Something's troubling my mind....

[TheViking]

How can Gary both be banned and ONLINE?

 

[Ahjno]

EDIT:
Deleted complete post ...

Hope Tony gets back from his holiday in not too long a time ...

Maybe we should introduce a referendum before banning ...
Wanted to say something more ... but I won't ...

 

[Justin Time]

We have found that Gary has seriously breached the rules of BCUK so he has been banned pending Tony's return from holiday. We won't enter into any debate about this so please don't use the forum for further discussion of the matter.

Andrew
aka Justin Time

 

[TheViking]

No need to even, i'm Derren Brown and i already know what's going on.

 

[shinobi]

We won't enter into any debate about this so please don't use the forum for further discussion of the matter.

You may not want to talk about it, but what about the members of this site? We may want to talk about it. Or will those threads automatically be deleted?

Martin

 

[Justin Time]

Martin
We had a difficult decision to make which we want Tony to review since it's his site. Any public discussion might prejudice that and would probably lead to discord on the site. We've been asked by Tony to ensure that the forum runs smoothly according to his rules and that's what we're doing. We can see that members might want to talk about our decision but that is likely to become a debate which we don't want to enter into just now. And yes, I think it would be the case that messages discussing this would be deleted.

Tony will review the decision, Gary didn't stick to the rules, we've done our job.

 

[HuBBa]

First off, i have no clue what has happened here

But as a user who have moderated several forums over the past 15 years, some with some very heavy debates and attacks going on, my suggestion is to let people discuss it and be open but firm. That is, if you decide to ban a user, make it public (if someone asks) why the ban was set and stick to it. People will always nag and debate and you will have a hell of a time trying to delete all posts in the subject, try to defend yourself from censorship & dictatorship accusations and so on. In the end, it is usually much easier to just say "We made a decision, this is it. He did this and that and we feel that was warranted." instead of trying to quiet it down.

Having said that, something people generally wants to talk about is "freedom of speech". This actually only applies to public forums... this is a private one =)

*EDIT*. and i didn't see Justins post when i wrote this. Better to wait until the boss is home

Oh well, hope it all sorts out.
/HuBBa

 

[Justin Time]

Hubba

You've made some very sound points which we would normally go with but the problem is that the site owner, Tony, is on holiday. We could certainly explain and defend our decision but I suspect that would turn the decision into a permanent one rather than one which Tony might review. It's one of those damned if we do and damned if we don't situations.

edit: Cross posted with Hubba's edit. Cheers Hubba

 

[Paganwolf]

Hubba

You've made some very sound points which we would normally go with but the problem is that the site owner, Tony, is on holiday. We could certainly explain and defend our decision but I suspect that would turn the decision into a permanent one rather than one which Tony might review. It's one of those damned if we do and damned if we don't situations.

edit: Cross posted with Hubba's edit. Cheers Hubba

HMmmmm while the cats away the mice will play! !

 

[spamel]

I can't help but think that a member of the forums has been ditched on a whim. Looking over the recent posts, I can't see what Gary could have done that was all that bad, and if something has been deleted by the mods, well I couldn't imagine that Gary would purposefully break the rules. Could something have been taken out of context maybe?

This forum has lost one of the experts in this field, I hope there was a very good reason for it.

 

[Tantalus]

gotta trust the mods to be the best judge there spamel

i know they wouldnt do anything on a whim, least of all banning someone

i am sure they only have the best interests of the community at heart

Tant

 

[Buckshot]

We can't say any more on this topic so I'm closing this thread pending Tone's return.

 

[Justin Time]

Chris has posted the announcement about the banning which explains the reasons so I've reopened the thread.

 

[arctic hobo]

Reading that thread - I'm stunned... not quite sure what to say!

 

[Martyn]

I can't help but think that a member of the forums has been ditched on a whim.

Why would you think that?

Gary has a lot of friends here, he has been here from the start, he is well liked - why would the mods do something so profoundly stupid, ridiculous and immature as to ditch somone on a whim?

This has been discussed at huge length by the mods and it was a difficult decision to take. The fact that it got discussed at such length only happened because this is Gary we are talking about - anyone else would have got the boot as soon as we cottoned on what he was doing.

I bsincerely hope for everyone concerned, that this doesnt turn into a "trial by forum". You may not like the decision, it may affect a friend of yours, but it was taken because at the end of the day, it was the right thing to do. Chris' post explains it, it's no more complex than that.

 

[TheViking]

I would just like to say to all members that you should be and think objective in this matter. You have only heard the mods point of view and not Gary's version. I hope you will stay objective.

BTW, don't you (mods) think it's a bit unfair to read another persons private PM's, afterall how can someone be banned and still have that green, lighting dot to the right of his name?

 

[tomtom]

very wise andy.. but the mods have not put forward just a point of view.. they have put forward some pretty hard evidence too!

are we to take it that this is a perminent ban.. it has happened in the past and even recently that members who have broken the rules (knowingly and seriously) have been allowed back on to the forum.. or will this have to wait untill tony is back?

 

[Stuart]

BTW, don't you (mods) think it's a bit unfair to read another persons private PM's, afterall how can someone be banned and still have that green, lighting dot to the right of his name?

its not possible for the moderators (or even admin for that matter) to read members PM's the program on which this site is run makes it impossible for us do so, thats why there called PM's

All the evidence gathered by the moderators was from public posts made by white buffalo, the IP address from which the white buffalo's post originated are the same as the IP addresses for Garys home and work computer.

the green light next to Garys name indicates that he is on the site, we haven’t prevented him from viewing the site its open to any member of the public to view.

we are aware that Gary is a friend to many of us and believe me this was not a decision that we came to easily, but in the end the conclusion we came to is simple Gary must be treated as an equal, he has the same status as any other member and as such is not above the rules of the forum.

 

[Martyn]

I would just like to say to all members that you should be and think objective in this matter. You have only heard the mods point of view and not Gary's version. I hope you will stay objective.

This isn't really a matter of opinion. What Chris has posted is a factual chronology. A matter of history. What the mods did, whas to decide what to do about it. You may agree with that decision or you may not - that's up to you.

BTW, don't you (mods) think it's a bit unfair to read another persons private PM's, afterall how can someone be banned and still have that green, lighting dot to the right of his name?

You've lost me here. Mods dont (cant) read peoples private PM's.

People can still be on the forums (green light) and yet have their posting rights removed (banned).

Mate, before you start looking for evil mods to blame for this outrage, or start throwing accusations of underhand activities, can you take your own advice about objectivity?

Thanks.

 

[Hellz]

Just a suggestion, but I think it would be a good idea to all keep calm and not post on the the subject. Lets see what happens.

I know it's human nature to want to discuss/blame/understand but in that process things tend to get said, and there can be resentment among members long after the original problem has been resolved...

I don't know about you guys, but I'm going for a walk in the woods

It's a lovely day out.

Hellz