Banned from Sustainability forum

Birdnuts

Hi there,

I was to strongly protest my ban from this thread and forum http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057212602&page=81


I wish to point out that I have been a member of boards for many years, have over 5000 posts in various forum and have never been banned. In this particular case I(and other posters) have been constantly harrassed by certain mods on this forum for holding views and posting factual links that don't correspond to their own ideas on the subject in that thread. In recent times mods from outside the forum have joined in this childish and unprofessional behaviour with snide comments about posting styles etc .

This situation has now deteriated to the point where the mod that banned me has specifically targetted my posting of links to back up my arguements. When I attempted to defend myself and point out some obvious errors he/she made in her post about me I got banned. Along with a snide and condescending post that I could not respond too.

I post regulary in various forums and have never encountored such blantant bias and unprofessional modding in all my time on boards. Indeed others have commented about this fact in the past on that forum. Its as if these particular mods think the forum in question is their own particular blog in which only their views are allowed an airing. All I ask is that my complaint is looked at and dealt with in a fair way

regards

BN

Black Swan

Hi Birdnuts. I will be conducting a review of this dispute resolution. Have you specifically addressed this 1-day ban by PM in an attempt to resolve it with the actioning mod? This is our 1st step in the Dispute Resolution forum per the above flowchart. If not, please do. If you have exchanged PMs with the mod regarding this 1-day ban, and it has not been resolved, would you please forward all those PMs to me by PM? Thanks, Black Swan.

Birdnuts

I have sent the mod in question a PM. However based on past experience of their behaviour in said thread, I doubt I will get much satisfaction or fairness in the matter

Black Swan

If not resolved by exchanging PMs with mod, let me know. I too have exchanged PMs with mod. I typically don't rush to decision, rather taking time to gather data from all parties concerned, as well as reviewing charter, thread, posts, and history before making a detailed review of your complaint. Please be patient during this process, as we are all unpaid volunteers with outside commitments.

Birdnuts

Black Swan wrote: »

If not resolved by exchanging PMs with mod, let me know. I too have exchanged PMs with mod. I typically don't rush to decision, rather taking time to gather data from all parties concerned, as well as reviewing charter, thread, posts, and history before making a detailed review of your complaint. Please be patient during this process, as we are all unpaid volunteers with outside commitments.

Fair enough - apparently the mod in question reckons I'm "uncivil". Nice vague term that can used against posters that don't agree with ones views on a subject

Black Swan

Hi Birdnuts. I've reviewed your Dispute Resolution post, PM's exchanged between you and the mod, the thread, your posts and related posts by other members, and forum charter, as well as refreshing my understanding of the spirit and intent our site Terms of Use and relevant FAQs. In doing this during the past couple days, I've come back and left this review several times pondering what might be fair answers to your complaint, while balancing this with what is in the best interests of our community of posters in the Sustainability & Environmental Issues forum (which includes you).

I found the posts exchanged between you and other members during a spirited debate to be occasionally pushing the boundaries of what is allowed on the site (a few were pushing it, not just you), so rather than address many of those posting issues, some of which may fall into grey subjective interpretation areas, I will focus this review on something that is clear, namely discussing moderation in-thread.

But before doing this, let's set the record straight. Here and by PM you repeatedly stated: "I wish to point out that I have been a member of boards for many years, have over 5000 posts in various forum and have never been banned." Our records reveal that you received a 5-day ban for trolling GAA in the Sports Category 5 September 2010.

Now to the review at hand. You and other members had a recent debate/discussion on the "Science: Wind farms - ugly truths" thread, and 2 of your posts had been reported by our members. At first, the mod issued 2 in-thread warnings that applied to both you and the members you were arguing with; i.e., don’t discuss moderation in-thread; stay on-topic; attack the post, not each other. One mod from a different forum, and consequently posting as a member, had been included in that in-thread warning. A comment contained within your post that had been included in this early in-thread warning to all was:

Birdnuts wrote: »

I also suggest your read the rules on here regarding back-seat modding

The other posting members appeared to comply with the 2 warnings, while you did not. After not complying with the 2 in-thread warnings, the mod issued 2 additional in-thread warnings in one post specifically addressed to you, which also included a quote from the charter requiring members to discuss all links posted, and not rely on links to speak for themselves. You than ignored 2 times in 2 posts the earlier mod warning given to all members to not discuss moderation in-thread, which is also stated in the charter, as well as applying to most forums on the site. Relevant comments from your posts follow:

Birdnuts wrote: »

Are there rules here about impartial modding?? I suggest you re-read that post…

Birdnuts wrote: »

Wannabe mods are a big part of the problem.

We have both been posting on the site for many years Birdnuts, and I feel confident that both of us know not do discuss moderation in-thread on most site forums, and certainly not to continue discussing moderation after being officially in-thread warned by a mod. And absolutely not to argue with a mod about moderation in-thread as you did above, especially after being warned.

Frankly, you were lucky to only get a 1-day ban, whereas many mods may have given you longer bans after discussing moderation 3 times in-thread, especially 2 times after being warned. The ban stands and will not be reversed by me.

You may learn from this incident, and move on, or you may request an Admin review. Do you wish an Admin review? Please advise.

Birdnuts

Black Swan wrote: »

But before doing this, let's set the record straight. Here and by PM you
repeatedly stated: "I wish to point out that I have been a member of boards for
many years, have over 5000 posts in various forum and have never been
banned." Our records reveal that you received a 5-day ban for trolling GAA
in the Sports Category 5 September 2010

.

My sincere apologies on that oversight - am I on some sort of modding blacklist due to my dark past??

which also included a quote from the charter requiring members to discuss all
links posted, and not rely on links to speak for themselves.

:

Given the number of posts by me in that thread, I find that as an excuse to shut me out of a thread late in the day very picky. It certainly isn't being applied by mods impartially on that forum. In any case I always endeavour to back up my arguments with links. I've done this across a number of forums here and no mod has ever had a problem with it

We have both been posting on the site for many years Birdnuts, and I feel
confident that both of us know not do discuss moderation in-thread on most site
forums, and certainly not to continue discussing moderation after being
officially in-thread warned by a mod. And absolutely not to argue with a mod
about moderation in-thread as you did above, especially after being warned

.

Fair enough - but I've never had problems with modding on other forums and the responses to any issues I've raised with pm's to mods on this particular forum are either ignored or fail to deal with issues raised. It came to a head recently which is probably why I mentioned it on the forum.

You may learn from this incident, and move on, or you may request an Admin
review. Do you wish an Admin review? Please advise.

I've already stated that I understand the issue of disputing mod. But just yesterday I reported an issue concerning back seat modding by another poster via the report button and surprise, surprise no mod has bothered to get to me or deal with it. So yes I would like a review of this ongoing sorry state of affairs

Black Swan

Birdnuts wrote: »

So yes I would like a review of this ongoing sorry state of affairs

REQUEST: Would Admin please review this DRP per Birdnuts request? Thanks.

Tom Dunne

Birdnuts wrote: »

My sincere apologies on that oversight - am I on some sort of modding blacklist due to my dark past??

And I think we have the crux of the matter right here. No, you are not on any kind of blacklist, however as Black Swan points out, moderators can look at a history of a poster and the number of bans/infractions/warnings they have accumulated.

You do, however, appear to have some form of persecution complex. Nobody is targeting you, other posters that received similar warnings appear to have no issues in complying with moderator requests. Yet you appear to persist with the narrative that the mods have an issue with you.

Birdnuts wrote: »

Given the number of posts by me in that thread, I find that as an excuse to shut me out of a thread late in the day very picky. It certainly isn't being applied by mods impartially on that forum.

Again with the persecution complex.

Birdnuts wrote: »

Fair enough - but I've never had problems with modding on other forums and the responses to any issues I've raised with pm's to mods on this particular forum are either ignored or fail to deal with issues raised. It came to a head recently which is probably why I mentioned it on the forum.

The statistics beg to differ.

Aside from the ban (1 day) from the SEI forum, you also had the 5 day ban from the GAA forum as previously discussed. Additionally, you have received 5 warnings and 7 infractions from various forums across the site.

Birdnuts wrote: »

So yes I would like a review of this ongoing sorry state of affairs

If this really is the biggest issue in your life right now, well then I commend you, you have it good. Think about it - a 1 day ban from an internet forum is not a sorry state of affairs.

So my advice - take this one on the chin, step back from the forum for a while, think about how you conduct yourself. It's not us, it's you.

Ban upheld.