Banned for giving advice????

The Vocal Academy

As a new member of this forum I consider being BANNED PERMANENTLY for this post harsh in the extreme:
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"From: The Master
Subject: You have been banned

Dear The Vocal Academy,

You have been permanently banned from Singing and Vocals for posting advertising your company.

This site is about discussion and is not a means for you to advertise your business.

Businesses can engage with our members in a number of ways, please see the Boards.ie FAQ for more details.
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The offending post apparently:
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*Your post:*
---Quote (Originally by The Vocal Academy)---
The lack of confidence to get up and sing in front of anybody can come from anywhere. The dependent factor is based on where the performers fear comes from. There was a very interesting article in the Guardian very recently where they interviewed the "front man/woman' from various different bands regarding their relative abilities to get up and sing in front of a crowd and ALL of them said they stressed about it. That said, all of these 'could sing' per se and have obviously grown into the point they are at in this moment. For somebody who doesn't normally sing in front of people, the lack of confidence could come down to literally anything. From not confident your voice is 'good enough' to something somebody in authority said to you 20 years ago. It's hard to address it without understanding where the stress emanates from although not impossible.
---End Quote---

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I do not and cannot see how this post is 'Advertising My Company' considering it was a direct response to an appeal by a Board Member looking for advice I am qualified to give. Not only this, but reading through the Forum today I noted a forum Moderator directly plugging for business on a different thread.

On a subsequent PM when I pointed out that the above post could hardly be seen as advertising I received an alternative reason for my being PERMANENTLY BANNED:
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"Your username is advertising, all your post are in the s&v forum.
You have quite clearly signed up only to promote your company.

Please take this matter to the dispute resolution forum if you still feel this ban is unwarranted "
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I've had 4 POSTS in a Forum that I joined today in order to discuss Singing and Vocals (the point of the Forum I would assume) I would have thought that a more measured response to the post would be that if my User Name was deemed offensive that I simply be asked to change it. So in response to the previous response, I asked this same question only to be told:
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"Your ban stands
As I said please use the dispute resolution forum if you wish to appeal"
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So here I am your honor.

To be perfectly honest, this line is the last I will pursue this matter which I consider overhanded, unprofessional and frankly childish to my becoming a member of Boards.ie.

Further I am prepared to overlook this incident if my account is reinstated to the Forum I joined Boards.ie in order to discuss matters that are close to my heart - under a different name.

Alternatively I can only consider that the Forum CAN be used to 'Sell Your Wares' if you are a member of the inner circle and that if you even smell like you are 'in competition' with anybody in the inner circle then you will not be entertained.

A petty and childish incident.

The Vocal Academy

Just as a backup to my stating a current Moderator was explicitly touting for business in the same forum:

Wurly wrote: »

Hi there,

I am a voice coach based in Dublin City Centre. If you would like further information, please feel free to PM me.

I would love to hear your views on this compared with my Permanent Ban.

Gordon

You registered this new account to advertise your business of the same name. The post you just deleted which has the exact same text as the post above, which is by your original account spiderman80884 just proves this. You forgot to log out of that account.

The terms that you agreed to when registering state that you are not allowed to register to promote your business. In some forums under some threads, established members of the community (ie: people that have not registered to advertise their businesses, but instead use our platform to discuss stuff) are allowed to post as wurly did. But you registered to drum up business, so I'm banning your account now as you already have an account.

If you wish to advertise here, please contact hello(AT)boards.ie, or if you wish to discuss a commercial account, also do this.

I'm going to overlook your duplicate account in order to advertise, so will not take site action on your original account. However, the ban on your new business account will stay unless you take the course of action as outlined above, and if you decide to progress, they'll discuss the terms in which you can post here.

Cheers,

Gordon

Spiderman80884

That is perfectly understood however the name I used which appears now to be the issue could have been said at the time Gordon. So just to be clear on the matter, it is fine for established members of the community like Wurly (who I have no issue with) and Spiderman80884 - also a paying advertiser with a adverts.ie - to post as demonstrated above?

Wurly

The Vocal Academy wrote: »

Just as a backup to my stating a current Moderator was explicitly touting for business in the same forum:



I would love to hear your views on this compared with my Permanent Ban.

Ok firstly OP, I was not the moderator who banned you. I didn't even see your post until just now. I am not part of any 'inner circle' as you put it.

I have many posters that PM me looking for advice. I think it is important to for me to mention to our posters that I am a voice coach. Therefore, I am professionally qualified to deal with particular matters, should someone wish to talk to me about them. I am also well versed with bad advice (even though the intent is good) given on the forum and can deal with it accordingly.

I didn't make any decisions against you. So I would ask that you stop mentioning my name and making me out to be some sort of shill with a vested interest. I have moderated Singing and Vocals for quite some time now and I take great pride in that forum and it's posters. You can think what you like about what goes on in the supposed 'underworld' of an internet forum but I can assure you that you are clearly mistaken.

I will now bow out and let the moderator who banned you deal with your complaint.

All the best,
Wurly

Spiderman80884

Look. This is getting ridiculous. I'm simply trying to clarify something that isn't clear to me.

Here are the facts as I see them. Feel free to contradict them.

I accept that my User Name was incompatible with the rules of the Forum.
I offered to change it.
I was instructed to post my grievance here.
I quoted clearly that it was "The Master" who banned me.
I used your Quote to demonstrate that a Moderator was inviting PMs from Board Members to contact them about business related matters. The very reason I was banned from that same Forum.
I too am a Professionally Qualified Voice Teacher and I only gave advice to a Board Member. I am not in direct competition with you as I'm in a different geographical location.
I have no argument with you whatsoever Wurly nor did I state that I had. In fact I have already made that clear in my previous post.
Gordon stated that in some forums in some threads that Established Members of the Community were allowed to post as you did.

I'm simply trying to clarify the rules of what is and isn't allowed on this Forum so as I don't fall foul of again. I have been given 3 different reasons for my being banned under my previous name and this has caused some confusion for me I'm sure you'll understand. This could have been sorted out by PM except that that door was firmly closed to me

So let me apologise sincerely if you've taken it that I have some misguided vendetta against you personally as this is not and was not my Intention. I don't know you or have I come across your business before.

My previous question still remains however. A simple Yes or no by Gordon or "The Master" would clear everything up for me.

Gordon

Yes.

As far as I understand the forum.

Now as your Spiderman account has no bans, the DRP process doesn't apply, so I'm closing this off. If you need further clarification of the rules in that particular forum after reading the forum charter, I'd suggest contacting the mod(s).