Oppressive moderation in blogging forum

retro:electro

Biko has closed yet another blogging thread in the "Blogs and social media forum".
Why is yet another blogger thread closed? Apparently due to "gossip". Nobody was gossiping. People were discussing Marissa Carter's quote that there's no authenticity left in the blogging industry. We also used references where applicable. How is this gossip? Why do you always use the word "gossip" to describe women discussing something? We are having a discussion about a topic that came up in the media this week about blogger authenticity and credibility in ireland. Are you saying you'll no longer allow any more blogger topics in the "blogs and social media" forum???

The moderation in that forum is so heavily repressive and restricts any discussion. Biko is now saying he will no longer allow any blogger talk in the forum at all whatsoever. How is this fair in a forum that is called "blogs/wikis/ social media"..

I've Pm'd Biko, and his advice was to "start a thread in after hours" instead. Well, a few weeks ago a thread was started in After hours about blogging, and that was closed after about two days. I was told to go here if I had a problem with that decision, and guess what, that thread was closed also.

Why should we have to move to after hours? This is the blogging form. If Biko is unable to handle the conversation then may I suggest he be the one to move, and get another, more capable, less oppressive moderator to moderate the forum.

Totally pathetic that a in forum about blogs we are banned from discussing Irish blogging.

retro:electro

Biko has closed yet another blogging thread in the "Blogs and social media forum".
Why is yet another blogger thread closed? Apparently due to "gossip". Nobody was gossiping. People were discussing Marissa Carter's quote that there's no authenticity left in the blogging industry. We also used references where applicable. How is this gossip? Why do you always use the word "gossip" to describe women discussing something? We are having a discussion about a topic that came up in the media this week about blogger authenticity and credibility in ireland. Are you saying you'll no longer allow any more blogger topics in the "blogs and social media" forum???

The moderation in that forum is so heavily repressive and restricts any discussion. Biko is now saying he will no longer allow any blogger talk in the forum at all whatsoever. How is this fair in a forum that is called "blogs/wikis/ social media"..

I've Pm'd Biko, and his advice was to "start a thread in after hours" instead. Well, a few weeks ago a thread was started in After hours about blogging, and that was closed after about two days. I was told to go here if I had a problem with that decision, and guess what, that thread was closed also.

Why should we have to move to after hours? This is the blogging form. If Biko is unable to handle the conversation then may I suggest he be the one to move, and get another, more capable, less oppressive moderator to moderate the forum.

Totally pathetic that a in forum about blogs we are banned from discussing Irish blogging.

SarahJ

I have to agree with Anna, nothing derogatory was said about anyone, it was merely a discussion. It's not fair that the thread is closed so frequently

SarahJ

anna080 wrote: »

Biko has closed yet another blogging thread in the "Blogs and social media forum".
Why is yet another blogger thread closed? Apparently due to "gossip". Nobody was gossiping. People were discussing Marissa Carter's quote that there's no authenticity left in the blogging industry. We also used references where applicable. How is this gossip? Why do you always use the word "gossip" to describe women discussing something? We are having a discussion about a topic that came up in the media this week about blogger authenticity and credibility in ireland. Are you saying you'll no longer allow any more blogger topics in the "blogs and social media" forum???

The moderation in that forum is so heavily repressive and restricts any discussion. Biko is now saying he will no longer allow any blogger talk in the forum at all whatsoever. How is this fair in a forum that is called "blogs/wikis/ social media"..

I've Pm'd Biko, and his advice was to "start a thread in after hours" instead. Well, a few weeks ago a thread was started in After hours about blogging, and that was closed after about two days. I was told to go here if I had a problem with that decision, and guess what, that thread was closed also.

Why should we have to move to after hours? This is the blogging form. If Biko is unable to handle the conversation then may I suggest he be the one to move, and get another, more capable, less oppressive moderator to moderate the forum.

Totally pathetic that a in forum about blogs we are banned from discussing Irish blogging.

I agree. Nothing derogatory was said about anyone, the thread is closed too quickly and without reason.

Cria

I feel the same in my opinion we are being monitored like bold children we are not slating or speaking in a derogatory manner about anyone.
This is a topic that is fitting to the blogs wiki.
There are remarks like stop gossiping and put your handbags down from the male moderator it's very uncomfortable and frustrating to be spoken to in that manner.
The whole gossip being associated with grown women discussing a particular topic is so wrong and yet we have to still accept being chastised by a male that way in this day and age..
surely that's not the ethos of boards tell the woman to put their handbags down ..

I have read other threads on boards and have read some comments about people in the public eye that are far worse than any comment made in these threads why is that ???
Also when another person opened a thread in after hours it was shut down within two days by the same moderator from our other threads ..
i find it weird that we are now being told blogging and non transparency can never be discussed on boards from now on

Cria

anna080 wrote: »

Biko has closed yet another blogging thread in the "Blogs and social media forum".
Why is yet another blogger thread closed? Apparently due to "gossip". Nobody was gossiping. People were discussing Marissa Carter's quote that there's no authenticity left in the blogging industry. We also used references where applicable. How is this gossip? Why do you always use the word "gossip" to describe women discussing something? We are having a discussion about a topic that came up in the media this week about blogger authenticity and credibility in ireland. Are you saying you'll no longer allow any more blogger topics in the "blogs and social media" forum???

The moderation in that forum is so heavily repressive and restricts any discussion. Biko is now saying he will no longer allow any blogger talk in the forum at all whatsoever. How is this fair in a forum that is called "blogs/wikis/ social media"..

I've Pm'd Biko, and his advice was to "start a thread in after hours" instead. Well, a few weeks ago a thread was started in After hours about blogging, and that was closed after about two days. I was told to go here if I had a problem with that decision, and guess what, that thread was closed also.

Why should we have to move to after hours? This is the blogging form. If Biko is unable to handle the conversation then may I suggest he be the one to move, and get another, more capable, less oppressive moderator to moderate the forum.

Totally pathetic that a in forum about blogs we are banned from discussing Irish blogging.

Anna I sent you a pm
But apparently your have exceeded your incoming messages and it won't allow me

dudara

Moved to the Help Desk as this is about specific moderation, rather than Feedback, and merged into existing thread.

Please note that the Help Desk is a pre-moderated forum meaning that replies may not appear straightaway as they will require approval.

dudara

retro:electro

Cria wrote: »

I feel the same in my opinion we are being monitored like bold children we are not slating or speaking in a derogatory manner about anyone.
This is a topic that is fitting to the blogs wiki.
There are remarks like stop gossiping and put your handbags down from the male moderator it's very uncomfortable and frustrating to be spoken to in that manner.
The whole gossip being associated with grown women discussing a particular topic is so wrong and yet we have to still accept being chastised by a male that way in this day and age..
surely that's not the ethos of boards tell the woman to put their handbags down ..

I have read other threads on boards and have read some comments about people in the public eye that are far worse than any comment made in these threads why is that ???
Also when another person opened a thread in after hours it was shut down within two days by the same moderator from our other threads ..
i find it weird that we are now being told blogging and non transparency can never be discussed on boards from now on

Exactly. Nobody is saying anything that hasn't already been discussed on social media. I've provided links to tweets to back up what I'm talking about. Nobody is making assumptions or unfounded claims. Everyone is posting with accuracy. Nobody is slagging anyone.
There are forums all over boards whereby posters mock the physical appearances, conduct and competency of public figures. None of these things go on in the blogger forum. To say we are no longer allowed to discuss any issue to do with authenticity and transparency in blogging in a blogging forum is so pathetic.

biko

OP has thread in Helpdesk here

OP, did you never wonder why the forum is under the Tech category and not under Soc?
It is because it's a help forum for technical questions and not at all intended for beauty/fashion stuff.

Why are you guys not discussing these topics in Fashion or beauty forums?

retro:electro

biko wrote: »

OP has thread in Helpdesk here

OP, did you never wonder why the forum is under the Tech category and not under Soc?
It is because it's a help forum for technical questions and not at all intended for beauty/fashion stuff.

Why are you guys not discussing these topics in Fashion or beauty forums?

These discussions used to take place in the beauty forum and were moved to the blogging forum. No forum seems to want it.

dudara

Speaking as an F&A moderator, the F&A mods as a group took the decision to no longer host blogging/vlogging discussion threads in F&A. The level of supervision required was too high. We did event relent and allow very simple threads where bloggers were recommended.

I do feel that this topic has gone past F&A at this point, and it's more about ethics, journalism, transparency, advertising etc. I'm not 100% sure where that fits here.

Cria

dudara wrote: »

Moved to the Help Desk as this is about specific moderation, rather than Feedback, and merged into existing thread.

Please note that the Help Desk is a pre-moderated forum meaning that replies may not appear straightaway as they will require approval.

dudara

Thank you

retro:electro

It's really not fair for every forum to outright ban a discussion on a relevant topic without merit in a site that encourages debate and discussion.
Again, bitching and slagging is not on and that's not what I'm asking for. Just a conversation about transparency and the lack of ad etc
I'd like if Biko could provide examples of the posts he considered to be gossipy and bitchy?

Cria

dudara wrote: »

Speaking as an F&A moderator, the F&A mods as a group took the decision to no longer host blogging/vlogging discussion threads in F&A. The level of supervision required was too high. We did event relent and allow very simple threads where bloggers were recommended.

I do feel that this topic has gone past F&A at this point, and it's more about ethics, journalism, transparency, advertising etc. I'm not 100% sure where that fits here.

Can I ask why the supervison needed to be so high.
From looking at other threads ours was very mild I have seen some very bad comments about people in the public eye .. for some reason questioning the Irish blogging industry is very taboo on boards

Cria

anna080 wrote: »

It's really not fair for every forum to outright ban a discussion on a relevant topic in a site that encourages debate and discussion.
Again, bitching and slagging is not on and that's not what I'm asking for. Just a conversation about transparency and the lack of ad etc

I am trying to reply and it is banning me from doing so

Cria

anna080 wrote: »

It's really not fair for every forum to outright ban a discussion on a relevant topic in a site that encourages debate and discussion.
Again, bitching and slagging is not on and that's not what I'm asking for. Just a conversation about transparency and the lack of ad etc

I agree

biko

Admin, if you need reflection on a specific decision I am happy to oblige.

I suggest OP create a public facebook group where they can discuss Irish bloggers.

Cria

I don't agree with bitchiness either I think gossip is a term used too loosely

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I don't understand why Irish blogging is so protected. For years these people have made actual fortunes off the back of being "influencers" and being disingenuous and downright deceitful. For years you couldn't question anything lest you be labelled as a jealous hater, if your comment wasn't the usual fan girling.

Recently it's came to light how untrustworthy a lot of these social influencers are, how they're being paid and being sponsored to sell companies to their followers, anything from vitamins, weight loss aids, gyms, clothes, baby formula, TVs, bedroom furniture, cars, nights away in hotels and spas, the list is endless.

You have bloggers being gifted expensive items of clothing that they go on to sell on the likes of depop, or sell for more money than the item costs brand new.

Of course then you have the bloggers writing lifestyle articles encouraging women who regret sex to accept they've been raped, this blogger had no qualms in making a guy indentifable on her blog as a rapist because she - 15 years later - regretted not having an awkward conversation, but as their audience, the people who they are trying to influence, we can't have a discussion about it?

Really? Boards is supposed to be a discussion forum. Social influencers are huge right now, you now even have CEOs of large companies coming out against them for lack of transparency and credibility and any mention of such is not only **** down but banned from the very forum calling itself a blogging forum?

Really?

Cria

biko wrote: »

Admin, if you need reflection on a specific decision I am happy to oblige.

I suggest OP create a public facebook group where they can discuss Irish bloggers.

Why would you suggest a Facebook group when boards is a forum
For discussion with a section for blogs

retro:electro

biko wrote: »

Admin, if you need reflection on a specific decision I am happy to oblige.

I suggest OP create a public facebook group where they can discuss Irish bloggers.

I don't want to discuss it on Facebook. I want to discuss it on boards with the frequent forum users. What's so wrong with that? Ordering me off the site and telling me to take to Facebook is ridiculous.

Little CuChulainn

LexieOnRale wrote: »

I don't understand why Irish blogging is so protected. For years these people have made actual fortunes off the back of being "influencers" and being disingenuous and downright deceitful. For years you couldn't question anything lest you be labelled as a jealous hater, if your comment wasn't the usual fan girling.

Recently it's came to light how untrustworthy a lot of these social influencers are, how they're being paid and being sponsored to sell companies to their followers, anything from vitamins, weight loss aids, gyms, clothes, baby formula, TVs, bedroom furniture, cars, nights away in hotels and spas, the list is endless.

You have bloggers being gifted expensive items of clothing that they go on to sell on the likes of depop, or sell for more money than the item costs brand new.

Of course then you have the bloggers writing lifestyle articles encouraging women who regret sex to accept they've been raped, this blogger had no qualms in making a guy indentifable on her blog as a rapist because she - 15 years later - regretted not having an awkward conversation, but as their audience, the people who they are trying to influence, we can't have a discussion about it?

Really? Boards is supposed to be a discussion forum. Social influencers are huge right now, you now even have CEOs of large companies coming out against them for lack of transparency and credibility and any mention of such is not only **** down but banned from the very forum calling itself a blogging forum?

Really?

It sounds like you want a platform to call people out instead of discuss blogs. I understand why Boards wouldn't want involvement in this considering the way defamation law is in Ireland.

retro:electro

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

It sounds like you want a platform to call people out instead of discuss blogs. I understand why Boards wouldn't want involvement in this considering the way defamation law is in Ireland.

Nobody is calling anyone out. We are discussing blogger transparency including a recent quote by a CEO that there's no authenticity in blogging. What is defamatory about that? Is it defamation to say I didn't enjoy Ray D'arcy's segment today about fitness? Doubt it. It's expressing an opinion. A pretty bland and harmless one at that.

dudara

Cria wrote: »

Can I ask why the supervison needed to be so high.
From looking at other threads ours was very mild I have seen some very bad comments about people in the public eye .. for some reason questioning the Irish blogging industry is very taboo on boards

This goes back a while, but there were very personal and potentially defamatory comments being made about bloggers' families, appearance, taste etc. And mods cannot simply be online all the time to monitor the conversation. These conversations used to flame up very quickly.

dudara

Cria wrote: »

I am trying to reply and it is banning me from doing so

I think this is due to a bug in the mobile or touch version of the website, which other posters may also be experiencing. Rest assured, you are not banned. All posts require approval before appearing in the Help Desk.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I don't want a platform to call anybody out on, I've never been actioned or banned from discussion for being bitchy or being unfair. I just don't understand that when people make their career discussing things online, how it can be seen as unfair when we discuss how they're discussing or not being honest.
It's not speculation or gossip. The Marissa Carter article had the most recent thread shut down where she stated blogging lost all credibility. It's a topic of interest that's been all over the Internet the past few days but still it's being shut down on boards. Why? I haven't seen anyone calling out these bloggers who have made this their actual career, gossiping or speculating. Any negative discussion has come from being caught out with press drops or illegally advertising.

retro:electro

dudara wrote: »

This goes back a while, but there were very personal and potentially defamatory comments being made about bloggers' families, appearance, taste etc. And mods cannot simply be online all the time to monitor the conversation. These conversations used to flame up very quickly.

You keep referring to that one comment any time a complaint is made about thread closure. That was in another thread and that was one poster and we all expressed our disgust at what she said, and more salient than that, it has nothing to do with why this current thread was shut down.

Nobody has commented about anyone's appearance in a long, long time. That's not what we want.

Cria

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

It sounds like you want a platform to call people out instead of discuss blogs. I understand why Boards wouldn't want involvement in this considering the way defamation law is in Ireland.

Have you read the threads compared to other threads on boards calling someone out for lack of transparency is mild compared to what I have seen about people like Rosanna Davison ect

dudara

anna080, apologies if I am not clear. I am referring to the long history of blogger threads, going back all the way to the F&A forum.

Hrududu

dudara wrote: »

This goes back a while, but there were very personal and potentially defamatory comments being made about bloggers' families, appearance, taste etc. And mods cannot simply be online all the time to monitor the conversation. These conversations used to flame up very quickly.

There are personal and potentially defamatory comments being made every week in the thread about the Late Late Show. It seems like double standards to be honest

retro:electro

dudara wrote: »

anna080, apologies if I am not clear. I am referring to the long history of blogger threads, going back all the way to the F&A forum.

Ya and I agree some comments were made there that crossed the line, hence their closure. To keep using that as an excuse and a reason to close other unrelated threads is unfair.
We have all come a long way since then as posters and now know what is acceptable and what is not tolerated. We didn't know then as it was so new to discuss.

retro:electro

Hrududu wrote: »

There are personal and potentially defamatory comments being made every week in the thread about the Late Late Show. It seems like double standards to be honest

The things I've seen written about some public figures on this site is appalling and very offensive. Yet we can't even discuss lack of transparency without being labelled gossips and bitchy.
I also suspect this thread won't remain open for long.

dudara

Hrududu wrote: »

There are personal and potentially defamatory comments being made every week in the thread about the Late Late Show. It seems like double standards to be honest

Then please use the Reported Post function to bring them to the mods attention. I know that seems like a cliched answer, but it's the main tool we have to identify problematic reports.

qxtasybe1nwfh2

It's ridiculous another tread has been closed! We were discussing ad/spon, it might not have been referred to in every post but the Marisa carter article referred to bloggers shadiness in the area as a whole! The fact that she used bloggers influence to grow her company with adverts and is now saying this is dead. Not everyone is on Facebook either, that was such a patronising comment IMO.

retro:electro

I think it's clear from the posters here that it's not just me who has a problem with this and a lot of posters are fed up with the situation.
Is there any chance the discussion could come back to the beauty forum or fashion and appearance? It's not fair to restrict fair discussion on a discussion forum.

biko

Rhea Glamorous Bearer wrote: »

Not everyone is on Facebook either, that was such a patronising comment IMO.

It's fairly realistic to assume that people that follow bloggers on many social media will be on Facebook, the largest social media network in the world.

scarbouro

I totally agree, it's absolutely ridiculous that every single thread is closed down. Not allowed to discuss a topic that has been all over social media the past few days and stating that it's "gossip" is unbelievable. There was no gossiping in that thread but as usual Biko comes in and shuts the whole thing down. Suggesting we go somewhere else to discuss the topic such as Facebook is appalling. We joined boards to discuss topics end of....

I made a complaint recently about Biko and the closure of every single thread on the forum. Nothing was done about it. People are complaining but board's isn't listening. How can you have so many complaints about one moderator and nothing is being done about it?!

qxtasybe1nwfh2

biko wrote: »

It's fairly realistic to assume that people that follow bloggers on many social media will be on Facebook, the largest social media network in the world.

I know plenty of people that don't have Facebook accounts but are fairly active in Snapchat and Instagram. I haven't posted on my own fb since I changed my profiler last Summer

scarbouro

biko wrote: »

It's fairly realistic to assume that people that follow bloggers on many social media will be on Facebook, the largest social media network in the world.

Please explain why we should leave Board's to discuss this topic on Facebook when Board's is a platform for discussion. I'm honestly shocked you're telling people to leave Board's because you don't want the topic discussed on your watch.

SpillingTheTea

I have to say I find the whole closing down threads to be so childish. People have opened up threads and you've closed them without anyone replying 'in case there's bitching'.

Your response is always, 'put it on your Facebook' or 'go talk about it in the pub'. It's so patronising.

Well the last time I checked, Boards is a public discussion forum. I've seen ridiculous things being said on all different threads but for some reason having a normal, non speculative, non gossipy discussion is forbidden.

What gets me is even bloggers used to actually come in and discuss with us so tbh, we obviously weren't that bad?! It feels like censorship, and your answer is to ship us off to another site instead of actually dealing with it.

As others have said here, we've tried posting in F&A and even After Hours and we were told to go back to our board, except our board is completely restrictive.
Speaking for myself, but I feel like I'm constantly watching what I'm saying to the point where I can't even talk about facts.

biko

Irish blogger discussion were discontinued in Fashion and Beauty where it belongs.
My forum is a technical forum but have humoured you until today.

There are AH threads, maybe you can post there?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=101947466
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=102855179

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I mean isn't this why boards are losing posters constantly anyway? Boards has been declining in the past few years because users are going elsewhere (i.e. Facebook) to have their discussions. Havent "the office" spent a lot of time going through feedback to see where or what can be done to stop the numbers dwindling from boards and here we have a mod telling people to go elsewhere

retro:electro

I think it's pretty clear that Biko is only looking for excuses to close blogger threads and pounces at the most pathetic of opportunities. This topic needs to be in another forum and away from such a harsh, oppressive and insulting moderator.

qxtasybe1nwfh2

biko wrote: »

Irish blogger discussion were discontinued in Fashion and Beauty where it belongs.
My forum is a technical forum but have humoured you until today.

There are AH threads, maybe you can post there?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=101947466
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=102855179

We were told to move to "your" forum

Cria

There have been too many threads closed for no reason .. can you please show us where gossip was posted and bitchiness and which particular comments needed us to put our handbags down .. honestly comments like this are just patronising..

Read the threads if anyone who is a regular poster sees a new poster say something that Biko would shut the thread down immediately for we would ask them to remove the comment or tell them to be careful.
Can you please show us at which point you made your decision to shut the thread down
And if I'm not mistaken when a thread was moved to after hours it was Biko who immediately shut it down

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Also a lot of these bloggers are now called "lifestyle" influencers so how does a blogger peddling baby forumla fit in with discussion in fashion and appearance?

Cria

biko wrote: »

Irish blogger discussion were discontinued in Fashion and Beauty where it belongs.
My forum is a technical forum but have humoured you until today.

There are AH threads, maybe you can post there?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=101947466
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=102855179

Please don't make comments like I have humoured you its uncalled for we are not children here .. we were moved to your category which cane under the heading blogs/wiki/social can you explain why we could not start a thread under that heading.

retro:electro

Asking is to take to After Hours is ridiculous! We'd be laughed out of the place. It's a niche discussion, and most of the posters on there have no clue about bloggers nor do they care. Snide remarks is all we got last time. It's not too much to ask to want a blogging discussion to take place in the blog forum.

SpillingTheTea

biko wrote: »

Irish blogger discussion were discontinued in Fashion and Beauty where it belongs.
My forum is a technical forum but have humoured you until today.

There are AH threads, maybe you can post there?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=101947466
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=102855179

This is the exact problem...

Cria

SpillingTheTea wrote: »

This is the exact problem...

This is exactly the problem comments like that I'm actually shocked at some of the comments that have been made to us inregards of our gender in some of the threads .

blairbear

Biko has such a disgusting, sexist, derogatory attitude to the posters.

I'm actually shocked at his comments in this thread.

Already discussion on boards threads on bloggers has effected change in the industry, so we're hardly as insignificant, petty, bitchy and superficial as Biko appears to consider us and these issues.