Banned from the Luxobarge Thread

Midnight_EG

Hi guys, I've been banned for a strange amount of days (114) for a first time, apparent, offense.

In the thread, I'd posted that a car of mine had no tax for however long and I drove it. No ill intentions, no instructions on how to drive without tax or how to evade the law. I mentioned that the equivalent to my current vehicles tax rate (which is currently taxed, might I add) would be the same as having been stopped 10 times and the car taken off me.

The mod 'biko' took this as me explaining to the masses how to evade paying tax, and then accused me of 'tax evasion'. That's a serious accusation in my opinion, and is hardly something you'd put on a public forum?

Upon questioning whether it was a smart idea to accuse me of such, he then threatened to ban me outright from the whole forum for the same 114 days (why?). I explained that I'd not, in fact, told anybody how to 'evade tax' and he just pawned me off instead.

Hopefully someone can look into this very strange occurrence.

Thanks.

Spear

Are you contesting the warning, or raising a complaint about the mods conduct?

If it's the former, this should be in DRP. If it's the latter it should stay in Helpdesk.

Midnight_EG

Spear wrote: »

Are you contesting the warning, or raising a complaint about the mods conduct?

If it's the former, this should be in DRP. If it's the latter it should stay in Helpdesk.

I was contesting the irregular threadban, and it started in DRP?

Tokyo

I moved the thread here as the OP is contesting the threadban.

OP, you're being insincere here, and the faux incredulity wears thin. The '114 day ban' was actually worded by the mod as 'you are threadbanned until Christmas', and I'm sure you're aware of that as you in all likelihood googled number of days until christmas for the purposes of this thread.

To be clear, the posts of yours that you refer to are as follows:

Midnight_EG wrote: »

I drove my 530d for the guts of a year with no tax (and it was out over 7 months previous to me buying it) but I drive only motorways every day. I'm in Dublin, but the fear of getting caught isn't massive when you're not driving on normal roads.:

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Just as an aside, I haven't been stopped by a guard in over 3 years, nor have I gone through a checkpoint in that time.

It's cheaper to get caught 10 times than to pay my tax yearly... It's not that I'm 'flaunting the law' by not paying it, it's just that... Well to be painfully true, I'm just not bothered most of the time?

The forum charter (not to mention common sense) is quite clear on this:

Posts that encourage drivers to break the law e.g. telling people to make false motor tax declarations may result in either an infraction or a banning.

While you argue that you aren't overtly giving instructions or telling people to follow in your footsteps, you aren't deprecating your own actions either. It's a humblebrag, and for me certainly falls into the category of something that would draw mod attention.

Midnight_EG

mike_ie wrote: »

I moved the thread here as the OP is contesting the threadban.

OP, you're being insincere here, and the faux incredulity wears thin. The '114 day ban' was actually worded by the mod as 'you are threadbanned until Christmas', and I'm sure you're aware of that as you in all likelihood googled number of days until christmas for the purposes of this thread.

To be clear, the posts of yours that you refer to are as follows:





The forum charter (not to mention common sense) is quite clear on this:

Posts that encourage drivers to break the law e.g. telling people to make false motor tax declarations may result in either an infraction or a banning.

While you argue that you aren't overtly giving instructions or telling people to follow in your footsteps, you aren't deprecating your own actions either. It's a humblebrag, and for me certainly falls into the category of something that would draw mod attention.

I did indeed Google how many days before Christmas, because regardless its a very weird time frame to pick. It's not a week a month, or even three, but nearly 4 months but no exactly? And without warning tbh.

I'm sure you can agree that was I posted was merely my own experience of not being stopped and caught, nor was I actually telling anybody to do what they need to not get caught. The thread was going in such a way that people were asking what happens, and I happened to have experience of such a scenario.

I mentioned in a reply, that my tax was €511 which I mentioned I paid, meaning I'm not skirting the law nor was I intending to.

To follow the rule to the letter, I didn't tell anybody how to make a false tax declaration. No warning, no message to ask anybody to calm down or stop talking about it, just a straight weird threadban?

Tokyo

As I said, you're playing with words, and you're continuing to do so here. You are indignant at the mod's use of the expression 'tax evasion', but you state "I drove my 530d for the guts of a year with no tax (and it was out over 7 months previous to me buying it)." What would be your preferred descriptor?

What you leave out is the mod warning continued to say 'Evading tax, and then bragging about it here - not ok', which seems fitting, and not unreasonable to me. You are rules lawyering here, and I think we both know it. You stepped a little too far over the line and the mod applied the spirit of the law and banned you from the thread. And I can't fault the mod for that, given what I have seen thus far, nor do I feel inclined to overturn them.

If you have an issue with the longevity of the ban, then I suggest having a conversation with the banning mod. Unlike your last attempt, less rules lawyering, more 'sorry about that, won't do it again' generally has a greater chance of success.

Midnight_EG

mike_ie wrote: »

What you leave out is the mod warning continued to say 'Evading tax, and then bragging about it here - not ok', which seems fitting, and not unreasonable to me. You are rules lawyering here, and I think we both know it. You stepped a little too far over the line and the mod applied the spirit of the law and banned you from the thread. And I can't fault the mod for that, given what I have seen thus far, nor do I feel inclined to overturn them.

If you have an issue with the longevity of the ban, then I suggest having a conversation with the banning mod. Unlike your last attempt, less rules lawyering, more 'sorry about that, won't do it again' generally has a greater chance of success.

My issue is that there was no warning though, that I've asked about in each reply but you seem to believe there was one?! The warning came with the thread ban, nothing prior? If I'd have known telling somebody I drove without tax for a while was a bannable offense then I'm sure I wouldn't have wrote about it?

Currently in the Chat Thread in motors, a fella has said he waits until after his tax is up to think about taxing it, and another has said its basically grand as a guard will wave you on most likely but I don't see any intervention there?

Tokyo

Midnight_EG wrote: »

My issue is that there was no warning though, that I've asked about in each reply but you seem to believe there was one?! The warning came with the thread ban, nothing prior? If I'd have known telling somebody I drove without tax for a while was a bannable offense then I'm sure I wouldn't have wrote about it?

You have a long and colorful history on the site, and there's plenty of past behavior in motors for you to have learned from. Let's not play the 'if I had just known' game. You are aware there is a forum charter. Between your time on the site and your infraction history I don't believe for one second that you weren't aware that your posting might bring mod attention upon you.

From what I have seen thus far, you haven't engaged with the mod in any meaningful way other than to point fingers, and this thread is much the same which leads me to believe that your threadban is your secondary motivator here. So I revert back to my initial point. If you have an issue with the threadban, make a genuine attempt to resolve it with the mod in question first. Until you have, the topic is closed here.