Who Remebers Dave Oddballs?

[seffieuk]

me ole Africaan's mucca

Good old Anglo Saxon word there, I love the word mucca, wonder why more don't use it but for our Africaans 'mucca', it means mate or friend

Seffie x

 

[backtotropical]

As has already been said, unfortunately people end up getting banned for consistent contravention of the forum rules. There are no extra chances or special treatment due to your knowledge level or post count or anything else.

The moderators uphold a policy of not making the details of any sanctions public as we don't feel that it is appropriate. We try to be family friendly, not firing squad!

We have lost some knowledgeable members unfortunately, and the mods don't take these decisions lightly, I can assure you.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

I did read it sarcastically, but i 100% respect ludwig and have spoken with ludwig on friendly terms. forum buddys as they say,
I just thought it sarcastic so said as much, I get told straight away from folk if they concider iam stepping out of line, and i respect and appriciate what they say, i think no less of them,
I know ludwig means good and says as much....Ludwig no hard feeling me ole Africaan's mucca
I had a few bevvie's last night an thought id messaged him privately,obviously i didn't...sorry again.
.

I must be honest here and say, I was extremely offended, (and as my wife described it.... the most upset she's ever seen me in 38 years of knowing me)....., but (all who really knows me will verify).... I bear no grudges and forgive easily.... I'm a pacifist... (make love not war) ... I had a sleepless night last night because of the little misunderstanding, but.... Thanks Seffie/Nellie... for clearing the air.....

To ensure that a re-ocurrence does not happen, the onus is on me to expand my vocabulary..... I have a moved the Webster's a little closer to my desk.....

 

[rdp50734]

 

[england]

sorry ludwig,,,,you are the man, you no it really...dont loose any sleep unless beers are involved buddy

 

[Wills]

I remember him, really interesting tank lots of knowledge shame he was kicked out I have to admit at times I have looked for other forums to join and get involved with but there dont seem to be any that are as active as this one or as many regular good members and forum buddies - I sure dont stay here for the rules and warnings. I imagine I am probably either on my final warning or close to it. I would be seriously gutted if it did happen though.

Wills

 

[JenCliBee]

The simple truth is that people get banned when they break the rules. The rules everyone agrees to when they sign up, and the rules that are at the top of each and every forum page.

If anything, this forum tends to be a bit more lenient than most I know. If I am not divulging too much, but typically, we give people 5 chances here. 5! FIVE times to knowingly break the rules! 4 times you get a note saying "please read the rules. If there are any questions, please don't hesitate to ask" before the punishment is really long-term. And, then, often for long-standing members, we even try to work with them a little more, try to make deals, try to "give credit for prior good behavior" and the like.

But, when someone continuously crosses the line, what are you supposed to do? In the end, William has asked us to moderate the forum in a certain way, and you cross that line too many times, then there will be consequences. They do it to themselves, unfortunately. I'm not going to discuss the specifics of these cases, except to say that both were given numerous warnings and chances. Both chose to ignore them. In the end, they knew what would happen, and yet they chose to break the rules again. In the end, they left the moderating team no choice.

Furthermore, we no longer let any single mod get emotional and have too much power on their own. For large decisions, we need a majority of the active mods to agree to the action taken. So, it isn't just one individual with a possible personal grudge, but the entire team that agrees.

It really is as simple as that.

What I meant was is it a short suspension ie 12 months or is it termination of the account ie never allowed back on?

I think that the exact punishment is between the moderating team and the individual. Let's just say that the punishment fit the crime.

As much as i respect your contribution and knowledge within the forum bignose, that comment is basically a load of ****, ive spoken to many banned members and also have a family member that has been banned, people may know him as JenCliBee, none of them have come close to been given 5 warnings then a ban. Infact for arguments sake, jenclibee was warned once about his posting style and put on mod review if i remember correctly once. When he kicked up a fuss about a subject obviously the mods didn't like he was immediately banned for 25 years lol, come on 25 years for a very very moderate breach of the rules, infact it wasn't actually breaching the rules just pointed out some lack of moderating at that particular time.

So basically what im trying to say is 5 warnings is absolute rubbish and the restrictions that are given are truly ridiculous. Considering various members that are still active on the boards and to my knowledge have knowingly been warning far more times than 5. The forum is ran by popularity and will always be that way, face fits then pretty much anything goes, simple slap on the wrist till the next rule infraction happens and then just more slaps on the wrist.


Real shame, some great members been forced out and banned from this place.

 

[Big_eyes]

He was a good lad and a credit of a member lost from this forum. Although to use the term lost may be an overstatement, sometimes just because you don't see doesn't mean it isn't there!

It's a huge shame that he and many other very very important members have been banned in the past 12 months. All because they opted to speak their minds in times that more than likely required it. Seems to me that new members, wether they may be trolls or numbskulls who do not wish to be told are more important than the current top members who tire of saying the same things repeatedly on deaf ears.

Trouble is on here that on many occasions the rules of this forum can stretch far over the borderline of ridiculous and the management do little to prove anything otherwise. Policing of this forum is severely inconsistent and sometimes just unbelievable. Hence why we have lost so many of the most important and leading characters of this forum.

 

[Tolak]

Real shame, some great members been forced out and banned from this place.

Sometimes we even allow them to return under another user name as long as they behave themselves. Sometimes if you look hard you can pick them out, sometimes you don't have to look too hard at all.

 

[Bignose]

The forum is ran by popularity and will always be that way, face fits then pretty much anything goes, simple slap on the wrist till the next rule infraction happens and then just more slaps on the wrist.
Real shame, some great members been forced out and banned from this place.

Trouble is on here that on many occasions the rules of this forum can stretch far over the borderline of ridiculous and the management do little to prove anything otherwise. Policing of this forum is severely inconsistent and sometimes just unbelievable. Hence why we have lost so many of the most important and leading characters of this forum.

Please don't take this to be rude (written words on the forum do not convey tone very well, so I am stating up front that there is no rudeness in this reply at all): but if you don't like the way the forum is ran, then no one is forcing you to be here. Go and start your own forum and you may enforce your own rules however you like.

Without all the knowledge, calling our moderating "ran by popularity" and "inconsistent" and "unbelievable" is rather one-sided (by definition) don't you think? I suspect that many of you would change your mind if you had all the information. Maybe not.

But, as I wrote in the other thread just today, this forum is not a democracy. It is a dictatorship, with a little bit of power shared with a few other individuals (as in the other thread, not sure if this makes it a true oligarchy or not).

The rules are known by everyone. How we enforce the rules is determined by William, the dictator. Again, with completely and totally no rudeness or ill-will, if you don't care for the rules and how they are enforced, nothing is forcing you to be here.

We must be doing something right, because we do have a large number of active members. Ergo, there must be a significant number of people who appreciate the rules and how they are enforced. William could make a rule tomorrow banning the use of the letter 'e'. I suspect that this would be a pretty unpopular rule, and most members would quit. But, they are his rules, and he can make them whatever he wants. And, if he doesn't like the way the mod team is enforcing the rules, he can revoke our mod privileges at any time, and our membership privileges.

So, in short, this is the forum. It is what it is.

I am completely comfortable saying that if I thought that the moderating team and admin were grossly unfair, were swayed by popularity, were inconsistent or unbelievable, that I would resign both my moderator post and my membership on this board. I too despise people being treated unfairly. But, I tell you, I have not seen it. It does not happen, especially since the entire active mod team has to agree when long and strict punishments have to be given out. Every time something like this happens, we all put our thoughts in on the manner, and come to an agreement. It is not terribly efficient -- but I promise you that we do our utmost to be completely fair. You certainly don't have to believe me on this point -- but I do feel like it needed to be said.

Feel free to PM me or any of the other mods if you wish to discuss this further.