rugby forum banning by ruggiebear

donfers

He just banned me in the Munster v Leinster thread for saying that Leinster fans should show more grace and dignity in defeat than simply blaming the referee, I said that this reaction means the winning fans victory will taste sweeter as it suggests some of the losing teams fans are engaged in a petty minded process of detracting from the winning teams achievement by automatically blaming the referee.

I didn't use any abusive terms, I didn't attack any poster and the guy issues me with a ban. I believe he did it because there are far fewer Munster fans than Leinster fans on that forum and he had earlier banned another poster (Leinster fan) for using the C-word and being abusive and I believe he decided to ban me to even things up, to use me as an example and say to the Leinster fans "heh guys I am fair, look I just banned a Munster fan too" - the problem being he banned me for absolutely nothing except my valid reasoning that blaming the referee displays a lack of dignity and grace. I have also reviewed previous match threads and can provide several examples (if you request) of what I believe are far more aggressive or inflammatory posts than mine that went unpunished.

I pm'ed the moderator concerned with a long mail saying I didn't want to take this issue to dispute resolution, I explained in detail why I believed the banning was unfair, I said that we two mature adults should try to agree on a solution and settle the dispute by pm and I said I'd be willing to accept an infraction even though I didn't consider my post to be too bad. He merely responded dismissively "Nope, go to dispute resolution" and failed to answer a lot of questions I raised in my pm. This short-handed dismissive disrespectful answer to my pm leads me to believe that perhaps he thinks he can operate with complete impunity here and ban who he likes when he likes for what he likes knowing full well this dispute resolution process will invariably settle on the side of the mod. I hope that isn't the case.



My case rests on the fact that I don't think my post was worthy of ban, infraction at best which I indicated I was willing to accept. I also am unhappy about he communicated via pm and didn't address some of my concerns. I have received a few bans and infractions before but by and large they were justified, this I believe is excessive, inconsistent and an example of tokenism. Perhaps in this thread he might give a more detailed answer to the issues I have raised or maybe he'll do as he did by pm and that is answer a long post with a few "flexing muscle" dismissive words coz he is the man and that's all he needs to do.

Khannie

Investigating. I'll be with you soon.

Khannie

Ok, I'm going to just cut to the chase here...

donfers wrote: »

My case rests on the fact that I don't think my post was worthy of ban

You're wrong there. Your post was goading. The thread title includes an instruction to read the OP. That OP contains this very clear warning:

Another Leinster/Munster derby looms, so as per usual, there will be, yes you've guessed it, zero tolerance/bans for;

Player/Pundit abuse.
Abuse of fellow posters.
Leinster V Munster nonsense.

Yours falls under the last part there.

While I acknowledge that the PM you got was blunt (too blunt perhaps), the ban is very clearly warranted.

donfers

Khannie wrote: »

Ok, I'm going to just cut to the chase here...



You're wrong there. Your post was goading. The thread title includes an instruction to read the OP. That OP contains this very clear warning:



Yours falls under the last part there.

While I acknowledge that the PM you got was blunt (too blunt perhaps), the ban is very clearly warranted.

Thanks for looking into it.

Also fair play for acknowledging that his reply was blunt - I trust that if I contact him by pm in the future about a specific issue or have some issues or concerns he will try to address them rather than just basically tell me to go away. Is that the case? I realise mods are busy etc. but respect works both ways.

On the goading issue, first of all can we define what goading is? Because I feel that comments that Leinster only lost the game because of the referee or are a much better team etc. are goading and disrespectful of Munster and Munster fans. My comment was a reaction to those comments which I preceived to be disrespectful. As I said I think an infraction would have sufficed as I didn't target my comments at anyone in particular, wasn't abusive in any way and it was simply a generalised comment directed at those who didn't display grace and dignity in defeat.

Boards is supposed to be an internet forum that represents Ireland, yet I am afraid to say (and this is confirmed by many posts on both Munster AND Leinster rugby forums) there is a perception out there that there is a Leinster bias on the rugby forum here. I don't know if that is true. I honestly couldn't care less if every mod on there was a big Leinster fan. All I ask is that they apply the disciplinary system equally and consistently to all that use the forum. I'd say it must be very difficult for them to objectively analyse the rights and wrongs of a particular case, especially in the heat of the moment after a narrow last-minute defeat to their arch rivals. But this stuff should never come into how they moderate or discipline the forum users. I hope that is the case but I believe there have been many cases of posts on that forum where stuff was said on there that was at least the equivalent of my post in terms of the degree of provocation/goading involved and to the best of my knowledge it went unpunished. Is that fair?

You say you believe my 7 day ban was warranted. I'd disagree and I'll use a sporting analogy to convey why I disagree. Imagine the Munster and Leinster fans on the rugby forum were playing a friendly soccer match and the mods were the referees. Imagine I got a red card for what I thought was not too bad a tackle and then watched from the sidelines as I saw the Leinster fans team commit what I perceived to be tackles as aggressive/dangerous as mine or even worse that went completely unpunished. Imagine then politely asking the referee for some clarification on these issues and being told where to go. Do you not then understand why a lot of Munster fans would harbour resentment and why not so many use the forum?

Khannie

donfers wrote: »

Thanks for looking into it.

Also fair play for acknowledging that his reply was blunt - I trust that if I contact him by pm in the future about a specific issue or have some issues or concerns he will try to address them rather than just basically tell me to go away. Is that the case? I realise mods are busy etc. but respect works both ways.

Moderators are not obliged to deal with every question you ask of him before sending you towards the DR process. I have asked him that he be gentler in future though.

donfers wrote: »

On the goading issue, first of all can we define what goading is? Because I feel that comments that Leinster only lost the game because of the referee or are a much better team etc. are goading and disrespectful of Munster and Munster fans.

Let's not get into defining words. There are plenty of dictionaries out there. Your post, IMO, was only out to irritate the opposition.

donfers wrote: »

My comment was a reaction to those comments which I preceived to be disrespectful.

If you have a problem with a post, you should use the report post function instead of reacting to it.

donfers wrote: »

As I said I think an infraction would have sufficed

The warning in the original post could not have been clearer. Bans were on the cards and that's what you got.

donfers wrote: »

I hope that is the case but I believe there have been many cases of posts on that forum where stuff was said on there that was at least the equivalent of my post in terms of the degree of provocation/goading involved and to the best of my knowledge it went unpunished. Is that fair?

Moderators don't read every post in every thread. It's just not possible, especially in post-match threads which can span 100+ pages. They're relying on people to use the report post function in fast moving threads. If that doesn't happen, posts may get by that would otherwise have received some kind of disciplinary action. I'm not going to get into handing out post-mortem bans to others that may have been missed at the time.

Your ban was warranted and it stands. I can see no reason to change or reduce it given the clear warning in the OP of that thread and the thread title containing instruction to read that warning.