Unfair Moderator

Chriskavo

Hi Folks - I am a 38 yr old man and am a paraplegic due to a work accident. I have recently become a member of boards.ie thanks to the recommendation of a friend and have discovered the joys (at least I thought I had!) of blogging. This has helped me deal to some respect with the debilitating psycholgical effects of my condition also because it is something I genuinely enjoy. Now to my point - today I recieved a ban for one week by a moderator on the Conspiracy Theories forum by a person called ' Bonkey'. My issue is this - I am upset because I genuinely believe that I have not done anything wrong.My only crime was to defend another guy called 'mysterious' who was wrongly accused of being rude. He has twisted my post to try and make it look like I was arguing with him when I never was. He says he posted my complaint on my behalf -
nesf/Scofflaw - Chriskavo has an issue with my behaviour in this thread
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showt...8&goto=newpost
where he feels that its unreasonable of me to have given him and mysterions infractions and then him a ban for arguing moderation in-thread. It all starts around post 51. I find it hard to trust that this will be overturned. On principal, I would be delighted if fellow members out there would view the posts and if they agree that I was hard done by to issue a complaint on my behalf against this moderator. I love this particular forum and hate been banned from it even if it's only for a week. Thanks,Chris.

Sparky

Chriskavo you got a 7 day ban more so to calm yourself as you continued to argue on thread about the moderation of the thread by bonkey.

While you may view it as harsh, it was a final decision by bonkey so that the thread could continue on without any more off topicness about the moderation.
The charter was also quoted to you in order to inform you of the rules of the forum.
So best to sit it out for the 7 days.
If you want to read the thread then you should log out, as you will see the thread when logged out of boards

Chriskavo

Sparky wrote: »

Chriskavo you got a 7 day ban more so to calm yourself as you continued to argue on thread about the moderation of the thread by bonkey.

While you may view it as harsh, it was a final decision by bonkey so that the thread could continue on without any more off topicness about the moderation.
The charter was also quoted to you in order to inform you of the rules of the forum.
So best to sit it out for the 7 days.
If you want to read the thread then you should log out, as you will see the thread when logged out of boards

Sparky -I have done nothing wrong, I feel very hard done by.

Tom Dunne

Chriskavo wrote: »

Sparky -I have done nothing wrong, I feel very hard done by.

Ok, there are a couple of things you should be aware of.

First of all, the dispute resolution procedure. Full details here. You need to provide specific links to the threads in question, and as much detail as you can in a rational, coherent and level-headed manner.

Secondly, we have rules and regulations on the site that help to keep things running smoothly. One major no-no is arguing on thread with a moderator. The rules are not there to annoy people, they are there to help people. It really would help matters if you familiarised yourself with the way we do things around here.

So, could I ask that you follow the procedures above and contact the Category Moderators. You will find a list of these people in the link above.

If you are not happy with the outcome of that, you can start a thread here in the Help Desk.

Chriskavo

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Ok, there are a couple of things you should be aware of.

First of all, the dispute resolution procedure. Full details here. You need to provide specific links to the threads in question, and as much detail as you can in a rational, coherent and level-headed manner.

Secondly, we have rules and regulations on the site that help to keep things running smoothly. One major no-no is arguing on thread with a moderator. The rules are not there to annoy people, they are there to help people. It really would help matters if you familiarised yourself with the way we do things around here.

So, could I ask that you follow the procedures above and contact the Category Moderators. You will find a list of these people in the link above.

If you are not happy with the outcome of that, you can start a thread here in the Help Desk.

Thank you Tom for your help.

Tom Dunne

Chriskavo wrote: »

Thank you Tom for your help.

You are welcome, glad to help.

bonkey

Tom Dunne wrote: »

So, could I ask that you follow the procedures above and contact the Category Moderators. You will find a list of these people in the link above.

Hi Tom

for the record, Chriskavo posted in the thread just before he was banned, asking mysterious (another poster, also banned for the same behaviour in the same thread) what he needed to do to lodge a complaint.

I pm'ed him the details of what he needed to do, and also told him that I was cc'ing the PM to the relevant Cat Mods, and included information in the PM to point them at the posts which led to the disagreement.

From that point of view, the dispute procedure has at least gone from me (the forum moderator) to nesf and Scofflaw (the Cat Mods).

Chriskavo

bonkey wrote: »

Hi Tom

for the record, Chriskavo posted in the thread just before he was banned, asking mysterious (another poster, also banned for the same behaviour in the same thread) what he needed to do to lodge a complaint.

I pm'ed him the details of what he needed to do, and also told him that I was cc'ing the PM to the relevant Cat Mods, and included information in the PM to point them at the posts which led to the disagreement.

From that point of view, the dispute procedure has at least gone from me (the forum moderator) to nesf and Scofflaw (the Cat Mods).

I have included that information in my post already. I am very upset that you banned me for doing nothing more than give my honest opinion. Seriously, I haven't been able to eat and feel very hard done by.

bonkey

As it may be relevant to the case in question, Id like to point out that I've just banned Chriskavo from Politcs for this thoughtful comment.

I think that Scofflaw may actually have beaten me to the punch...which I mention only as he is one of the Cat Mods involved in this complaint as well.

Chriskavo

bonkey wrote: »

As it may be relevant to the case in question, Id like to point out that I've just banned Chriskavo from Politcs for this thoughtful comment.

I think that Scofflaw may actually have beaten me to the punch...which I mention only as he is one of the Cat Mods involved in this complaint as well.

Scofflaw gave me a warning whereas you have given me a ban. I apologize if I accuse somebody who defends the indefensible of being a troll. I cannot understand why you seem to pick on me all the time, it feels like a witch hunt to be honest with you Bonkey. I have had to overcome a very serious disability which has radically changed my life resulting in a daily cocktail of 12 different pills and a daily dose of morphine injections. I have 2 operations upcoming and I will deal with that when the time arrives. thank you for taking what little joy I have in my life away from me with your ban.

bonkey

Chriskavo wrote: »

Scofflaw gave me a warning whereas you have given me a ban.

According to Scofflaw's post in the thread, he banned you.

Scofflaw

bonkey wrote: »

According to Scofflaw's post in the thread, he banned you.

Quite true - looking at the records, both myself and bonkey banned you at more or less exactly the same moment, for exactly the same period (7 days), with exactly the same comment ("accusation of trolling") for exactly the same post.

moderately,
Scofflaw

Tom Dunne

Chriskavo wrote: »

Scofflaw gave me a warning whereas you have given me a ban. I apologize if I accuse somebody who defends the indefensible of being a troll. I cannot understand why you seem to pick on me all the time, it feels like a witch hunt to be honest with you Bonkey. I have had to overcome a very serious disability which has radically changed my life resulting in a daily cocktail of 12 different pills and a daily dose of morphine injections. I have 2 operations upcoming and I will deal with that when the time arrives. thank you for taking what little joy I have in my life away from me with your ban.

Ok, to be blunt, lose the sense of victimisation.

Nobody is out to get you, neither myself, nor any of the other Admins will stand for it.

However, you seem to be drawing trouble upon yourself all around the site and I believe it is because you don't seem to understand how things work around here.

First of all, you do not comment on a Moderator's decision. As I have pointed out above, there is a dispute resolution procedure that is to be followed. If there is a problem, you have various levels who will hear your case and decide accordingly if there is a problem.

Second of all, you really, really need to read the forum charters and understand what is and is not acceptable. Politics in particular is a source of some fascinating debate, but that is because the reins are held tightly and nobody is allowed to make inappropriate comments. Like it or not, your comment was not appropriate for the Politics forum.

And on a final note, you really need to understand that this is not blogging, this is a discussion forum, they are vastly different. Moderators in all forums try to keep the discussion going, but within certain parameters. What is acceptable in one forum may not be acceptable in another.

I fear that until you understand this, you will continually getting yourself in trouble.

Does that make things clearer for you?

Chriskavo

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Ok, to be blunt, lose the sense of victimisation.

Nobody is out to get you, neither myself, nor any of the other Admins will stand for it.

However, you seem to be drawing trouble upon yourself all around the site and I believe it is because you don't seem to understand how things work around here.

First of all, you do not comment on a Moderator's decision. As I have pointed out above, there is a dispute resolution procedure that is to be followed. If there is a problem, you have various levels who will hear your case and decide accordingly if there is a problem.

Second of all, you really, really need to read the forum charters and understand what is and is not acceptable. Politics in particular is a source of some fascinating debate, but that is because the reins are held tightly and nobody is allowed to make inappropriate comments. Like it or not, your comment was not appropriate for the Politics forum.

And on a final note, you really need to understand that this is not blogging, this is a discussion forum, they are vastly different. Moderators in all forums try to keep the discussion going, but within certain parameters. What is acceptable in one forum may not be acceptable in another.

I fear that until you understand this, you will continually getting yourself in trouble.

Does that make things clearer for you?

Tom, again thank you for your reasonable and very fair reply. I have forwarded my complaint to a moderator and have yet to receive a reply. I am quite willing to accept to resolve this situation as soon as possible. I have re read the forum charter and am satisfied that I have a much better understanding of it. It makes me even more indignant as now I know that I did nothing wrong to be banned from the Conspiracy Theory site in the first place, I am however willing to put that to bed and forget about it. Can you see that my ban is overturned? I would really appreciate it, if not could you provide me with details of another site similar to boards and |I will join that instead. I have had many private messages of support from fellow members.Everyone of them agree that my ban was extremely harsh.

Chriskavo

Tom, are you allowed give someone a ban as well as an infraction for the same 'offence'? Scofflaw has given me both for the same comment which is why I initially thought he had just given me an infraction.

Chriskavo

I request that my account with boards.ie be deleted. Thank you, Chris.

Tom Dunne

Chriskavo wrote: »

Tom, again thank you for your reasonable and very fair reply. I have forwarded my complaint to a moderator and have yet to receive a reply.

Ok, the moderator in question is replying in this thread (bonkey). Is that not satisfactory for you?

Either way, and this goes back to my suggestion that you get a feel for the site, you make a complaint about a moderator here on the Help Desk. This is done in an open and transparent manner so posters such as yourself who feel aggrieved can see that we do our damn best to resolve whatever issues there are.

Chriskavo wrote: »

I am quite willing to accept to resolve this situation as soon as possible. I have re read the forum charter and am satisfied that I have a much better understanding of it. It makes me even more indignant as now I know that I did nothing wrong to be banned from the Conspiracy Theory site in the first place, I am however willing to put that to bed and forget about it.

Ok, I appreciate you taking the time to read the charter and chalking this one down to experience. However, I must disagree with you on your view that you did nothing wrong.

As I pointed out above, we don't discuss moderator decisions on-thread. Unfortunately, you did that, hence the ban.

Chriskavo wrote: »

Can you see that my ban is overturned? I would really appreciate it, if not could you provide me with details of another site similar to boards and |I will join that instead. I have had many private messages of support from fellow members.Everyone of them agree that my ban was extremely harsh.

Unfortunately, I am unable to do that. A direction was given by bonkey, which you either inadvertently missed, or did not understand. You then proceeded to comment on his decision. See my point above about commenting on moderator directions.

Chriskavo wrote: »

Tom, are you allowed give someone a ban as well as an infraction for the same 'offence'? Scofflaw has given me both for the same comment which is why I initially thought he had just given me an infraction.

That is at the discretion of the moderator in question. A red card infraction goes after 10 days, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Ok, I appreciate your frustration, but remember this is only the internet.

How about you consider putting this whole chapter down to experience and start afresh tomorrow?

Boards.ie is a wonderful resource and I really think it could be a great place for you to interact and have some meaningful discussion with people and, dare I say it, have a bit of fun.

How about you look at some of the less-serious forums on the site and see how that works out? The rules are a little less strict in such forums, and you could stumble across one or two that really catch your attention. And don't forget that if you have any hobbies or interests, there is most likely a forum to match.