"Hosted" forums and boards.ie

Red Sleeping Beauty

I can't make the distinction
Who are they "hosted" for ? I see there's a band forum and a few radio stations which I can sort of understand but what about the rest of the categories like Games, Society, Recreation etc ?

Who moderates them and what rules apply. I see that the warning about unmentionables are in each forum and all pages are on boards.ie ... so what's different ?

ozt9vdujny3srf

The hosted forums came about in a couple of ways.

One was communities that already existed that wanted Boards to host a forum for them. They used to be called community forums.

Another was forums that the powers that be felt wouldn't have enough traffic or interest to warrant Boards.ie board initially, but let a user set up a Hosted board to see if the Boards community would take to it.

Another again is groups of friends or regular boards users setting up private forums on the boards website.

I'm sure there are more ways that they have come about but thats been my experience of it.

Ludo

Someone beat me to this topic I see.
All seems a bit mad to be honest. To the casual user (me for example) there is no distinction between "normal" forums and "hosted" forums. They are all under the boards.ie brand. The same rules/standards should apply. The muppetry that was displayed earlier by that mod in the conspiracy forum reflects on boards.ie. If a new user who stumbled into the conspiracy forum and saw the behaviour of the mod, he could assume that is the standard of modding here and not bother with boards.ie.
I assume the ultimate aim of boards.ie these days is to make money and increase user base. Things like this incident may be seem like trivial issues to some people and may be dismissed as such, but having hosted boards with different "standards" and "rules" seems doesn't seem like a good idea.
Simply make them proper boards.ie forums and take control of them. Boards.ie is a business after all and you simply can't wash your hands of something that is seen as part of your brand by saying that is just hosted and we don't have any say in what goes on in there.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Ludo wrote: »

Someone beat me to this topic I see.
All seems a bit mad to be honest. To the casual user (me for example) there is no distinction between "normal" forums and "hosted" forums. They are all under the boards.ie brand. The same rules/standards should apply. The muppetry that was displayed earlier by that mod in the conspiracy forum reflects on boards.ie. If a new user who stumbled into the conspiracy forum and saw the behaviour of the mod, he could assume that is the standard of modding here and not bother with boards.ie.
I assume the ultimate aim of boards.ie these days is to make money and increase user base. Things like this incident may be seem like trivial issues to some people and may be dismissed as such, but having hosted boards with different "standards" and "rules" seems doesn't seem like a good idea.
Simply make them proper boards.ie forums and take control of them.

While I did become curious about what the "Hosted" category is because of that incident there's no use this thread dealing with it as it's being discussed elsewhere.
But like my right honourable friend here, I am too quite confused. I see boards.ie, I see forums and I assume they're all under the same umbrella

Aliya Tart Beneath the Uncivil wrote: »

The hosted forums came about in a couple of ways.

One was communities that already existed that wanted Boards to host a forum for them. They used to be called community forums.

Another was forums that the powers that be felt wouldn't have enough traffic or interest to warrant Boards.ie board initially, but let a user set up a Hosted board to see if the Boards community would take to it.

Another again is groups of friends or regular boards users setting up private forums on the boards website.

I'm sure there are more ways that they have come about but thats been my experience of it .

Private forums set up by friends ? So like, you and I can have out own special forum

Dord

alan dunne 27 wrote: »

Private forums set up by friends ? So like, you and I can have out own special forum

It depends whether the "powers that be" feel like it.

RoundyMooney

Thing is, when you have a mod who acts the dick (or another forum specific issue for that matter), the Smods, by policy, are more or less powerless (unless in extremis) to intervene.

The reason being, that the admins (I hate using that term collectively, 'cos it's generally Vexy or DeV anyway) granted them squatters rights on the site.

Future issues will probably be an issue for the CommMan, whoever he or she may be, but I reckon in the short term, the SMods should be allowed act as appropriate a la elsewhere, as todays instances have highlighted.

AckwelFoley

Ze snyper forum.
'for general jackarsery'

nice ring to it.

This is the bit I don't get:

They are hosted on the boards.ie server
They are linked on the boards.ie menu
They appear on the boards.ie homepage (including recent posts)
Boards.ie are liable for the content there in the same way of regular forums

But, they are not as accountable as regular forums? Mods have free reign?
Can you please move all of my forums over to hosted and I can get rid of all of the posters I don't like for personal reasons, and then threaten them with sitebans when they complain?

faceman

Some are private forums and some are forums to facilitate commercial and non commercial groups/organisations outside boards.

Take the boards drama group forum, we were founded via boards but we have grown beyond that, have our own site etc. We are not sponsored or owned by any of the owners of boards, but the owners kindly facilitate a forum that we manage ourselves. We operate in the interest primarily of the drama group and secondly of boards as do other hosted forums. Non hosted forums operate primarily in the interest of boards.

Does that make sense? (Note its my interpretation as opposed to any official comment! )

I get that, but there are some forums that are, in effect, mainstream forums and should be on the main site. CT for one.

Diogenes

Ludo wrote: »

Someone beat me to this topic I see.
All seems a bit mad to be honest. To the casual user (me for example) there is no distinction between "normal" forums and "hosted" forums. They are all under the boards.ie brand. The same rules/standards should apply. The muppetry that was displayed earlier by that mod in the conspiracy forum reflects on boards.ie. If a new user who stumbled into the conspiracy forum and saw the behaviour of the mod, he could assume that is the standard of modding here and not bother with boards.ie.

I agree. This handwashing by CMods of the behavior of Hosted Mods is unacceptable. Users who re reg to get around bans and continue to post on hosted boards, and sock puppetry earns you a site ban, even if you're only posting on a honest forum. I'm referring in particular to one regularly banned and re banned poster.

It seems we have one rule for the users of hosted forums, and one set of rules for the mods of hosted forums.

Steve

RoundyMooney wrote: »

the SMods should be allowed act as appropriate a la elsewhere, as todays instances have highlighted.

I agree 100%, particularly where they are open to public viewing.
The average boards user isn't going to know about the fact that the general boards standards of moderating don't apply there and the fact that it's even a hosted forum is not really apparent as it looks the exact same as any other forum.
The other solution would be to make such forums private and let errant mods ban away to their hearts content until there are no users left.

starn

Hi Guys, just a quick question Im hoping someone can answer for me. Ive been threathend by a siteban by a hosted mod. Now as it stands I havent posted anything in the hosted forums to warrent a sitewide ban. What Id like to now is a hosted mod. Who is not part of the real Boards.ie mod comunity can hit me with a sitewide ban

If I am banned do I have any recourse ?
Its been posted in another thread that the real Mods here on Boards.ie dont actually interfere with hosted forums.

So if im banned on a hosted forum does that mean I have no way to appeal the ban, or to question it. I should I just take it on the chin and reregister ?

starn

starn wrote: »

Hi Guys, just a quick question Im hoping someone can answer for me. Ive been threathend by a siteban by a hosted mod. Now as it stands I havent posted anything in the hosted forums to warrent a sitewide ban. What Id like to now is a hosted mod. Who is not part of the real Boards.ie mod comunity can hit me with a sitewide ban

If I am banned do I have any recourse ?
Its been posted in another thread that the real Mods here on Boards.ie dont actually interfere with hosted forums.

So if im banned on a hosted forum does that mean I have no way to appeal the ban, or to question it. I should I just take it on the chin and reregister ?

You won't get a siteban. MC was talking through his arse about that.

tbh

starn wrote: »

Hi Guys, just a quick question Im hoping someone can answer for me. Ive been threathend by a siteban by a hosted mod. Now as it stands I havent posted anything in the hosted forums to warrent a sitewide ban. What Id like to now is a hosted mod. Who is not part of the real Boards.ie mod comunity can hit me with a sitewide ban

If I am banned do I have any recourse ?
Its been posted in another thread that the real Mods here on Boards.ie dont actually interfere with hosted forums.

So if im banned on a hosted forum does that mean I have no way to appeal the ban, or to question it. I should I just take it on the chin and reregister ?

no mod, hosted or otherwise, can siteban anyone, all they can do is either ban from the forums they moderate, or request a siteban - much like any user could request a siteban. The hmod who threatened you was talking out of his or her hole, and unless they were joking, should be stripped of their modship imo.

Steve

tbh wrote: »

no mod, hosted or otherwise, can siteban anyone, all they can do is either ban from the forums they moderate, or request a siteban - much like any user could request a siteban.

Can they do a '9-pointer' (whatever that is) that I hear about sometimes in the spammer thread?
I presume it means 9 infractions or something leading to an automatic site ban.
Do Hmod infractions count for this?

tbh

SteveC wrote: »

Can they do a '9-pointer' (whatever that is) that I hear about sometimes in the spammer thread?
I presume it means 9 infractions or something leading to an automatic site ban.
Do Hmod infractions count for this?

you can do a 9-pointer all right, but it only lasts for ten days or something like that. and if you did it without reason, you'd be gone yourself. I don't know if you can infract a hmod, I don't think you can infract mods.

EKRIUQ

Do hosted mods have full access to the mod fourms on Boards.ie?

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

Steve

tbh wrote: »

you can do a 9-pointer all right, but it only lasts for ten days or something like that. and if you did it without reason, you'd be gone yourself. I don't know if you can infract a hmod, I don't think you can infract mods.

I was thinking more in the context of what starn was asking..

In theory then, it does seem possible for a hmod to go bonkers and actually give someone a site ban (provided the user has enough posts in their forum to infract).

Hence why I asked if hmod infractions carry the same weight as a boards mod infraction.

I know it would be cleared up and reversed pretty quick, I'm just wondering if the above mentioned hmod actually had the power to do it, however suicidal it would be.

seamus

starn wrote: »

So if im banned on a hosted forum does that mean I have no way to appeal the ban, or to question it. I should I just take it on the chin and reregister ?

Don't reregister

SteveC wrote: »

The other solution would be to make such forums private and let errant mods ban away to their hearts content until there are no users left.

Still wouldn't be mad about that.

Basically, I don't recall an issue like this appearing before and I completely forgot the whole "Hosted" thing for a while
The hosted forums (originally called "Community" forums) are as pointed out above - they're essentially for specialist groups/interests which don't really "fit" into the wider site - that is, that the content may not be very general or even accessible and it may also serve as a means to communicate with that "community". If you go back and research the setting up of the CT forum, you'll probably find that the forum was set up with these kinds of ideas in mind. The idea was, "There's your playground, off you go", which is appropriate where you have interest groups such as Ireland Offline - the normal boards.ie can't nor shouldn't apply.

But you could also apply these criteria to a number of main forums too, such as Poker.

I think the "Hosted" thing has become somewhat lost with the rest of the site creating more and more increasingly specialist forums. The line has clearly become blurred in some cases, such as CT, and it's probably time to redefine that line and actually decide what forums go into "Hosted". Ideally only forums for organised groups or very specialist interest groups.

Steve

seamus wrote: »

The idea was, "There's your playground, off you go", which is appropriate where you have interest groups such as Ireland Offline - the normal boards.ie can't nor shouldn't apply.

I accept your point but I still think that there should be something that differentiates these forums from boards in general. Such shenanigans could be quite confusing to the average user.
I've been around here a while and thought I knew a thing or two about the site, I only learned about this policy/approach today and I was actually quite surprised by it.

Red Sleeping Beauty

EKRIUQ wrote: »

Do hosted mods have full access to the mod fourms on Boards.ie?

I think I read a few week's ago that they don't have access to either the mod forums or the Sex forum.



Cheers for the reply seamus, I think this is an interesting issue here. I for one am baffled as to why the Conspiracy Forum can't be slotted in to the Rec category. I'd be interested in some input from Dev here or any of the other guys (I only know of Dev).

Have Smods no power over anything that happens in the Hosted category ? Would it not make sense to have a Hosted Cat mod that liases with Smods or something ?

Bob the Builder

alan dunne 27 wrote: »

Have Smods no power over anything that happens in the Hosted category ?

In Real Life, they're called Public Relations Officers.
You think they have power, but they don't really.

But I still wouldn't fúck with any of them. Scary bunch of overlords them supers are.
/Grabs Coat

Économiste Monétaire

seamus wrote: »

Don't reregister

Still wouldn't be mad about that.

Basically, I don't recall an issue like this appearing before and I completely forgot the whole "Hosted" thing for a while
The hosted forums (originally called "Community" forums) are as pointed out above - they're essentially for specialist groups/interests which don't really "fit" into the wider site - that is, that the content may not be very general or even accessible and it may also serve as a means to communicate with that "community". If you go back and research the setting up of the CT forum, you'll probably find that the forum was set up with these kinds of ideas in mind. The idea was, "There's your playground, off you go", which is appropriate where you have interest groups such as Ireland Offline - the normal boards.ie can't nor shouldn't apply.

But you could also apply these criteria to a number of main forums too, such as Poker.

I think the "Hosted" thing has become somewhat lost with the rest of the site creating more and more increasingly specialist forums. The line has clearly become blurred in some cases, such as CT, and it's probably time to redefine that line and actually decide what forums go into "Hosted". Ideally only forums for organised groups or very specialist interest groups.

The stance you referred me to, in my recent help desk thread, was that boards effectively washes its hands with H-forum issues. Yet, the mod of the hosted forum in question actually referred any discussion to feedback just today, i.e. back to the main site. Two sides are effectively saying it's not their problem, ergo it's no one's problem.

I think there needs to be an explicit rule on where the two overlap and what the process is if one has an issue with a hosted forum.

Red Sleeping Beauty

There's something MC said in one of them witch hunt threads in Conspiracy Theorists. It was directed to "starn". He said he should be "grateful (I don't) push for a site ban".

Can you be sitebanned just from posting in a Hosted forum ?


Edit : Link - http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=58250375&postcount=15

Mahatma coat

I am under no illusion that I can Siteban people, however it would not be unreasonable of me to request that someone is reprimanded for excessive personal abuse as in Starns case.

I really dont want this to descend into petty tit for tat attacks, but hey thats the way it seems to be going

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

Red Sleeping Beauty

I think it'd be a bit odd getting a siteban just from posting in the Hosting cat what with it only being a sub-section and not actually being a part of the boards.ie experience. It's extra odd in that Smods don't seem to take part in or having any powers over said category.

sceptre

alan dunne 27 wrote: »

It's extra odd in that Smods don't seem to take part in or having any powers over said category.

I think it's more that we've never really had a significant problem in the Hosted category before. When i was modding the IrelandOffline (then and still located in Hosted), we had a few people who went off on one and they were moderated/penalised/whatever in line with the general rules of the site because I found it simpler to implement a standard set of rules (mainly with the idea of accountability, where possible, in mind). Generally muppetry tends to be clear cut - cases where there isn't a clear cut decision to be made tend to be a far smaller number. Unfortunately they also tend to be the ones that take up far more time - the clear cut cases are a nice "click click, ban, insert reason, inform of limit by PM if a local ban" type of thing, whereas the less clear cut things often tend to result in protests, discussion, what often seems like time-wasting even though it's part of the job.

As the hosted category has historically fallen into Merrily we roll along mode, I'm guessing that most smods have paid less attention to it. Definitely me as there aren't all that many forums there I'd be interested in and of those I would be, they tend to get really irregular traffic.

However, while in an ideal world mods would be aware of everything going on in their forums (which isn't always the case, certainly for a lot of the larger boards there are posts that are quite possibly never read by mods), all mods are also reliant on the userbase to let them know if there's a problem. Even in the case where a mod reads all of the posts in the order they were made, there may be a subtlety in posting that they don't notice for whatever reason, something that *is* noticed by another user or more particularly, by an aggrieved user. Clicking the Report button obviously sends a message to the mod of the forum but all smods and admins are easy to find and it's relatively easy to send a message to any or all of them where there's a serious problem or one involving a mod. Smods essentially act as extra eyes, ears, hands and boots for the admins. I've always said that mods are essentially janitors (it's still my tagline) and that mods are essentially minding their boards in trust or the userbase. We are. That's all.

The above isn't meant to be an excuse or a reason why there may be issues on the hosted boards that we're not aware of by the way. Perhaps the admins will reconsider what goes into Hosted at some point, as well as why what goes in goes in. In advance of that happening, and even after it happens, users still have the report button, there's still the option of sending a PM to any of us, posting on Feedback, putting something into the Helpdesk. And the category isn't completely ignored, it's often specialist or particular enough that there isn't the attention given. That's unlikely to change much to be honest, the problems occur rarely enough that it would divert time away form the more regular muppetry on the main part of the site (which also tends to be far more prevalent). Don't regard this statement as my dismissing any problems that have occurred in Hosted at any time but sending an smod in there regularly to poke around is right up there with Homer Simpson's bear patrol for resource allocation and effectiveness.

In the case of something really serious (or the usual spammy visitors) in the Hosted section brought to the attention of any of the smods, it'd be taken care of, even if that meant being passed up to the admins for action. We've all been at this long enough that, bearing in mind the independence of Hosted boards, where a clear-cut decision needed to be made we'd make it. It's important for any users to remember that the community-driven aspect is even more important on the hosted boards than it is on the main site, as hosted boards are all designed with an actual collective in mind as opposed to merely a common interest. Hosted boards and hence hosted mods are given a large amount of discretion for that reason. In the even more unusual possibility of a mod gone clearly nuts on their own board (it's happened, and it's happened on the main boards), that would be a decision to be made pretty much solely by the admins as it always has been.

Being specific, what's going on in the conspiracy theories forum really should be possible to be sorted out by the CT community and hmods, there are enough posters and community members that have been there long enough to sort out what is simply a disagreement. If it genuinely isn't sortable, well, everyone's still here when that's determined but for the hosted community boards we should initially be there as facilitators rather than judges.

seamus

Économiste Monétaire wrote: »

The stance you referred me to, in my recent help desk thread, was that boards effectively washes its hands with H-forum issues. Yet, the mod of the hosted forum in question actually referred any discussion to feedback just today, i.e. back to the main site. Two sides are effectively saying it's not their problem, ergo it's no one's problem.

I'm saying that it is the Conspiracy Theories forum's problem. If the mods are unable/unwilling to listen to reasonable attempts to discuss an issue, then we can come in and act as facilitators.

billy the squid

alan dunne 27 wrote: »

I think it'd be a bit odd getting a siteban just from posting in the Hosting cat what with it only being a sub-section and not actually being a part of the boards.ie experience. It's extra odd in that Smods don't seem to take part in or having any powers over said category.

The offending material MC is referring to was in Helpdesk, not in CT. it says so in the linked post above.

Nevyn

snyper wrote: »

Ze snyper forum.
'for general jackarsery'

nice ring to it.

Pff part of the reason we have host mods was an infamous tard who did just that.

http://wiki.boards.ie/wiki/Hosted_Moderator

Hosted Moderators, previously known as Community Moderators are Moderators of boards in the Hosted category. Unlike Moderators in the public forums, Hosted Moderator are generally given their duties as they had requested the board, or the community involved in that board had requested they be given their duties.

They have the same powers over their boards as Moderators in the public forums, such as stickying/closing/deleting threads and banning users but dont have access to the Ultra-Sekrit Mod Forum.

Like other forum moderators, Hosted moderators have no power outside of the forums they moderate, and should be treated as normal users.

They are a away for boards.ie to lend it's resources to a group with out them being officially part of the site, ergo are hmods held to the same standard when the forum is thier own mini sandbox which the admins have given them.


http://wiki.boards.ie/wiki/Hosted_Forum

Community forums, also known as Hosted forums are forums where the topic may fall under the remit of an already established board, but users wish to discuss topics in the context of a particular group or special interest topic. Current forums consist of pressure groups, such as IrelandOffline, bands such as Clergy, and radio stations such as Phantom FM, to name but a few.

Community forums are not subject to the control of boards.ie Administrators in the same way that the main forums are. While they must still stick to the general rules of boards.ie, an Administrator will never dictate any other policy to the moderator and will very rarely carry out any moderation on a forum in the event of a brief absence of the moderator.

In order to request a community forum, it needs to be shown that there is sufficient interest in the forum, and inactive forums are periodicially recycled.

Red Sleeping Beauty

There's a mod of the American Footbal forum who has "Hosted moderator" under his name. How is this when that forum is in the main Sports Cat?

AlmightyCushion

alan dunne 27 wrote: »

There's a mod of the American Footbal forum who has "Hosted moderator" under his name. How is this when that forum is in the main Sports Cat?

He may mod another forum that is a hosted forum. He may also have moderated a hosted forum and still have access to the usergroup because someone forgot to remove it.

javaboy

Or maybe he's a subscriber and likes to confuse people.

AlmightyCushion

javaboy wrote: »

Or maybe he's a subscriber and likes to confuse people.

I was just about to edit my post to say that. Odd that he has the 4 stars if he is in the hosted mod usergroup.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Was American Football always under "Sports" or was it perhaps a hosted forum at one stage ?

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

--amadeus--

In general teh Hosted Forums are unlikely to have anything controversial enough to raise hackles or get the site into hot water. The glaring exception to that is probably CT, which I would tend to agree is probably both broad enough and popular enough to go into the main board. There is no need to make dramatic changes like banning hosted forums just because some folks have thier knickers in a twist and have fallen out!

That said it may be worth having a splash screen when you first enter a hosted forum with a disclaimer telling you that you are now leaving Boards.ie and normal rules do not apply, even if only from a clarity perspective.

Red Sleeping Beauty

But you're not leaving boards.ie when you click on a hosted forum, that's the thing

Sully

alan dunne 27 wrote: »

But you're not leaving boards.ie when you click on a hosted forum, that's the thing

The "Hosted" section implies that they are just slotting in on Boards.ie Discussion Board as a private to themselves forum rather then creating their own website with a forum. They are using a section of space provided by Boards.ie. They are not governed by the same guidelines and rules as forums outside of the Hosted Category which belong to Boards.ie are.

Basically, they are using the Boards.ie website to discuss topics amongst themselves and allowing Boards.ie users to join their private community if they like. They are hosted forums and the Hosted Mods are responsible for their operation and rules. Any issues need to be sorted out with the HMod or on the forum. Feedback and Help Desk are not the place to go with Hosted Forum issues really but if need be the SMods/Admins will provide assistance in the event all other methods have failed. HMods have their own Mod Forum where they can discuss moderation issues if need be. They do not have access (usually) to the Mod forum where Boards.ie forums mods have access to.

The main issue here is that this system is not clear. People dont understand the difference as its not made clear to them. It needs to be made clear and each forum needs to have a good charter and a method of dealing with any issues which may arrise. This, I think, is the best solution.

Think of it like a office block building - different companys borrow a small section of the building for their own offices but each company operate their offices differently and deal with issues differently. The building manager will not get invovled with any disputes in the office unless it brings the overall building into disrepute. (Boards.ie being the building, admins/Smods being the managers and the offices being the hosted forums).

RoundyMooney

It's another legacy based loose end that may need tying up.

While it may be unfair to target existing fora that have existed symbiotically on the server (servers, now) for years, the situation needs formalising.

If you're happy for an Smod to go in and clear your (not clearly defined) hosted patch of spam and porn, there is little difference in allowing yourself and your community to fall under the boards.ie hierarchy, surely. It may not be perfect, but it comes pretty close, and is in a state of constant (and hopefully improving, given the upcoming appointment) flux to respond, as the community grows and perhaps changes direction on occasion.

I don't see the point in hosted fora, are they being given webspace? or access to the few thousand regulars here? I would assume the latter, in which case damn few will make a distinction, and even less will care as to their status.

I say bring them into the fold, and disperse them around the existing categories according to the wishes of the users. If they don't like that, then nowt stopping them buying vB and setting up shop themselves.

This is not an over reaction to mahatma and his gowling, because IMO a boards mod is only slightly easier to dislodge than an African dictator with a nuclear warhead and a hundred thousand AK toting underlings, but I think it would prevent further confusion, streamline things a little, and avoid future misunderstandings.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Hey, you know what I noticed a while ago? The Hmod for the cake and pie forum hasn't been online since July. Maybe he should be replaced or something.

Faith

Noe Icy Trapdoor wrote: »

Hey, you know what I noticed a while ago? The Hmod for the cake and pie forum hasn't been online since July. Maybe he should be replaced or something.

I was actually going to suggest that that forum be moved under the Food & Drink umbrella, or merged with Snacks & Sweets.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Vexorg asked if there was anything else said mod had done that was questionable in a help desk thread. You might be better suited to PM him rather than post what you've posted there.
It might work against you to be posting a PM

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=58263821&postcount=60

seamus

Diogenes, do NOT post the content of PMs without the other user's consent.

If you have a grievance and you have a PM that you feel is appropriate, you can forward it to the admin/s/mod who's dealing with your request.

Diogenes

alan dunne 27 wrote: »

Vexorg asked if there was anything else said mod had done that was questionable in a help desk thread. You might be better suited to PM him rather than post what you've posted there.
It might work against you to be posting a PM

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=58263821&postcount=60

Unfortunately as an ordinary user I cannot post a helpdesk thread started by another user.

Diogenes

seamus wrote: »

Diogenes, do NOT post the content of PMs without the other user's consent.

If you have a grievance and you have a PM that you feel is appropriate, you can forward it to the admin/s/mod who's dealing with your request.

I have started another helpdesk thread on the subject.

Respectively Seamus (and I presume it was you) instead of deleting my entire post, you could perhaps, restore the rest of my post, and edit out the offending PM I C&P'd. I understand your point out PMs but I think the rest of my post was perfectly valid.

Diogenes

RoundyMooney wrote: »

This is not an over reaction to mahatma and his gowling, because IMO a boards mod is only slightly easier to dislodge than an African dictator with a nuclear warhead and a hundred thousand AK toting underlings, but I think it would prevent further confusion, streamline things a little, and avoid future misunderstandings.

Hmmm. I've written a length response to this, and the entire post was deleted because I posted a pm. It really does seem, that boards mods/Hmods/ etc don't like airing their dirty linen among the ordinary users, the ordinary users who write the posts and make the community. It seems like boards and its mods have a relationship akin to Beverly Flynn and FF.

On a recent thread Mahatma say and I quote "Jews are the most despicable race of people on the planet". When he realised that such basically offensive opinions are offensive to the majority of users on this forum, he quickly deleted the thread, refused to explain or justify his actions. Other Mods on the forum privately objected to his behavior but declined from redacting it.

You can see examples of Mahatma's holocaust denial here and here

His "whimsical" modding system here

Oh and I just wanted to quote the whole page where he expressed delete in mutilating animals, but its not pertinent to his appalling record as a mod.

--amadeus--

alan dunne 27 wrote: »

But you're not leaving boards.ie when you click on a hosted forum, that's the thing

Best analogy I can think of is Monaco to France is what Hosted Forums are to Boards. Monaco is a sovereign state but depends on France, used to use teh Franc, etc. Hosted Forums make their own laws but ultimately rely on the grace and favour of Boards.ie

And that is the distinction that I think we need to make, we need the equivalent of order control, IMO