Ban Dispute

jessop1

Hi there

Mod Billy the squid has banned me for a week from this the conspiracies forum for a comment I made in post number 29 on this thread.
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055033215&page=2

I referred to some info provided by a poster as supporting evidence for his claim as "only an idiot would believe that".

Billy has interpreted this as me calling this person an idiot which I dispute. It is not the same thing by a long shot.

The conversation is a little heated but nothing to be getting too upset about imho.

Billy hasnt flagged any problem with the sarcastic attitude/insinuations from some posters towards me. He may be a little partizan towards their side of the argument which is fair enough, but to ban me is an abuse of mod power.

Personally I dont have a problem with things getting a little heated, I dont see the harm.

Anyway, thats my thruppence. I am requesting that the ban on me be lifted
Thanks
Jessop

Gordon

Looks like you called the guy an idiot to me. Also, maybe the mod is also going on your past track record on the forum, I seem to recall that he has already warned you about your language towards other posters. It's Billy the Squid's call, try PMing him.

jessop1

Gordon wrote:

Looks like you called the guy an idiot to me. Also, maybe the mod is also going on your past track record on the forum, I seem to recall that he has already warned you about your language towards other posters. It's Billy the Squid's call, try PMing him.

In fairness Gordon, others on that thread have referred to me as an idiot, albeit in a more velvety tongued way but no less offensive. I dont have an issue with that, I think its a bad idea to call people out over such trivialities. Over moderation will ruin an otherwise excellent forum. Even looking at your own one post contribution to the thread - you said nothing about the discussion, only admonished me for one sentence you didnt like - in a somewhat snidy manner - which in my experience is reminiscent of your own track record.

Anyway, I have already pm'd billy to no avail. I ask the helpdesk mods to look at the entire thread and my track record if neccesary and see if they think I'm being unreasonable.

cheers

Gordon

I agree that overmoderation is not a good thing, however I rarely see the CT mods step in and moderate verbally. I used to think that they were undermoderating tbh. Imo this particular case is not overmoderation - they are acting on a personal insult which is, on most boards here, not on and a bannable offence.

If you feel that others have been doing the same then you should report the post via the automatic post-reporting tool underneath the user's nick.

The fact that you haven't had a response from your PM from BTS (to no avail means - no response right?) means that he has not been online seeing as your ban was around 11:30 last night.

As for my 'snidy' response - I recommend you try to understand the gist of what I said in my response. If you are using this website as a platform for spreading information - you have to be prepared for a discussion on the information you are trying to disseminate. You can think of it as being snidy, I think of my response as being a request.

jessop1

to no avail means he responded and refused to unban me.

we'll have to just agree to disagree on the rest. I would like to hear the thoughts of the helpdesk mods though, or whoever it is that has the power to overturn bans.

Gordon

jessop1 wrote:

to no avail means he responded and refused to unban me.

Ah right.

CMods, SMods and Admins have the power to overturn Moderator bans. Only SMods and Admins can reply on the Helpdesk.

jessop1

actually I'm not entirely sure how this appeals system works. By logging this post I get a ticket which presumably goes into a queue to be looked at a deciding mod is that correct? And if so, who in this case would be the decider?

thanks
J

Talliesin

Yep, but nothing seems out of order.

Sure, it's a decision on a grey-area matter, rather than a nicely clear-cut case of you saying "you are an idiot", but it's well within a mod's perogative to call grey-area matters as they see fit.

I really don't see much in the way of grounds for complaint here.

jessop1

Talliesin wrote:

Yep, but nothing seems out of order.

Sure, it's a decision on a grey-area matter, rather than a nicely clear-cut case of you saying "you are an idiot", but it's well within a mod's perogative to call grey-area matters as they see fit.

I really don't see much in the way of grounds for complaint here.

Fair enough if thats the position I will leave my compaint at that.

I'll just say though that if it is a mods perogative to arbitrarily call grey-area matters as they see fit without any real avenue for recourse on the part of the banee, then there is scope for the mods personal opinion on the matter under discussion to sway the decision, which just doesnt seem fair.

Also, in order to keep discussion flowing, I would recommend that moderation should be kept for issues where:

a) something grossly offensive or lewd is said
b) something defamatory or slanderous which could get boards.ie or any of its members into trouble (legal or otherwise) is said.

Calling information out as "something only an idiot would believe" does not come under either of those categories. Sure wheres the harm!?!

anyway, thats my thruppence on the issue.
best of luck
Jessop

Gordon

jessop1 wrote:

a) something grossly offensive or lewd is said
b) something defamatory or slanderous which could get boards.ie or any of its members into trouble (legal or otherwise) is said.

Calling information out as "something only an idiot would believe" does not come under either of those categories.

So you're saying that mildly offensive posts are ok? Grossly offensive/lewd = bad right?

I think the current system works pretty well tbh. Boards is still going strong after, what, nearly a decade online as it strives to do the best for the most amount of users. No harm in that right?!

jessop1

Gordon wrote:

So you're saying that mildly offensive posts are ok? Grossly offensive/lewd = bad right?
I think the current system works pretty well tbh. Boards is still going strong after, what, nearly a decade online as it strives to do the best for the most amount of users. No harm in that right?!

Yes, pretty much so. Because mildly offensive or not offensive is in the eye of the beholder. Some people are offended just by criticism.

eg in that thread, I stated that I suspected diogenes of being either a paid debunker or deluded. Is that something you would consider a banable offence? I ask that seriously, because I honestly dont know. I wouldnt look to get someone banned if they said it about me. Nor for that matter if they said they thought my views were idiotic or some such. But the way things look now, it feels like walking on egg shells in fear that you might cause someone some mild offence.

Boards.ie is online 10years and fair play to all concerned, but its the future I'm talking about, and over modding and over pc'ing does not bode well imho.

Actually, I'd like to hear diogenes opinion on this. Does he/she want me banned?

hullaballoo

There is no over-moderation on boards. It's moderated quite well in fact.

Either way, it appears that your query has been addressed adequately which means this thread is resolved. There really isn't any need to address something as philosophical as how boards.ie is moderated here.

If you do wish to discuss those aspects, start a thread in Feedback; the appropriate forum.

As for looking for diogenes' opinion, he cannot respond here, only the OP, SMods and Admins can reply here. If you want to ask him, send him a PM.