Banned after missing a mod warning

HensVassal

Yesterday I was handed down a lengthy ban from After Hours after missing a mod warning not to post in the thread again.
I was repeatedly challenging a group of people to provide a source for their fallacious claims and this was met with a barrage of insults, smears and ad hominem attacks.

The thread was the one about the Berlin truck episode. The thread is peppered with anti-Muslim hatred and calls for racial profiling, deportations, border closings etc. I have reported some of these posts and some of them are still posting.

Anyway I take it that my warning not to post was issued as a result of a complaint from one or more users who didn't like having to answer their lies and decided to try and have me silenced.

I missed the warning because the thread was moving quickly and was banned for 3 whole months. This is an absurd suspension since many get banned for 24 hours for personal abuse. I get banned for 3 months for "ignoring" a mod's instruction. The mod in question was Ken and when I challenged him on the ban he curtly replied "take it to DRP because I'm not changing my mind!".
This is hardly the level of professionalism I've experience from other mods and smacks of snide and petty rancour.

If a mod wants a poster to desist from postiing in a thread then why not lock the poster out of that thread and wait for an acknowledgement from the poster that he understands that he has been instructed thus then unlock him rather then issue a warning that is bound to be missed and then slam the hammer on him for 3 months? It's akin to issuing somone with a final written notice in the mail but slinging it in the bin knowing they'll never get it and then starting legal proceedings.

The content of my posts didn't warrant being instructed to stop posting in the thread. They weren't distasteful, trolling or abusive. Annoying to some posters but they have themselves to blame for that since they posted lies and I was repeatedly challenging them on it. I even got accused of condoning and participating in sexual abuse.

So to sum up, I missed a mod warning (an unfair one I might add, but of course that's my opinion) and was then, in a clear fit of pique, banned for an outrageous 3 months. The ban itself was unfair, the duration is flabbergasting.

I'll admit I have been banned before for being scathing and abrasive and have been told to tone down my debating style. I can only imagine that this ban and its duration was to "send a message" or was somehow motivated by revenge or spite even though the reason for the ban had nothing to do with being abusive or scathing.

Thank you for your time.

KERSPLAT!

I'll have a look into this for you.

Can you forward the PM exchange where you discussed this with the mod?

Is there anything else you feel needs to be added to the above? I want to have the full picture before making any decisions, as you say, it's a lengthy ban.

Cheers,

K

HensVassal

Kersplat!

I have forwarded you the message exchanges with the mod in relation to this ban.

KERSPLAT!

I had asked if you had anything to add and you didn't. I think you forgot to mention the PM that was also sent to you just minutes after the thread ban.

If a mod posts a warning on thread it is up to the user to read and understand the warning. In this case, because it was a fast moving thread, the mod even went to the lengths of PMing you to ensure you knew you were thread banned.

You posted an hour after the thread ban and PM was sent, ample time for you to read the thread and PM. "I didn't see it" is no excuse.

Regarding the length of the ban, this is the 10th action you've had in AH in your short time on boards. 3 cards and 7 bans. Frankly I'm surprised it wasn't permanent. You've wasted more than enough mod time as it is.

I'm upholding the ban, you can request an admin review.

HensVassal

Kersplat!,

I missed the the warning in the thread AND the PM. I'm not trying to hide this. I admitted to missing the warning (in the form of a post and a followup PM). Only a fool would ignore a warning that they definitely received and go ahead and post afterwards. If I received the warning, read it and knew of the consequences of breaching it do you think I would be so naive as to challege it, knowing that a mod could see that it was breached?
I logged out of boards the other day. I logged in the following morning and posted in AH in the Berlin Truck thread. I then went off and had tea or something. I came back and looked in the thread. It had moved along and I posted again in reply to another poster.
A short while later I refreshed my screen and the "banned" banner came up.

I then went to check my personal messages and that's when I got first wind of the warning not to post and the followup notification of a ban and of course the duration.

On the legacy system you don't get popups when you have a new messages. There's just a little counter up in the right corner and even that shows the number of messages AND threads followed so it's not something that I or anybody keep a close eye on every minute.

I legitimately missed the warnings and this was construed as belligerence or defiance or something and was banned. And the ban duration itself was rather over the top.

HensVassal

Take a look at the timing, Kersplat!

The warning and PM were issued at 07:52. I hadn't even logged on until about an hour later. That in-thread warning had passed by long since.

I didn't check the PM's because I don't really have a lot of correspondence with other posters so I don't check it like it's email or something. There's no flashing light to alert you that there is an urgent message that you need to read now.

And you say "I didn't see it" is no excuse. Respectfully, Kersplat!, I beg to differ. In-thread warnings are a notoriously inefficient and ineffective way to get a message across reliably. If a thread is several pages long and a few days old and I come to the start of it and start reading posts and responding to them, my responses are posted in the last page where more up to date posters are reading them and replying (and maybe even reporting them if they think thay have reason to). I myself am back on page one or two moving on and reading a post after the one(s) to which I responded. I could have responded to several posts but one of the replies was reported for whatever reason (and the reason could be innocuous or the post misinterpreted - it frequently happens) and a in-thread mod warning is issued. Of course this warning is displayed up on page 10 or 15. Oblivious, I am on page 4 moving along the thread posts sequentially, following the general conversation. I read another post, reply and BAM! forum ban.

It's happened to me before. I'm not stupid enough to think I can make a fool out of a mod by deliberately breaking the rules and then trying to deny any wrong-doing. I've been banned in the past and most (not all) have been deserved (saying something stupid or abusive after a few pints). One ban was for posting a video showing violence against innocent civilians. I issued a warning that it was graphic but this still earned me a ban. I can only think the ban was in response to a report that was reactionary.
But the accumulation of these bans has resulted in what appears to be a zero-tolerance policy towards HensVassal where lattitude or consideration of a mistake is ruled out.

dudara

Would you use the argument with Electric Ireland that you didn't see your bill, when they had sent it to you?

I would have some sympathy if there had been just an on-thread warning, I could understand that you had missed it. However, in this case, the mod also sent you a PM to advise you.

HensVassal

dudara wrote: »

Would you use the argument with Electric Ireland that you didn't see your bill, when they had sent it to you?

I would have some sympathy if there had been just an on-thread warning, I could understand that you had missed it. However, in this case, the mod also sent you a PM to advise you.

No I wouldn't use this excuse. But it's a poor analogy. I EXPECT a bill every month (well actually 3 months), the only thing I don't expect is to know the balance. Besides, utility companies, send multiple reminders, followup phone calls, final warnings, etc. They don't just fire off a bill and then cut someone off who doesn't pay it. People expect bills to arrive all the time and if they ignore them we can honestly say they're full of it and taking the piss. But people miss correspondence that they WEREN'T expecting all the time and carry on oblivious that this pending correspondence needs to be heeded or acted upon.
Have you ever heard of someone getting late charges tacked onto a fine that they didn't know about like a parking ticket that someone ripped off the windscreen of their car or something?

If I was trying to pull the wool over anybody's eyes here then I'm certainly putting a lot of effort into pleading a case that I know is bogus, wouldn't you say?

HensVassal

I sent a PM to Dudara yesterday seeking clarification of this issue.

dudara

I'd prefer to have the conversation in the open.

The simple fact that is that you were notified. You missed those notifications. You could have read the thread from where you last posted, you could have checked your PMs. But you didn't.

As for the ban duration, it is the next logical progression based on your track record. Continued poor behaviour results in increasing bans.

In short, I uphold the decision, and do not see a reason to overturn.

HensVassal

Well it seems the default is to revert to past record as reason/excuse for a ban rather than examine and consider the true situation.

As it stands I received a warning to not post in the thread. There was no reason for this warning. My posts did not breach the charter, weren't abusive or trolling, simply insisting posters provide sources for the fallacious claims they were putting forward. Right off the bat the bona fides of the warning are questionable.

I legitimately missed the warning AND the PM. I often, when get engaged in a thread that interests me, I reply to a post and once that reply is submitted I immediately click back to the page I was on and move on to read the next post and the next.

I immediately engaged moderator Ken whose gruff reply was a 'tough-sh1t'-esque "I'm not changing my mind. Get a DRP going"

I then engaged CM Kersplat! who was initially courteous and asked me for the usual details. I provided these via PM. Kersplat! asked if there were any other details before an investigation began. I felt that everything I had to say was both presented and/or would be evident in the exchanges. Upon discovering that I had received a PM as well as the warning Kersplat!'s mood quickly changed to thinly-veiled scorn replete with epithets of condescension and comments about how I should have been permanently banned, as if I was try to hoodwink mods in this whole affair. I wasn't sugar-coating anything, I wasn't trying to claim that some blatant racist or misogynistic slur was a "simple question" or "freedom of speech" or some drivel. I mentioned that I missed the warning but didn't include that I missed the PM. Out of curiosity would things have panned out differently if I said that I missed the in-thread warning AND the PM? Because if they would have then this whole thing is an exercise in "Uphold the ban, not because it's just and fair but because the smart-arse tried to pull a fast one!"

Kersplat!'s post was concluded with "take it up with an admin", essentially. This is where dudara chimed in with a quip about trying to suggest that I was taking the p like someone who claimed they didn't get their electricity bill.

So to conclude I have been banned for 3 months for missing a warning and PM that I shouldn't have received in the first place and the justification is that I have a spotty record.

Would that be a fair synopsis and summary of this situation?

HensVassal

Patiently awaiting your reply.

1. I was warned not to post even though there was no justification for this warning.

2. I missed the warning and PM and was handed a 3 month ban.

3. That this ban was legitimately missed is irrelevant and that I have a poor record is grounds enough for upholding a ban based on a missed warning that shouldn't have been issued.


Is this an accurate assessment?

KERSPLAT!

It's Christmas. Be more patient.

dudara

My apologies for forgetting to close this thread after providing my decision. I have already explained my rationale for upholding ban.