Ridiculous banning

Donald Trump

Hi,


I was banned for two weeks for posting this post



https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=109668103&postcount=2350

I saw on the online news on independent.ie that some MMA fighter might be otherwise preoccupied for up to 15 years.

This would probably mean he could not participate in any MMA fights for up to 15 years.

Is that MMA-related enough to post?

:-)

This is not a lie. Here is the link on independent.ie


https://www.independent.ie/world-news/north-america/conor-mcgregor-faces-up-to-15-years-in-us-jail-for-smashing-fans-phone-37908029.html




I responded to the moderator and told him I had not ignored his instructions and that the story was true and that I would forward on the link and he told me that it would not change anything.


He said I ignored instructions and was a smartarse. I assume these instructions are the ones here:


https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=109666160&postcount=2345

Right Folks,

Posts have been deleted and punishments handed out.

This recent discussion is not MMA related and is not relevant to this forum - You have been told enough times but it still seems to be falling on deaf ears.

NO FURTHER DISCUSSION OF IT HERE.

Please be aware that deleted posts are still visible to MMA Mods, Sports CMods, and Admins.

Thread re-opened.

It is difficult to know exactly what was said, or not said, which was strictly verboten because it appears that the relevant posts were deleted. Regardless of that, I didn't say anything untrue or defamatory, and my post was MMA related.

Steve

What you posted was related to the personal life of an individual. It is not relevant to the sport which the forum exists for.

Discussion of MMA (the sport) is fine. Discussion of the personal lives of participants is not.

You have been commenting in that thread and previous iterations of it for over a year so I don't accept that you never read a warning about not posting 'sensationalist' news.

Donald Trump

Steve wrote: »

What you posted was related to the personal life of an individual. It is not relevant to the sport which the forum exists for.

Discussion of MMA (the sport) is fine. Discussion of the personal lives of participants is not.

You have been commenting in that thread and previous iterations of it for over a year so I don't accept that you never read a warning about not posting 'sensationalist' news.

With all due respect, that is ridiculous. How is it not relevant to the sport that one of its biggest names might be locked up and unable to participate?


What constitutes discussion of MMA (the sport) ? It seems to be at the undefined whim of the moderator and whatever important clique feels like



If there is a big fight next week and one competitor pulls out because he picked up the flu, we would not be able to say that on thread?
If he pulled out because he was in a car accident, we would not be able to say that on thread?
If he pulled out because he was arrested, we can't mention that?




A few years ago, a Georgian boxer called Avtandil Khurtsidze was due to fight Billy Joe Saunders. Then a few weeks before the fight got arrested on racketeering charges in New York. Under your apparent logic, you wouldn't be able to mention that in a thread about that fight had it been MMA


It's idiotic. Tens of thousands of posts in multiple threads dedicated to one person and you would have us believe that they are all on pure MMA technique?




Notwithstanding, my post WAS 100% MMA related and relevant. And I did not even mention any names. Or why the person might be preoccupied. I just stated facts.

Donald Trump

I have to presume that the below is what constitutes the "instructions" I ignored.

This recent discussion is not MMA related and is not relevant to this forum - You have been told enough times but it still seems to be falling on deaf ears.

With all due respect, although I probably did see a few posts, there seems to be a day or two where all posts were deleted. I have no idea what else was there because they were deleted. There could have been 20 defamatory posts immediately before it was locked down.



So how are people supposed to know what exactly was said that caused the trouble? It could be anything. People could have made allegations of drugs/women/illegality etc. I have no way of knowing what triggered the deletion




Shouldn't have deleted those posts, or else been specific about what was verboten!


Anyway, I still hold that my post was fine and within any rules.

Steve

I respect the position you are taking on this, and agree that there is scope for making it clearer to a 'first time poster' in the forum that it is off the cards to post about a competitor's non sport related personal life.

That said, I don't see grounds to overturn the mod in this case so the action stands.

You may appeal to admin as is your perogative.

Thanks.

Donald Trump

Yes please. I would like to appeal to an admin. Because this is a farcical situation.


Although it is not directly relevant to my own specific case, I see that there is another person on this forum with an almost identical issue. There are probably plenty more.


My post was not defamatory nor was it speculation or untrue. The man has been charged (in an foreign jurisdiction so anything said on boards.ie could not be relevant anyway). That is fact. His charge faces up to 15 years in prison. I am not responsible for the US justice system (despite my username). I didn't even identify the person by name in my post! I don't decide who gets charged with what. Nor do I set the possible ranges of punishment/fine/incarceration for any offence.

If he gets convicted and sent to prison, for the amount of time that he is in prison he will not be able to compete in MMA fights. I do not see what is wrong with that logic. I do not see how that is not relevant to MMA. Unless you want to take the stance that the MMA forum can only discuss techniques etc. of the sport. In which case you would need to delete almost all the posts there!

I wonder what would happen if he had a fight scheduled and then goes to court and is convicted and while awaiting his sentencing hearing, people would not be able to mention or wonder whether his fight would go ahead or be postponed or ask advice on whether they should book their flights etc! Complete madness. Someone maybe coming on to ask whether or not people thought that the fight would still go ahead maybe getting a permanent ban from the forum.

When Mike Tyson was sent to prison it meant he could not box.
When Tyson Fury goes off the rails, while it is his personal business/problem, it is reasonable that people would mention it as it might affect his likelihood to schedule or turn up for a bout.



I also leave a link to here:

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=109671977&postcount=2372

Emphasis is mine.

This is an MMA forum first and foremost..its not AH or a celebrity gossip forum. When it comes to discussing his whiskey or a potential bare-knuckle fight with Paulie there is a certain level of common sense expected that the discussion will stay sensible and not get out of hand. That maybe an adult discussion can be had amongst those who actually are interested in MMA and Conor McGregor as a fighter without it descending into juvenile nonsense.

However, when it comes to legal matters, arrests or gossip about his private life, babies, what he was doing last Saturday night.. sense goes out the window and people think they can say and post what they want. The majority that land in at that stage to comment just come in to give their two cents on McGregor and have no actual interest in MMA and seem to have more interest in celebrity gossip - queue the 'he's a knacker' ..'what a muppet'..brigade who have about 20 posts in total in the forum and not one actually relevant to MMA and probably have never watched a UFC event in their life.

The same applies to some of you who do post here more often but clearly just do so because you have some hatred of McGregor, have no actual interest in MMA and nothing better to do with your time than post the same drivel over and over again at any chance in this thread trying to provoke a reaction - its quite sad really.

That nonsense does not belong on an MMA forum. If you want to discuss that stuff go to AH, or head over to TMZ for your fix of gossip - it's as simple as that. This is an MMA forum and if you aren't a fan of MMA then you really have no place here as you have nothing to add to the discussion.

If you have to think about whether or not it's allowed, then it probably isnt..or check with a mod first.

That's how it is..end of discussion and back on topic.

Extremely condescending.



If I look back through the threads there are probably images, or links to images, of the same person at the Superbowl or World cup Final or meeting Putin etc. And I doubt there would be any problems about that. If the people on that forum want to have their own little clique then do that. Make it a private forum or whatever.

Donald Trump

I understand that people are busy and are volunteers etc.

A more cynical person might think that this is just being left to run out past the two weeks and then I would be told that nothing can be done as it has expired.

And I realise that by pointing this out, it would be more likely to get an unfavourable reaction

Beasty

Apologies for the delay. I am currently out of the country with limited access. If no other Admin has stepped in I will look at this when I am back - either Wednesday or Thursday

We cannot overturn an expired ban but we can put a note on your account if it is subsequently overturned

Donald Trump

Beasty wrote: »

Apologies for the delay. I am currently out of the country with limited access. If no other Admin has stepped in I will look at this when I am back - either Wednesday or Thursday

We cannot overturn an expired ban but we can put a note on your account if it is subsequently overturned

Thanks very much. I was aware of the expired thing as I think I received a short 1-day ban soon after I joined and it was based on a misunderstanding. At the time the moderator apologised for the misunderstanding but couldn't remove it because they hadn't seen my message but said they would add a note.




I didn't mean to come across as pushy or anything. I appreciate it takes a lot of effort from you guys to keep the site functioning and that you have to put up with a lot of guff for little to no thanks.

Beasty

OK, just by way of background, and indeed having been involved in some of the feedback discussions in the forum, I am aware the Conor McGregor thread in the MMA forum has been plagued with discussion about "non sporting" related matters

It is clear to me that most forum regulars want the thread to be about sporting matters and not "gossip", or indeed "facts" that are not directly MMA related

The mod has been trying to keep a lid on all such discussion and you quote above an example of a mod warning on exactly this point

Whether your comment is factual or not is, in my view, irrelevant. What is relevant is you were effectively starting a discussion on a non-sporting matter. That encourages others to discuss that sort of thing. Frankly that is exactly the sort of discussion the MMA forum does not need or indeed want

You say your comment was "MMA related" - no it was not - it was "McGregor related" yes, but not related to sporting matters

I've just looked up an example of a post of yours that was deleted before the waring

Well I would imagine that it's unlikely that he "poked" him with the phone.


If you are in a public place and someone takes a photograph of you then unfortunately that's fair game. Not even any GPDR in US


You can't have it both ways. Acting the bollix to get publicity to raise your profile and then moaning if a "fan" wants a photo. If you don't want hassle then go to some place that isn't open to the "plebs". Simple enough really.


Anyway, if you are stupid enough to let some young wan take photos of you when you are sticking your hands up her skirt, why would you be that arsed about some randomer snapping you walking down the street or in a pub.

Now there were many other posts deleted, but I take it you accept this is nothing to do with MMA

So you went out of your way to try and find a way of introducing a non-MMA issue and circumvent the mod warning

I've looked through some of your other posts in the forum, and would pick out a couple of examples:

Donald Trump wrote: »

I'm out for now. Bored.

Tapping out if you will. :pac:

I might come back if McGregor ever surfaces again to see what is being said about him.

Donald Trump wrote: »

I would hope that the GAA would not let it into Croke Park. Not worth the hassle.

Even if there was the interest to fill it. Which I am not sure there would be. Unless the tickets were cheap enough

You also indicated you only had a passing interest in the "UFC circus"

So it seems to me you mainly post there for the "gossip" and indeed speculation, with little, if any, interest in the sporting side. In the circumstances I am seeing no reason to overturn the Mod or CMod decision here

Donald Trump

Beasty wrote: »

OK, just by way of background, and indeed having been involved in some of the feedback discussions in the forum, I am aware the Conor McGregor thread in the MMA forum has been plagued with discussion about "non sporting" related matters

It is clear to me that most forum regulars want the thread to be about sporting matters and not "gossip", or indeed "facts" that are not directly MMA related

The mod has been trying to keep a lid on all such discussion and you quote above an example of a mod warning on exactly this point

Whether your comment is factual or not is, in my view, irrelevant. What is relevant is you were effectively starting a discussion on a non-sporting matter. That encourages others to discuss that sort of thing. Frankly that is exactly the sort of discussion the MMA forum does not need or indeed want

You say your comment was "MMA related" - no it was not - it was "McGregor related" yes, but not related to sporting matters

I've just looked up an example of a post of yours that was deleted before the waring



Now there were many other posts deleted, but I take it you accept this is nothing to do with MMA

So you went out of your way to try and find a way of introducing a non-MMA issue and circumvent the mod warning

I've looked through some of your other posts in the forum, and would pick out a couple of examples:



You also indicated you only had a passing interest in the "UFC circus"

So it seems to me you mainly post there for the "gossip" and indeed speculation, with little, if any, interest in the sporting side. In the circumstances I am seeing no reason to overturn the Mod or CMod decision here

Well hold on a minute to be fair.


You quoted a post that was deleted, without quoting who or what I was responding to, and that was given before the warning. To the best of my recall, I responded to people who were saying the name of the charge of "strongarm robbery" was ridiculous and I only pointed out that that was probably the only way to describe pulling a phone from someone. The post you quoted was probably in response to someone claiming that the "fan" was probably poking or hitting him with the phone.



Then you pull up other irrelevant quotes out of context. It looks like all you did was go back and pick out whatever you could see that might look bad to support your point.



To be honest, your decision and logic comes across as "You're not a real MMA fan like the MMA-hipsters the cool clique and as such we're not going to let you take part".



And people can quote "legal" stuff about cases and site-wide rules. But that's not quite true now is it?

(1) That an incident happened is true. He was charged with strongarm robbery. He hasn't been found guilty but we know he has been charged.

(2) It is in a foreign jurisdiction so anything said on boards.ie is irrelevant to legal proceedings.

(3) There are many examples of ongoing cases of people being arrested and charged in foreign jurisdictions across boards.ie . Here is just one active example - https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057964687

And here is another - https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057963762 . I appreciate that you might say "what the f--k" about the first link, but someone has been arrested and charged for that but not yet convicted.



Will there still be a Conor McGregor thread if he has retired? Yes, you can bet there will be. The rule seems to be that you can say what you like about him as long as it is positive.


I didn't expect anyone to overturn the ban. And I understand that people have lives and are volunteers but I know that you must know that my point is correct. You won't admit it. All I was doing was pointing out the ludicrousness of having a thread dedicated to the antics of one individual, then getting all snotty if something is posted about him that doesn't hero worship him.



You said I was there for speculation. Where did I speculate? Nowhere.



Even on the deleted post you quoted, it is true that there are photographs of Conor McGregor with his hand up some girls skirt. They were published in national (tabloid) newspapers. Does he act the bollox to raise his profile? Yes he does.



My post was MMA-related. To claim otherwise is simply not true.



I mean, going by that logic one would be unable to mention anything that could cause any MMA fighter to be unable to fight. Jump out of a ring and attack an opponents training partner - can't mention that the person got fined or suspended. Have a win overturned and get banned for a year for taking PEDs - can't mention that on here.

Beasty

I have nothing to add to my prior comments

Ban upheld