Assistance please

Le_Dieux

Hi

Am not sure if I am in the right place - if I'm not, could someoe please direct me.

I was banned from the Politics Forum for a week ( am now back on it ) but feel I have been VERY unfarily treated. One of the reasons I was banned was for (quote) backseat moderator. I asked for proof when another person made a statement, and now I seem to find that allegation by that person has disappeared. Please can someone tell me if this is fair or not? Also, is it right for a Mod to moderate over a thread and then take one side of the argument of that said thread?

This is my first time going down this road and am not happy over what appears to me has unfolded. If I am wrong here, I unreservedly apologise.

Thanks

Gerry

nesf

You didn't get banned for asking another user to back up what they said.


Specifically what happened is this, someone is doing something in the thread that is generally frowned upon, i.e. posting a slogan in large bolded font in their posts. They get a verbal warning from a mod asking them to stop and explaining that this kind of thing can lead to bans. Really nothing weird here, the same warning would be given to either side of the debate.

This warning post was thanked by a bunch of users, here is where the problems started. Tayto Lover got a few digs in by calling those who thanked the post FG apologists. He got a yellow card for this. Another poster responded to him pointing out that posting slogans in large letters is not allowed by the charter and thus the warning was standard and posters were just thanking the mod for enforcing the charter.

The post that got you banned was the next one which, I'm not sure what you were trying to do here, went on about how the user couldn't speak for the mod (fair enough, but they weren't trying to) and that they couldn't talk about something a mod did and refer to the charter because they lacked the Moderator title under their username? This is backseat moderation, it's basically saying someone can't say something as if you'd the authority to say that. It's not allowed specifically because it's a way to dodge the point the user made and discredit or attack them on some meta-issue.


The reason you got a ban for this as since you decided to post in Politics about the Property Tax issue, you've been attracting a lot of mod attention and generally in these situations where someone is getting warned etc frequently we start ramping up the punishments until they get the hint and change their approach to posting. In your case it was yellow card, then a two day ban for ignoring mod instructions and then a week's ban for backseat moderation. You were asked to read the charter in the two day ban message, in the week's ban message it was pointed out that you don't appear to think the rules apply to you. I hope you can see the pattern here.

If you wish you may appeal this to an Admin.