Wrongly banned/Overreaction

United Chester Men

Hi, I was recently posting on the Coronation Street Forum. My post came after a mod had warned someone for making remarks on a characters appearance, a warning I agreed with completely. After the warning, I just made a joke that the moderator had called coronation street "favourite soap". It was just a repetition of what the forum rules said but I just thought I would make a lighthearted comment, nothing offensive that its hard to call Coronation street peoples favourite soap at present as most fans think the standards are low.

The mod then replied to my mail, saying no backseat modding (something I was not intending to do or infer) I was just trying to get the thread back on a lighthearted ebb and flow as 90% of comments on these soap threads are attempts at humour and not offensively made.

At the end of the reply, the mod included one of those wink faces. So i assumed she was just having a joke with me for my reply! I assumed she was just saying never question me, Im a mod but in a joking way! So I replied in a joking manner with the John acton quote "absolute power corrupts.....etc) I never meant to offend/question the mod, It was just a coment intended for humour. at the end of the day, I would have said same to any forum member.

I was subsequently banned by MrsD007.

I am well aware how strict this particular mod is and that there is no talking/consulting with her so I should of not even attempted having a joke with her but hindsight is a great thing. But it is shocking that she could just ban me for this. When I replied with a few mails pleading my case and trying to explain it was only abn attempt at humour she accused me of harassment.

seriously, what sort of attitude is that to take. If the mods respect nothing but the power they have at their keyboard and have no empathy for certain situations but just wish to take things in such a negative light, how are we as the contributors to this thread supposed to respect their power.

I wasn't questioning the moderator but she interpreted it that way.

Please sort this out as soon as possible.

United Chester Men

I will accept a warning and not even communicate ith this person again, as I am afraid how she makes assumptions but I really don't think a ban is warranted here. there are a hell of a lot more offensive thigs said on these threads.

United Chester Men

Oh and can I point out I got no warning off the Mod, just a straight ban.

United Chester Men

There seems to be no legitimate policing of moderator policing. I was given no avenue to explain my post, which I could swear in a court of law was not meant to cause trouble/offend/question the moderator. She interpreted it completely wrong and seems to have an issue with me calling my posts nonsense ON THE THREAD itself. Why can't these power tripping moderators speak to the posters and question the reasons behind the posts before any punishments are handed out. In a non dictator style society, that is how things work. Yet all we get is "Oh, we have made our mind up now, I dont want to listen to your excuses, you can complain to the DR but you know well that 99% of time mods/admins will back up other mods/admins" . It is a complete farce of a system when someone can't explain themselves, their motives and the meaning behind a post and that personal interpretation from moderators who are effectively just women/men sitting behind a laptop deciding if a particular post is offensive to THEM or not.

I am actually seriously upset with this and it is stressing me out a bit. I am confined in a hospital bed and I haven't a bad or malicious bone in my body yet people are determining on here who do nt even know me what they think I am thinking without asking for an expanation. it is sickening.

this moderator seems to have a personal issue with my posts.

Please sort this out.

United Chester Men

RopeDrink wrote: »

Hello UCM,

Going to cut to the chase with a simple breakdown of events.

The Mod in question had deleted several charter breaking comments (the type of which you yourself have been warned for posting last month) followed byy an in-thread warning in the hopes of getting the discussion back on track.

You quoted the Mods charter-reminder to give your opinion on the matter, which is already against the rules (off-topic / back-seat modding) and didn't add anything to the discussion. Note that the moderators post had nothing to do with their own choice of 'favorite soap' - but was, in-fact, a direct quote from the charter.

Mod gives a public secondary reminder in bold that back-seat modding (discussing the warning/charter) isn't the way to go - leading to THIS response from you, to which you were unsurprisingly banned.

The fact that a lot of your posts here smack of the view expressed by the picture itself makes it easy to assume that this is more of a guised statement rather than an attempt at humor. The reality is that there was more than enough going on for you to see that it wasn't the time nor place to derail the thread - and I'd take the week off to reflect on the site-rules, charters relevant to the forums you visit, and re-review your opinion of those who were simply exercising the very basics of Moderation.

Ban upheld, though you may request an Admin to review the case if you wish.

Again, I expect absolute nothing less in this process, nor do I expect it from the Administrators. You are effectively inferring words and thoughts from my post which is an abuse of power. That very moderator moderates another soap thread (fair city thread) where not even 15 minutes before i was banned there was up to ten clear cases of backseat modding which were not dealt with nor since have not been. I even questioned her today about this one rule for some, another for others. It is effectively biased and inconsistent moderating by this particular moderator and this is a common theme on these threads. I got no warning, i was not derailing the thread. Every second post on the CS thread is a comment on how bad the show is. Are you to ban everyone who airs this view??

I dont think that particular comment differs from anyone elses? Were the other posters banned. I just used the quote for humour as any person with a bit of wit would recognise. I made sure to say i agreed with the moderator. This is when she replied no back seat modfing which i took as s joke on hdr part as i wasnt attempting to b.s. Mod as she surely was aware. She even took on her liberty to put a humour emoticon to (in my opinion) reassure me that she understood my true sentiment.

I immediately made the joke about the power (wrongly in hindsight considering my belief that the mod would use her human nature to know it was just a lighthearted comment) i swear on my life to that. iI dont like being accused and alienated when i know i am innocent and as an adult you and the moderator should be able to discuss this with me.

If she was taken her role on b.s. Moderating so seriously, why didnt she ban the poster (pmasterson95) who strangely for no reason thanked her for banning me??? Two posts down .

These are the sort of things. I am open to admit that it wasnt the best idea to joke with a moderator who cant see when it was a mere innocent joke but i really think a ban for this is highly unfair, seemingly a personal bias and not in par with my alleged infraction. If you look at threads, their are regular jokes and interactions between posters. Mine was no different.

I have read a lot of these dispute threads and 99% seem to just be backing up mods. Its amateurish that adults cant explain their actions but are instead force fed what you rule makers seem to think you know what we meen by a post. It is unfair, upsetting and sets a terrible example.

There are far far far worse things said on these threads like personal comments on actors/people/religion etc yet when some poor soul makes a small attempt at humour when they think the poster will have the wit to realise it was merely this and they get banned with no road to plead their case and they are told essentially "to take a week off to look at the terrible treachourous thing you have done", well what does that say???

Are mods untouchable??? They are just regular posters at end of day with the power of their red button. Excuse my colourful metaphpr, again it is just for emphasis and nothing personal AS I DONT KNOW THE MODERATOR.

Can you ask the mod why she didnt call up the other instances of back seat modfing i highlighted. Why she didnt give me a warning that i may be, in her opinion, overstepping the mark before perhaps giving me an infraction or yellow card but instead a serious ban.


Surely you can see this is not ban worthy??? Surely you have to accept this.

United Chester Men

RopeDrink wrote: »

Then why waste your, or my, time if that is your assumption off the bat?

The same can be said regarding your attributing of all fault to the 'power abusing moderators'.

The thread had suffered a number of charter-breaching posts which the mod cleaned up and used to issue a public warning.

You quoted and replied to this first warning (which was a direct excerpt from the charter, that you viewed as a discussable opinion re. 'favourite soaps'). On seeing this as 'discussing the charter' (which was forgiven), the mod posted a light thread-warning aimed directly at you to say that this is a no-no. Had you not continued, we wouldn't be here - yet you saw, quoted, and responded to this second warning with a power-abuse image.

It was neither funny, nor on-topic, and done in the face of other attempts to get things back on track, leading to a minor ban.



Theirs doesn't include charter-quotes or misinterpreting warnings as invitations to have an auld chat about the rules or their relevance to particular soaps that you like/dislike for whatever reason.



That's all well and good - but doesn't make it any less of a site-wide 'don't do it'.

You are free to agree or disagree - and if a particular situation comes into question, you are also free to discuss it in private with the Moderator or even their co-Moderators or CMods should they be unresponsive, or replies prove unsatisfactory. Doing so in-thread, however, is off-topic//discussing moderator actions.

Note that when Moderators post in full-bold, that can be viewed as a post with Mod-hat equipped. It was not a joke, though it was posted lightly in relation to your first 'humor attempt'.

Just wrongly.

...I'm sure mods don't, either...

As an adult, you should know that if Joe Soap tells you not to put your finger in the fire, it is not his fault if you get burned. You are quick to attribute all fault onto power abusing moderators rather than notice just how easily you misinterpreted the obvious warning signs as an invitation to joke around.

There is no thanks on the ban-post. In addition, people are free to thank either mod-actions or even charter-breaking posts. It is frowned upon in most cases, though there are no rules against it and cannot be compared to making actual 'posts' on either subject in thread.

On the contrary, the fact that they 'GOT' the joke explains why the friendly secondary warning came with a . This doesn't make the power-abuse angle any less nonsensical directly after it.

The infraction was a result of commenting on an actors appearance. The posts deleted in-thread that you were banned in were doing the same thing, hence one would think you'd have learned not to follow in its footsteps by quoting a warning not to do it.

Again, the first post toed the line but was forgiven. Whether or not the mod found the power-abuse joke funny or not doesn't make it less off-topic or nonsensical. You can be sure said 'other posters' joking or interacting between themselves are doing so within the rules or related to the actual discussion at hand.

Honestly, I got it. So did the mod, hence your first post was taken very lightly despite quoting the charter post (no-no). This isn't the reason for your ban, just the lead-up.

Which, as you witnessed in thread, was dealt with.

It says that when a Mod repeatedly asks for a thread to get back on topic, cracking off-topics jokes is a bit dim.

Far from it.

Hence they typically make "Mod-Posts" in full-bold, like they did so when warning you, for extra emphasis between "taking part in discussion" and "putting the discussion back on the right path". The fact it came with a previous warning immediately after a noticeable collection of deleted posts that everyone can see usually adds to that emphasis.

You highlighted thanked posts. That is not the same as (inadvertently or otherwise) discussing the charter or quoting mod-warnings via actual posts, as previously mentioned. In any case, doing so would have nothing to do with your appeal.



Three deleted (unrelated posts) followed by a public warning (noticed) and an additional warning (aimed at you) wasn't enough, I take it. I'd also consider a mere 1week ban as minor - and doesn't impact your record like an infraction would.

Ultimately, I still think it's best that you take this simple week off to re-review the charter/rules and basic etiquette. I will not discuss this any further. If you wish for an Admin to review this case, feel free to post the request here.

Yes, there was a poster that first "liked" mrsd007s post stating that she was banning me. The poster then quoted the post and said thank you, as in thank you for banning me?! Seriously that is agreeing with the mod for what she done and thankingg her for it, exactly what i did. This post was still there last night by pmasterson95 and the poster wasnt held accountable with a warning or anything else. How can you derail a thread with one comment? I could go on to your gaming threads and i gusrantee you conversation tethers away from the OP very often.


Secondly, i was not involved in the commenting on the actors appearance nor did i call anyone out on it as i am aware of the process. My first comment was the i agree comment.

Thirdly i have sworn that the picture was not to have a go at the moderator but just to have a laugh. You are choosing to see it another way despite my protestations and explanation. There was no intention to derail or offend the moderator. We are not minions, its human nature to make light of a situation and i fear for anyone interacting with people day to day if they can get offenfed by that over a computer. Why didnt she delete my post?? Why is it still there? Is its presence not derailing the thread?

I did not interpret the reply as s personal warning/yellow card. These are usually handed out via a PM, with your name highlighted and the Incident reasons explained. Personal warnings are not handed out on the thread. If so pmasterson95 would have been banned for agreeing with and thanking the moderator for her actions.

It is clear she took the picture the wrong way and pressed her button. Why not delete the picture, give me a yellow card and explain why i was wrong to post it and warn me not to do it again. My account has no yellow cards or warnings so the chances are i would have accepted this, for all she knew. And i would have because i accept discipline but i also expect due process and a ban without any personal warning or avenue to explain myself is not due process.

You are doing noone any goodby banning me. I am not offendingabyone on the thread to my knowledge and i have an excellent disciplinary record attached to my username. Its just a case of we cant back down now orit will make us look wrong in first place it seems to me.

Why cant i, like everyone else, geta personal warnibg?? And no i disagree that was a sufficient yellow card warning as if so the evidence would be that pmasterson95 should have consideredthat a yellow card warning and not brought up the issue again. The real culprits are the 1diots who commented pn the actors appearance, they are the onesthat shouldbe banned. Their crime is far more hineous than my reply. In the real worldif a crime ispunished social commentary occurs and people are allowed to say they agree/disagree. My comment was 90% speaking about the show.

Absolute joke if you cant recognise this. I anticipate you can though.



Anyway, the system here is just about dissecting situations to justify punishment even though i have explained full well and honestly my situation.

Type in boards.ie moderators to google as i just done and 90% of comments are threads and articles agreeing with this sentiment. Its easier to see from the outside than it is when you are part of the system.

At the end of the day it is only a discussion site but alienating someone p1ssesme off and then making out with a ban that they are some threat to the site or its members.

Take a bit of time yourself maybe and acknowledge what people think of boards.ie moderators (dont take this personally ad there are 100s of you) and perhaps learn to respond and moderate in a more just manner.

Freedom of speech and accountability is more important in society you could argue than the actual punishment of crime. At the end of the day you have the power and you feel you are always right so wherein lies the accountability and if people cant question this, wherein lies the act of free speech.

So if you get an opportunity, id suggest you do that. And i am entitled to say this as much as you are entitled to tell me what to do.

Ridiculous.

United Chester Men

RopeDrink wrote: »

If you are not requesting a re-review, this matter can be marked as resolved. Maybe they will see it differently, or better explain the simple reasons as to why repeat off-topic posts and power-abuse 'jokes' don't sit well in the face of a moderator thread cleanup trying to put a thread back on topic. As said, I fgeel one-week holiday from the forum with no impact to your record is a good opportunity for you to review your understanding of how the site or, at least, the forums you visit work and/or how a moderator exercising basic moderation doesn't always warrant power-abuse comments.

They may also be willing to discuss how real-life and/or free-speech relate to Boards.ie - but I'll leave that up to them.

The choice is yours.

Your attempts at smart @&* talk to talk down to me and sarcasm are very poor. Your use of holiday is also not funny. You are picking on someone innocent and making them out to be a villain. If thats how your morals work i give up.

If the moderator is so focused on cleaning up the thread why in gods name is my post still up there?? Is it to make an example of me on the thread?

There was no REPEAT off topic posts, just one. The first post said coronation street (ie the name and focus of the thread) was not everyones favourite soap.it was lighthearted banter and ANYONE would consider it that way.

You have failed to answer many legitimate questions i have posed.

Anyway tbh i expect nothing less. Maybe take a weeks "holiday" yourself and learn how to not take a joke so seriously when it is clearly only a mere innocent joke.