prediction that was met with some skepticism iirc).

I also remember the last time he was banned from weather; at the time it seemed to be a harsh ban as well.
I don't know the content of his abusive pm's, but I would guess they’re not too bad, considering how most of his posts are treated by some of the folks on the weather forum.

Bottom line is I think he shouldn't have been banned as I like reading his take on upcoming events and they always have some basis in fact...

The Muppet

I too read the Weather forum and like 6th I find Weatherchecks posts interesting. I don't see what the big hassle is with them/him even if they are not the most accurate. It's not like Boards is anyones first port of call for a weather forecast.

There appears to be very little tolerance where he is concerned on the Weather forum.

6th

Tristrame wrote:

I'm glad you do.I wish he was a little less petulant though.Snowbie only merged two threads and he had WC doing an indian dance.Thats simply not on.

Well if the ban is just a forum ban it should be based on his behavior on the forum. If the ban is due to abusive emails and he has a history of this then its a bigger issue and should be a site ban. Personal abuse is not tolerated on boards.

btw all my points till stand except for the tSunami one

Hobbes

the only thing I got from reading your thread was that if it ever came down to a war of Weather geeks vs Chess geeks. The Weather geeks will win hands down.

6th

wait ... who are the chess geeks?

BigCon

BigCon wrote:

I don't know the content of his abusive pm's, but I would guess they’re not too bad, considering how most of his posts are treated by some of the folks on the weather forum.

Well I laughed at them as usual.

Bottom line is I think he shouldn't have been banned as I like reading his take on upcoming events and they always have some basis in fact...

Thats an opinion.
I'd be of the view that a moderator who merges posts or changes thread titles so as to conform with the boards charter is taking the right decision.
Someone who has a hissy fit and undoes the changes and complains in thread is taking the wrong one.

The Hill Billy

The only one having a hissy fit in that thread was Snowbie.

A petulant & undeserved banning.

6th

Tristrame wrote:

so as to conform with the boards charter is taking the right decision.

So it was against the charter because it was considered to be a sensationalist and extreme opinion? But doesnt it look like he was kinda right?

So discussing extreme possibilities is not allowed on the weather forum?

6th

6th wrote:

So it was against the charter because it was considered to be a sensationalist and extreme opinion? But doesnt it look like he was kinda right?

Have you read the charter at all yet 6th? I know last night was probably your first ever post in there Heres the relevant bit for the avoidance of all doubt...

New threads on this subject may only be created for specefic Winter weather events when they have happened and not ahead of when anyone thinks they are going to happen.
This rule will also apply to other seasons and threads may be started at the appropriate time for the forecasting of events then.
Similarally for other seasons,specefic weather events eg thunderstorms, heatwave etc can have their own thread only as they happen and not before.

From here

So discussing extreme possibilities is not allowed on the weather forum?

It is in a thread that discusses overall winter or autumn weather.
WC does know this ,after all he was moderated on it several times by me.

He was just trying it on with the new mod and the new mod said no and rightly so.

FlutterinBantam

I enjoy the weather forum and respectfully suggest we leave moderating to the moderators.
If there are too many self appointed watchdogs then the system will become a shambles.

6th

I've read the charter and tbh i think its a bit choking.

Banning of WC will only harm the forum, it wont be as interesting to read without him.

My final thoughts on the matter, the charter needs to be reworked by a mod who is actually passionate about the subject.

Hobbes

6th wrote:

wait ... who are the chess geeks?

Who knows!

All I know is after reading this post I have no clue what is going on but I do know it would kick the ass out of the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined or the Falkbeer Countergambit. :eek:

Does no else see the threat?! :eek:

Although it could be worse, Gordon could come and blow you.

6th

6th wrote:

My final thoughts on the matter, the charter needs to be reworked by a mod who is actually passionate about the subject.

So snowbie,myself and dapperGent arent fit to moderate or agree a charter and apparently arent passionate about the subject...
:rolleyes:

6th I've been around long enough to know what you're at here.
Boredom shouldnt be the reason to take up a case.

The case should hold some water in the first place.

RE*AC*TOR

Seems to me that the mods do have a personal issue with WC. It seems they know what buttons to push - and are all too happy to push them.

Also I read the "Charter" - could it be edited down to a single post with bullet points? Its like reading a normal charter, except translated twice through Babelfish.

6th

I didnt say you guys werent fit to mod, i just said the charter should be reworked. It needs to allow for posters who are passionate about the subject. WC was not setting out to cause a fight but its like hes being told "careful now only post the facts, dont go being an individual and have an opinion on what could happen".

I'm not here cos I'm bored, I'm here because a poster has been unfairly treated. Have a look at my form or ask anyone - i'm usually standing up for the mods but in this case its been handled very badly.

6th

I am not the only one who thinks this ban was harsh and unfair. I'm also not the only one who thinks WC is a great poster in the forum.

Shuld I start a poll and see what people think?

DapperGent

You can if you want.
But I'll introduce some more facts.
This is a quote from one of WC's threads last year that was recycled
And note he didnt come here to complain about the recycling,yes we had to dump a whole thread...

Title of the thread was
Severe Weather - Blizzards and Gusts to 85mph
In reply to WC's warning that everyone in the East should stay indoors,DapperGent who is a meterologist in the met, posted this

DapperGent wrote:

This sort of advice is totally unnecessary. It's overblown sensationalism. It's going to be very windy early on. That's it folks, windy. Very windy. With likelihood of wintry stuff being confined to high ground. Stay indoors if you don't like high winds.

You can't seem to restrain yourself from predicting worst case scenarios and overblowing every single chance of severe weather. You seem unable or unwilling to include appropriate caveats in your forecasts. My patience is wearing thin.

where it got funny was when Mothman who lives on the East coast got worried and DapperGent posted the following

DapperGent wrote:

Nail up some storm shutters and hide in the basement with your family. Better bring the dog in too. God willing you'll make it through the night. I'll be praying for you.

Hopefully the blizzards won't have snowed you in by tomorrow. Maybe go to the supermarket and stock up on canned food just in case.

Needless to say the event like many didnt happen in anything near the severeness wc was posting on.
The thread was moved [url=http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=225587[/url] here [/url] [viewable to admins]

Now you as a regular weather poster (not) can jump on your hobby horse and try to defend the like of that,but I'll come right back at you and tell you,that you are wrong and I'll also tell you that the charter is there to prevent a reoccurance of the likes of that.

Talliesin

6th wrote:

Abusive pms? ... take it to the mod forum and i'm sure a permanent site ban will follow. Abuse isnt tolerated on Boards.

I'll siteban in a heartbeat for threatening PMs. I'll even lean quite heavily towards taking veiled threats as threats.

However for abuse mods warn and/or ban from specific forum.

If one receives abusive, but not threatening PMs, the best thing to do is ignore the user.

If one receives abusive, but not threatening PMs, in response to a moderation action the best thing to do is to ban them, or increase their ban. If they persist in being abusive, perm-ban and then ignore.

So, no, abusive PMs won't result in a siteban as you say. What's more responding to an abusive PM a mod receives with an extension of a ban has been standard practice since the early days.

Someone was flooding a forum with a marginal viewpoint. The moderator allowed that marginal viewpoint through, but moved all of those posts into a single thread. That's pretty good modding IMO; keeping the balance of the forum mainstream without completely blocking those views that are outside of that mainstream is a difficult balancing act, and this was a good tact to take.

If someone objected to that decision they could have complained about that before things went the way they did, but that didn't happen.

BigCon

He was the first to predict snow on Christmas day 2005. I rest my case.

Amz

Jesus christ, I could say "There's going to be snow this Christmas day" and I have a 50/50 chance of being right.

6th

Amz wrote:

Jesus christ, I could say "There's going to be snow this Christmas day" and I have a 50/50 chance of being right.

Wow, mate you should stay away from the weather forum and any forum involving percentages.

Amz

Sorry love, are you suggesting I pursue more accurate passtimes such as ghostbusting?

6th

so when betting on a football match or a fight its always 50/50? to the gambling forum with you





(you know i'm being playful, right?)

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

6th

Amz wrote:

Sorry love, are you suggesting I pursue more accurate passtimes such as ghostbusting?

Yeah i would have edited that post too

oh and i love when people call me "love", makes me feel all girly.