Sports: 1 month ban from Soccer

flahavaj

Hi, having discussed the matter with the moderator in question (Frisbee) I'd be grateful if a CMod could have a look at a ban I received this afternoon from soccer.

As ye will know United/City were playing today and the thread was locked temporarily for some time due to some childish rubbish between both sets of supporters (none of which I was a part of).

While the thread was locked I posted in the United thread that United had scored a good goal.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showp...26&postcount=7

flahavaj wrote:

Lovely goal. Surely its too late?

Minutes later I was banned by Frisbee, quoting the rule that anyone that continues match discussion while a thread is locked will be banned withimn a month.

Now - by the letter of the law, applied in its most rigid and inflexible manner my ban can (and most likely will) be upheld. But I do feel that in this situation I didn't contribue to the original match thread being derailed and what I posted in the United thread was completely innocuous and certainly was not a continuation of the sh*te that caused the problem in the Match Threasd in the first place.

I 100% understand why the rule is in place but in this case I don't think what I did is a case of one of these reasons occuring. I feel like I've been banned on a technicality rather than for the reason the rule was implemented in the first place.

In the light of this could a common sense approach not be taken to this issue and the punsihment reduced to a yellow or even a week? A whole month in this case seems to me harsh in the extreme especially when the was no malicious or troublemaking intent in the post.

I have discussed this with Frisbee in a cordial manner and I would like to be clear that this is in no way an attack on him as a mod. I have always found him to be most fair in his dealings as a moderator, indeed he seems pretty sympathetic to my plight in this case.

Thanks for reading.

Dub13

Hi,

Looking into this now just looking for more info from the mod.

Dub13

Hi,

As this is clearly set out in the soccer forum charter in fact it has its own section,its hard for anybody to say they were not aware of the rule.The charter is there in black and white and the mod implemented it correctly as that thread was a mess and needed to be cleaned up.What you have to understand is these are fast moving sitauations and when it kicks off its best if everybody just sits back and let the mods clean it up.

So as the ban was within the guidelines set out in the charter the decision is upheld.For the record here is the bit in the charter.

Link

Due to the recent amount of hostility and aggression displayed in matchday threads as well as giving people infractions/bannings for stepping out of line if there are too many people dragging the thread of course it will be locked mid-game for at least 5 minutes, maybe more at the Mods discretion.

Anyone who proceeds to take match thread to a new thread, their respective club Superthread or the general weekend thread will receive an immediate one month ban

flahavaj

I'd like to go on record as saying I think this banning is heavy handed in the extreme and the innocuous posts we made (which had nothing to do with the muppetry that occured on the match thread) could have easily been dealt with with a single on thread warning or just been deleted. Such heavy handedness is the kind of thing that turns regulars away from the forum, not to mention the amount of needless work it has caused for the mod himself and yoursef in dealing with several of the same complaints at once. Sure, we contravened the rule if you apply it to the absolute letter but I just feel a little common sense should have been applied in the circumstances.

Its also a very uneven distrubution of justice - we have 8/9 users on one month bans - how many of the actual muppets who blagguarded the match thread to the extent that it had to actually be locked are currently serving bans of similar or greater length for their indiscretions? Very few I'd imagine.

Dub13

This is the first incident were this new addition to the charter has been used,I think we may tweak it going forward as maybe a month is a bit long for an incident like this.I know this may be cold comfort to the lads who got the ban this time.

Dub13

I have been talking to Frisbee about this over the last few days,as I said this was the first time this new rule has been implemented.The rule is needed but we are both in agreement that a 1 month ban for it is a bit on the excessive side.So we are going to change the charter and reduce this offense to a 1 week ban.

As for the group that has been banned already for a month we have agreed to reduce this down to a 2 week ban.I know its still a week over what it will be in the future but its also 2 weeks shorter than it was when the incident happened.So I hope this keeps everybody happy.

flahavaj

I feel that in this case any ban is completely unjustified tbh, so whether its two weeks or a month it still sticks in the craw. On a day when multiple users were disrupting the smooth running of the forum, 8 or 9 of us are punished for completely harmless posts. Twisted logic.

However I do appreciate the gesturen in reducing the length of the banand thank you for your time. Not much more to say here except to re-iterate my annpoyance at what has amounted to nothinh more than a needles waste of everyone's time and a group of users who contunue to feel they have been wronged.

Edit: Actually if its possible could an Admin please take a look at this? Thanks.

flahavaj

I wonder did any of the Admins get a chance to have a gander at this?

trout

I'll take this on.

I note the original ban has since been reduced to one week ... as per the request in your opening post.

Leave it with me for the minute - there's a fair bit to read over.

/EDIT - I see there are a few similar DRP threads ... I'll look over them all, and see if a common approach can be taken. This will take a while, please bear with me.

flahavaj

trout wrote: »

I'll take this on.

I note the original ban has since been reduced to one week ... as per the request in your opening post.

Leave it with me for the minute - there's a fair bit to read over.

/EDIT - I see there are a few similar DRP threads ... I'll look over them all, and see if a common approach can be taken. This will take a while, please bear with me.

Thanks. My ban was reduced to two weeks not one though.

trout

I have agreed with the soccer mods that these bans will be reduced to one week' in line with the revised practice.

I will sort them all this morning _ on mobile right now.

trout

The soccer mods have agreed the ban should be reduced to one week - in line with the revised rule.

As the week has now passed - ban is lifted and access is restored.

Closing this now and marking as resolved.