Let's talk about bans, warnings and closing of accounts

[David]

Let's talk about bans, warnings and closure of accounts, something that I try not to discuss as members are not always aware of what has gone on so a public court is not the way to determine if any warning/ban should be issued.

I just wanted to be transparent about a few things and it will be a lengthy post, sorry.

Now you may have noticed Bris Vegas has returned to the forum tonight following a permanent ban, he's not the first to have done and he won't be the last. 

Not all members that are banned permanently will be allowed to return, this all comes down to the offence and how you react and handle yourself. 

Without sharing Bris's message, he made a request through another member on Twitter, polite, no insults, that was then forwarded to the moderators room where a discussion is had an a vote. Including myself we have 10 moderators, I abstained from the vote to allow for a majority and as a result Bris was reinstated.

This is not a well don't blame me, but it's a point that I wanted to share as I have another member later where I have been accused of having an agenda.

We have had no issues during Bris's ban, there hasn't been an influx of emails and abuse through other platforms.

The next member I will show you was banned for something that went beyond the forum and a moderators personal life, a member that would never be welcome back on the forum regardless of how they behaved. 

I have received hundreds of emails from all different email addresses, tonight I was given this screenshot as I have the user banned on Twitter, as I have all his previous accounts.

 

 

As you can see, he still regular reads the forum to be that quick on Bris's ban being retracted. Now, look, I find this funny to be honest, given all the communication we have had, I've warned him that the Police would be contacted which I was serious about, he must think this tweet would somehow change my mind.

Sorry but no. 

Putting the offence to one side, sadly we do see this level of response far too often to warnings and bans.

Absolute full transparency, if you react with any kind of insults, profanity to the moderator or via email to myself following a warning, you will receive another warning immediately which will trigger a ban. And if it's in response to a ban, don't ask a week later to be reinstated whilst it's fresh in our minds.

All we ask is for some respect, we understand the majority of members will disagree with their warnings and bans, believe me, I wish we never had to give any, but if we are to keep running a platform that welcomes all views (within forum guidelines), from time to time we must issue warnings to remind users of the guidelines, or bans where members have behaved in a way that we do not think are suitable for this forum.

Whilst I understand we are the most popular forum, and I say this not bragging, but calling it as it is, but we do not hold any members hostage here, there are other forums out there you can use if you do not agree with our forum guidelines or have issues with any of our moderation team.

Recently we have seen an increased amount of members that have recently requested to close their accounts, this is usually following some disagreement with another member and made in the heat of the moment, tired of the negativity or following a warning.

In most cases members are given a 30 day cooling down period where if they change their mind, the request is forgotten, However other cases where requests are accepted with immediate effect for a variety of reasons.

We do not appreciate members that have closed their accounts to return under different usernames shortly after. We understand at times frustrations boil over and I would advise all members that get a little tired of the forum, want out, to just logout, take a few weeks away before deciding to close your account.

This is not just a forum, but now a community that has been built over a number of years, a community that has seen real friendships that have extended outside of the forum. Having members that have basically given themselves a clean slate, know all the personalities and inside jokes go "undercover" goes against what we are trying to achieve here.

For those that have made it this far into the post, thank you, I appreciate it as it's been a difficult year for the moderation team as I'm sure you can imagine. I have asked earlier for respect and that works both ways, so when I can be transparent and feel it's important, I will be. 

With that I am working on a system where members are made aware when their posts have been hidden which will be left with the reason by the moderator. I have been and on forums myself, there is nothing more frustrating when a post is removed and you have no idea why. I get it, and I'm working on it.

If you have any questions or feedback on any of this, I'm happy to read and respond where I can. 

tl;dr Take your warnings and bans on the chin, don't abuse/insult moderators and you will be fine. And don't close your account unless you have absolutely no intention of coming back.

[i-Ram]

God. Borings not the word. 

[i-Ram]

Love you @David

[David]

1 minute ago, i-Ram said:

Love you @David

Love you more ?

[RoyMac5]

All a bit aggressive from Mr Nutter?

[Spanish]

God and they complain about the EFL!

haha, your site your rules.

[Rev]

I once posted in pure anger, against another poster with pure contempt for his viewpoint and wishing him unwell, fully wound up and prepared for the ban to come, indeed I'd welcome it just to get my anger across.

Ninos I think it was, but the posts just disappeared.

I certainly should have been banned though, even temporarily.

Instead the posts just got removed.

 

 

[Wolfie]

Thank you but this really shouldn’t be necessary. 
Some people take this stuff way too seriously. 
 

BTW do I get a prize for mostly living in the Politics, and then both Covid threads with no warning points??

[sage]

1 hour ago, David said:

Let's talk about bans, warnings and closure of accounts, something that I try not to discuss as members are not always aware of what has gone on so a public court is not the way to determine if any warning/ban should be issued.

I just wanted to be transparent about a few things and it will be a lengthy post, sorry.

Now you may have noticed Bris Vegas has returned to the forum tonight following a permanent ban, he's not the first to have done and he won't be the last. 

Not all members that are banned permanently will be allowed to return, this all comes down to the offence and how you react and handle yourself. 

Without sharing Bris's message, he made a request through another member on Twitter, polite, no insults, that was then forwarded to the moderators room where a discussion is had an a vote. Including myself we have 10 moderators, I abstained from the vote to allow for a majority and as a result Bris was reinstated.

This is not a well don't blame me, but it's a point that I wanted to share as I have another member later where I have been accused of having an agenda.

We have had no issues during Bris's ban, there hasn't been an influx of emails and abuse through other platforms.

The next member I will show you was banned for something that went beyond the forum and a moderators personal life, a member that would never be welcome back on the forum regardless of how they behaved. 

I have received hundreds of emails from all different email addresses, tonight I was given this screenshot as I have the user banned on Twitter, as I have all his previous accounts.

 

 

As you can see, he still regular reads the forum to be that quick on Bris's ban being retracted. Now, look, I find this funny to be honest, given all the communication we have had, I've warned him that the Police would be contacted which I was serious about, he must think this tweet would somehow change my mind.

Sorry but no. 

Putting the offence to one side, sadly we do see this level of response far too often to warnings and bans.

Absolute full transparency, if you react with any kind of insults, profanity to the moderator or via email to myself following a warning, you will receive another warning immediately which will trigger a ban. And if it's in response to a ban, don't ask a week later to be reinstated whilst it's fresh in our minds.

All we ask is for some respect, we understand the majority of members will disagree with their warnings and bans, believe me, I wish we never had to give any, but if we are to keep running a platform that welcomes all views (within forum guidelines), from time to time we must issue warnings to remind users of the guidelines, or bans where members have behaved in a way that we do not think are suitable for this forum.

Whilst I understand we are the most popular forum, and I say this not bragging, but calling it as it is, but we do not hold any members hostage here, there are other forums out there you can use if you do not agree with our forum guidelines or have issues with any of our moderation team.

Recently we have seen an increased amount of members that have recently requested to close their accounts, this is usually following some disagreement with another member and made in the heat of the moment, tired of the negativity or following a warning.

In most cases members are given a 30 day cooling down period where if they change their mind, the request is forgotten, However other cases where requests are accepted with immediate effect for a variety of reasons.

We do not appreciate members that have closed their accounts to return under different usernames shortly after. We understand at times frustrations boil over and I would advise all members that get a little tired of the forum, want out, to just logout, take a few weeks away before deciding to close your account.

This is not just a forum, but now a community that has been built over a number of years, a community that has seen real friendships that have extended outside of the forum. Having members that have basically given themselves a clean slate, know all the personalities and inside jokes go "undercover" goes against what we are trying to achieve here.

For those that have made it this far into the post, thank you, I appreciate it as it's been a difficult year for the moderation team as I'm sure you can imagine. I have asked earlier for respect and that works both ways, so when I can be transparent and feel it's important, I will be. 

With that I am working on a system where members are made aware when their posts have been hidden which will be left with the reason by the moderator. I have been and on forums myself, there is nothing more frustrating when a post is removed and you have no idea why. I get it, and I'm working on it.

If you have any questions or feedback on any of this, I'm happy to read and respond where I can. 

tl;dr Take your warnings and bans on the chin, don't abuse/insult moderators and you will be fine. And don't close your account unless you have absolutely no intention of coming back.

So Boycie is banned then?

[David]

27 minutes ago, Rev said:

I once posted in pure anger, against another poster with pure contempt for his viewpoint and wishing him unwell, fully wound up and prepared for the ban to come, indeed I'd welcome it just to get my anger across.

Ninos I think it was, but the posts just disappeared.

I certainly should have been banned though, even temporarily.

Instead the posts just got removed.

This is where we would be accused of being inconsistent, yet if it’s a regular member that has been around for years and the one off post was totally out of character, we could sense they have maybe had a drink we will be more lenient. 

I’m sure I said something similar before and a member took it as favouritism/clique and requested his account to be closed. 

Go into a pub you’ve never been in, be loud, verbally abuse other customer, chances are you’ll be chucked out and barred.

Regular drinker, one too many one night verbally abuses another customer, chances are you’ll just be advised to go home, go back the next day and get served no issues.

[David]

13 minutes ago, sage said:

So Boycie is banned then?

Not yet, come close a few times 

[David]

30 minutes ago, Wolfie said:

Thank you but this really shouldn’t be necessary. 
Some people take this stuff way too seriously. 
 

BTW do I get a prize for mostly living in the Politics, and then both Covid threads with no warning points??

I’ll find something tomorrow so you don’t feel lonely anymore ?

[Mostyn6]

I remember when Froggg put down his egg whisk for five minutes to ban me calling Eddie a doddering piss-ridden old fool, which is said endearingly as I adore the old bugger. Oh how we laughed. 
 

Forum life is so much easier when your opinions on Nigel Clough aren’t relevant! 

[David]

1 minute ago, Mostyn6 said:

I remember when Froggg put down his egg whisk for five minutes to ban me calling Eddie a doddering piss-ridden old fool, which is said endearingly as I adore the old bugger. Oh how we laughed. 
 

Forum life is so much easier when your opinions on Nigel Clough aren’t relevant! 

That’s another difficulty in moderation, understanding the relationships between members, Froggg had no idea but you must have been on a warning already and received another for insults.

Honestly, if I ever ask any of you to become a moderator, do yourself a favour and say no. I won’t take it to heart and your life will be a lot easier on here ?

[ariotofmyown]

54 minutes ago, Wolfie said:

Thank you but this really shouldn’t be necessary. 
Some people take this stuff way too seriously. 
 

BTW do I get a prize for mostly living in the Politics, and then both Covid threads with no warning points??

You fence sitters make me sick. Have some more extreme opinions or conspiracies up your sleave. Nothing is ever gonna get sorted with compromise!

[maxjam]

I've got no issue with the moderating on this forum tbh, I've done it before myself and its a tricky job.

I read pretty much every thread and have noticed several cliques and banter between friends which can sometimes sometimes feels like a private conversation that you don't want to interrupt - but that is always going to happen tbh with a long running forum. 

The bit about consistency you raise with regards to treating long time members, is a tricky line to walk - but understandable.  At Sega we had a policy of treating everyone exactly the same whether they had 5 posts or 50k posts.  It must be difficult with a smaller forum however, especially one that members meet up to watch matches. 

I personally don't have a problem with the moderation, certainly not outside the old Politcs and Coronavirus thread (which should be viewed in isolation!) but I'm pretty chilled out, I can see why some people might feel harshly done by though.  If you're not a long time member or don't spot the banter between mates you could easily step out of line from time to time.  As I said, tricky line to walk.

 

55 minutes ago, Wolfie said:

BTW do I get a prize for mostly living in the Politics, and then both Covid threads with no warning points??

Only if I get one as well, although as a tie breaker the person that has not reacted to being called a nazi or fascist the most times takes the prize ?

[sage]

1 minute ago, maxjam said:

I've got no issue with the moderating on this forum tbh, I've done it before myself and its a tricky job.

I read pretty much every thread and have noticed several cliques and banter between friends which can sometimes sometimes feels like a private conversation that you don't want to interrupt - but that is always going to happen tbh with a long running forum. 

The bit about consistency ?you raise with regards to treating long time members, is a tricky line to walk - but understandable.  At Sega we had a policy of treating everyone exactly the same whether they had 5 posts or 50k posts.  It must be difficult with a smaller forum however, especially one that members meet up to watch matches. 

I personally don't have a problem with the moderation, certainly not outside the old Politcs and Coronavirus thread (which should be viewed in isolation!) but I'm pretty chilled out, I can see why some people might feel harshly done by though.  If you're not a long time member or don't spot the banter between mates you could easily step out of line from time to time.  As I said, tricky line to walk.

 

Only if I get one as well, although as a tie breaker the person that has not reacted to being called a nazi or fascist the most times takes the prize ?

or?  ?

 

Edited July 29, 2021 by sage

[ariotofmyown]

6 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

I remember when Froggg put down his egg whisk for five minutes to ban me calling Eddie a doddering piss-ridden old fool, which is said endearingly as I adore the old bugger. Oh how we laughed. 
 

Forum life is so much easier when your opinions on Nigel Clough aren’t relevant! 

Your Clough opinions really used to get me annoyed. Turns out you were probably a little bit right. Just a little bit mind!

Now you are probably my go-to person in the world for TV recommendations.

[Cisse]

David's post was as sad to read as is the state of our club. I had no idea that things are that bad with the people on site. Although I have locked horns with David and mods in the past I must admit that I have still been dealt with respect on those occasions.

I have always thought that members should be able to disagree with severe intensity with each other but now I believe I have been wrong all the time. Clearly all of us ain't ready for that.

I hope David and the mods have the strength to carry on despite all the negativity they get.

Perhaps all of us posters could use a little more self control too.

[Eddie]

3 hours ago, Mostyn6 said:

I remember when Froggg put down his egg whisk for five minutes to ban me calling Eddie a doddering piss-ridden old fool, which is said endearingly as I adore the old bugger. Oh how we laughed. 
 

Forum life is so much easier when your opinions on Nigel Clough aren’t relevant! 

You should never be banned for telling  the truth.

Oh, wait....