Soccer Forum Warning Appeal

Andersonisgod

Ok I have discussed a warning I received on the La Liga discussion thread yesterday with the mod who issued the warning. I stated my case as to why I believe the warning was an injustice, the mod did not agree and stated his case as to why he believes a warning should be issued. As a result I will now bring case forward here. I would like to state that from the off, this is not just an appeal against the yellow card I received, it is also an appeal to allow me to retain my very identity. I will be thorough, I will be descriptive and I will bring forward the very best argument that I can muster as I absolutely believe that this is something quite close to farce. I will open with my initial response to the moderator, I post this here because in it I justify the condemned comment from a variety of aspects, which is why I believe it is important that the CMod or Admin sees it.

"Right. I've gone back and forward on this for a few hours after noticing the yellow card next to my comment, in that time I coached and played football and I contemplated just letting it go, let it slide and get on with it, perhaps if I didn't feel so infuriated or wronged I could have done that, but I do feel infuriated, I do feel wronged and I do feel like I can go through that comment, practically line for line, and justify every word in it. I can justify the existence of the comment, I can justify the tone of the comment, I can justify the content of the comment. In the following message I will do all of that. I won't lie to you, this message will be long, this message will contain copious detail, this message will be a quite comprehensive argument because I fully intend on having this card rescinded such is how annoyed I am about receiving a card for that comment in particular. So here we go.

"Trolling" is the primary offence I have been charged with here, that is described as
" posting in an intentionally provocative fashion in order to gain a reaction from other members." of course, practically every and any message could provoke a reaction from other members, it depends purely on how strongly each given member feels about the poster/content of the post ect. So that is too broad, so luckily your moderator note has narrowed it down.
"Soapboxing" having consulted the urban dictionary, this is the definition I have gotten for soapboxing

"To wax philosophical to promote your own agenda.

2) To get your message across to a number of people."

I would love to know where I wax philosophical to promote my own agenda. Indeed this isn't even my agenda, as this is not a comment with much opinion attached to it. It is a comment that has reacted to an event (the Barcelona president bringing forward an election) and stating what may come of that. Agenda has little to do with it. The news that Oscar Garcia was contacted by the board was reported by Barcelona newspaper SPORT that morning. Enrique being a lame duck manager is common sense, if he survives this two day trial, when a new manager is elected he will inevitably want to build his own version of Barcelona with his own people. The closing sentence echoes the joy felt by Barcelona fans the world over, and the last part "more than just a club" is the club's motto, it is literally printed on the Barcelona jersey I am wearing right now.

So now we get to the meat of the argument. "my style winds people up" unfortunately it is not an adopted style that I suddenly decide to utilize when I feel it best suits me, I talk like this, I open my mouth and words flow forth in this manner, my fingers rush from one button to the next and the words they create mirror the language I use verbally. How should I speak? Lets quickly run through my punished comment and pick out parts that could be flagged up for "this style of posting" that so "winds people up"

Opening paragraph: Opening line, here I give things a grandoise feel, I have heightened the sense of importance of the entire situation and this sets a tone for the rest of the comment. It is a technique I will use often. "today is the day the establishment fell" is an example of such verbose language, it is something that could conjure images of any kind of great revolution.
Next is a metaphor, here I have used rats boarding a ship. Perhaps it is a little crass, however it is not crassness that brings me here apparently. Are metaphors a no no? Should I never use metaphors again? Are metaphors a part of the style that the people so hate? I see metaphors on here all the time and not just by me.
Next I speak of Messi, again my verbose language is in effect, though actually reading it back quite a large chunk of the Messi section lacks any kind of rhythmic language, indeed quite a lot of it is actually just stating facts and, if I were being self-critical, in rather dull language too. "Messi No Es Toca" ends this paragraph, it translates to Messi is untouchable, a quite popular hashtag among Barcelona fans the last number of days. Is using little lines like that the odd time in a different language part of this detestable style that I have? It's not as if the entire comment was written in Catalan.

Paragraph two. A would-be witty line about dusting off former president Laporta. My wit clearly wasn't appreciated. I mention the Oscar Garcia talk which comes from a Catalonian newspaper. I highlight why Garcia would be a good choice for manager.

Opening line I've explained, I read the full translated transcript from his press conference thus I feel justified and informed enough to speak about it. And I've gone through the closing line already.

In this broken down form, I'm struggling to see the issue. I have just systematically broken down both tone and content, next I will justify the existence for the comment.

This is why I believe trouble has stirred. It is because nobody seemed to understand why I actually posted this comment, I dare say even you are unsure as to why this comment exists. The comments afterwards (as few as there were) pretty much confirmed to me that nobody truly understood the magnitude of Bartomeu's announcement or the ramifications of it, as such this may have just appeared to you and others as a wild, random comment with no purpose. Nothing could be further from the truth. For a lot of Barcelona fans, this was a moment they'd waited for, for a long time, for some, myself included, it was sweeter than winning the cup, sweeter than winning the league, maybe even sweeter than winning the Champions League, it is the day we knew we were getting our club back. This is why the language is verbose, this is why it opens with "celebrate!" It is a massive moment for Barcelona as a club and us as fans. Again you must understand the situation, this is the most destructive board Barcelona have had since the Franco era where there was a puppet regime in control. They destroyed tradition, they insulted heroes (Cruyff, Guardiola, Laporta, Abidal, Valdes, Messi to name just a few) they killed the greatest era the club has ever seen and dragged us into the wilderness. When you don't fully understand these things, when you don't follow Barcelona each day, it's tough to fully understand the context and I understand that as a result I may seem hysterical without reason at times. For anyone who understood the context, Messi's actions were massive, a genuinely massive moment for Barcelona, when you take into account Messi's character it makes it all the more amazing. For a lot of us, in our wildest dreams we didn't imagine that an early election was possible, we never thought that Bartomeu would sack his primary shield Zubizzareta. Yet these last couple of days Messi brought things to a head and this all happened, for us who adore Cruyff and who feel it is by his philosophy that Barcelona should be run, we have been waiting for this day for 5 years! If anything my comment is tame compared to things I've seen on twitter.

That is the context, that is why I sent the message. I would also say that this is not just an important story among Barcelona fans, I believe Junta Dimision (or something to that effect) trended last night on twitter, many major sports publications across the world have run this story, some even having it as their lead sports story for the day. Again I fear that the action of bringing forward an election simply didn't resonate as being very important on this forum, for Barcelona fans, it's been 5 years in the making.

So that is why the comment exists, that's why the story was so important, that's why my language reflects that. Far from a random post created to troll or "soapbox" this was a comment I'd been waiting to write for 5 years. So yes, I am annoyed that it was carded, and I feel rather insulted at the insinuation that I am a troll. I feel at a loss as to how I can best change my "style" unless you wish for me to impersonate a character from a Ladbrokes advert or Eastenders then there really isn't very much I can do on that front. I have gone through the content and style of the post, paragraph for paragraph, if needs be I will go through it line for line if you still feel it is inappropriate. I would also appreciate examples of other posts which you feel fall into the category of this "style" of mine which I am apparently prohibited from using so I do not get into trouble again, if there are suggestions as to how I should communicate from here on in I would dearly love to hear them because overwriting the best part of 23 years speaking this way will be quite a challenging task.

Thank you."


So that is my argument to defend the original post. However it became clear in the moderator's response to this PM that this warning was not simply the warning against one single post, rather it is a warning against an entire style, my style, it was the first shot in what would appear to be a full campaign against me, an "AndersonIsDevil" campaign if you will. I feel as those this concerted campaign in entirely unfair and unjust. I can say confidently that this is a campaign against me based on the moderator's response to that PM. I feel as though I have been singled out by this moderator and that the reasoning behind, what sounds like will be a prolonged, campaign is flimsy at best and a denial or free speech at worst. To highlight this I will give you examples of parts of his comment of which I take issue.

"you write as if you've swallowed a thesaurus"
I'm not an expert on the rules of this forum, indeed I never had to be as I have gotten by on here by remaining aloof and good-natured the majority of the time, in fact yesterday was the first time I've ever even reported a post on this forum, but I am quite sure that nowhere in the rules is there a syllable limit. It would appear that the moderator is annoyed at my propensity to write in, what I deem, a nice way. I would also like it noted that at no stage of writing any post on the forum have I ever actually used a thesaurus, can you imagine how long they would take to write if I didn't already know each word that I use or it's meaning. To me, this quote indicates a personal bias of the moderator against the poster.

" But as a moderator, when I see constant disruptions being caused by a single poster, I have to step in and deal with things."
This would indicate that there have been numerous complaints against me. I would argue that I have never once personally insulted another poster. I do not engage in the winding up of opposition fans as is so common on the forum. In fact the mental image that this line summoned was of (what I presume are) adults sitting at a computer, writing "His big words confuse and annoy me" in the comment section of the report abuse function, to me that seems so very childish. I believe this shows that infact I haven't broken any rules, indeed the accusation of style is quite vague, rather this is someone who has bowed to mob pressure and his own personal prejudice.

"1. It's a natural posting style which you don't realise/don't care annoys people.
In this case, you're being excessive, empolying hyperbole to come across as a fanatical poster, choosing to ignore the comments which display that people find your posting style grating."

As I said in my PM to this moderator, this is how I speak. Perhaps I am a fanatical person, maybe I am filled with whimsy, who knows. Unfortunately I would struggle to speak in any other way. I will return later to this "hyperbole" comment.

"2. It's a gimmick designed to wind people up while trying not to break the charter (i.e. low level trolling).
In this case, your posting style is one which you've adopted because it pushes the buttons of posters without actually breaking any of the rules (the most common type of trolling involved on the soccer forum)."

I am entirely unsure of how style can be a gimmick. If my somewhat lyrical method of communicating constitutes a gimmick then I would dearly love for someone to explain to me how I should communicate, what is acceptable and not acceptable. As I say in my PM, unfortunately 23 years of speaking this way have left me rather limited in my ability to suddenly change how I speak/write.

"our posting style (the hyperbole, the excessive use of language, the long-winded ramblings displaying the mindset of a fanatic zealot)"
This comment is laced with personal bias. All of these things are based solely on interpretation. To be blunt, I believe the comment which I was warned for was downright tame compared to what I'd seen on Twitter and considering the magnitude of the event. What exactly does "excessive use of language" actually equate to? When does language become "excessive?" "long-winded ramblings displaying the mindset of a fanatic zealot" that is as clear an example of personal prejudice against a poster as you can get? I mean that's tantamount to a personal insult surely? I will admit that perhaps my adoration of Barcelona does cloud my judgement occasionally and perhaps does make me biased but being biased in favour of your favourite team on a soccer forum and being biased against a poster on a forum of which you are a moderator are two different things entirely.

" I think you do know some people get annoyed with the manner in which you write, but (as opposed to doing it to wind them up deliberately) you choose to ignore such complaints and continue posting in the style anyway."

So if something annoys someone then it shouldn't be done? I would also like to say that I could easily find a half dozen examples, probably more if I really wanted to, of posters posting in response to me (usually after Barcelona have conceded) in this condemned style with the sole purpose of provoking a response from me and yet I feel confident that despite such obvious trolling, no such comment has ever received a yellow card? Infact they are just a cheap and easy way to get a high thanks count for a post. This strikes me as one for some and another for others.

"Something has to change in the manner in which you contribute to the soccer forum."
Confirmation that this warning is no once off, it is going to be a continued campaign. As I say, what can I change? Shall I never use metaphors again? Or the introduction of a syllable count that only applies to me? Should I simply not punctuate my posts? I am at a loss here, I am genuinely perplexed as to how I can actually comply with this request.

" You can write your opinion without writing a Greek Epic."
I would also like it noted that here is an example of extreme hyperbole from a moderator who apparently detests hyperbole. My PM to the moderator was 3 Microsoft Word pages, hardly a Greek Epic. The punished comment was a little less that a page on Microsoft Word, a rather incomplete Greek Epic I suspect. So if a moderator can engage in hyperbole in response to a poster accused of hyperbole, can I ever hyperbole again?

" You have to take on board that your posting style does disrupt the forum, does wind people up, and continuing to ignore it and post in such a manner will be seen as trolling, since you will be deliberately posting in a manner which winds people up."
Again I ask, how should I post then? Where is the line? The vagueness of this warning, the sheer haphazardness of it reeks of a moderator itching to punish a poster he has a bias against, it is a victory for mob rule.

" It's also worth pointing out I'm not much up for engaging in a massive back and forth where we're writing essays to each other either. I think I've covered most of what needs to be said on the matter unless there's something else there needs to be addressed."
Based on this quote, the moderator in question has no love for words. I don't think that his PM has come close to actually describing what aspects of my style grate, why it is only my style that has been singled out? Hence forth in what style am I allowed to post? What words am I banned from using? To what extent should I keep my "fanatical zealot" level of support under wraps? Why is it only now that my style is an issue when it has been unchanged from day one? What actually constitutes being "andersonisgod" style of writing? And no, I will not be accepting a "Greek Epic" as a sufficient answer. If someone can answer that last question, I would also like examples of how I should post from now on.

Thank you.

Beasty

I see you have already discussed this with the mod in question. Let's put this in context though - we are talking a yellow card here - a shot across the bows to request you reconsider your posting style. Alas the length of your post above suggests you do not wish to take that warning on board

It is very clear to me that your style of posting, continually waxing lyrical about your own beloved football team, does wind up other posters. I believe this has been mentioned to you in the past and you are clearly aware of that based on a number of responses you have seen to posts you have made over an extended period

I am not going to go to the trouble of attempting to address the points made in your post - as I said we are talking a single yellow here and I have other things in the Sports category that are currently a lot higher priority. I will simply say take the warning on the chin. Have a think about how you could change your posting style. Try and calm down and take a bit more of an objective view of things as the Soccer forum really is not the place for some of the stuff you do post.

Yellow card upheld

You may ask an Admin to review this if you wish

Andersonisgod

I do request an admin review, as I say this isn't solely about a yellow card, it is basically a moderator indicating that this will be a prolonged campaign against me.

Right, where do I find the admins?

Beasty

Admins keep an eye on this forum - one will be along in due course

Spear

Looks like this got missed and pushed to the second page. I've given the admins a nudge to get it looked at.

Gordon

Andersonisgod wrote: »

I would like to state that from the off, this is not just an appeal against the yellow card I received, it is also an appeal to allow me to retain my very identity.

Actually, this is an appeal against the yellow card warning that you received, for this post:

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Celebrate! Celebrate one and all for today is the day the establishment fell. Like rats they boarded our proud vessel, they gnawed away at the very heart of the ship until finally holes emerged and we became submerged in mediocrity, they ate their piece of the pie with no regard for history or honor, they would have seen us sink to the bottom of the ocean. Only then, in our darkest hour, an unlikely hero arrived, his name is Lionel Messi. How many times has Messi been the conquering hero on the pitch? Today may be his greatest ever victory, more than winning a football match, more than guiding Barcelona to cup glory, today Lionel Messi has saved an entire club. At Barcelona, Lionel Messi is everything, the club and the cules around the world owe him a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid, today Messi has proven that beyond doubt or question he is Barcelona to his very core. Messi No Es Toca!

Lets dust off Joan Laporta, now could be his moment. The talk of Oscar Garcia too is so encouraging, he is a proper Cruyffista, potentially the right man to lead us back to the promise land.

Enrique is now a lame duck manager, his comments typically contrived, he is no true Barcelona manager, his time will come just as Bartomeu has given us an end date for his presidency. Elections 2015, the club is saved, the club will rise again because this is more than just a club.

That post is, in my eyes, designed to wind people up.

So I agree with the warning, please be mindful of how you post, the warning won't be rescinded.