Pm Bans

[TiffanyJayne]

Could someone just tell me how or who i need to talk to, to get my profile removed.

Ta very much.

 

[ian]

We won't remove profiles Tiffany. If you feel that strongly, i would suggest just to stop posting. But as a rule, profiles don't get removed.

 

[TiffanyJayne]

Ah! fair enough. I'll just remove everything off my profile.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Bignose]

but concerned that it seemed a litte "Communist".

Funny. If anything, it is much more capitalist than communist. To be truly communist, we'd all have to share everything equally. This could be really funny. "Yes, new user ABC, we'd love to have you join our forum, but we already have our full quota of new users for this year. You need to join other forum XYZ." Or "I'm sorry, but you are not allowed to create this post until an equal number of posts have been created on all other fish forums."

I believe the word you were looking for here was fascist -- as in attempting to control people's thoughts and actions.

On a personal note, and from someone who has been on the mod team for several years now, if the forum were even a little bit fascist, I would resign immediately both my position as a mod and a user and never return.

This forum has gone through a few trials and tribulations. There was a very trying time several years back, that several of us threatened to leave, and unfortunately a few did. But, we've come out even stronger from it, and established and enforced rules and regulations that the moderators follow, too. In short, no single mod can completely take matters into their own hands anymore. Decisions that are reached are a consensus by the moderating team. Now, this isn't always terribly efficient -- we have mods around the world, and we don't always get to spend a lot of time on the forum (we are all volunteers and have lives, too) -- but the value of reaching a team decision is worth having a delay. This also serves as a time to let emotions simmer down, too, instead of letting our feelings get the better of us.

In short, by having a group of people and the many different points of view, there isn't a chance for any fascism. We are all checks and balances for each other.

And lastly, it is an argument that I've made many times over: that the rules must not be too bad, because we have a great community here. If the rules were too overbearing, capitalism would rear its head, and we wouldn't have the great number of users we do have. Conversely, again by the strictures of capitalism, I think it is obvious that we are doing quite a lot right, because we do have the large number of users we have. From a certain point of view, the Internet is the ultimate in capitalism. All the users are free to join and participate in whatever forums they want. Again, because we are so active, I think that that says we're clearly doing a lot things right. And if we stop doing them right, we will lose members.

--------------------------------------

As a meta-note here, this discussion has been pretty good. And more importantly, civil. We have always encouraged feedback and discussions about the forum and the moderating team so long as it is kept civil and respectful. All too often, the discussions become very disrespectful. But, so long as civility and respectfulness are maintained, I invite everyone to share their thoughts on this issue.

Or, to put it another way -- if you think we (moderators and admins) are doing something wrong -- we want to know. Again, following what I wrote above, if people do think we are doing something wrong, people will leave and the forum will die. We certainly don't want that to happen. The only requirement is that when telling us something is wrong, be civil and respectful about it.

 

[always4lora]

What the most concerning thing is, who gave any one here the right to read personal messages that have nothing to do with them. There are privacy issues involved in this, I for one, object strongly to having my personal conversation read by anyone other than the person they are intended for! Now whilst Im not one of those with a PM ban (that I know of - yet) I was in daily contact for months with one of the people who has had their PM function removed, so this means you have been reading our conversations, none of which pertained to anything about this current nonsense in them, our addresses, phone numbers, information regarding our children have all been visible apparently to mods/admin of this site. If this is the case, Im disgusted, nothing gives anyone the right to read personal messages of other members and frankly members of this forum should have known this was possible a long time ago, allowing us the right to choose whether to use this facility or not.

And I suppose because Im a member of other forums, I shouldnt be allowed to continue to use this one. The commotion isnt about the grass being greener, its about privacy and the apparent dictatorship of the mods/admin here to allow members the freedom of joining/being a member of another forum, which is truly ridiculous.

Most forum boards will show Pm's of user's, one i was admin on for a bit (not fish related) would allow you to see pm's . Much down to the admin whether or not they read them like.

I personally would never discuess anything private by way of pm on sites, just use good all telephone or email if you want it totally privbate.

 

[Tolak]

IP Board does not provide in their software any method for Moderators or Administrators to read personal messages. They do not condone this practice, nor do the Moderators or Administrators of this forum. IP Board will not support any add on's that provide for this sort of access.

As Bignose stated concerning fascism, if this ever were to be done here I'd be spending a lot more time on other aspects of life, as I would not be here.

 

[markandhisfish]

with all these negative comments id just like to add my view of this site in general. i joined back in 2008 as a clueless newbie with an uncycled overstocked tank . by coming here and gaining advice and knowledge from other members i soon became a successfull keeper , and in no time at all was confident/competent enough to even keep delecate species with no problems. ive now reached a point where im able to do the same for others , by sharing knowledge/experience gained here in my early days , which i am happy to do .
in my years here ive never been treated unfairly or unreasonably by any moderators past or present .

as for the whole rules debate , these are clearly displayed to us all at the time of registration , we acknowledge that we accept/agree to them when we sign up . perhaps more people should actually take the time ( all of a couple of minutes) to read them instead of just blindly clicking "i agree" therefore needless situations like this 1 can be avoided and the true purpose of the site can be concentrated on .

which is that these forums are places for LIKE MINDED people to come and share knowledge tips and experience and HELP each other .

just my 2 penneth worth .

 

[Mikaila31]

I honestly could careless either way. But I'm much to lazy to do anything like recruit people to a specific forum. I am registered on many many fish forums, though I use only a few regularly. TFF though is where it all started and I am still active here, so that says something . I belong to forums that allow linking(supporting similar forums) and those that don't. And as BigNose pointed out, forums that use advertising and those that don't. I could careless either way. I know good knowledgeable users on some forums I use are banned on other forums I use. I don't know of a forum that is a unflawed Utopia. Every forum has rules and I don't see why there is such a big fuss over what looks like a temp ban anyway . I am here to offer advice to those who ask. I'm pretty sure I suggested a different forum in the last PM I replied to. That was the best advice I could give to the question that was asked, I wouldn't do anything different.

 

[Wills]

Big Nose - I agree I am glad this could stay civil on the most part.

Moderators/ Admins of this site - Thankyou for your views I have always understood how this site was set up and have always appreciated the time you put into it. Like Mark I came here with limited knowledge and again like Mark thanks primerally to the people I met here I have been able to improve my skills and advise to others. However this was due to the group of people I was able to meet not just the forum set up. I do think this is a great environment for fish keepers and the range of experts this forum attracts is brilliant - I mean to have the likes of Neale Monks and Heiko Blher on your members list is a fantastic achievement - its kind of that point that it must feel that you have collectively created something special here.

Members - Sorry for grouping you together but what I have to say is essentially the same. For me this did start as a result of a temp ban - however in that period a friend here invited me to an other forum. At the same time I did invite other friends to this site - ie people whos opinions I value with regards my tank however I do know I have missed a few people as I am not able to contact them without breaking this forums rules. After I initially joined the new forums problems did start to occur with regards how I interacted with this forum. Quite why I still do not know entirely as I have not recruited anyone via this forum - though I think there are further reasons and what ever they are thats fair - I understand whats been said about the advertising competition thing and I totally agree you have the need and right to protect your audiences views of "greener grass" and if these restrictions/bans are simply a result of that then I can understand and accept that.

However one last thing to the members how this escalated for me and the others involved in this issue over the past 3/4 days you just dont know about and are not being told here - on my part for politeness - but all I will say is I have had enough the nastiness has gotten ridiculous with moderators and members here posting offensive material on our forum boards and its just pathetic now.

Markandhisfish - How you can even attempt to take the moral high ground after what you have been doing is beyond me! Up until we realised who it was with the offensive messages I doubted the others when they suggested you as you always seemed like a decent person but you do have some serious anger issues in there.

Finally - Given that I have as Big Nose said why stick around if the grass is greener - and now I am 100% the grass is greener on the new forum. So I would request my account was deleted however as stated above this is not possible. So I shall just clear my profile and sign out - I would delete my previous posts though I think thats a bit dramatic and deleting 3947 posts would waste far too much time.

So thankyou for the near two years of me being here as I have enjoyed it to the point that I visited non stop and spent a lot of time here. This forum practically made half my hobby up for a long time.

But I am off, I have had enough and I have no need to stick around - I know where my friends are
Andy

 

[BigC]

the nastiness has gotten ridiculous with moderators and members here posting offensive material on our forum boards and its just pathetic now.

I would be very surprised if a Moderator of this forum would stoop so low as to lend him or herself to such pettiness. However we have no control over our membership, what a certain member wants to do is entirely up to the individual and if such events have taken place then I/we categorically condone such actions, we have no control over that aspect.
Every member is treated as an equal on these boards whether it be a great named successful aquarist or a lowly beginner with no experience whatsoever.
Where we do have to draw a line is when someone is or is suspected of being in direct conflict with certain forum rules which they agree to upon registration. Then no-mater what your status is you will still be treat the same way as is dictated by those rules.
Every forum has them, Every forum has to have them and every forum expresses the right to carry out those rules if it/they feel their domain is being compromised in any which way shape or form
We are not draconian's we often bend things a little here and there, we carry no big sticks, we are voluntarily custodians of this site charged purely and simply of being its janitors if you like, we dont get paid and we do sometimes spend way too much time on here dealing with issues such as this. We all have families as well as our hobby to attend to. We are all mature fish-keepers with no egotistical issues whatsoever and our only interest is the integrity of this forum and this forum alone, which in-turn (if we are doing our jobs right) reflects in the enjoyment of our membership.
We are well versed in making this forum tick, we meet regularly to implement new ideas and listen very closely to our membership base of which we have the uppermost respect.
Finally we put in more behind the scene hours than we actually should for the enjoyment of others.

Having said that, if it is your wish to leave Wills, then that is your decision and yours alone to make and we wish you well, if that's what you wish to do.

Regards
BigC

 

[markandhisfish]

 

[BigC]

I now feel it's time to close this topic as it seems to have run it's course and enough time has been afforded for all parties to have made a comment.
Thanks for your input
Regards
C