Airsoft Mods Conflicts of Interest.

silver haze

right a long time a go a guy set up an airsoft shop and a lot of people in the airsoft forum got very friendly with him as he was the first retailer in the counry, fair enough.
then along comes another guy and sets up an airsoft shop, which just happens to be the first walk in shop in the country.

after sometime the second guy gets the reputation as a maverick as he doesnt tow the line with the "official" airsoft association, that being the IAA.

now the first retailer also happens to be good buddys with said organisation along with a number of mods of the airsoft forum, who coincidently are all members of this organisation, some were even working for him.

in the mean time some bullsh1t happened between the organisation and the second retailer, with the retailer withdrawing their affiliation from the IAA, or vice versa, depending on who you listen to.

some time later this retailer was banned for asking what purpose said organisation served.
money had been taken from members who were old they would be getting ID cards along with a host of other "benefits", which took quite some time to materialise.

now this second retailer was very involved with the Dept. of Justice before airsoft was legalised and contributed directly to its provision for in the current legislaton.
said retailer was also very involved in the clarification of the legalit of laser aiming devices with the DOJ, which the IAA tried to take credit for on their website.

skip forward a few months and the second retailer has set up a course for shooting a set discipline of airsoft, known as practical pistol.
now when an unaffiliated member started a thread on this, it was not just locked, it was deleted without a trace.
this is not the first time the airsoft mods have deleted or edited things to their own end.

this was a valid contribution to airsoft as a sport, especially given the level of intereset shown in an unrelated thread regarding practical pistol.

what do i want from you, you ask?

well i would like if an Smod would look into the goings on in this forum just to see if what i am actually saying is true and hopefully for action to be taken.

i have no affiliations to any party concerned but it is an absolute travesty that the agendas of a group are forced down the throats of airsofters on boards, while a perfectly legitimate and useful resursce is being denied to members.
this is especially sickening seeingas it is through the abuse of certain mods powers that this is happening.
now im not anti-mod dont get me wrong, i am one myself on midnightclub.ie and i knwo what a tankless job it can be sometimes, but good & fair moderation is necessary to keep the wheels of a forum well oiled.
i just hope someone can look into this further as i can do no more.

no doubt this thread will decend into a farce when said mods become aware of i and use IIRC direct all their little hangers on to come on here and back them up, them up denouncing me as a rabble-rouser/paranoid/troll or just contribute cat pictures to the thread.
i would absolutely love if it didnt.

thank you for your time

Nerin

I find it odd that you just gave out to a mod on thread about posting on the satanism forum request thread,and now this? If it is a coincidence,its an odd one.

gandalf

Retailer is sitebanned due to constant disruption on the airsoft forum and breaking his word to me when I stuck my neck out for him once before to reverse a site ban.

Advertisment thread locked and deleted about said users business including posts by said users on a duplicate account. Said user claims it is his sons account, he may have forgotten that this excuse was used last time.

Trouble maker user starts thread here to whinge from the sidelines as usual.

Lemming

silver haze wrote: »

i have no affiliations to any party concerned but it is an absolute travesty that the agendas of a group are forced down the throats of airsofters on boards, while a perfectly legitimate and useful resursce is being denied to members.

No affiliations? Boll*cks. I call shenanigans on this right now. You have a known history of sh*t-stirring. You also have a known chip on your shoulder of "fight da powa" against the moderators as well. I know I've had to clean up your mess on several occasions on the airsoft adverts forum [I am not an airsoft forum moderator].

I would also hasten to add that your entire post gracefully slides in and out of truth, half-truths, and pure fiction with sublime effortlessness. I'm impressed ...

gandalf

Oh and for clarity I am not even a full member of the IAA.

o1s1n

Gandalf has said it all but I'll add my 2c anyway.

I've never given so many chances to a person on the airsoft forum. Shilling. Duplicate accounts. Trolling. Over almost two years. Many hours spent trying to resolve these issues with said user via PM.

And yet he was still allowed post. We even gave him retailer threads which I'm sure boosted his business for free.

But he just didn't get the hint and decided to continue with this childish nonsense.

There are strict rules on boards.ie against trolling, shilling and free advertising.

He broke all of them more times than I can remember. That's all there really is to it.

Some airsofters are worse than a sewing circle when they get together.

kinkstr

Lemming wrote: »

I would also hasten to add that your entire post gracefully slides in and out of truth, half-truths, and pure fiction with sublime effortlessness. I'm impressed ...

Would you like to tell me which parts are true and which are false. Im not having a go, Id just like to know the facts.

gandalf wrote: »

Oh and for clarity I am not even a full member of the IAA.

Is there different levels of membership?

gandalf

kinkstr wrote: »

Would you like to tell me which parts are true and which are false. Im not having a go, Id just like to know the facts.

TBH just look at the OP profile check their infraction list and you will see their motivation for starting this post.

Is there different levels of membership?

There is when I haven't sent in all my details to them. Which I haven't done yet.

kinkstr

Ive seen his post before, im just wondering which parts are true.

silver haze

Nerin wrote: »

I find it odd that you just gave out to a mod on thread about posting on the satanism forum request thread,and now this? If it is a coincidence,its an odd one.

i didnt give out to a mod, i questioned the Vice chair of the IAA for his thread calling for a satanism forum. now i know its not all sacrafices and bats and metallica and all tha jazz, but it is not the rigth image to be drawing to our sport.

gandalf wrote: »

Retailer is sitebanned due to constant disruption on the airsoft forum and breaking his word to me when I stuck my neck out for him once before to reverse a site ban.

Advertisment thread locked and deleted about said users business including posts by said users on a duplicate account. Said user claims it is his sons account, he may have forgotten that this excuse was used last time.

Trouble maker user starts thread here to whinge from the sidelines as usual.

fair enough he is sitebanned, but does he work for MCD?
why is discussion about an event that he is running not allowed to be discussed when it does nothing but stagger and fragment our sport.
why was the thread deleted alltogether?
what are the exact grounds under which a thread will be deleted as opposed to locked?
just out of curiosity as i have noticed this on way more than one occasion.

Lemming wrote: »

No affiliations? Boll*cks. I call shenanigans on this right now. You have a known history of sh*t-stirring. You also have a known chip on your shoulder of "fight da powa" against the moderators as well. I know I've had to clean up your mess on several occasions on the airsoft adverts forum [I am not an airsoft forum moderator].

I would also hasten to add that your entire post gracefully slides in and out of truth, half-truths, and pure fiction with sublime effortlessness. I'm impressed ...

my dearest lemmywinks, this time i will not be drawn to your bait, im not goin to overreact and post aggressive sh1te, thereby derailing the true reason of this thread, and that is justice.
not just for me but for all the airsofters out there on boards who dont know the things that go on behind the scenes.
just to say this i am most certainly not affiliated.
i bought a mag for my glock 18c there one time when they first opened and have not returned since as it is no where near local to me.

o1s1n wrote: »

Gandalf has said it all but I'll add my 2c anyway.

I've never given so many chances to a person on the airsoft forum. Shilling. Duplicate accounts. Trolling. Over almost two years. Many hours spent trying to resolve these issues with said user via PM.

And yet he was still allowed post. We even gave him retailer threads which I'm sure boosted his business for free.

But he just didn't get the hint and decided to continue with this childish nonsense.

There are strict rules on boards.ie against trolling, shilling and free advertising.

He broke all of them more times than I can remember. That's all there really is to it.

Some airsofters are worse than a sewing circle when they get together.

i believe the misunderstanding about duplicate accounts was sorted out.
i dont know what schilling is but the only "trolling" i am aware of is anytime he questioned the IAA's motives or actions the thread was locked, by IAA or ex-IAA members.

if you can enlighten me as to anymore details im all ears.

silver haze

gandalf wrote: »

TBH just look at the OP profile check their infraction list and you will see their motivation for starting this post.

can you elaborate please?
would i not have started it weeks ago when i was banned, no i took it on the chin, f i had wanted to i could have opened up a half-dozen threads.

this thread is about the fact that our sport is being denied opertunities due to the vested interests of others.

if you can produce some evidence to the contrary id sure love to see it.

gandalf wrote: »

There is when I haven't sent in all my details to them. Which I haven't done yet.

is that because you dont want the IAA passing them on to the gardai as proposed on their website?

o1s1n

kinkstr, here you go.

silver haze wrote: »

right a long time a go a guy set up an airsoft shop and a lot of people in the airsoft forum got very friendly with him as he was the first retailer in the counry, fair enough.
then along comes another guy and sets up an airsoft shop, which just happens to be the first walk in shop in the country.

TRUE

silver haze wrote: »

after sometime the second guy gets the reputation as a maverick as he doesnt tow the line with the "official" airsoft association, that being the IAA.

FALSE.

Second guy gets a reputation due to repeated misconduct on the forum. Most of which should have resulted in him banned on several occasions.

silver haze wrote: »

now the first retailer also happens to be good buddys with said organisation along with a number of mods of the airsoft forum, who coincidently are all members of this organisation, some were even working for him.

FALSE

First retailer is an affiliate of said organization and adheres to the rules. He also adheres to the rules of the boards.ie airsoft forum.

The mods are not all members of the IAA. In fact, only one is.

No mods work for him. That is another complete lie.

silver haze wrote: »

in the mean time some bullsh1t happened between the organisation and the second retailer, with the retailer withdrawing their affiliation from the IAA, or vice versa, depending on who you listen to.

TRUE

silver haze wrote: »

some time later this retailer was banned for asking what purpose said organisation served.
money had been taken from members who were old they would be getting ID cards along with a host of other "benefits", which took quite some time to materialise.

FALSE

Said retailer was banned for his conduct on the forum as I have already stated several times.

silver haze wrote: »

now this second retailer was very involved with the Dept. of Justice before airsoft was legalised and contributed directly to its provision for in the current legislaton.

First I've heard of that?

silver haze wrote: »

said retailer was also very involved in the clarification of the legalit of laser aiming devices with the DOJ, which the IAA tried to take credit for on their website.

FALSE
Both were contacted at the same time. The IAA were behind as they waited for permission from the DOJ to to make the statement public.

Also, the issue is still a gray area. There was no great clarification. Said person attempted to gain public support by stating it was a 'win' for us when in actual fact it really solved nothing. The maximum legal power output for a laser device was established.
That was it.

silver haze wrote: »

skip forward a few months and the second retailer has set up a course for shooting a set discipline of airsoft, known as practical pistol.
now when an unaffiliated member started a thread on this, it was not just locked, it was deleted without a trace.
this is not the first time the airsoft mods have deleted or edited things to their own end.

Okay. So we should give a sitebanned user who has repeatedly caused hassle on this forum free advertising? Is that what you suggest we do?

silver haze

o1s1n wrote: »

kinkstr, here you go.



TRUE



FALSE.

Second guy gets a reputation due to repeated misconduct on the forum. Most of which should have resulted in him banned on several occasions.




FALSE

First retailer is an affiliate of said organization and adheres to the rules. He also adheres to the rules of the boards.ie airsoft forum.

The mods are not all members of the IAA. In fact, only one is.

No mods work for him. That is another complete lie.

Did KDouglas never work for said retailer? fixing gins perhaps before vtec? complete lie eh? are some mods not good friends with said retailer?
really adheres to the rusles i know 2 people tha have bough hot guns from him



TRUE



FALSE

Said retailer was banned for his conduct on the forum as I have already stated several times.



First I've heard of that?



FALSE
Both were contacted at the same time. The IAA were behind as they waited for permission from the DOJ to to make the statement public.

whilst ye banned, infracted, locked and deleted threads and users for discussion of lasers when clarification had quite clearly been sought and granted.
also i mite add while some of your buddies were let off with posting pics n the pics thread with what weer quite clearly lasers, but ye accepetd the feeble excuse that they were torches

Also, the issue is still a gray area. There was no great clarification. Said person attempted to gain public support by stating it was a 'win' for us when in actual fact it really solved nothing. The maximum legal power output for a laser device was established.
That was it.
eh that is a win if youre told what ou can and cant put on your gun



Okay. So we should give a sitebanned user who has repeatedly caused hassle on this forum free advertising? Is that what you suggest we do?

free advertising for him or encouragement for the sport and all those who wish to play?
or punishing both him and the players all because you can

o1s1n

silver haze wrote: »

i believe the misunderstanding about duplicate accounts was sorted out.
i dont know what schilling is but the only "trolling" i am aware of is anytime he questioned the IAA's motives or actions the thread was locked, by IAA or ex-IAA members.

if you can enlighten me as to anymore details im all ears.

The duplicate accounts was sorted out alright. And it was far from a misunderstanding.

Shilling is creating false accounts to boost your business.

As for trolling - about every single IAA thread ever put up. Which was a large contributor to there no longer being any IAA discussion on the forum.

And don't be fooled, this wasn't just 'anti' discussion. That we can handle. If done correctly It can make for interesting debate. This was trolling.

Even other things though. Trolled paintball threads too.

This individual took a lot from the forum and didn't really give anything back other than hassle.

silver haze wrote: »

free advertising for him or encouragement for the sport and all those who wish to play?
or punishing both him and the players all because you can

Listen closely -

Free advertising IS NOT ALLOWED ON BOARDS.IE

We were teetering on the edge of the rules for a while with what was going on with the retailer threads. That is why there was a retailer sub forum created.

Most retailers realized this and were civil, conducted themselves well and tried not to draw too much attention to themselves out of respect for what we were after allowing. It was a fairly unique thing on this forum.

This person did not.

Now, I'm sure what I've said make sense to most, and you're just going to continue with your grand conspiracy (as lets face it, it's more exciting than the reality, right?) So I'm leaving it at that.

the_syco

gandalf wrote: »

TBH just look at the OP profile check their infraction list and you will see their motivation for starting this post.

Can't. Think it's only a mod power.

gandalf

the_syco wrote: »

Can't. Think it's only a mod power.

9 infractions, 6 from the airsoft forum.

This is not the first time the OP had a whinge and I suspect it won't be the last.

Overheal

You know, I'm pretty tired of watching time and again the shyte of the airsoft fora spilling out for the rest of us to smell. I'd almost tell you all to feck off, and delete the entire section from the site as if it never existed. As it is you're a bunch of lads with toy guns (Syco, you're a scary looking individual with an MP5) who don't know seemingly when to stop shooting at eachother.

Lemming you say you dont mod airsoft but your moderator tags betray you. I'm confused.

Karl Hungus

Overheal wrote: »

Lemming you say you dont mod airsoft but your moderator tags betray you. I'm confused.

He mods Airsoft Adverts.

gandalf

Overheal wrote: »

You know, I'm pretty tired of watching time and again the shyte of the airsoft fora spilling out for the rest of us to smell. I'd almost tell you all to feck off, and delete the entire section from the site as if it never existed. As it is you're a bunch of lads with toy guns (Syco, you're a scary looking individual with an MP5) who don't know seemingly when to stop shooting at eachother.

The scary thing is most of the worst offenders are well into their adulthood. I wouldn't blame the admins if they did decided to shut it down, its noise ratio is well above the average of most other forums on here.

Overheal

hilariously enough the google ads are having a laugh at your expense.

Okay I took a quick overview to understand the airsoft category but im a bit hazy: banned for advertising? Thats what the Retail subforum is for isnt it? How does that work, mentioned something about payment.

gandalf

Naw the said "martyr" in question was originally sitebanned for trolling IAA threads and creating duplicate accounts to back up his argument. I actually rang this guy asked him for assurances that he would no longer start or troll IAA threads which he gave me his word he would do. I then petitioned to have the siteban removed against the will of the other airsoft mods, which was granted. He then went back on his word and got site banned.

We are not going to give free advertising to a site banned users business(es).

(btw in all my years of modding this is the first time I have ever phoned a banned user and the first time I have petitioned the admins to get someone unsite banned. I learnt my lesson from this example haven't I)

Beruthiel

Moved to the Help Desk.

The Mods of the Airsoft forum are among some of the most experienced on this site.
I for one trust their judgement.

o1s1n wrote:

]I've never given so many chances to a person on the airsoft forum. Shilling. Duplicate accounts

o1s1n
If this is true, then I (or one of my fellow Smods) should have been notified so we could site ban. All the above are site bannable offences.

Lemming

Overheal wrote: »

You know, I'm pretty tired of watching time and again the shyte of the airsoft fora spilling out for the rest of us to smell. I'd almost tell you all to feck off, and delete the entire section from the site as if it never existed.

Interestingly enough, it's a handful of posters who have repeatedly taken issue with ability to follow the rules of the forum and/or adverts.ie who also happen to be quite vocal (in a conspiritorial kind of way). It gets very old very fast (and I volunteered to deal with them ...) so I sympathise with your frustrations.

As it is you're a bunch of lads with toy guns (Syco, you're a scary looking individual with an MP5) who don't know seemingly when to stop shooting at eachother.

And most football fans have obsession with kicking an inflated sheeps bladder around a field of grass, and seemingly don't know when to stop slagging each other off. What's your point?

Lemming you say you dont mod airsoft but your moderator tags betray you. I'm confused.

As KH pointed out, I moderate the airsoft adverts sub-category since the agreement to allowing an airsoft adverts forum was as follows:

• Given the nature of what's being sold, the community is best placed to keep an eye on it, hence it's not located under the adverts.ie domain
• An adverts.ie moderator be involved, since it would still fall under adverts rules

seamus

No need to go elsewhere with this thread, L. Besides, Overheal can't respond in here

silver haze

gandalf wrote: »

The scary thing is most of the worst offenders are well into their adulthood. I wouldn't blame the admins if they did decided to shut it down, its noise ratio is well above the average of most other forums on here.

yeah that might have something to do with its tosser to sound peope ratio, present company excluded of course.

and the questionable actions of a few mods.

but sure its like anything here, nothing wil be done about i cos a mods word is his bond, and they would never lie or take dubvious actions now would they, they are of course infallable.

silver haze

Lemming wrote: »

Interestingly enough, it's a handful of posters who have repeatedly taken issue with ability to follow the rules of the forum and/or adverts.ie who also happen to be quite vocal (in a conspiritorial kind of way). It gets very old very fast (and I volunteered to deal with them ...) so I sympathise with your frustrations.

while i actually agree with some of what you have said there id love if you would care to elaborate on your volunteering to deal with me.
care to?

silver haze

gandalf wrote: »

9 infractions, 6 from the airsoft forum.

This is not the first time the OP had a whinge and I suspect it won't be the last.

all my infractions have now expird and iv been a ood littl boy ever since havnt i?
although you would probably consider my daring to question mod decisions as subversive or some such sh1te.

Lemming

silver haze wrote: »

while i actually agree with some of what you have said there id love if you would care to elaborate on your volunteering to deal with me.
care to?

You are a paranoid little nugget aren't you?

Let me put it this way ... had I not pushed for, and volunteered to moderate, the airsoft adverts forum it would not exist. In so doing, I took on the responsibility of dealing with all and sundry who violate the adverts.ie & airsoft adverts forum charters.

"All and sundry" would include yourself (lamentably several times).

Incidentally, I would like my name removed post-haste from your signature thank you. I take exception to the fact that you are (yet again) misrepresenting fact and attributing something to me that I have not said.

silver haze

yet more evidence of pure and utter bias, its charity that youre fúckin over here Ganddalf, i hope yu feel proud and important by acting is this manner.
you make me sick, you really do.
where was the mention of MIA other than in his sig, what did that have to do with this charity event.

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055403627

is there any update on the investigation guys?

seamus

What investigation?

Did you PM gandalf to ask him why he closed that thread before posting here?

gandalf

That thread was closed because the charity hair shaving is happening as part of a new launch of a service at the aforesaid retailer. We are not giving this retailer any publicity at all no matter what they are running or doing going forward.

They did not conduct themselves in the way that all others do on this site and it is blatantly unfair that you expect them to get special treatment over all the other sites and retailers who do operate with in the rules. In fact they have gotten special treatment and excuses were made for them and were accepted in good faith that on reflection were a pile of crock. But going back on their word and setting up duplicate accounts to pimp their business and get around bans were the last straw.

There will be no second (actually third) chances and they will not be allowed to post and promote their enterprise on boards.ie again period.

This matter is closed.