My view...

Banned for an opinion. Sickening.

 

Wise words sir.

 

It was intended to be more tongue-in-cheek than it came out - I'm certainly in no position (in terms of forum status) to be looking down on anybody else. Frankly, it's probably a good thing if people are trying to mediate because the moderators certainly aren't. Either way, sarcastic comments aren't exactly a recent example of "playing up".

Second point - probably fair, but I don't know how that counts as playing up - ImpsSaint blocked me because he doesn't like swearing (or something) and SF4L and RLGB have blocked me because I picked on them with particular regularity - normally because they posted disagreeable things regularly that I was more than happy to jump on, rather than looking for things to disagree with. No reason other than personal enjoyment, there, which is pretty bad on my part, I won't deny. If other people have blocked me, they've not told me.

No insult taken - I'm sure you've worked it out but I find you far more agreeable than a lot of members on here, in that I can actually disagree with you without you feeling like I'm attempting character assassination.

 

Sorry but I don't buy it. I've expressed disagreement with the moderators at times, and so have many others, without so much as an admonishment. I doubt I'll ever know enough to decide who is right in this, but having passionate supporters doesn't necessarily mean you're right. Look at Julian Assange for example.

 

You don't have to buy it, but it's true. The official excuse is that it was the "straw that broke the camel's back" but it certainly shouldn't have even counted as a straw.

 

Good to know, and proof (from both of us) that disagreements can be civil! You know what, I'm going to stop on all this now and go back to reading and talking about football, seeing as that's what I came here for in the first place.....

 

I've seen enough evidence to completely buy it. Don't you think it's fair to say that the law on here should reflect the law we live by in this country? People aren't censored for "rabble-rousing" in this country. They are in Russia, but not here. We are also permitted to scrutinise our authorities in this country, but we're not allowed to know why the mods on here make the decisions they make. If we attempt to scrutinise them, we are apparently "rabble-rousing" and are censored.

 

But the rest of the straws... they do count as straws?

 

Certainly, but they were all several months ago and not at all relevant to the ban. There was absolutely nothing to warrant going from a warning to a ban, which is the important thing in the context of this current debacle.

 

I have asked questions about it. I didn't really get a satisfactory answer but neither am I being censored (as far as I'm aware!)

This isn't the law of the land though, it's a forum with rules which for better or worse, someone has decided make for a better experience for the majority.

 

How about everyone just wipe the slate clean.

If people have problems with each other then keep it to yourself and take it on the chin.

Let's get this forum back to how it was a few months ago.

Everyone cheerful an positive, and the general friendly chat between posters.

Not childish and unfunny insults which seem to have taken over somewhat recently.

I have no problems with anyone on this forum anymore. Don't like someone? Use the ignore function.

Pretty simply really.

 

I'm with Steinberg here. Having been a moderator for another forum in the past, I know that, generally, people are banned for incidents a million times more serious than what Mr. Nice got into. Hell if you go onto General Chat, you'll find worse things on there go unpunished than what he was banned for.

 

Ok, well that sounds plausible. I don't think the campaign for justice is particularly helpful to your cause though, not that I am accusing you of co-ordinating it.

Mercifully I have switched signatures off so I have no idea really what's going on there!

 

The campaign for justice is, as far as I'm aware, just a bit of fun.

I think what we really need is some decent moderator work. They need to do their job, and keep the forum in order, because it's been in disarray recently which is the fault of almost everybody, not just the "troublemakers" but the ones making trouble about the troublemakers. So moderators, do your jobs and calm everyone down. Nobody needs to be banned, nothing needs to be deleted, just get everything back in order.

 

Mercifully I have switched signatures off so I have no idea really what's going on there!

_____________________________________________

You can do that, where will I find this magic?

 

We'd just like a little more transparency in the actions of the mods, and a decent compromise for the off-topic posts while we're at it. I'm sure we can all get on board with that. Contrary to popular opinion, we haven't just been kicking up a fuss and insulting people for a laugh.

 

I'm all for that, but how do you propose this is done?

My own view, which I've been probably too consistent in expressing, is that we need a zero-tolerance approach to off-topic posts, and to a lesser extent off-topic threads. I'm happy to have a few off-topic threads which I don't have to read but off-topic discussion in on-topic threads is a pet peeve of mine, and plenty of other people too. I know you disagree but if you're committed to restoring order, you have to take the views of others into consideration.

I would also like to see transparency, I don't think it helps anyone to keep things secret. But the mods seem to think they're not allowed to talk about it.

 

Somewhere in the control panel I think. Was the first thing I did when I signed up

 

Found it, clicked it, cleared a lot of crap up on my screen. Amen.

 

That would restore order, but how strict are you suggesting the off-topic thread rules should be? If you were suggesting zero-tolerance on off-topic threads then while it would restore order it certainly wouldn't provide a fair compromise. Obviously the sub-forum is the best and most fair idea by a long way... But yes, your idea would restore order.