A Message from AllforNun to Admin

[Administrator]

Here is a message from the user AllforNun I received last night:

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Subject: kim jon ill

From: AllforNun

To: Administrator

Date: 05/08/2009 00:41

admin

lets be honest whoever gave you this job made a big mistake, you may not have noticed the dissent among bloggers who have had enough of your over zealous behaviour, i am sure mark is aware as he has been pm'ed numerous times. Snorkys request to delete his profile should have been enough, you use the term ABUSE very liberally to defend your controlling behaviour.

It is amusing that in blocking a number of ISP's as you have you have also managed to block a number of offices with approx 1000 people in each many who live and blog on the EDF.

It would be a piece of piss to blog anon on this forum, untraceable etc, but the effort is, well just not interesting. Give up now, come to the table and negotiate and stop being gay, it really is very silly.

much love AFN

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S/he was banned for abuse of the forum and following this message will not be allowed to return to the forum.

[SeanMacGabhann]

I had a very silly PM from AFN as well

But it wasn't as all over the shop as that one - sheesh

[Keef]

Cool, are we having public floggings now?

[ruffers]

I blame the liberal executive...

My personal view would be to have virtually no moderation but given that this forum is moderated then it should be respected.

AFN was borderline troll from time to time so admin's move seems like a good one.

[Administrator]

Keef Wrote:

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> Cool, are we having public floggings now?

No, but you once said it was a good to share messages like this, and I think it helps people be aware of what happens behind the scenes on the forum.

And in the current climate tolerance to abuse is at a low.

[Keef]

Sorry if this is not the place for this, but perhaps a discussion as to how such things should be handled... It is of course your forum, but maybe people would have suggestions.

Whatever I said before (I genuinely don't remember), I felt uncomfortable reading that, and then Sean's response almost made me want to start sticking up for AFN (sure it wasn't his intention, but it immediately made me feel like a person was being ganged up on, with no means of defending themselves), something that I have NEVER felt the need to do in the past!!!

The stuff you have to put up with as Admin, must be a total pain in the bum, and I don't blame you whatsoever for getting fed up, and perhaps feeling like taking a "hard line". However, the average user (me included), is not privy to this stuff, and they just see your responses to things. If I am honest, the place can come across (to me anyway), as a bit of a strict school, with you as the head, and the moderators, as your goody goody prefects. I have to admit, that this sometimes makes me (and I suspect, others), want to be a bit "naughty". It's probably very immature of me, but hey, at least I can admit it.

AFN, was one of the most constantly annoying and aggressive posters, and I sometimes wonder how s/he managed to survive so long. Sometimes though, I really wonder why people have been banned for things that seem to be nothing to me, yet for all I know, they sent a load of abusive messages.

Perhaps a "Banned" thread, whereby, you ban someone, and just write

AFN - Banned for (insert reason)

I don't know, perhaps I'm the only one who feels this way, and I'm not even entirely sure what my point is, something just felt a bit wrong about this.

Sorry.

[Administrator]

I do not want to post up a list of naughty pupils because (as you know) it would make people naughty so they can appear on the list, it is better to make an example of a couple of abusers, as in this instance. This is also done to businesses who lie on the forum to get work.

The forum is run moderately, sorry you think that it is strict but it works well. Persistent offenders (of which there are only a handfull) get banned. AFN has asked to behave before, been temporarily banned, asked to behave, requested to be allowed back, been allowed back, banned again, registered as different users and banned again. As a voluntarily run forum we really have not got the time to deal with people like her/him so we just get rid.

Anyway, the forum runs well and I (and I suspect others) would like it to stay that way.

[Keef]

Anyway, the forum runs well and I (and I suspect others) would like it to stay that way.

As would I admin, and I never meant to suggest otherwise. Was just trying to paint a picture of how some people might view the place, that is all.

[Administrator]

OK, my confusion was because you want to paint a picture of how some others might view the place. Speculation on what others may think is something we do not to act on, we like to act on direct feedback hence the recent changes.

[Edited once] for bad writing

[Keef]

.

[Administrator]

I have changed the first sentence to make sense, sorry about that.

[Keef]

Yeah, it's just me :)

[KalamityKel]

I agree with you keef and as many times as I try to express myself when looking through the eyes of another (or even myself) it always comes out wrong.

No no not whinging but perhaps trying to explain my thoughts which easily get misconstrued. It's all unintentional!

:)-D

[bignumber5]

Flippin eck, enough with the constant whinging about the recently departed and whether or not views and needs that they may or may not have had were hypothetically given a chance to bloom, if indeed they existed, maybe.

Every forum, hell every conversation, has an underlying tone based on the people involved. You don't walk up to a group of strangers at a party or in the pub, listen for a minute or 2, then declare "no, you're all boring and wrong and talking about the wrong things, here's what we're going to do now. Why don't you talk about this, it might possibly make others who aren't here feel more welcome, possibly". This would be strange, and after a while it would be annoying, maybe even annoying enough that a regular or possibly even the landlord might feel the need to have a word, and that would be pretty reasonable. No, you get a feel for whether or not you have common ground, and you engage. Calmly. Pleasantly. Maybe accepting that this new group might not be your kind of people. Either using that as a reason to move onto a different group, or maybe using the difference in opinion as a way to provoke a bit of thought in yourself and, if you are really good at that kind of chat, the others too. But if you loudly voiced opinions that were offensive to people in the pub, the landlord might even ask you not to return, and in doing so would hardly be oppressing you or the voice-hearing needs of the as yet potential persons and their views unknown.

The dissect-the-incident whinging that seems to follow every little hiccup on this forum is almost as annoying as the incidents themselves: have admin and the moderators ever given cause to suggest that they are being oppressive or unreasonable? Maybe have a tiny bit of faith and even occasionally give them the benefit of the doubt: I think it's a small price for what I get back out of this forum, and I invite you to ask the same question of yourself.

[Keef]

I've never, I don't think, called admin or moderators unreasonable, and certainly not oppressive.

What I have got back from the forum in the last few months at least, is not what Iused to.

Edited due to me getting a bit carried away.

[ontheedge]

Keef what exactly did Sean say to offend from what I read all he said was he got a pm from allfornun he did not comment on the content he only said it was not as all over the place as the one to admin.How may I ask is that tantamount to ganging up on someone?

[KoolBananas]

Perhaps it wasn't SeanMacGabhanns' comments but such as:

ruffers Wrote:

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> I blame the liberal executive...

>

> My personal view would be to have virtually no

> moderation but given that this forum is moderated

> then it should be respected.

> AFN was borderline troll from time to time so

> admin's move seems like a good one.

No matter what one person may think/have thought about another there's no need to throw comments like that around now is there?

I apologise if I'm wrong on the matter but I was under the impression this was a forum of adults not school children afterall.

[Huguenot]

I don't think describing someone's attitude as 'borderline troll from time to time' is particularly childish?

I can appear borderline troll from time to time, and would have no more truck with someone pointing it out than if they remind me to look after my manners in other social situations.

I had plenty of debates with AfN, but was never quite sure whether she was 'for real' or not. I say 'she' as she claimed to have a white van driver for a hubbie.

In the end I concluded that she was a highly energetic creative thinker, labouring under the weight of inappropriate loyalties, poor choice of friends and not trying hard enough at school.

That made her 'real' in my mind, and the message at top has done nothing to dispel that. Her argument's in the right area, but she's inarticulate and verging on violence because of her frustration at being unable to express herself.

That doesn't make her a shoo-in for the forum. If you're pulling hair in the playground you only get so many gentle wrist slaps before you're expelled. QED.

[KalamityKel]

Is name calling not childish then? Excellent! I can go sort that short little twonk out now with "cusses" about their mum <- see how crap that looks to the eye and sounds in ya head?

Nevermind... each to their own

[Huguenot]

No, now you're being childish Kel ;-)

Saying "Kel is a wee wee face" is name calling, but saying "Kel did things from time to time that were reminiscent of a wee wee face" is an observation.

More than that, it's a negotiation that highlights an area of concern with room to save face on all sides.

The accuser can apologise for misinterpreting, and the accused can apologise for misrepresentation. Everyone walks away with a 'win', knowing that there's a line in the sand.

[KalamityKel]

And if one side of it all is no longer around to represent themselves?

[Keef]

Keef what exactly did Sean say to offend from what I read all he said was he got a pm from allfornun he did not comment on the content he only said it was not as all over the place as the one to admin.How may I ask is that tantamount to ganging up on someone?

sure it wasn't his intention, but it immediately made me feel like a person was being ganged up on

Okay? Can we just leave it now.

[SeanMacGabhann]

oh bugger

but keef "sure it wasn't his intention" and highlighting that doesn't dispel the notion that I did actually do something wrong, does it?

And Kel, if someone isn't around to defend themselves, at what point do you think they should take responsibility for that fact. As Huguenot points out, if someone in the playground keeps pulling your hair, when is a wrist-slap not enough

And besides, they have been around in repeated guises, but instead of defending themselves they just attack again and again. For cryin out loud she talks about IP addresses being banned as if it doesn't affect moderators - who have to moderate from banned IP addresses. She talks about admin being "given the job" - as if it was a job to be given. Admin set this place up, he published the rules, they are there for everyone to see so what's the hard part to understand?

Look, if there is a more liberal, less-moderated forum around, (and I'd be interested to know one) by all means hang out there. But this constant berating of people who are keeping this thing going is really, really tiring. Acting as judge and jury without any facts and lots of speculation - I've had it

[mockney piers]

Calm down dear it's just a forum

[bignumber5]

I think we know what kind of forums aren't moderated, and who goes to them: I'd really rather we didn't go down the extremistnutjob.com route...