Bannings

Turd Ferguson

To whom it may concern,

I am writing this in reference to a few matters. First the ban I got today from After Hours. I think this is a grossly unjust and unfair ban. To those who have not seen this it was in the Stephen Gately memorial thread. Now the thread in question does have a mod warning which I did read but which was confusing and vague. The warning stated that an jokes in relation to Mr Gately would not be tolerated and the users that post such tripe would be banned.

I totally agree with this as time after time I have seen AH death threads turn into jokes about said deceased and while I do enjoy those jokes, I know that there is a place for this type of material (such as the vastley superior lolocaust.org).

While I was reading through the posts one in particular caught my attention...it was about the breaking news that Mr Gately died of natural causes. So I did what any normal human being would do in this situation and merely pointed out that homosexuality was not "natural" as the report had suggested.

What happened next was both shocking and confusing...I was banned. I answered the PM from the mod and stated that the joke was pertaining to homosexuals and not specifically Mr Gately (which was what the mod warning was appearing to criminalize) but was merely quoted the warning back. I find this to be a gross misrepresentation of my post and I feel that my banning on account of semantics be overrulled forthwith.

Point number two concerns the banning on a one kumate_champ07. I myself am famillier with his case as I have read that specific thread and while I think that his banning from the "Ladies" Lounge was a result of a mud-slinging slander campaign against him, with most people in power teaming up to fight against him, I am not going to go into that. What really confuses and upsets me is that he points out the complete irony and double standards of his original banning and he then gets banned from Feedback? That is an absolute travesty of justice and all those involved ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Point number three (my final point), watching the way this site has been run over the last few years and seeing countless innocent victims being subject to the gang mentality style of leadership where if one mod throws an accusation the rest will follow, and seeing numerous unlawful banning makes me think this place is no better than nazi Germany.

That is all

tl;dr bewbs and penii

sceptre

I've moved this to the Help Desk as that's where it should be - it's a complaint about moderation and administration after all.

Let's start again so...

I'm looking at three complaints so I'll take them in order.

1: After Hours
Did you send a PM to the mod in question for clarification? You may think of me as an annoying liberal or something but posting on a condolences thread about homosexuality not being natural isn't really what the thread is for. Actually it's a continent away from what the thread is for.

2: kumate_champ07
I'm not familiar with his earlier case. You may enlighten me if you like. But with respect, as you're not him you've got no locus standi and he's free to start his own Help Desk thread about it. Saying that someone fancies the cock isn't much in the line of feedback. Also, considering point 1, are you sort of making the same argument twice, the second time using someone else as the platform? I'll take info but it's not your place to make a complaint on behalf of someone else for the most part but he can.

3: Nazi Germany
Don't trivialise it. Lots of people died. This is the part of the post that makes me take the preceding parts far less seriously. Any comparison to Nazi Germany that doesn't involve war and death camps makes me tend to do that. You've been around long enough to know that this comparison is going to get me and most other people to roll eyes.

Turd Ferguson

1: Yes, as I mentioned in my previous post I did pm the mod in question and he replied with a quote of the original warning on the thread. This is what confused me as I did read the warning and my perception of it was that the jokes in question that were bannable offences were jokes about the death. While I agree with you that a joke about homosexuality in a "condolence" thread is not exactly a smart move, I hope you can see where I am coming from that it was not made clear that those types of jokes would also result in a ban.

2: I'd rather not get into the details of the original situation but from what I saw, he was banned from the "Ladies" Lounge because a certain poster who is quite friendly with the mods seemed to dislike him. I don't find this fair at all and this also brings me nicely into point 3...

3: The cliqs and the gang mentality on boards.ie between mods and admins is ruining this site. It seems that poster like myself and kumate_champ07 and alot of other are being looked at under a microscope, with any posts being read and re-read to look for anything that could warrant a ban or infraction. Its like being John Fashanu or a gay Jew in nazi Germany. And you say that anything that mentioned about nazi's that doesn't involve death camps make you think it is less serious....well boards.ie has its own version of death camps. It's the place where people who have been banned, no matter how unjust the ban might have been, basically have to beg and plead for permission to get out. Getting back to my initial point, the gang mentality on this site seems to be across the board. Its like there is a mass circle jerk/fingerbang going on and if you are not involved then you will be subject to discrimination. Having an issue with a mod or admin (or a poster who is with the 'in' crowd) on one forum tends to cause a chain reaction that will flag particular people as a "threat" and thus make them a target on other forums. Its disappointing that in such a reputable website that this sort of carry on is happening but from what I can see, it is.

sceptre

On (1), your two previous bans from AH may have been taken into account. or perhaps they weren't, given that it's comparatively short at four days. Replying to an innocuous post that said that death was from natural causes saying that homosexuality isn't natural is at best trolling. A short ban is an appropriate response - you're around long enough to know that it's trolling. No objection from me

On (2) there's no additional information. I note your concerns.

On (3), well in my mind you're still making a comparison beyond wacky and you're continuing to do so so all I can say is, like (2), concerns noted.

4zn76tysfajdxp

I'm the one who banned Turd. This is the warning post from the thread in question:

Rabies wrote: »

Other thread deleted.
Too many jokes, there is place for that and its not here.

Any more in this thread and a warning, infractions and/or ban will happen.

You guys know how it works.

It doesn't just limit the jokes to ones about to Stephen Gately but clearly states that the thread wasn't for jokes, of any kind. See? Look closer:

Rabies wrote: »

Too many jokes, there is place for that and its not here.

Any more in this thread and a warning, infractions and/or ban will happen.

This is the joke you made:

Turd Ferguson wrote: »

There is nothing natural about homosexuality

Nevermind

Regardless of the content of the joke, the warning states that joking would not be allowed in the thread or you would receive a infraction/ban. You made a joke, so I banned you as you were warned.