appeal against ban and posts being deleted

eggman100

I would like to appeal my ban which resulted from my posts on [U.K.] Brexit Discussion Thread VI.
I have not been abusive or insulting and am merely expressing an opinion on the leave side of the debate. The fact that I seem to be a lone voice here makes me a target to be labelled a troll when all I am doing is debating the facts which many have asked me to reply and point out and explain. This ban means I could not reply to other posts from users asking me to post more detail. I fail to see how I have broken any rules. Many of my posts were then deleted. I am posting my opinions and facts, are you really saying people are not allowed to post opinions? The whole idea of a discussion thread is to discuss and people should be allowed to express those opinions as part of the debate, otherwise you are censoring free speech which is exactly what you have done by deleting many of my posts and banning me from posting. I can't really see any point in continuing on this board if it is heavily censored in this way, it makes the time I gave up freely to contribute to your board a complete waste of time.

Beasty

Have you sought clarity from the mod? Have you attempted to resolve this with the mod directly?

Beasty

A reminder. Only the OP, CMod and Admins are allowed to post in DRP threads unless specifically invited by the CMod or Admin

Thanks

eggman100

Beasty wrote: »

Have you sought clarity from the mod? Have you attempted to resolve this with the mod directly?

Yes. Nothing was made clear apart from telling about all my posts that were deleted that I didn't know about since I couldn't access the forum because of the ban. I was told I can appeal the ban here so this is why I am posting here.

eggman100

I see I have been banned again after making one post asking a genuine question Whatever I post I get a ban. I fail to see what I have said this time that is anywhere near 'trolling'. My genuine post question results from the case that it seems that you can only contribute to the thread if you are an EU fan and that anything that I may post that is anti EU or pro brexit is considered to be trolling and will be deleted or result in a ban. This ban seems to confirm this. I wonder if in future I will PM you my post in advance and you can tell me if it breaks any rules on posting because at the moment I can't see what I have done wrong.

I have no idea if it was replied to as I'm banned.

As before I will appeal this ban please - the moderation seems unfair extreme and excessive and an attack on free speech

Beasty

The text in the post you were banned for should have been in the ban message. I note you indicate you have tried to resolve this directly with the mod. Please be prepared to forward your PM exchange with the mod (or copy and paste it into this thread), and I will alert the CMods to this thread

Could I firstly clarify - you received a 1 day ban on 24 January and a 3 day ban yesterday. Are you contesting both bans? (and if so, have you engaged with the mod to try and resolve each of your disputes?)

Thanks

eggman100

Yes I am appealing both bans because I feel the mod has a personal axe to grind against me which follows on from the first ban. I make one post since the ban and without any warning am immediately banned again.

The reasons for the first ban are that in the mods opinion I am posting in a manners they feel is trolling and that after warnings I continued to post in the same manner. Well I hadn't even seen I had any warnings I was just busy posting replies to many of the comments that I had about my posts, I was then banned before I even knew the posts were then being deleted!

They also say I was off topic but I was replying to another poster who was discussing a deviation from the main topic but still related to the main subject as a sub topic, however it was not me who deviated in the first place so I feel those grounds for the ban and deletion of my posts are not fair. I am posting opinions, people can agree or disagree with them -that is the purpose of debate.

Why was a post about refugees deleted? that topic is central to the brexit debate as many people think that that is why people voted to leave the EU. The point on medicines is fact and opinion and not anything that is inflammatory. I feel this moderator is censoring debate, free speech and opinion and request an independent review of his or her suitability to moderate the forum as I believe they may be letting their own political viewpoint influence their role as moderator.

Transcript of mod PM:

Hi,

In the past 24 hours, I've posted a few mod warnings on that thread. Your posting style in this forum isn't really conductive to good discussion.

You posted the below comment which was deleted:

“There are no stats to back up your claim. Numbers of people in poverty have fallen. The number of foodbanks does not correlate with the number of people poor enough to use them since the foodbank is relatively recent in its inception in its current form and are charities with paid executives.
You also have a number of people on long term benefits who have no intention of working and the reason that they claim they can't feed the kids is they they have the full Sky TV package with multiroom at over £100 a month with the latest flat screen 4k tv, amongst other luxuries - yet they go to foodbanks. Benefits should be paid in food vouchers”

I posted a mod warning asking people to get back on topic (Post #6829). You continued posting in that vein regardless of the mod warning.

You also posted the following comment:

“The DUP are very relevant and they have put in a lot of work for brexit and made very good cases. They will be rewarded I think.”

This isn't really engaging with the discussion. It's simply adding soundbytes. It would have been much better if you could have provided some examples or gone into detail.

You tried to bring up refugees before I deleted the comment and added another mod warning (Post #6854). Immediately afterwards you posted:

“Medicines are made in the UK, and the UK would not hold up imports from the EU anyway. The only people suggesting a problem are the EU on UK exports. But that is their lookout if they want to cut off their noses to spite their faces. Project fear strikes again.”

I posted another mod warning and you posted the following in the post which I banned you for:

“We survived a two world wars and rations. I think we can survive Brexit lol, even if the hysteria and BS is true, which of course it isn't.”

In short, you are not engaging in debate. I believe that you are posting in an inflammatory manner. This isn't acceptable in Politics so I am upholding the ban.

Feel free to appeal this in the DRP forum linked in your original PM.
__________________

Neyite

Hi Eggman, I'll review this for you later on this evening.

Neyite

eggman100 wrote: »

I would like to appeal my ban which resulted from my posts on [U.K.] Brexit Discussion Thread VI.
I have not been abusive or insulting and am merely expressing an opinion on the leave side of the debate. The fact that I seem to be a lone voice here makes me a target to be labelled a troll when all I am doing is debating the facts which many have asked me to reply and point out and explain. This ban means I could not reply to other posts from users asking me to post more detail. I fail to see how I have broken any rules. Many of my posts were then deleted. I am posting my opinions and facts, are you really saying people are not allowed to post opinions? The whole idea of a discussion thread is to discuss and people should be allowed to express those opinions as part of the debate, otherwise you are censoring free speech which is exactly what you have done by deleting many of my posts and banning me from posting. I can't really see any point in continuing on this board if it is heavily censored in this way, it makes the time I gave up freely to contribute to your board a complete waste of time.

I've reviewed all your posts in that thread. What's common amongst all of them is that you didn't really discuss anything. You threw out soundbites and opinions presented as fact. Several posters asked you to back up your claims and assertions and you completely ignored them. That's not debate nor discussion. That's just soapboxing which is against the site-wide rules of the forum.

The politics forum is quite straightforward - there is a high standard of posting expected from contributors, and if you come on the thread with an assertion that is unpopular, it will be met with robust debate and an expectation that you produce links to reputable sources that support your opinions and facts.

This is the Politics Charter which is applicable to all threads within the forum.
You said that you didn't know which rules you broke so I'll draw your attention to these parts specifically:

This forum is for discussion and debate and we will not tolerate soapboxing. If you are here to "shout everyone down" with your opinions, we will see you as a negative contributor to the forum and will take appropriate action. High standards of debate and quality posts / threads are required.

When offering an opinion, please state so. Every poster is entitled to their opinion - whether it is ill-informed or not. Please do not present an opinion as "fact" - it only leads to flaming and a poster/moderator may demand further evidence. When offering fact, please offer relevant linkage, or at least source. If you do not do this upon posting, then please be willing to do so on request.

With regard to your complaint that your free speech is being censored, I'll point you in the direction of the FAQ, specifically this:

This is a private website. There is no "right" to freedom of speech here. We, the Admins, and the Moderators DO want to promote discussion, but FREE un-moderated discussion online turns into a screaming match between children. We believe that rules of etiquette should be applied (see below). Shouting about how we have infringed your "freedom of speech" on a privately owned website is silly. You can use blogger.com to say what YOU like, what you aren’t entitled to is access to the community we have built here without abiding by the community's rules, as decided and enforced by us.

Nothing was censored on the thread. What was deleted was off-topic posts or throwaway one-liners that detracted from the flow of discussion and lowered the standard of the discussion - this is a basic function of moderators in all fora.


It was explained in detail via pm why the mod took the actions they did, and they were justified. You did get two on-thread nudges by the mods before they banned you. Therefore I'm upholding the ban.

If you are unhappy with my decision, then you can request an Admin review by posting that here.