Banned from Sligo (the forum)

lightening

Hi Folks, never posted here, never been banned.

I feel I was unfairly banned from the Sligo forum. Another poster was banned after being called a pr*ck by the moderator and referred to as a pig by another poster (all since edited). I thought this was unfair and made my opinion known before going back on to the topic. The mod quoted me and said "Oh dear again." I don't know what he means by this. He did admit to being innebriated while posting earlier on (since edited) Maybe that was the problem.

Here is the thread.

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055212125

Here is the pm he sent me.

lightening,

No need for the piss taking. You and your mate can both enjoy a week off.

When you come back stay on topic and dont go acting the prick by querying modding decisions.

muffler

I was not acting the pr*ck (nice language) I feel I can query this particular decision. There was no mates of mine in the thread.

Gone West

Sometimes some of the mods here go a little "power" crazy I wouldn't worry about it

cornbb

Looks like a case of shítty, unhelpful modding tbh. Haven't there been other Feedback threads about the Sligo/NW forums recently?

lightening

I don't know, I have always found it ok. Mind you, I have only been involved in chit-chat about places to eat, surfing, beaches and the nice things... No debates really.

6th

Ok the mod doesn't seem like someone I'd want to have a pint with but its well known that you dont question a mod decission in a thread. Had you taken it to feedback at that stage you wouldnt have been banned and the focus would have been on the poor modding - now it just looks like someone complaining about a ban.

lightening

6th wrote: »

but its well known that you dont question a mod decission in a thread.

Yeah, good point, I didn't know that you shouldn't do that. In fairness, a lot of the posts have been edited since, personal abuse and admitions to being drunk while posting. (nothing wrong with that as long as people are nice I guess)

6th

I'm not sure but I think admins can see the posts as they were before edits, if it comes to that.

lightening

I wouldn't have a clue. I happened to quote one before it was edited. Mod calling someone a pr*ck.

Cabaal

phew, thank god for that, until I read forum in the topic I thought you might have actually been banned from Sligo!

- Mod shouldn't be name calling
- People were warned to keep on topic and still didn't...OP included, people instead kept using the thread for sligo bashing rather then litter discussion

I believe the mod was right to ban you, however they shouldn't have name called (prick).

In short, the ban was deserved

That is all....

lightening

Cabaal wrote: »

until I read forum in the topic I thought you might have actually been banned from Sligo!

Imagine... I really like the place as you can see from the thread. There is always going to be a bit of town/city bashing in these threads, look at the Dublin forum.

muffler

A quick summary. The thread was all about discussing why Sligo had been voted as Ireland’s dirtiest town but unfortunately it degenerated into a “students vs locals” being responsible for the mess with posts getting very personal and abusive. I give them all a fairly wide berth up to this but eventually banned JohnCleary (who accepted his 1 week ban) as he was the instigator. And anyone who posts on the Sligo forum and calls the people of Sligo pigs is not a prick as the OP put it but a total prick. And that has not been edited from the thread. The only part of that entire thread that was edited was this post by Sligored which was in direct response to the not so nice comments made by JohnCleary.

I asked on 3 separate occasions for people to get back on topic but the OP here was intent on questioning modding decisions and posting off topic comments and the choice at this stage was to either lock the thread or ban lightening. Locking the thread was denying other users the right to post genuine comments so in order to get things settled down again another ban was imposed. In doing so I was mindful of this post by lightening.

As to the point of being allegedly drunk by my own admission I wouldn’t believe all you read . And again there has been no editing involved despite claims to the contrary here by the OP. Please state facts lightening and dont go making assumptions in an attempt to mislead others and bolster your own claim to have been unfairly banned.

Finally what lightening should have done was sent me a PM or started - as 6th suggested - a thread in feedback at the time rather than make an issue of it in the thread. And I am unimpressed that the OP has seen fit to post up the content of a PM here.

Terry

lightening wrote: »

I wouldn't have a clue. I happened to quote one before it was edited. Mod calling someone a pr*ck.

Just a little advice. Don't focus on that point.

I have to say, I do believe the modding there was a little heavy handed in regards to the OP being banned.

Maybe there are deleted posts that I haven't seen, but from what I have seen, the OP didn't really do anything wrong.

JohnCleary was definitely trolling though.

cornbb

muffler wrote: »

I asked on 3 separate occasions for people to get back on topic but the OP here was intent on questioning modding decisions and posting off topic comments and the choice at this stage was to either lock the thread or ban lightening.

He made a passing comment about very questionable modding decisions. Fair enough if its forum policy to have zero tolerance on going off-topic but most of the regional forums are fairly relaxed about this.

Locking the thread was denying other users the right to post genuine comments so in order to get things settled down again another ban was imposed. In doing so I was mindful of this post by lightening.

It was a post about how students don't fully live life in the town they live in. It could have applied to any town. He complimented Sligo at the end of the post!

Finally what lightening should have done was sent me a PM or started - as 6th suggested - a thread in feedback at the time rather than make an issue of it in the thread. And I am unimpressed that the OP has seen fit to post up the content of a PM here.

Its boards practice to bring abusive PMs to the attention of smods/admins, maybe he shouldn't have done it in public but I'd certainly kick up a stink if I got such a PM from another mod.

lightening

muffler wrote: »

In doing so I was mindful of this post by lightening.

I see nothing wrong with that post, it just shows that students sometimes don't get a real feel for a town they are studying in. I felt JohnCleary had an unfair bad view of Sligo

muffler wrote: »

As to the point of being allegedly drunk by my own admission I wouldn’t believe all you read .

You clearly say you were innebriated.

muffler wrote: »

And again there has been no editing involved despite claims to the contrary here by the OP.

There has. You said there has been editing.

muffler wrote: »

Finally what lightening should have done was sent me a PM or started - as 6th suggested - a thread in feedback at the time rather than make an issue of it in the thread.

Fair enough, I probably should have.

muffler wrote: »

And I am unimpressed that the OP has seen fit to post up the content of a PM here.

I was unimpressed by the pm.

Thanks for the advice Terry.

(I did not edit any of my posts to hide anything I said)

Orion

(sorry - couldn't resist )

tallaght01

I have no idea why lightening was banned.

Muffler, you can't just go around calling people "pricks", when you're moderating a forum!

You should apply the same standards to your own postings/PMs as you would expect from the other users. If somebody sent you a PM like the one you sent to lightening I'm pretty sure you'd ban them.

Cabaal

Nothing wrong with Muffler saying that the op shouldn't be questioning is decision in the thread/forum and instead he should take it to feedback.

Calling him names was uncalled for.

togster

Just like to point out that muff did not call him a pri*k he said acting like one.

Still though there has been a lot of complaints about the mod.

tallaght01

togster wrote: »

Just like to point out that muff did not call him a pri*k he said acting like one.

.

That's hardly central to the point, is it?

A person in a position of authority shouldn't say things like that to a user. It just looks terrible.

The ban in itself was pretty ropey, regardless.

AckwelFoley

Firstly, Sligo is a great town.. rather "rough" but never bothered me, i think its a real nice town and most of the people are very friendly.

Now i know you were prob harshly treated and i know it can be a pain in the ring, but from my expierence, boards are not very strict.. a ban on most boards including the one i moderate on - means a ban, for good.

Its only a week, and i know you feel it may be the principle of the thing but you know what they say about arguements in the internet, its like the special olympics.. even if you win you're still retarded..
So, i wouldnt worry about it to much, its only a week

lightening

snyper wrote: »

Firstly, Sligo is a great town

I know! I love it... when I expressed that I was met with comments like "God bless you" and "Oh dear" from the mod!

snyper wrote: »

i know you feel it may be the principle of the thing

Yeah, I know, I just don't want to be banned. I'm fairly level headed, I feel its just not deserved.

muffler

I think we need to differentiate here between the terminology being used.

Firstly when JohnCleary referred to the Sligo locals as being pigs I stated that he was a "total prick" for doing so. I didnt mean that in reality or on boards that he is a tool but just that he was being one at that moment for making that statement.

Secondly I did not refer to lightening as being a prick I asked him not to be acting the prick which is something completely different.

Sometimes to get the message through to people I would use certain terms or phrases. I was in no way trying to belittle the users concerned and I do apologise if they took that way.

I was accused in the past of being too strict and I took that on board and I allowed the thread in question to flow without any moderation up to the point where I had no choice but intervene. You can all read it yourselves and you will see that I let a lot of things go (in the hope of it settling down) before it finally started to get out of hand.

Its a bit of a no win situation - you're damned if you do and you're damned if you dont. I could have locked that thread but there would have been complaints made for taking this action. I could have left all the users involved to get on with it but again there would have been a flood of complaints given the direction it was going. Given the circumstances I wasnt left with much choice other than take the action I did and unless the admins should take a different view the ban stays.

Gary ITR

togster wrote: »

Just like to point out that muff did not call him a pri*k he said acting like one.

Still though there has been a lot of complaints about the mod.

Yes but if I said in a thread that somebody is acting the prick then I would imagine I would get a swift smack of the banhammer

Gary ITR

muffler wrote: »

Firstly when JohnCleary referred to the Sligo locals as being pigs I stated that he was a "total prick" for doing so. I didnt mean that in reality or on boards that he is a tool but just that he was being one at that moment for making that statement.

Secondly I did not refer to lightening as being a prick I asked him not to be acting the prick which is something completely different.

As far as I knew the first rule of boards is to attack the post and not the poster

lightening

muffler wrote: »

Firstly when JohnCleary referred to the Sligo locals as being pigs I stated that he was a "total prick" for doing so.

For people who didn't read posts directed at JohnCleary before they were edited by yourself.

"i for one feel that this survey must have been done on a friday morning and based its findings on the pigs that wreck our town every thursday night."

Only after seeing this did Johncleary use the word pigs. Here is another quote directed at Johncleary

"get a life and f**k off back to redneckland"

The person who said this wasn't banned.

2 stroke

Muffler I'm still upset by the content of a pm you sent me recently. It was more heavily worded than the one here for a more minor offence. You apologised afterwards for the language used. But the fact that you comunicate like that, while modding, just isn't good enough.

lightening

Gone to the Helpdesk with this.

DeVore

Actually while I'm not crazy about calling people "pricks", it would appear to me that this thread has led to the Mod in question reviewing how he mods and the language used too.

Would that the same could be said for the posters, who seem to hold the moderator to a higher standard then they do themselves.

We have a word for that, it begins with a "H".


























and ends in "ypocrisy".

DeV.

Gillie

muffler wrote: »

I think we need to differentiate here between the terminology being used.

Firstly when JohnCleary referred to the Sligo locals as being pigs I stated that he was a "total prick" for doing so. I didnt mean that in reality or on boards that he is a tool but just that he was being one at that moment for making that statement.

Secondly I did not refer to lightening as being a prick I asked him not to be acting the prick which is something completely different.

Sometimes to get the message through to people I would use certain terms or phrases. I was in no way trying to belittle the users concerned and I do apologise if they took that way.

I was accused in the past of being too strict and I took that on board and I allowed the thread in question to flow without any moderation up to the point where I had no choice but intervene. You can all read it yourselves and you will see that I let a lot of things go (in the hope of it settling down) before it finally started to get out of hand.

Its a bit of a no win situation - you're damned if you do and you're damned if you dont. I could have locked that thread but there would have been complaints made for taking this action. I could have left all the users involved to get on with it but again there would have been a flood of complaints given the direction it was going. Given the circumstances I wasnt left with much choice other than take the action I did and unless the admins should take a different view the ban stays.

I would have to back muffler up on this. He was Criticised in the past in relation to his Modding. He took that on board and tried to be more laid back in his approach.
Everything was grand until that thread started. Cleary's comments were unhelpful and from what i've read of his posts before, it wouldn't be the first time.

Personally I thought he was acting like a pr*ck too. Calling a place a kip because you feel like it and not backing that up just p*sses me off.

I think lightning may have been banned on the back of what was said before.
We like our little Sligo forum and in general it's quite a helpful one. It appeared to me that Muffler was trying to avoid locking the thread in question and that is why he banned lightning.

In fairness he had asked that the thread be brought back on topic and that ppl lay off on the abuse a couple of times.

I was stunned to discover that Sligo is Ireland's dirtiest town and I feel it merits a proper discussion. Hopefully the thread will stay open.

Just my 2 cents.

Bob the Builder

But the Mods actions were a little bit OTT Gillie, maybe a week was okay, but it's the principle that matters.

I think muffler should review his position now, and actions should be a little less pricky from now on.

Has the mod actually edited the posts or not? Mod denies it, Lightening says that the mod has actually edited posts.

I've read this thread and see so many points of view, and tbh, I dunno which are lies and which are not.

I'm with the OP on this one.

AlmightyCushion

nevf wrote: »

But the Mods actions were a little bit OTT Gillie, maybe a week was okay, but it's the principle that matters.

I think muffler should review his position now, and actions should be a little less pricky from now on.

Has the mod actually edited the posts or not? Mod denies it, Lightening says that the mod has actually edited posts.

I've read this thread and see so many points of view, and tbh, I dunno which are lies and which are not.

I'm with the OP on this one.

If a post has been edited it says "Edited by <insert username of person who edited it> on <insert the time it was edited>". Just go back over the thread and see if muffler edited them.

muffler

I dont have to respond to the comments here but I want to clarify the unfounded allegations of editing and hopefully put this matter to bed. I have already stated that there was only one single post edited which consisted of removing 3 words - "xxxx" and "xxx xxxxxxx". Now you can all go away and fit those 3 words into the <SNIPS> and you will then have the full content of the thread concerned.

It was also falsely and unfairly claimed that I even edited my own post in a reply to JohnCleary - well its still there in its full glory for all to see. I made the comment and it will remain there.

In conclusion the OP here, lightening, will have access again later today.


Edit: I have edited this post to remove the 3 words which I referred to and which remained here overnight so that some people would see them. It sorta defeats the purpose of editing a thread in the Sligo forum by posting the edited pieces up here but I think I have made my point. lightening has now got access again to the Sligo forum.

Sligored

i am backing muffler on this one.

i was the poster who quoted regarding the pigs who wreck a certain area of sligo town on a thursday night. i never called any particular individual a pig . the condition of the mall area on thursday nights friday mornings after students night out is akin to a sty. i also accepted a general rubbish problem in sligo .

the observations by john cleary coming on the sligo forum did annoy me personally but i feel that muffler controlled the situation well and his warnings were not heeded regarding posting off topic by lightning or john cleary.

i cant see a problem with mufflers actions and feel this thread should be put to bed.

the bans are complete at this stage.

come on lightning - it is hard enough to get mods without questioning their authority - no hard feelings

lightening

muffler wrote: »

It was also falsely and unfairly claimed that I even edited my own post in a reply to JohnCleary - well its still there in its full glory for all to see. I made the comment and it will remain there.

Yeah, sorry, my mistake, the comment is indeed there.

lightening

Sligored wrote: »

i cant see a problem with mufflers actions and feel this thread should be put to bed.

Well, lots of people can see a problem with the way it was handled.

Sligored wrote: »

come on lightning - it is hard enough to get mods without questioning their authority - no hard feelings

Your right though, life's to short. No hard feelings at all... Now, I'm off to the Sligo forum to get advice on a decent pub, no tv, nice fire, good pints....

Bob the Builder

Personally, I believe the problem has been resolved, or at least "put to bed".

I think it would be a good idea to lock this thread in light of the problem being resolved, partly, at least.

Hopefully the people involved will now be able to get along with each other on that forum?