Out of Focus & Off Topic MkII...

CabanSail

Firstly ..... I am not going to go into specifics as to why the ban occurred. A lot of discussion has been done by PM. Let me remind you that the P stands for private.

Having said that I think that there is a need for some explanation. The fact that Fergus has been a positive contributor to this forum is not in question. In fact it is the reason he has been given the benefit of doubt many times. The problem has been that he has also had a poor attitude on many occasions. This has been the problem.

The three Mods here do work as a team. We all see ourselves primarily as users here & try our best to make decisions for the benefit of the community as a whole. We hope that we get it right more than wrong & if we do make a mistake are willing to listen & rectify things as best we can. There is a lot of PM's between the Mods & we normally copy each other with what we have done.

In the time I have been a Mod here I would say that Fergus has taken up about half our time we devote to managing this forum. We seem to have had to explain a vast majority of every decison we make to one user, at times this has crossed over into the realm of back seat modding. This is a part of the job, but when we get complaints from other users saying that his attitude is ruining their enjoyment of the forum these need to be addressed. We have done this in private & in these discussions there have been many warnings given & last chances issued. This situation has been looked at by others further up the ladder as well & their advice to us was to have taken the current action long ago, but there was reluctance to do so & more chances were given. Those of you who are in contact with Fergus can verify that this is the case.

I will also miss the positive things that Fergus contributed here & do not hold any ill feelings towards him. I think that this is the attitude of my co-mods as well. In my recent PM's with Fergus I think he may also realise that there has been a problem with his attitude. So while this action is regretable it has been done with the best interests of the whole community in mind.

KarmaGarda

<snip...> I was a post late

Calina

there are times that this is worth remembering.

mrboswell

Thank you CabanSail - my work here is done.

Rymus - you're real sound!

Fajitas!

mrboswell wrote: »

I fear this type situation will rear its ugly head many times again unless something is done (properly) :rolleyes:

I think the 'proper' thing has been done to be fair.

I don't really see how else it would have been handled.

rymus

replace someone with everyone and wrong with *****

rymus

mrboswell wrote: »

Thank you CabanSail - my work here is done.

that was you working? Christ.. I'm glad we weren't paying you.

Rb

mrboswell wrote: »

Too true RB - but - it probably could have been easily sorted with a preemptive (and locked) post...

I fear this type situation will rear its ugly head many times again unless something is done (properly) :rolleyes:

Ah these things come and go in closely knit online communities. The Poker forum is a prime example, there was absolute uproar recently, not for the first time either, moderators threatened to leave and went on a strike etc. It's pretty much inevitable, people become friends and try to look out for one another, the mods try to do what is best for the forum and this might mean unpopular decisions sometimes and sparks fly, but it's all forgotten about after a few weeks.

I's relatively inevitable.

Rb

Calina wrote: »

there are times that this is worth remembering.

Lol, very easy to relate to :pac:

KarmaGarda

Aye. And now I'll get back to work. Let, lie, dogs, sleeping, etc.

And those aren't farts Fajitas? :eek:

democrates

I wish Fergus the best too, in all aspects of life, which is too short to waste time stuffing mushrooms.

AnCatDubh

Doing real world stuff earlier so have just gotten to see this now.

As has been said, the specifics of the matter are presently private and the detail is between Fergus and the moderation team. Moreover, Fergus isn't on forum to speak for himself so it would be wrong to get into discussing anything other than sending him good wishes which I hope people will genuinely afford to him. He has been an active member involved with the forum for quite some time. I'm sure if he reads through this thread he will appreciate those posts which express goodwill towards him.

While many may feel that the act of banning a user is purely the bitter effort of a moderator, the reality is very different. In order to give a perspective, I would like to reiterate my final thoughts in my final communication to Fergus - I'm guessing that he would be ok with this.

On a personal note, I hold no grudge or ill feeling towards you. I wish you well and every success in everything that you do in life. I think you have tremendous photographic potential and hope that it continues to flourish over the coming years.

These are my concluding thoughts on the matter. Fergus knows everything else, as I do (and the moderator team). It is my present opinion that this is where 'everything else' should remain.

On today's reported post from this thread, there will be too many to answer individually but thank you for them. Each contains a gem of wisdom and passionate responses to things that had been said which I think in hindsight was to be expected in the heat of the moment. As this topic was wisely moved to the out of focus thread I think a little latitude will be appropriate. Having said that I haven't yet been able to read them all so... well... I hope we're all still ok.

Thanks.

Covey

I think we should ban a long standing member per week just so we can have the nice obituaries .

AnimalRights

I think it's insulting Thomas to post up just ur last quip to him, let's have his last 4-5 replies.
Any one thats lost his/her job recently would want to do what I want to do right now to my former employee. :mad:

Buzz Lightyear

I wish Fergus well and happiness in life both online and off. While I liked the standard an quality of his work, I'm quite surprised that he has lasted this long after his last holiday. Other than the last week or so, I have found his posts to be quite angry and argumentitave.

From what I have read here from the mods, there seems to have been quite a lot of housekeeping going on to keep Fergus happy. In my opinion, if your spending over half of your online time attending to one poster, this takes the enjoyment factor out of it. They don't need this crap. None of us do.

Its jusy a pity that Dk couldn't have learned a few lessons from AR. From what I heard he was like a raging rothwieler, foaming at the mouth when he was younger. Just take a look at the little puppy now, well tamed

Covey

AnimalRights wrote: »

I think it's insulting Thomas to post up just ur last quip to him, let's have his last 4-5 replies.
Any one thats lost his/her job recently would want to do what I want to do right now to my former employee. :mad:

If I'm "thomas" I don't understand you're point ? If not just ignore.

AnimalRights

My grind people have taken 18 minutes to explain to me what "argumentive" means!

gandalf

Ah since AR has started his Easy Listening collection he has calmed down

Covey

gandalf wrote: »

calmed down

And not making much sense.

AnimalRights

Whatever Covey, but I'm not replying anymore, My posts have been censored and cut.

rymus

its a hard life.

AnimalRights

Ok my last word on it* as I need to watch the footy but...
Surely he should have had a last warning and the threads not merged and explained to all long term posters???, transparency is next to er godliness??



*for 3 hours

Covey

AnimalRights wrote: »

Whatever Covey, but I'm not replying anymore, My posts have been censored and cut.

Ah right, there was a disconnect hence the questions. If you're querying my post you can PM me and I won't censor you

AnimalRights

rymus wrote: »

its a hard life.

Ur missus wishes.

rymus

did you think of that one all by yourself too? you're doing very well today.

kensutz

Ingenious comeback.:rolleyes:

Calina

Kudos to DK. He's managed to completely take over the off topic thread. Since he didn't appreciate it too much when it was implemented, there has to be some karma there.

DaireQuinlan

Covey wrote: »

I think we should ban a long standing member per week just so we can have the nice obituaries .

+1

(except for me)

KarmaGarda

Calina wrote: »

Kudos to DK. He's managed to completely take over the off topic thread. Since he didn't appreciate it too much when it was implemented, there has to be some karma there.

What what? Somebody call for me?

Morrisseeee

Wow, I came in here looking for the usual good 'off topic-ness', but look what I found ! eeeek, so I thought I'd find it on the previous page, nope, try the previous page maybe, nope, etc etc, so..............WTF happened DK ?

OK, lets get back off topic, or on topic or........whatever