Warning issued for advertising 'company'

Green_Tae

Hi,

I was issued with a warning today by boards.ie user degrassinoel for allegedly advertising my 'company'. I don't have a company. I was looking for players interested in joining a role-playing game, just a social thing, it's not for profit. I don't know how or why anyone could have got that impression.

I merely questioned why the thread was closed for posting of an "advert". Anyway, I'm going to be following this up so hopefully someone here can help sort things out.

Here's a copy of the private message I received today:

degrassinoel wrote:

Dear Green Tae,

You have been warned 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.

degrassinoel

Your post:

Green Tae wrote: »

Advertisement removed

And this is the one and only correspondance I've had with degrassinoel:

Green Tae wrote:

An advert?

There's something wrong there.

Thanks for taking the time to look at this.

David.

The Hill Billy

Hi there.

While you may not have a company, you were advertising an event. Advertising is generally not permitted on this site - this is clearly stated in the Terms of Use that you agreed to when you registered on this site.

If we allowed every Tom, Dick & Harriet post adverts for their events or whatnot we'd be overrun with them & it would drown out the discussion (which is what this site is for).

"Advertising your company" is the closest option that the mod would have been given by our system when giving you the warning.

That's all it is - a warning. A heads-up not to do it again. Now you know.

I uphold the warning, but you may appeal to an Admin if you wish.

All the best,

tHB

Green_Tae

The Hill Billy wrote: »

While you may not have a company, you were advertising an event. Advertising is

"Advertising your company" is the closest option that the mod would have been given by our system when giving you the warning.

That's all it is - a warning. A heads-up not to do it again. Now you know.

I uphold the warning, but you may appeal to an Admin if you wish.

All the best,

tHB

I understand everything that you're saying but I was issued with a warning for "posting advertising your company", I didn't do that so I shouldn't have been warned. There is no grey area there. I appreciate and respect the spirit of discussion here and I've always conducted myself well on boards but it's important that moderators conduct themselves well and don't go off on power trips because it's an abuse of power.

Now I would like to take this issue to an administrator for the reasons given above. Thanks for your time.

David.

Gordon

When you registered an account here, you agreed to our terms of use. I take it you read those terms, specifically the bit about spam and advertising?

The Hill Billy

The moderator conducted themselves perfectly well & in no way could their actions be construed as them 'going on a power trip'.

You advertised an event which is against site rules & you were warned not to do it again. It is very simple.

And as a matter of fact - posting the same content across numerous forums is also forbidden by the Site Terms of Use. Considering that you had already posted this in Tabletop & Board Gaming Arena - this could be consider as spam.

However, I shall forward this for an Admin review for you as requested.

All the best,

tHB

Green_Tae

The Hill Billy wrote: »

The moderator conducted themselves perfectly well & in no way could their actions be construed as them 'going on a power trip'.
tHB

I have to disagree with you there. I don't believe it's reasonable at all to issue warnings like that. I didn't advertise any kind of business and wasn't looking to engage with members of boards.ie as a business.

That kind of behaviour comes across as unprofessional and I would have expected better from staff here.

The Hill Billy

We are not staff, we are volunteers. It was not unprofessional behaviour, it was applying the site & forum rules in a totally reasonable & civil manner.

Now, I have already explained the "business" bit. But you were still advertising an event in contravention of the site Terms of Use. If we allowed advertising, regardless of whether that be commercial or not, it would detract from the discussion across our forums.

I'd strongly suggest that you read the Terms of Use again so that you understand how the site works. It would be a shame if ignorance of our site rules caused further issues for you.

All the best,

tHB

Green_Tae

The Hill Billy wrote: »

It would be a shame if ignorance of our site rules caused further issues for you.

All the best,

tHB

I appreciate the work that you lads do but there's no need for that tone.

The Hill Billy

There's no 'tone'. You have ignored two site rules from our ToU. You received a warning in line with our site processes, yet you feel that we are in the wrong. So, I'm suggesting that you familiarize yourself with the site rules because if you remain ignorant of them this may cause further issues down the line.

I've sent a reminder for the admin review.

tHB

BuffyBot

Very little to review here. Mod action upheld.

OP: you don't come across very well. I'd suggest you re-familiarise yourself with the site rules, and also consider adjusting your approach to the good folks who make this site a place people want to be.