Thread moving and ban

smelltheglove

Today a fellow poster of the photography forum was banned from that forum. As I am not involved int eh situation I do not know why but there is no apparent reason on thread or on the forum. I posted a thread as a farwell discussing how this poster had helped me since joining the forum. I find this to be a suitable topic for discussion, discussing his effect on my photography. I did obviously include the fact that he was banned and wished him a farwell and invited others to do so. Unfortunately the thread has been moved to off topic, I am unawares to why it is considered off topic since photography is the topic of discussion, I am of the belief that it was moved to out of focus to hide the problem. I would appreciate feedback on this situation, a link to the start of the thread which is now moved to out of focus.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055682373&page=10
a few posts down is the start of this thread.

trishw78

The photography wasn't being discussed and as you can see it has gone VERY off topic.

smelltheglove

The thread itself was not off topic though so why move the thread? Because others decide not to discuss the good effects dodgy has had on them and wish him farewell does not mean the thread was off topic, the posts were then off topic. It is a discussion I would have liked see through and unfortunately I cannot have the freedom to discuss it in public with my fellow members as it has been moved, I would have thought the off topic replies could possibly be moved, although I do feel it now warrants an explanation.

Beruthiel

smelltheglove wrote: »

I am unawares to why it is considered off topic since photography is the topic of discussion

Simply put, the discussion of someone's ban is never discussed in the forum itself.
That is a site rule.
Take it to Feedback or Help Desk.

I am of the belief that it was moved to out of focus to hide the problem.

What problem would that be?

I would appreciate feedback on this situation, a link to the start of the thread which is now moved to out of focus.

It has become clear that this user has done nothing but push his luck for a long time now.
Ever hear of the saying, death by a thousand cuts?
Straw that broke the camels back?

Either way, no Mod should have to put up with constant niggling.
I have absolutely no problem with this ban, in fact, I encouraged it.
We value our Mods on this site, we want them to be happy in the forums they moderate and no one individual gets to cause constant hassle for Mods.
If he does, than I am of the opinion that you get rid of them on the grounds that life will become instantly better for those moderating.

We all do this for free. We do not have to put up with crap on a daily basis if there is an easy way to remedy it.

This is a Help Desk issue and I'm moving the thread there.

smelltheglove

The problem that other people have with the ban is being hidden. The discussion I started did not warrant an out of focus move. I still believe it would have been better to move the posts there rather than the thread. I have started another thread in an alternative way so I can still discuss what I wanted to discuss and will have to hope that this will not be moved also.

trishw78

as you no doubt see I've had to clean up that thread as well...

I believe Cabansail has posted a reason in the OFF thread

Beruthiel

smelltheglove wrote: »

The problem that other people have with the ban is being hidden.

I do not understand what you are trying to say?

The discussion I started did not warrant an out of focus move.

A thread was started in that forum to discuss his ban.
That is against this sites rules.

LoLth

The ban you are referring to was first suggested by me several months ago for behaviour that was timewasting and openly undermining the moderators of the forum. the moderators wanted to work things out with the user. after months of constant harrassment the user got a 1 week ban. he returned and went straight back to the behaviour that got him the ban in the first place (and I have many many pms between me and that user discussing the behaviour in great detail so "i didnt know" is not an acceptable excuse). This ban was months overdue in my opinion and only the moderator's wishes to maintain the peace in the forum and try to keep all the users (includign this one) happy delayed it this long but eventually even their patience ran out when his posting behaviour began to impact on other USERS. note: it was only when other users complained that final action was taken, for nearly a year the mods took the crap themselves and tried to find a peaceful solution.

the user was a fantastic asset to the community but in the last year chose to no longer be part of the forum and instead set himself as the voice of dissent and disagreement. There is no problem with disagreement as long there is the option of dialogue. the user in question refused to engage in mature discussion and insisted on continuing his "crusade".

I appreciate that the user was possibly a friend of yours or an inspiration in your hobby or career and all of the moderators involved are genuinely sorry to see the user go but rules are rules and the good of the community comes before anythign else.

The poster has let the matter go with a very gracious post and a promise to reflect on his behaviour. please do not make matters worse by claiming conspiracy or other cloak and dagger nonsense. The issue was between the mods and the user. if he wants you to know the details he will tell you, it is not up to a mod to give out the details. If the user can demonstrate his change of attitude in other sections of the boards then maybe the ban will be lifted in the future but I would not expect this to happen any time soon.

CabanSail

I would also like to add that a lot of what has occurred was done in private. The whole Mod team, including CMods & Admin have enough evidence to justify the action that was taken. As pointed out the Forum Mods were trying to keep this user in the forum, against the advice of Admin. That eventually failed & this is the result.

smelltheglove wrote: »

The problem that other people have with the ban is being hidden. The discussion I started did not warrant an out of focus move. I still believe it would have been better to move the posts there rather than the thread. I have started another thread in an alternative way so I can still discuss what I wanted to discuss and will have to hope that this will not be moved also.

The post thread you posted with the situation can only be seen as either provacative or naive. The discussion of the Photography of a freshly banned user will go off topic and as such the whole thing was moved to the OOF thread. If we did not have that thread it would have been deleted. There are plenty of views in the OOF thread & we have many reports on those too. We are letting the discussion occur there but only within reason.

smelltheglove

I am not claiming anything to be honest with regards to conspiracy or whatever else, nor did I do so on thread as you will see and Trish may back me up for here on. I suppose at this stage there is no point int aking it any further as I have continued my discussion intetions via another thread. The thread was not started to 'discuss' a ban but to say farewell to a valued member of our community and to point out the good that he had brought us.

The problem other people were having was that there was no information on the ban, they raised questions as to why he was banned, had a post similar to cabainsails been posted in response to those queries then all would be fine but it wasnt, the discussion was moved, maybe rightly so but my issue was the thread being moved as it was to discuss the benefits we had with Dodgy around, how people appreciated his help etc and obviously to say thank you and goodby as a community, within the community, i.e. within the forum, not in a hidden out of focus thread.

Unfortunately with the goings on after that the discussion has not moved to where it might have if the queries were addressed rather than cautioned. It is the way it is though.

Beruthiel

smelltheglove wrote: »

Unfortunately with the goings on after that the discussion has not moved to where it might have if the queries were addressed rather than cautioned. It is the way it is though.

I believe the queries to be more than addressed at this stage.

smelltheglove

Beruthiel wrote: »

I believe the queries to be more than addressed at this stage.

Agreed however at the time pf print they had not been, which is the reason for posting, I am glad they have been but the issue remains rather than moving the whole thread the queries should have been addressed, I posted this as I was disappointed my thread had been moved without breaking rules.

End of as far as I'm concerned anyway.

Beruthiel

smelltheglove wrote: »

I posted this as I was disappointed my thread had been moved without breaking rules.

Why are you ignoring my comment that explains the thread was off topic for that forum and that this forum was the only place for it?