A level of unfairness in the cafe.

Alf Stewart.

CMods and admins, I didn't expect to find myself back in DRP so soon after my return to the cafe after a two week ban, but I feel there's a blatant level of double standards, hypocrisy, and downright dodgy moderation going on in the cafe.

The following sequences of posts led to me being on the receiving end of a one month ban from the cafe, and rather than bring it up in feedback, I have brought it up here (as previously advised to)

Poster A posted this.

For Reals wrote: »

Would be very embarrassing to have a Taoiseach telling lies and making up stuff alright.

To which he received this reply.

Tabnabs wrote: »

Whataboutery, more narrative away from thread topic.

I didn't think the post was off topic, and posted so (quite politely)

Alf Stewart. wrote: »

Could you please expand on that please

Thread topic is about what Ireland would be like, if Paul Murphy was Taoiseach?

How did that post veer from the thread topic, even slightly?

And I received this in response.

Tabnabs wrote: »

Another great proponent of "never mind them, whatabout FG!" Should we mention Irish Water too?

It didn't answer my question even slightly, instead it had a go at me, and what I do be outspoken about from time to time.

So I asked them once again to try and point towards what part of the post was off topic, and to answer the post, rather than have a go at me.

Alf Stewart. wrote: »

Answer the question please, rather than attack the poster(S)

How did it veer off topic

In your own time please


Thanks in advance by the way.

And I got a month off for that, for "back seat moderation"

I havent sent the mod a pm, and I won't be either. Past interactions with said mod don't fill me with hope for politeness or a l resolution.

It's getting a bit silly now.

My ban doesn't seem to have been made public (on the thread anyway) which has me wondering.

I have been trying to keep my head down, and get on with things, but I feel there's an unfairness at play here. It looks like the deck is stacked.

Toots

Hi Alf, I'll take a look at this, can you please forward any PMs you received or sent in relation to this? Thanks.

Alf Stewart.

Toots wrote: »

Hi Alf, I'll take a look at this, can you please forward any PMs you received or sent in relation to this? Thanks.

Thanks Toots.

I have not discussed with mod in question. I wished to jump straight to Cmod /Admin.

I feel there was a high degree of unfairness in the ban, my post was in no way back seat modding, intentionally or unintentionally.

Thanks for your time.

The Hill Billy

Hi Alf. I'm afraid that you still need to attempt to engage with the banning mod in an attempt to resolve this. Please do so. If you cannot reach a successful conclusion - let us know.

tHB

Alf Stewart.

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Hi Alf. I'm afraid that you still need to attempt to engage with the banning mod in an attempt to resolve this. Please do so. If you cannot reach a successful conclusion - let us know.

tHB

Thanks HB, I have since pmd said mod, and will update the thread with their response.

Regards.

The Hill Billy

Thanks Alf.

Alf Stewart.

Mod has indicated that he (or she) is happy for the ban to stand.


I'm not bothered either way (if I'm honest) that said, the site is hemorrhaging traffic, posters (and mods), and I reckon it's only fair to highlight what I feel is blatant inconsistencies, bias, and a certain degree of "cliquey-ness" playing out in the forums.

I will end this post by stating that prior to my ban, I had pmd Tabnabs to let him know I was in no way responsible for him receiving a card for his post. I wanted clarification to his post, not him being sanctioned (hence me not reporting same)

I guess it's over to CMods and admin now.

The Hill Billy

Thanks for confirming that, Alf. I'm sure Toots will look into this shortly for you.

Toots

Thanks for that, Alf. I'm looking into it at the minute, but in the meantime if you could forward me on what you sent/received from the mod I can include that in my investigation.

Thanks.

Alf Stewart.

Toots wrote: »

Thanks for that, Alf. I'm looking into it at the minute, but in the meantime if you could forward me on what you sent/received from the mod I can include that in my investigation.

Thanks.

Thanks Toots,

I can confirm that I have forwarded pms as requested.

Regards - Alf

Toots

Hi Alf,

I think I've looked into this as extensively as I could and I've come to a decision. Initially, I was looking at the ban purely on the basis of those two posts in which you were accused of backseat modding, and I was inclined to reduce the ban - the first post was borderline, but the second was backseat modding IMO - however having read the PMs exchanged, and noting that the banning mod mentioned that the ban was a result of multiple offending posts, I dug a little deeper.

The Cafe mods pointed me in the direction of the IRA VS ISIS thread, so I read through that and TBH after reading your posts in there, I feel that the ban is warranted. There was a mod warning early on in the thread asking posters to keep discussion on the IRA in the context of the IRA post 1960s, as opposed to the Michael Collins era. Despite this, you kept referring to Michael Collins. And then there are also responses like this:

Alf Stewart. wrote: »

**checks thread title**

Was Michael Collins in the IRA? ✅

Was Michael Collins considered a "terrorist" by the then British Government? ✅

What's with the completely and utterly stupid question?

and this:

Alf Stewart. wrote: »

So we've moved from asking what the "Wanted" poster for the then "intelligence chief of the IRA" had to do with the thread (despite the thread being specifically about the IRA) to asking what Enda Kenny has to do with the thread.

I will give you a hint, and a nudge in the right direction.

(he's head of state, with a once described "terrorist" and member of the IRA, hanging proudly on his office wall)

The photo of our Taoiseach, pictured with the prime minister of the nation who deemed Collins a "Terrorist", both smiling happily with the big lads portrait beaming down upon both of them is a shining epitome of the old saying "one mans terrorist is another man's freedom fighter".

I fear if you repeatedly require simple explanations to the blatantly obvious, this thread might not be for you.

Bit out of your depth it would appear.

Which to me would definitely fall under the "uncivil" category. And that's on top of ignoring the mod instruction further up the thread.

I realise a month off may seem harsh for this, however you're only just back from a 2 week ban. I had a look and in total you've accumulated 20 warnings, 11 infractions and 16 bans from the Cafe alone. I genuinely don't think I've ever come across a poster who's got a record like that and who is still not permabanned from that particular forum. The fact that you haven't been permabanned says to me that the mods are in fact giving you a lot of slack here. I know the banning mod mentioned that the ban was a month long because it's an escalation from the 2 week ban, and unfortunately that's where we are at this stage.

So in conclusion, I'm upholding the ban. I think probably a more appropriate reason would have been "uncivil" or "ignored mod instruction", however that's incidental, I do believe that the ban was warranted. At this point your options are to accept my decision, wait out the month, and I'll mark this as resolved, or you can request an Admin review. Please let me know which you decide.