Absurd ban for questioning a mods insensitive post.

166man

About 15 minutes ago in the motoring forum (Motors Chat Thread) a post was made by a moderator. I'm not sure if I should name said moderator but you may see for yourselves. We were collectively discussing a motoring accident relating to a posters family member and were told to "start a new thread as the mod couldn't be arsed reading it and it was derailing the thread".

Firstly it was not derailing a motoring thread as it was clearly motoring related. Secondly I was appalled at the lack of sensitivity towards the topic at hand.

I questioned this lack of sensitivity and had my post deleted and received an infraction and then a ban. This is ridiculous I thought as it means that nobody can question a mods post as he will be deleted. I think the mod was wrong and I saw nothing wrong with my post.

Can anyone shed the light on what I can do?

Thanks it's much appreciated!

166man

Anyone? I spoke to the mod which wasn't really any help.

Micky Dolenz

Hi 166man,

A Rec CMod will look into this for you. Please be patient though as its the weekend.

Thanks

Micky

Micky Dolenz

Hi 166man,

Firstly, all mod actions and instructions are questionable. However, it is to be done by PM.

You will find "Do not question mod instructions on thread" or similar in nearly every charter for every forum on boards. Questioning an instruction leads to derailment and this is why the ruling is common.

There would have been no problem had you PM the mod and said what you did. The wording of LimerickMans post is casual and I don't see how it was seen as offensive if I'm honest. I'm confident he didn't mean it in an insensitive way.

Once you had been infracted, you continued to question on thread and were banned for a day. It's pretty clear to me the thinking behind it and I support it in this instance.

As I said, we are all questionable, but there are ways and means of going about it.

166man

My issue was with his post which I feel as a poster I should be able to. Why is it that because he is a mod that I can't question his lack of sensitivity? There would be no problem saying that to any other poster.

I also have been having issues with this mod as he has gone and banned me from the forum for an entire week. I logged on this evening to drew I had been banned from saying that it was great to be back and no longer banned. I then stuck to the charter by mentioning my car needed a clean. This was again in the motors chat thread.

This is ridiculous at this stage being banned for that. I'm a regular on that forum and never mean bad in my posts. I feel he has a personal grudge against me at this stage. I merely mentioned that it was good to be back.

How can it be fair that I'm banned A) for a day because I questioned a post. Note that I questioned the post and not the poster. And I got banned for a week by the same mod because of a post that did not offend anyone or was uncivil.


I think this has gone too far this time, I'd like it to be resolved.

Micky Dolenz

166man wrote: »

My issue was with his post which I feel as a poster I should be able to. Why is it that because he is a mod that I can't question his lack of sensitivity? There would be no problem saying that to any other poster.

A mod of a forum isn't any other poster and you need to understand the rules as I have explained them to you. Do you understand?

166man wrote: »

I also have been having issues with this mod as he has gone and banned me from the forum for an entire week. I logged on this evening to drew I had been banned from saying that it was great to be back and no longer banned. I then stuck to the charter by mentioning my car needed a clean. This was again in the motors chat thread.

Looked like a sly dig in fairness. Mod discretion is something we value, it prevents people trying to circumvent rules etc. It's the spirit of the rules as opposed to the wording of them

166man wrote: »

This is ridiculous at this stage being banned for that. I'm a regular on that forum and never mean bad in my posts. I feel he has a personal grudge against me at this stage. I merely mentioned that it was good to be back.

How can it be fair that I'm banned A) for a day because I questioned a post. Note that I questioned the post and not the poster. And I got banned for a week by the same mod because of a post that did not offend anyone or was uncivil.


I think this has gone too far this time, I'd like it to be resolved.

A) you were banned for repeatedly questioning a mod on thread. It's in the motors charter. This is the crux of the issue and until you acknowledge that, we have a problem.

b) It was a bit of a dig, you and I know that.

I can assure you that the mod in question holds no grudge here and is just doing a job.

The motor Mods are a reasonable bunch and there is every possibility that something can be done about your current ban if you can see where they are coming from and why this all came about. If you can't see that, I think we may be done here.

I would advise you to take some time to read all my posts on this subject. Have a read of the Motors Charter also.

166man

Yes, a mod is a mod and should be respected. I would always do my best to respect the mods, but I was disagreeing with his post, not the poster. I thought his post wasn't particularly nice and as such I disagreed with it. Does this mean I cannot disagree with a mod without being banned?

Also I should point out that I did not realise genuinely that I had been given an Infraction. I then wondered where the post had gone and why it was deleted as LM actually edited his post as I posted mine. He edited his post to say "anymore posts on the issue will be infracted/banned but I didn't see this as I was writing my post which said "Eh What?".

It was not a sly dig at anyone and I was glad to be back on the forum. Forgive and forget as they say. I had moved on to mention that my car needed a clean this keeping it on topic.

I also find it interesting that in discussing the issue LM proceeded to inform me that I should be staying on-topic on the thread. This comes from a mod who often posts wildly off topic. I recall once seeing a post about his dog or something. Hardly abiding by the charter there.


I should also point out that I have no issue with anyone at all and more importantly I would not take this much time over this unless I thought it was unfair.

I didn't repeatedly question anything either as outlined above. I know what I posted and it wasn't a dig but if you call it a dig fine, but how can that justify a week ban.

I would like to get this resolved, I also have read the charter numerous times.

166man

Well it's now been three days with no reply from here and no reply from the mod to my PM asking him to explain his reasoning for giving me another ban for a week.


What's the point of the DRP if my ban will be over by the time I hear from anyone about it?

Asiaprod

Your issue is being dealt with. Please be patient. We will get back to you.

166man

Asiaprod wrote: »

Your issue is being dealt with. Please be patient. We will get back to you.

Thanks for that, I appreciate it.

166man

Well my 7 day ban has been lifted as of today. I'm still disappointed with how my complaint was dealt with. I have had barely any contact with anyone regarding this matter as outlined in the above posts.

I know I was not in the wrong in this case and I made my argument with perfectly valid points however I still had to serve the weeks ban. I feel that the ban was unjust and that the Mod respectfully, was in the wrong here.

Finally, I have great respect for all Mod's on boards, they do a tough enough job voluntarily and don't always have an easy task. But if I think something is wrong I feel obliged to say something.

Please do not mark this as resolved as I'm still waiting on the outcome.

Asiaprod

This is not resolved yet. The thread will remain open till it is.

I would draw your attention to the fact that sometimes issues take a little longer to resolve. Your ban was of short duration and unfortunatly for you the resolving of this one is taking longer than the actual duration of the ban.

I think what is equally important here is to also prevent any escalation that results in you getting further bans. I would highly recomend you be a bit more selective in your phrasing. Saying "It was great to be back and no longer banned" is probably, under the circumstances, not the smart thing to say.

As soon as this issue is resolved I will get back to you.

166man

Asiaprod wrote: »

This is not resolved yet. The thread will remain open till it is.

I would draw your attention to the fact that sometimes issues take a little longer to resolve. Your ban was of short duration and unfortunatly for you the resolving of this one is taking longer than the actual duration of the ban.

I think what is equally important here is to also prevent any escalation that results in you getting further bans. I would highly recomend you be a bit more selective in your phrasing. Saying "It was great to be back and no longer banned" is probably, under the circumstances, not the smart thing to say.

As soon as this issue is resolved I will get back to you.

I understand that. The ban wasn't that short also. 7 days is fairly long for something so small and insignificant.

I have no reason to escalate anything further and do not wish to have more bans to my boards username.

I will keep saying it until I am blue in the face that I do not believe I was wrong. I do understand the points made but I sincerely believe that I had done no wrong. It should be obvious that discussing a car accident of a posters immediate family member is very much on topic on a Motors thread. Also it should be noted in the charter od the thread it says " motoring related only". LM has been on that thread talking about his animals, hardly on-topic is it?

My original issue was with the lack of sensitivity towards the post and the poster. Claiming that he wasn't "arsed" to read though a whole "pile of crap" is not fair. The posters father was involved in a serious accident and the situation should have been treated with a little more empathy in my opinion.

I should say that I meant no wrong in my second post. I was genuinely happy no longer to be banned. As you can see I don't get banned that often. If a mod had taken offence to the post maybe a written PM warning rather than an outright ban for 7 days.

That's where I stand on the issue and will not be backing down on something I feel strongly about.

I appreciate and thank you for your time spent reading the thread and getting back to me.

All the best

T.

166man

Any word on this Mods?

Asiaprod

Its not with the Mods:). Its with the Admins.
It is being discussed. Please be patient. Surly the best outcome is far more desirable that a quick answer.

166man

Asiaprod wrote: »

Its not with the Mods:). Its with the Admins.
It is being discussed. Please be patient. Surly the best outcome is far more desirable that a quick answer.

Ah sugar, apologies. Yep I'll stay patient, I'd like this resolved, thanks again.

Asiaprod

Thanks for your patience, this will be resolved asap.

L-M

166man,

Firstly, I'd like to apologize for the delay in getting back to you.

Without delving back into this whole thing too far I would just like to put a final word on it.

Looking back on your ban now, it is evident that the ban in itself was too long. We (Myself, my fellow moderators and Admin) agree that action was warranted but the ban imposed was too long

Long it seemed in the short term, but for a ban to properly be disputed it should be disputed within the term of the ban, but one week was not enough time for us to properly look into and get back to you with a reply, so at this point we obviously cannot shorten the ban nor undo it, and we're sorry for that.

I believe that we can both take something from this, I can indeed say I have learned a lot myself.

In future, try show a little more respect towards your Moderators, we're here to make sure the place runs smoothly whilst trying to run our own lives too. If you ever have a problem pm a Moderator or report the post, don't question a decision on thread as this further derails it and generally ends up in someone losing a temper and bans being dished out.

I'm sure we can move on from this now and let this thread fade into the vast wilderness that is boards zombie threads.

Regards,
LM

Trojan

Resolved.