Permanent ban from Engineering for mentioning my company name

Thewanderer_ie

I recently posted in Engineering, this is the original post:
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Hi Guys,

I am an independent mechanical design engineer, working from home helping companies who have overflow work or regular Joes who have products they want to develop. Family life means I can't hold down a full-time position and need to work from home. Generally I have been able to pull in enough part-time and teleworking hours to keep myself going, but this year the summer slump has hit hard.

So, does anybody have any leads on work that I might be able to take a look at? Or know of any manufacturing/engineering/machine building companies out there who may need some extra help?

I am located in Waterford, but with Skype and Dropbox I do work across the country. My website is www.jne.ie for an idea of what I can do.

Thanks for your time,
Jeffery Neal

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A short time later I got this message from Godtabh, the mod for the forum:
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You have been banned
Dear Thewanderer_ie,

You have been permanently banned from Engineering for posting advertising your company.

This site is about discussion and is not a means for you to advertise your business.

Businesses can engage with our members in a number of ways, please see the Boards.ie FAQ for more details.

If you wish to appeal this ban you can see details on how to do so here.

godtabh
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My reply:
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Re: You have been banned
Hello Godtabh,

I would definitely like to appeal my permanent ban in Engineering. I was not trying to advertise my company directly, but was asking if anybody had any leads about where I could find work. This in my mind qualifies for engineering discussion. There have been discussions like this in the past without any trouble.
Even if that was wrong, to go directly to a permanent ban is rather heavy-handed and uncalled for.

If you object so highly to the post, a simple removal or lock-down of the thread and a warning would have sufficed.

Please undo the ban immediately. The thread can either be removed completely or I will edit it to remove and reference to my name and business.

Jeffery Neal

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His reply and my second attempt at making him see sense:
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Well Godtabh,

I am not a spammer, and I was not shilling. I take personal offence to both of those statements.

I can not access my other posts in engineering or even get to the forum anymore to defend myself or refute you, so you have the upper hand in that debate.

Is there a rule that says you must answer x number of questions or make x number of posts before you ask for help yourself? I have never seen one. There is an imbalance of questions and answers on every forum, and I have never heard of somebody getting a permanent ban for asking more than answering.

I think the question I was asking was valid. If not for the single line where I mentioned my website, would you have been so quick to ban? It was meant as a way of clarifying what I was talking about, nothing more. Remove that line, and I doubt there would have been any trouble.

Finally, as I remember it (but can not prove without access to the forum), other people had mentioned freelancing or doing odd jobs. Maybe no direct contact details, but if anyone had wanted to they could fire off a quick PM and ask for them. Were they banned?

So as I see it, yes, I did overstep the line, but it was not intentional and I do not feel the punishment is warranted by the offence.

Fine, delete the post. A simple warning and I would have done that myself. I won't mention my name or my website again.
If you feel you need to make a point, then go ahead and make it a temporary ban.
But a PERMANENT ban? Absurd.

Modify the ban and we are all good, you won't have any more trouble from me.

Good night,
Thewanderer



Quote:
Originally Posted by godtabh
All other spammers that have been brought to my attention have been dealt with in the same way. You were clearly shilling the forum to promote your company.

You may think that you phrased it in a certain way but you didnt.

You have two posts in the engineering forum (not including the deleted one) and you are promoting your company in one of them. You havnet added anything to the forum but have received many needs. I dont think that level of contribution warrants the ban being undone.

Regards,

Godtabh.
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His final reply:
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I believe you where and the ban stands. Other posts similar to yours that have been brought to my attention have had the same fate. Even those who contribute to the forum.

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I am not appealing the fact that I have done anything wrong. I posted without thinking and should not have mentioned my website. I meant it merely as a clarification of the work I do, and was not even thinking it would be considered direct advertising on this site.

I did not enjoy being called a spammer and a shill, and should not have been for such a small infraction.
To be told that my contribution level had anything to do with the correctness of the post was absurd as well. I do not have the time or inclination to make 18,000 posts, and have actually given back in some of my posts.

I would like my ban on the Engineering forum either overturned completely or at least made temporary. I will promise not to mention my name or website again (even though that info can be found out with a quick PM or 2).
A permanent ban with no warning is just complete overkill in my opinion.

Thank you for your time,
Thewanderer_ie

Black Swan

Hi Thewanderer_ie,
It appears that you have had an exchange of PMs with the banning mod, and have satisfied stage one of this Dispute Resolution process. I will now take time reviewing all the information that pertains to this ban. You may post additional information here if you feel it will help my review, and you may also PM me if you wish.

This review may take a couple days, so please be patient. I am a volunteer and have outside commitments. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Black Swan

Thewanderer_ie

Thank you Black Swan, I will wait for your reply.

Black Swan

Hi Thewanderer_ie,
Apologies for the delay. I've thought about your DRP several times in the past few days, and now I can reply. Let's begin by reviewing the Terms of Use, FAQs, the OP for which you were banned, and other relevant posts you have made.

Terms of Use: 5. What you agree to when joining: "boards.ie is made available for your personal, non-commercial use..." and... "You agree, through use of this service, NOT to use boards.ie to... post any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising, promotional content... spam... or any other form of commercial publicity."

FAQs: "Advertising will not be tolerated -- please contact one of the admins, or sales@boards.ie for more information on advertising;" and... "We will site ban people who are consistent rule breakers or who just sign up to spam... or promote their businesses."

Banning OP: You opened a thread in Engineering that was clearly "Advertised Your Company" and promoting your business (now deleted):

I am an independent mechanical design engineer, working from home helping companies who have overflow work or regular Joes who have products they want to develop. Family life means I can't hold down a full-time position and need to work from home. Generally I have been able to pull in enough part-time and teleworking hours to keep myself going, but this year the summer slump has hit hard.

So, does anybody have any leads on work that I might be able to take a look at? Or know of any manufacturing/engineering/machine building companies out there who may need some extra help?

I am located in Waterford, but with Skype and Dropbox I do work across the country. My website is www.jne.ie for an idea of what I can do.

And the fact that such "Advertised Your Company" and promotion (website www.jne.ie) had occurred 3 times, 2 posts in Engineering, and one post in the Engineering/CAD subforum could be considered spamming Engineering and our site.

Thewanderer_ie wrote: »

Does anybody know of anybody looking for independent contractors? I work from home as a mechanical design engineer, and am going through a very slow spell right now, so need some more contacts/customers.
I figure some companies don't want full-timers, but need help on certain projects or at short notice, which is what I do. This is me: www.jne.ie

Thewanderer_ie wrote: »

Short answer is NO, there ain't much work out there... I spent 9 years as an employee, and now going on into my third year self-employed mechanical design engineer (Shameless plug: www.jne.ie).

Such advertising and personal business promotion on the site has not been limited to Engineering or CAD. For example:

Thewanderer_ie wrote: »

(I am a mechanical design engineer, shameless plug for my business: www.jne.ie).

After going though all the above material my first reaction was to agree that the mod was very justified in permanently banning you from Engineering for clearly "Advertised Your Company," promoting your business, and spamming ("plug" www.jne.ie) across more than one forum. Furthermore, I hope you realise that if the OP for which you were banned (above) had been your 1st post on our site, it has been common practice for Admin to permanently site ban folks for the reasons given in Terms and FAQs above.

Whenever I do one of these DRPs, I try to do them on a case-by-case basis, because there are always different persons, contents, contexts, and whatnot affecting the review, and if there is an opportunity to give someone the benefit of the doubt, it's certainly worth considering. I note that you joined 10 September 2008, and other than this one permanent ban, your record is clean. I also note your offer below, where you would be willing to accept a "temporary" ban, along with a "promise" not to advertise your company.

Thewanderer_ie wrote: »

I would like my ban on the Engineering forum either overturned completely or at least made temporary. I will promise not to mention my name or website again

To resolve this Dispute Resolution, I would be willing to: (1) reverse your permanent Engineering ban; (2) issue a 2-week ban beginning shortly after this DR is resolved; and, (3) which would be all conditional upon your promise never to promote or advertise your company in any of the forums found in the Science, Health, and Environment category of this site, which includes Engineering and CAD. To violate this condition may result in a permanent ban from Engineering and CAD, and perhaps a ban from the category too.

Do we have an agreement? Please advise.

Thewanderer_ie

Hello Black Swan,

Firstly, thank you for your time and consideration. I understand that being a Mod/Admin can be a difficult position at times.

I agree to your conditions, and accept the 2 week ban with no issues. I will not mention my company name again, and will refrain from advertising in the future.

Thank you again,
Thewanderer_ie

Black Swan

Thank you Thewanderer_ie for your cooperation and patience in the resolve of this DRP. Permanent ban from Engineering has now been "Reduced after discussion with user" and removed, and will be "Replaced with 2-week ban" per our agreement. This has been documented in our system records.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our volunteer mod godtabh, who has been most helpful towards the resolution of this DRP.

REQUEST: Would Admin please close this DRP and mark it resolved? Thanks.

Please have a nice weekend,
Black Swan