Politics

[SpeedBaby]

This topic comes up every once in a while, then the active majority in power usually bashes the poster and the thread gets locked, however due to the combination of recent events i feel that the time has come yet again to bring this up. I'll try my best not to mention any names so that ppl who are completely unaware of what's going on could stay unbiased.
So let the bitching begin!

Yesterday one of the active members of this board has received a 7 day ban (without warning) for posting under an account that was not his personal own. The user name he used was one of shop that he was representing on this board for quite some time and MANY users of this community had benefited from this relationship. I fully understand that it is against the board policies to have multiple accounts (or at least NOW it is), but in this particular case the account in question was only used to represent an organization on behalf of which the post has been made. Plus somehow I have not seen the policies being so strictly enforced. It would be my unconfirmed guess that the ban will result in a complete discontinuation of this relationship (personal and/or business).

It probably wouldn't bother me as much, but unfortunately this happened soon after a different incident: one of the mods of this board had given another member his password along with full access to the admin lounge as well as the ability to make changes on the board. This power has been used and eve abused in the case of adjustment of the results of a public poll. What consequences did they both suffer? They were 'talked to' and the admin in question has been asked to change his password.

Now I am raising the question of fairness of the judgments in these particular cases. IMO if you guys want to play strict on enforcing your policies, go ahead, but do it fairly and equally.

[midnightfxgt]

I dont know details, but I am thinking this:

- Members have to follow rules. They are there for a reason, and if they do not follow them, it sets an example for other members if it is allowed to happen.
- Admins need to follow rules. The same applies, but it sounds as if maybe there was a reason the username/password was given out? There are always 2 sides to a story

Disaplining a mod is much harder than a regular user. If you ban a mod, it makes your adminitsration look like a joke, and that is never good. In theory mods keep everything running so they tend to get away with a little slack.

Like I said, I am totally outta the loop and have no idea what this is all about, but just some random thoughts since I run a forum as well ;)

-John

[Kevin@nextmod]

[quote=SpeedBaby;194592]
one of the mods of this board had given another member his password along with full access to the admin lounge as well as the ability to make changes on the board. This power has been used and eve abused in the case of adjustment of the results of a public poll. What consequences did they both suffer? They were 'talked to' and the admin in question has been asked to change his password.
quote]
I've heard about this and know who it is but i couldn't do anything about it.

She's right, lets try to keep everything fair if it isn't already.

[MattC]

Mods should be treated like everyone else. We all buy merch (for the most part), we all support the club, so mod or not, we should all be treated equally.

(i don't know of this situation, but in general that should be how it goes)

[Cardinal Fang]

Having multiple accounts was never permitted. As part of the committee that helped draft the posting rules I remember this being bantered about. In the end it was decided that no multiple handles were allowed because of the potential abuse that could ensue. We all post behind handles with a certain level of anonymity and privacy. If you have to use another handle than I question the credibility of what you post and the intentions behind it.

Moderators have the right to warn and then ban or outright ban. The discretion is up to them. In some cases something happens that warrants a warning before banning. In other cases an out right ban is appropriate. I don’t have issues with that.

The moderators have a thankless job. They do it for free. No matter what decisions a moderator makes it will not sit well with some. Welcome to the world of discussion boards. On balance I would hope that the moderators do a good job most of the time which is what I’ve seen here. And yes everyone should be treated equally.

[S.F.W.]

A couple things I want to state for the record. 1) The decision to ban the user for 7 days was not made in haste. The admin/mod team discussed the situation, voted, and then acted.
2) The user was previously warned formally for post whoring. Informally for selling non personal use items while no longer an active sponsor.

At some point warning an individual stops being effective. In this case a stronger action was deemed necessary.

[RedRaptor]

[quote=SpeedBaby;194592]
one of the mods of this board had given another member his password along with full access to the admin lounge as well as the ability to make changes on the board. This power has been used and eve abused in the case of adjustment of the results of a public poll. What consequences did they both suffer? They were 'talked to' and the admin in question has been asked to change his password.
quote]
I've heard about this and know who it is but i couldn't do anything about it.

She's right, lets try to keep everything fair if it isn't already.


Speedbaby. While I am out of the loop on this, I am not surprised that the Admin team has not commented on the allegation above yet. And I mean it is just an allegation (so far), but this is not the first time that the team here shys away from the important questions that the members ask. Instead they choose to talk about the section of your post that is easy to answer and members should follow rules, blah blah (which I agree with).

So which one of you admins or mods is going to tackle the allegation above? To be honest, I would not be surprised if no one touches with it a ten foot pole or the stock whip antenna.

You can start as many of these threads as you want Speedbaby. But you will never get a stand up answer or an answer that anyone is satisfied with. The fate of this thread will be the same as other threads I've started asking the same type of questions. You will get an vague answer on the issue, no one will touch it, and this thread will be forgotten or locked.

Goodluck tho!

Red.

[S.F.W.]

I'll stand up and answer the question. Regarding the mod password issue. We did issue a formal warning to that mod, and to the member. We are also discussing additional sanctions for the involved mod. I expect we will take formal action either tomorrow or Monday.

[3GFX]

I am not surprised that the Admin team has not commented on the allegation above yet.

I was probably first of the Admin team to read the original post. Despite having my own opinions I prefered not to comment until I understood the entire situation as well as all preceding actions of members and admins.

Time taken to overview should not be a problem. The member was warned and has been before about other issues. As stated the 'member's' ban was voted upon as a commitee decision according to rules and regulations set forth at the birth of the '.ca' forum.

Moderators and Administrators try their hardest to maintain a fair and pleasent forum. Moderators are not held above members and are held to the same expectations of forum conduct. The moderator/member issue has been discussed before this post was made and is being dealt with.

We are doing our best to keep everyone happy and painting everyone with the same brush.

[SpeedBaby]

A couple things I want to state for the record. 1) The decision to ban the user for 7 days was not made in haste. The admin/mod team discussed the situation, voted, and then acted.
2) The user was previously warned formally for post whoring. Informally for selling non personal use items while no longer an active sponsor.

At some point warning an individual stops being effective. In this case a stronger action was deemed necessary.

Ami, not that i intend to start another argument with you, but if you recall the sposorshit was volonteerely terminated yet again due to the politics on this board, allowing some sellers undersell others while the rest of them were asked not to sell same products for a lower price than the existing sponsors. I mean it's your board and it's your rules, my one and only issue is with the double standards that keep popping up everywhere.

[S.F.W.]

We can take that off line. But, absolutely I will not argue his sponsorship was terminated of his own volition. It was his choice, we didn't ask him to stop being a sponsor. I can show you a list of many, many posts the mods have deleted because someone who wasn't a sponsor was selling stuff on a commercial basis. The fact that he was previously a sponsor is not relevant.
As for the "double standards" everyone is entitled to their own point of view. We can argue this point back and forth for hours and days, and accomplish nothing. We have different points of view and neither of us are likely to change our views. We can agree to disagree, and move on.
As for it being my board and my rules. Certainly not. This board is made up of 2,472 members. We have a committee which helps the club grow. We have an admin and mod team that works together to help the board and the club. I do not make the rules by myself, I do not unilaterally make decisions. Again, many people together wrote the rules, many people enforce the rules together.

[royroy]

i guess.. after the meet tonite.. everything should settle?? =P

[SpeedBaby]

and why would you guess that?!

[Cardinal Fang]

Oh brother......

[Broli]

well, i was away for a week and seems i have missed a bit of excitiment

i am glad to see this thread has remained civil


1. The ban is certainly within the rules of this site, i understand how it may have felt that it came out of no where, i am not sure if the member was contacted before the ban took place, perhaps that would have made it easier to take.

2. speedbaby - i am glad that u brought this issue up. the admin team is not afraid to answer any question from any of the membership.

3. the issue of mod/admin punishment - i understand that it may seem that mods get a little extra slack, and reasoning for that has been mentioned above in this thread. particularly grevious actions will be dealt with harshly, i promise.

[SpeedBaby]

3. the issue of mod/admin punishment - i understand that it may seem that mods get a little extra slack, and reasoning for that has been mentioned above in this thread. particularly grevious actions will be dealt with harshly, i promise.

Actually, I did not insist on the admin punishment. And frankly I was more surprised that the user with the admin access wasn't warned/sanctioned for adjusting poll count. To me it seemed like more of a foul than giving out passwords.

Btw, I appreciate the fact that SFW and 3GFX have replied. And thanx to Broli for his input, eventhough you weren't a part of this. All of you other guys that voted for the ban but didn't have nothing to say about it...well it's always good to learn what ppl are worth, right?..

[WLS ZMZM]

I realize I have not been a member of this discussion board for very long.... but I hafta say.. I really am starting to get fed up with members picking on the Admin staff, the Mods and the committee members... Bear in mind.. this is not a pay site.... so they do all the work they do for nothing... out of the interest and respect they have for the club!! As for the Mod's getting slack.. its the real world get over it... you can find examples of this not only throughout the business world, but through life as well.. there will always be others who get away with things... they shouldn't again its called LIFE....

If you so choose to become a member of this board there are rules and regulations that are asked to be followed... if you don't stop and read them before posting... or selling or having any involvement with this board at all, that is your own fault and you are the only one to blame... the rules here are pretty standard to every other board on the web. I am not trying to start a war or push anyone's buttons.. but honestly... give some credit where credit is due......

These guys take the time out of their busy lives... to help make this site run as well as it does... As an example... Ami, Alex and Jeff and whoever else was involved with the apparel order didn't have to take it upon themselves to get the apparel order going.. and get everything organized with that.... they did it for the club.... not for themselves.... same can be said with the BubbQ another thing that the mods/admins/committee members did not have to set up.... but did.... I think its time we focus more on the positive then the negative.....

While I do not know the whole story.... behind the situations.. and I can only make judgements based on what I've seen.... trying to call out the mods who were involved in this is quite a cowardly act.... all you need to know is that they are the ones who in charge of running this board... and what they say goes... not everyone will always be happy as we don't live in some kind of messed up utopia, we live in the real world. Unfortunately things are going to happen that not everyone will like, but its impossible to please everyone. But the people on this board do their best to make as many of the members happy as possible.

I'm sure I don't speak alone when I say many of the members of this board have full faith in the mods/admins/committee members to run the site how they see best. I fully stand behind all of them as I feel they are producing one of if not the best board I have ever been a part of, not to mention how welcome the members make you feel as well... it really disappoints me that you could try and poison such a positive environment.... one of the reasons I liked this board so much was because of the lack of those who were immature.. obviously I stand corrected. If you think you can do a much better job, start your own forum and see the pressures/issues that you have to deal with as these guys do.

A thankful member

Will :bana:bana

[Zaku_4]

whats going on?

damn i dunno anything anymore.