Whoops!
I was banned from the 'Motors' section of boards.ie yesterday. I now feel totally ... normal. It seems that getting banned from boards.ie is something which happens to nearly everyone at least once, and usually for the same reason -
Let's go back to beginning. A couple of months ago I was looking everywhere for the telephone number of a Saab mechanic. I had found it on boards.ie once upon a time, so I went looking for it again and couldn't find it. Eventually, under a ton of papers, I found the scrap of paper with the number! Yipee!
Having spent the entire afternoon searching for it, I duly logged on to boards and posted the number ( I knew that a lot of other people had been looking for it too ) In the meantime I had been talking to the mechanic and he had no problem with this, and besides, boards had the wrong number still on their website. Within minutes a moderator had blanked out the correct number in my post.
I also got a P.M. accusing me of "spamming". Wow! Several messages went back and forth but it got really silly. I moved on, though not without noticing that 'spamming' is okay if you are an 'alright' person according to the moderators. Indeed in the Motors section right now we have a trader advertising his cars openly in the 'Motors' section. Anyone else would be told to read the rules:
"* No advertising - if you have something to sell then use adverts.ie, not here! Items put up for sale will result in the advert being removed and the user getting banned." - K.Bannon ( moderator )
I then noticed a thread about a garage whom I'd taken to court for damaging my car. I duly posted a synopsis of their 'customer services'. The same K.Bannon swiftly removed my post. When I asked him why, he suggested that my facts - based post could give rise to 'libel' and that it was irrelevant to the original post in the thread ( like the 10 responses about the same garage which were alternately plugging it / a car they had for sale, but none of which were removed ). I questioned why my post wasn't simply edited instead of entirely deleted. I got no answer to that.
A quick read back through the thread determined that a lot of the posters were friendly with the garage in question, and the moderator. The moderator simply wanted an excuse to delete my post. I am careful in how I write, and it is unlikely that my post was actionable, but that obviously wasn't the point.
All was fine ( sort of ) until KBannon decided to follow me around the threads, still obviously in a bit of a huff. This latterly arose in a thread about drink - driving. A bit of flaming, if you will. Basically the boys couldn't handle my views ( that the current drink - drive laws largely don't work in rural Ireland ) and instead began intentionally misrepresenting me as a drink - driver.
He also posted this helpful remark, which I congratulated him on, though pointing out that it was a bit childish coming from a moderator.
KBannon: "If you or anyone else finds it difficult to understand then maybe they are better off not drinking or smoking in order to preserve the few brain cells they have!"
- KBannon ( Forum Rules ) "* No personal attacks on other members"
Anan1 29/10/2009 12:38p.m. ( moderator who banned me )
Quoting me:
Reality check again! = allowing people one drink usually leads them to have more. Obvious!
Reply: "Not to me, i'm afraid."
... a little further along the thread:
Anan1 30/10/2009 14:50p.m.
"I'm not averse to a rake of pints myself, ... I had about a 1/2 bottle of wine in a friends house over a period of an hour or so, set off for home in the car"
Fascinating. In one post this moderator disagrees with me that allowing people to drink a little leads on to drinking more, then admits drinking half a bottle of wine and getting into his car. I rest my case.
I think it is a pity that Boards has gone the way it has, as it's a site which I used to admire greatly - until I began using it, that is. As a patriot I would like to see something Irish continue to do well. At some point, however, quality has to enter the frame. This means that moderators should be grown up enough to accept that some people might have views contrary to their own. I got banned for pointing out that 'drummerboy08' was talking "verbal diahorrea", which he was. Despite me repeatedly correcting him, he continued to suggest that I drink - drive. Me getting a bit annoyed at my character being intentionally slurred is apparently more serious than libel.
Libel? - yes, I found several examples. Like the 'public' part of 'public forum' the moderators at boards.ie also need to learn the definition of Libel. I know it, and aim to help them in this regard. Watch this space.
As for the 'Community Manager' Darragh Doyle, he simply posts excuses: http://johnmryan.com/technology/boards-ie-are-the-moderators-fair/
One of these days someone is going to take boards.ie to court, and excuses like "the moderators aren't paid" and "they can't notice everything" won't wash. The moderators are very alert on boards, it's just that they clearly watch the wrong things for the wrong reasons ( and don't understand what libel is ).
Regarding the obvious contempt for the posting public, they'd do well to remember all of the great websites of the past. Remember how X Y and Z once ruled the internet ... and now elicit the response "Who are they?". Life is traditionally short online. Boards don't understand it, and their community manager seems to think that if you say something positive often enough, it becomes true.
UPDATE! - My ban has increased from 1 week to a month!
Yes indeed. I sent a mildly derisory p.m. to the fool who banned me, and he obviously dropped his bag of doritos, fell over the mess that no doubt accompanies spending all day in front of the keyboard, and hit that button! Crestfallen I am! He's really teaching me! ( imagine whipping noises and screams )
Oh well, nothing for it but to entertain myself in a new game I've developed. It's called "Battle of the titans", and it's about finding the dimmest moderator on Boards.ie. Here's what I found so far.
Unkel ( regarding Hyundai Sonata car ) "The yanks love them. Wobbly boats that sit 4 400 pounders in comfort and never breaks down"
( I can't find anything mentioned in the Rules about racism, to be fair )
Hellrazer ( in reply to question "what other stuff are you selling Hellrazer?" ) "Well put it this way there's 220k. of stock "...
Rules: * No advertising - if you have something to sell then use adverts.ie, not here! Items put up for sale will result in the advert being removed and the user getting banned.
Eoin: "Exactly. now can everyone unbunch their panties and keep on topic"
(LOL!)
KBannon: "Posts that encourage driver to break the law e.g. telling people to make false motor tax declarations may result in either an infraction or banning. Similar punishment will be awarded to those who seek such advice"
...
Unkel: "doing 200 km/h on an empty motorway in good weather conditions is not necessarily dangerous" ( Thanked by kbannon, Anan1 )
Rules: Well according to the other moderator, this is a banning offence - encouraging others to break the law!
Stark ( re above ) "Comparing doing 175km/hr on Donegeal roads to 200km/hr on an empty motorway? Apples and oranges. He shouldn't be relying on his own conceptions of what's "fast" when passing down sentence."
Rules: See previous
Unkel: "As the title says I don't obey the speed limit on empty motorways"
Rules: ... once again ...
This is the bit I like the most, out of all of their rules, but it's flouted so often - mainly by the moderators - that blogger.com would probably suffer a seizure if I posted all of the examples:
"Comment on the post not the poster.
Responding to someone's point with personal attacks, regardless of how "witty" you think they are, is not big or clever. It just comes across, at best, as being an ass and at worst a bully with a small doodah (we mean “mind” of course)."
I'm glad that they agree with me so, as this is why I got banned in the first place - I responded to the moderators and favoured posters doing exactly what this rule states should not be done. I agree with boards.ie that these moderators / posters are bullies with small doodah's.
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