Yet another Vexorg Ban....

jabaroon

I wish to leave both feedback and make a formal complaint about my treatment -- by Vexorg -- relating to a *temporary* ban enforced by him.

It is clear both from my own experience and those reflected by the posts appearing in the admin area that a significant amount of ban's are being placed (by Vexorg) on users of the classified section. It can equally be seen by the nature and language of the posts in the admin area, that there is continious confusion relating to the cause of these ban's

I personally was *temporairly* banned about a month ago for using the phrase:

"....first person to PM me gets it....."

Put in context, this was after approximatley 15 posts and people making offers that were too low. I was making the deal sweeter trying to shift the item in question and had clearly stipulated the price. However, the closing -- off hand -- line above resulted in a ban.

When I logged back in, I recieved no notification that I was banned, and when I did find out that I was banned, the reason given was a generic "read the rules". I had and did again, but still could not understand why I had been banned. I contacted Vexorg who -- after some exchanges -- finally explained why I had been banned. Fine. I accepted my minor infraction, apologised and expected that the temporary ban would soon be lifted. I have been waiting approximatley a month.

(aside)
I would also like to point out that in my dialogs with Vexorg, his manner appeared confrontational rather than helpfull. I always felt like I was being spoken to as he shook his finger and stared down his nose at me. His communication was too consice to adequatley communicate the message being delivered.

My 2c:

In my honest opinion, the policy of banning first and asking questions later is unreasonable and unfair.

Further more, banning people for extremely minor infractions is pointless. I can honestly say that the ban against me has worked -- but at what cost. Yes I will be more vigilent in the future, but I am angry with regard to the triviality of the infraction weighed against the severity of the penalty -- not to mention the exceptionally poor mechanism in which the justification was communicated. If I was asked by a friend or colleague for an opinion regarding boards.ie my response would likely be:

.... yes, great service......but damn, the admins and moderators act like a bunch of power hungry authoritarian annoyances.....

Could the above situation have been dealt with slightly differently -- and have achieved the same result?.... I certainly believe so. Would it be reasonable to say that the majority of the users of the boards are genuine people with genuine motivations? If so, are draconian measures likely to help or hinder? In my case -- would the same end result have been achieved through the issuance of a "friendly warning"?

I do appreciate that the above may leave some of the administrators and moderators of the boards with noses out of joint. This is not my intention. I am hoping that the above is taken as constructive critisim and that due consideration is given to positive actions that may be appropriate. The boards.ie service is an excellent one with great potential. Please consider that there would be nothing to moderate and nobody to ban -- were it not for its users.

ecksor

I think Vexorg requires a reminder before removing a ban. There's a thread on the Feedback/Suggestions forum at the moment where a lot of issues surrounding the Classifieds forums are being aired, which you may find interesting.

Oh, never mind, you found it already.

jabaroon

You make my point for me!!.....
An informal un-published, unknown request for an unban is required. Hmmmm......

I have sat frustrated that I could not get into the classified section for the last number of weeks. I have attempted to login a number of times during that period but am still banned. Its frustrating.....

My last communication with Vexorg was something like:

.....ok, I understand now. Thanks for taking the time to explain to me why I was banned.

It seems a little bit schoolboy / headmaster (with cane) like, that I have now to send another message to Vexorg asking to have my account reactivated. The point of the ban was clearly made and the message was clearly recieved. Prolonging it, or requiring a separate request to remove serves what purpose?

Vexorg, you really need to start thinking out of the box a little. You mention elsewhere that you have a very high workload. I am surprised you find time to eat or sleep. You are creating extraordinary amounts of work for yourself.

ecksor

I believe that Vexorg explained his reasoning for that (requiring a pm) in that other thread. Read the full thread. (Incidentally, when you posted a long explanation of how to better run the Classifieds forums I was struck by the notion that you didn't seem to have read the full thread first).

Anyway, you've brought it to his attention now, I'm sure he'll respond to you in the morning ...

jabaroon

I have and did read the entire set of post before submitting my view. The fact that you have this concern suggests that I have not made my point too well. I would like to address (what I believe) to be your two concerns:

I am not suggesting that a nicely nicely approach to moderation is in order. I am suggesting that an approach that focuses on polite and informative communication is likely to yield better results.

For example, consider the current approach:

"You have been temporairly banned. Read the rules".

Now consider the alternative sent both as a PM to the user and in the normal way:

"You have been temporairly banned for failing to adhere to the rules. Specifically, you broke rule XXX by doing YYY. As a result, you have recieved a 1 week ban. This ban will be lifted on DD/MM. We apologise if you are offended by recieving this ban, but we are rigid on the rules. Our aim is to make the boards a self policing society and to do so, we have to take a hard line."

The alternative -- above -- contains all of the information that a banned user need to understand and justify their ban.

- The point is made clearly and concisely
- Where the ban is justified, the user has all of the relevant information
- If justified, the moderator should not need to partake in any further communication with the user (and vice versa)

It is not valid to say that it takes too long or too much effort to explain "why" to each user. It will certainly take less time for the admin to explain when enforcing the ban than when recieving a request for explanation at a later date, and being then required to look historically for justification.

I believe the above also explains my point around being required to send a PM to Vexorg to get an un-ban. Its not necessary if communication is concise and informative up-front. By removing redundancy, workload is reduced.

Vexorg

Jaberoon

I think you have grossly overreacted to your temp ban and you have misquoted me and posted incorrect information.

I believe my replys were very civil and polite and not at all like you portrayed them to be and not only that your ban of a month ago I find hard to understand... I believe you were banned on the 12th of this month, which is 12 days ago and infact our conversations finished on the 16th June which is just over a week ago.

I would be very happy for you to post both your pms to me and my pms back to you in a single thread, without any commentary from your goodself or my self just to set the record straight.

Would you be happy to do this?

Vex.

jabaroon

Vex,

I have posted a reply in the feedback thread. No point in duplicating!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102203&perpage=20&pagenumber=5