INfarction on PI11

squonk

I wish to appeal the following;


Dear squonk,

You have received an infraction at boards.ie.

Reason: Breach of Forum Charter

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Breach of Forum Charter

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This infraction is worth 1 point(s) and may result in restricted access until it expires. Serious infractions will never expire.

Original Post:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=61170892
Quote:
I think the OP ia winding us all up here!
All the best,
boards.ie

I believe this is a bit harsh. I heard nothing about it at the time I posted. Indeed, the post was last week. I struggled to remember back to the incident and thread at the time. Had I received a warning from this moderatior, I would have retracted my comment. Instead they didn't do that. Infact, I received no warnings at all. I have made many posts in other forms and have not received anyting in the way of even a warning before. I have been in touch with the moderator to state my case and they are being quite intransigent.

My point is that moderation should include warnings for initial offences by a poster, especially relevant around the time the post has been made. Coming along well after the fact as is the case here, handing out infarctions and then being quite unwilling to listen to a reasoned argument from the banned individual is arrogant and quite annoying to have to deal with.

I was quite willing to discuss this with the moderator in question, Theydidal, and would have accepted a warning in this case. Frankly at this point I'm very annoyed with the attitude displayed. It's poor moderation. I accept I took the wrong course of action in this instance but a warning in or around the time the incident occured would have resulted in my removing my post gladly. I would settle for a lesser period or at best a warning. I think 7 days for a first offence is very harsh considering the circumstances.

sceptre

Firstly, given that you've mentioned that you're quite willing to discuss this with the moderator (presumably in a reasonable fashion), have you tried doing that? If you haven't, start there.



The PI forum's basically run with an ethos that it's unhelpful to start implying that the original issue has just been made up by the poster. That's a judgement call to be made by the mods so if you reckon it's so, report the post. Posting on thread that you reckon the original poster is having everybody on isn't helpful in an environment where it has to be assumed by posters that they're not.

There's an alternative to making a response that isn't helpful - it's making no response.

It's all covered in the forum charter.

Lots of people seem to want an early warning if they're among the minority who get infracted but they already have one - the first warning's clearly there in the charter. If you didn't read it before, I'm willing to bet that you'll read it now. Common sense should broadly be enough though - PI is basically the taking people's stated problems seriously and primarily offering your opinion in a helpful way forum, not the "I think you're trolling" or posting in an unhelpful manner forum. Bear that in mind and there are very few pitfalls left. It isn't hard to figure out, before posting, whether your post is constructive or not. If it isn't, don't post it. If you think the OP is having a laugh, you could report it. That's pretty simple I think.

squonk

Hi Sceptre,

I did try to discuss this issue with the mod at the time. I wrote a relatively long reply pointing out my own standpoint, and why I made the comment. I also pointed out that I don't have a history of trolling, disruptive behaviour or anything else liable to cause grief on the forums. I entered into the discussions with what I considered to be an air of compromise. I did state that I was annoyed at being banned but didn't sink to the level of actually abusing the mod or anything of that type.

My own attitude is that the lesson was learned. I wasn't expecting to get off scott free. I'd have taken a decision on a reduction of the length of the ban as being reasonable in the circumstances. If the mod had turned around and said 'OK, I see your point, ban lifted but consider this a first strike, you're on my radar and if it happens again, tough!', I'd have actually been very happy, considered it a bonus and would have considered the matter closed, apologised for the misunderstanding and been on my way.

What I got was a cut and paste section from the forum charter and an 'I've nothing more to sayon the matter... go appeal to the helpdesk'. I'll be honest and say that my immediate reaction was that the respnse was arrogant and that the mod was a bit too big for their boots. I felt my initial respnse wasn't even read by the mod and their refusal to enter into any further discussion served more to aggravate the issue. The fact that the ban was for such an old post was particularly irritating too. If it had been something I posted on Monday or at the weekend I would have been more amenable.

Look, I know Mods hear all sorts of stories from all types. I know they have a job to do in moderating the forum but in this case I feel the mod in question is being particularly arrogant. I have no desire to get into a row with anyone but I'm not going to be walked on either and in this case I don't feel the moderation was good enough.

I am genuinely annoyed by all of this as I don't mind having a discussion with anyone and I'm the first to admit if I'm wrong but in this case, I think how the matter was dealt with was unfair and wrong and that two wrongs don't make a right.

sceptre

Ah, you youngsters, considering a week old to be old:)

At a guess I'd say the offending posts ion the thread were probably missed until the thread came alive again yesterday. Then as they were only a few days old (last Thursday, which is five days, long in a chat environment but not long in a bulletin board setup) the mod considered that they needed action in what had again become an active thread. But I'm supposing and assuming, it's the line of logic I'd have followed.

So your core complaint is the length of the ban? To at least look at it in context, that appears to be consistent with the minimum ban that gets handed out there where one is applied (and for what it's worth (which isn't much) on any forum I've modded, where I've applied a ban I don't think it's ever been shorter than 7 days). Annoying as it is, I pretty much see the standard penalty being applied, harsh though it may seem. The trouble from your perspective is that on PI, a surprising number of people reckon they're capable of comedy or a quick quip so every unhelpful comment tends to get a moderation slap. The trouble is that the number of people that have feigned sincerity in their post-infraction responses makes it nigh on impossible to see the difference between the genuinely sincere and the people who'll just do the exact same thing if they get let off a bit.

I'd sit it out. If the ban for this was longer than 7 days I'd certainly take it back to the mod and tell them that they're being too harsh here but when it's the standard shortest ban they tend to hand out for an obvious albeit non-maliciously intended breach, there's no room for movement there.

As an aside though, if you honestly reckon that the mod in question is being overly arrogant in the PMs you've received, you always have the option to report the PMs. Bear in mind though that the "you dun wrong" messages generally handed out by mods don't come across as nice as Uncle Buck around a camp fire. There's the same little "warning triangle" on each of the PMs that you'll see on the messages. People shouldn't be slow to report things - they may or may not get the result they want but reported messages are all seen by the admins (and only the admins).

If it's any good to you, generally when I hand out an infraction or a short ban, people aren't on my "special" radar later. Short of a second offence or a list of them I probably won't even remember the first one. I suspect with the number of people who post in PI it's much the same there. Mods generally don't have time to go chasing after posters, typically they're quite unlikely to. One short ban from a single forum doesn't affect your long term reputation for anything (there are quite a number of mods who have had more short bans than they'd care to admit).

squonk

Hi Sceptre,

Thanks for the reply. When put in context I see your point and your reply was helpful. I did think the 7 day period was something arbitrary and not a norm.

With regard to the thread in question where my comment was posted, I'm not aware that it had become active. I certainly hadn't seen it come up during the day on the forum and I do't think it was on the latest threads on page 1 either.

I will consider what I want to do about my impression of the Mod's PM's. I know you'll get spoofers and you have to assert bans when handed out but even a few lines like you posted putting the situation in context as well as the ban handed out would have short circuited the situation at that point. I'm not a teenager - if it looks that way - and those years are well behind me but perhaps being in my 30's has has softened me up but usually a few reasons for bans and things don't go astray rather than 'It's like that, and that's the way it is'!

I miss being out of the PI forum at the moment but I'll sit the ban out as you say. Thanks for taking the time to deal with my issue here.