Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Thunderdome and bullying.

Options
  • 02-11-2013 2:15pm
    #1
    Artful_Badger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,339 ✭✭✭


    I didnt have access to the thunderdome after it went private but from what I have gathered a number of posters have been banned for bullying and harassing an other poster or posters. From Davs post in prison it seems this didnt just happen on boards but other social media sites. These poster bullied and harassed a boards poster here then followed them elsewhere and continued it.

    I thought one of the biggest issues facing social media and online communities was that of bullying. These posters have only gotten a months ban, have since organised and started their own thunderdome forum elsewhere using non banned friends from boards to send word out. While the thunderdome continues on.

    Why has boards been so lenient to these posters given the nature of the offence ? Its a dangerous precedent to say bullying and harassing other people and stalking them to other social media sites (I assume they found out who this persons or persons were) is a lesser crime than shilling or spamming which routinely get lifetime bans.
    Post edited by Shield on


«13

Comments

  • Options
    #2
    returnNull
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭returnNull


    Just playing devils advocate here but maybe all the posters did on boards.ie was elligible for a 1 month ban?Boards cant punish users for what they do on other websites.


  • Options
    #3
    Artful_Badger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,339 ✭✭✭Artful_Badger


    returnNull wrote: »
    Just playing devils advocate here but maybe all the posters did on boards.ie was elligible for a 1 month ban?Boards cant punish users for what they do on other websites.

    They were banned for bullying and harassing on boards as well as other websites though which I dont see how in any form only warrant a 1 month ban. As for being punished for what they do on another website it is a tricky one. But seems to me like it was just a spillover from what was going on here.


  • Options
    #4
    Gokei
    Closed Accounts Posts: 795 ✭✭✭Gokei


    Any information boards.ie has should be forwarded to the guards


  • Options
    #5
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,893 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Gokei wrote: »
    Any information boards.ie has should be forwarded to the guards

    What? O.o


  • Options
    #6
    Gokei
    Closed Accounts Posts: 795 ✭✭✭Gokei


    Insect Overlord wrote: »
    What? O.o

    Not sure if bullying is illegal, but harassment is.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    returnNull
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭returnNull


    Artful_Badger wrote: »
    They were banned for bullying and harassing on boards

    and again preumably it only warranted a 1 month ban.It also started in the thunderdome which had some very unique rules regarding posters behaviour.One of them iirc was that anything you posted on boards.ie was fair game.


  • Options
    #8
    Quixoticelixer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 324 ✭✭Quixoticelixer


    They really should never have gone back on their original decision to close the forum in the first place. Of course the decision was going to be met with resistance by the small group of posters that used the forum (Did admins/staff expect otherwise??), but the Thunderdome was an awful, awful part of boards, I remember browsing the threads there, it served its purpose in threads going back 10, 9, 8 years ago but over time it evolved into something far more dark and nasty and sinister (even if it was just a form of "humour") and totally unrecognisable from what the forum originally was in the first place.

    From what I have read on the Prison threads here, I'm not really sure why the bans weren't permanent given the nature of the reasons for the bans being handed out, but having said that I don't know the full story.


  • Options
    #9
    returnNull
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭returnNull


    Gokei wrote: »
    Any information boards.ie has should be forwarded to the guards

    it would up the poster/posters that were allegedly bullied/harrassed to make a complaint to the AGS.And then for the AGS to contact boards.ie.


  • Options
    #10
    Quixoticelixer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 324 ✭✭Quixoticelixer


    Gokei wrote: »
    Not sure if bullying is illegal, but harassment is.

    We don't know what happened and in any case it's none of our business. If what happened was something that required the intervention of the Gardai I have every faith in boards that they would have done that. For all we know, they may actually have done that.


  • Options
    #11
    returnNull
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭returnNull


    Quixoticelixer wrote: »
    They really should never have gone back on their original decision to close the forum in the first place. Of course the decision was going to be met with resistance by the small group of posters that used the forum (Did admins/staff expect otherwise??), but the Thunderdome was an awful, awful part of boards, I remember browsing the threads there, it served its purpose in threads going back 10, 9, 8 years ago but over time it evolved into something far more dark and nasty and sinister (even if it was just a form of "humour") and totally unreconisable from what the forum originally was in the first place.
    There was an opt in/out option for the thunderdome.It was all voluntary.It should of stopped when the people getting hassled opted out.
    but having said that I don't know the full story.

    Nobody does except the posters involved and boards staff.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #12
    Quixoticelixer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 324 ✭✭Quixoticelixer


    returnNull wrote: »
    There was an opt in/out option for the thunderdome.It was all voluntary.It should have stopped when the people getting hassled opted out.

    Nobody does except the posters involved and boards staff.
    Fully aware of all the above, my opinion still stands. I ain't judging individuals who posted, but I just don't personally believe it is a necessary/useful part of the site.

    Maybe I'm wrong and this was just a case of a handful of posters just taking things too far.


  • Options
    #13
    rovoagho
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,151 ✭✭✭rovoagho


    Thread title made me LOL. Apparently contact sports can lead to injury too. Who knew?


  • Options
    #14
    returnNull
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭returnNull


    Quixoticelixer wrote: »
    Fully aware of all the above, my opinion still stands. I ain't judging individuals who posted, but I just don't personally believe it is a necessary/useful part of the site.

    Maybe I'm wrong and this was just a case of a handful of posters just taking things too far.

    Thats fair enough Q(ye can feck off if you even think im gonna attempt and spell your username correctly :pac: ).

    For me I always enjoyed reading the dome.


  • Options
    #15
    Artful_Badger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,339 ✭✭✭Artful_Badger


    returnNull wrote: »
    and again preumably it only warranted a 1 month ban.It also started in the thunderdome which had some very unique rules regarding posters behaviour.One of them iirc was that anything you posted on boards.ie was fair game.

    But thats the issue I'm raising, bullying and harassment is bullying and harassment and if it needs investigation and leads to bans then it cant have been anything trivial. I dont see how there are varying degrees of it, if you are done for bullying on a website like this then surely the sanction must be one of the most serious that cound be handed down. A months site ban is extremely lenient.

    I doubt there is anything in those rules which excuses anything than can be classed as bullying. So what those posters did must have been way beyond regular thunderdome stuff if Dav himself was informing them they were being banned for bullying and harassment on boards and other social media. If what went on in the forum before it was private continued it would have to be very serious stuff to lead to bans. From reading the various prison threads it looks like a group of them were sharing private information on posters which didnt come from boards. I'd assume someone found out who a poster was, shared it with others and used it to find them and harass them on other sites as well as this one.


  • Options
    #16
    Artful_Badger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,339 ✭✭✭Artful_Badger


    returnNull wrote: »
    There was an opt in/out option for the thunderdome.It was all voluntary.It should of stopped when the people getting hassled opted out.

    Thats the problem it was all done behind the scene apparently and some of it off the site. A forum like that which uses everything anyone has posted to get to them will always lead to a few people going way too far. I dont understand how anyone thought hiding it away would be a good idea, the mod of the forum was banned with the rest so making it private just make it harder to handle. Its no surprise it quickly led to bullying.


  • Options
    #17
    returnNull
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭returnNull


    Again it cant of been too serious.People get 1 month bans for sending abusive PM's. Boards.ie admins,cmods and the office staff arent shy to hand out sitebans whether a poster has been a member for 2 days or 8 years.

    This thread is probably gonna get locked as they dont discuss peoples bans etc.
    If anything it highlights the need for people not to put anything personal in the public domain.


  • Options
    #18
    Artful_Badger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,339 ✭✭✭Artful_Badger


    returnNull wrote: »
    Again it cant of been too serious.People get 1 month bans for sending abusive PM's. Boards.ie admins,cmods and the office staff arent shy to hand out sitebans whether a poster has been a member for 2 days or 8 years.

    This thread is probably gonna get locked as they dont discuss peoples bans etc.
    If anything it highlights the need for people not to put anything personal in the public domain.

    It was serious enough for Dav himself to investigate it and call it bullying and harassment and state it happened on boards as well as other websites. The fact that people get 1 months ban for an abusive pm is re-enforcing my point that if the powers that be see something as bullying yet deal with it in the same vein as an abusive pm then they are underestimating the seriousness of the offence.

    Bullying is a big problem on social media and forums and as has been seen in some high profile cases has a huge impact on victims of it. Its not a trivial matter and if boards doesnt see it as one of the most serious offence to be committed on this website then something is seriously wrong.

    You cant dismiss it or lay blame at the victims feet for putting information in the public domain either. With enough determination you can find out a lot of information and find someones real identity online, that doesnt mean it should be tolerated in any way shape or form or dealt with leniently when done so by people intent on bullying and harassing others. Everything done on this website falls under the responsibility of boards.ie. Boards allowed the thunderdome and people to do what they do in there. They do not allow people to bully others, so the poster/s are in no way to blame.

    The issue here is why was this case of bullying not dealt with to reflect the severity of the offence or why boards.ie doesnt see bullying as the serious offence it is.


  • Options
    #19
    returnNull
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭returnNull


    Artful_Badger wrote: »
    The fact that people get 1 months ban for an abusive pm is re-enforcing my point that if the powers that be see something as bullying yet deal with it in the same vein as an abusive pm then they are underestimating the seriousness of the offence.
    no it re-enforces the point it was only worthy of a 1 month ban.Its you thats over-estimating the seriousness of the offense.


  • Options
    #20
    Artful_Badger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,339 ✭✭✭Artful_Badger


    returnNull wrote: »
    no it re-enforces the point it was only worthy of a 1 month ban.Its you thats over-estimating the seriousness of the offense.

    Thinking a one month ban is a leniant sanction for bullying is over estimating the seriousness of bullying ? You don't see bullying as a worse offence than an abusive pm or insulting a mod or re-regging or anything else that would get you a one month ban ?


  • Options
    #21
    degrassinoel
    Registered Users Posts: 10,743 ✭✭✭✭degrassinoel


    returnNull wrote: »
    no it re-enforces the point it was only worthy of a 1 month ban.Its you thats over-estimating the seriousness of the offense.

    Actually, while we're all speculating here.. due to the nature of the thunderdome, the offense could have been a lot worse than you're giving it credit for too given it's 'anything goes' charter.

    Without the facts we can only speculate as to what happened.
    Either way, Bullying is a serious offense. And as people were banned and a private forum closed over it, you and i can safely assume that the matter is being treated seriously.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #22
    returnNull
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭returnNull


    degrassinoel wrote: »
    Actually, while we're all speculating here.. due to the nature of the thunderdome, the offense could have been a lot worse than you're giving it credit for too given it's 'anything goes' charter.
    Yeah possibly.What ever it was got people a 1 month ban and the forum closed.

    Has it ever happened before that the thunderdome spilled over into other forums?


  • Options
    #23
    returnNull
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭returnNull


    Artful_Badger wrote: »
    Thinking a one month ban is a leniant sanction for bullying is over estimating the seriousness of bullying ? You don't see bullying as a worse offence than an abusive pm or insulting a mod or re-regging or anything else that would get you a one month ban ?

    doesnt really matter what I think,Dav and who ever else looked into it decided it only warranted a 1 month siteban,which would indicate,imho ,it wasn't serious enough to hand out perma bans.


  • Options
    #24
    Artful_Badger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,339 ✭✭✭Artful_Badger


    returnNull wrote: »
    doesnt really matter what I think,Dav and who ever else looked into it decided it only warranted a 1 month siteban,which would indicate,imho ,it wasn't serious enough to hand out perma bans.

    You said I was over estimating the seriousness of bullying as i feel it warranted longer. So do you or do you not see it as equal in seriousness than the other offences ?

    You are still missing the point I'm making here anyway. My point is that the ban was for bullying and shouldnt bullying be dealt with more strictly. Your argument is "Dav gave 1 month ergo it only deserves 1 month". Thats not playing devils advocate thats just avoiding discussion entirely.


  • Options
    #25
    degrassinoel
    Registered Users Posts: 10,743 ✭✭✭✭degrassinoel


    returnNull wrote: »
    Yeah possibly.What ever it was got people a 1 month ban and the forum closed.

    Has it ever happened before that the thunderdome spilled over into other forums?

    No idea tbh


  • Options
    #26
    returnNull
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭returnNull


    Artful_Badger wrote: »
    You said I was over estimating the seriousness of bullying as i feel it warranted longer.
    for somebody that doesnt know exactly what happened(like myself)looking for a siteban when the powers that be decideed it only warranted a 1 month ban,yes i would say youre over -estimating the seriousness.They can only action what happened on boards.
    So do you or do you not see it as equal in seriousness than the other offences ?
    I think each case should be taken on its own.


  • Options
    #27
    Steve
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 22,584 CMod ✭✭✭✭Steve


    I though TD was totally closed down now due to this type of thing. Did I imagine that?


  • Options
    #28
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,893 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Steve wrote: »
    I though TD was totally closed down now due to this type of thing. Did I imagine that?

    It's closed down because of this specific incident.


  • Options
    #29
    P_1
    Registered Users Posts: 14,681 ✭✭✭✭P_1


    In two minds over that to be honest. Basically the TD was 'opt in' which you can infer that the people on the receiving end of the abuse consented to receive the abuse (say an online verbal version of an S&M club). I'm not all that sure if it is right to punish consenting adults for that kind of thing to be honest


  • Options
    #30
    bumper234
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,250 ✭✭✭✭bumper234


    Maybe people should wait until the bans are over and let the people who have been banned have their say in here because at the moment you are all getting one side of the story and running away with speculation.

    You may find that there will be some surprising revelations about these serious (slanderous?) accusations and not everything is as it seems. As for the creation of a new dome that has no bearing on the accusations that were made.

    It will be interesting to see how long this thread is kept open as my understanding was that these subjects were frowned upon on boards. It will also be Interesting to see if admin will leave the DR threads open when the banned people are back.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #31
    Gokei
    Closed Accounts Posts: 795 ✭✭✭Gokei


    bumper234 wrote: »
    It will be interesting to see how long this thread is kept open as my understanding was that these subjects were frowned upon on boards

    For clarification, which subjects? Bullying? Or talking about bullying?


This discussion has been closed.
Advertisement