How the forum is run

[ban-all-sheds]

I can see both sides of the 'image argument', it's 'small change' compared with a lot of the rhetoric on various other controversial topics posted here!

The whole point about "the image argument" is precisely that there are two sides.

The issue of the image, and whether it should have been deleted, and whether it was appropriate was being discussed, and the views being expressed were not one-sided.

My complaint is not about the deletion of the image - it is about the deletion of the discussion about it.

Please see the note on the memories thread it spells it all out quite clearly.

I'm afraid that note contains a number of inaccuracies....

 

[moderator]

ban-all-sheds.

As you know this is a privately owned forum. Most of your previous posts have been helpful to others, but recently you appear to keep wishing to argue your point of view (that's fair enough) but in doing so you "slag off" others / and twist things around. This is not acceptable.

May I suggest that before you do something you may latter regret that you desist from this style of comment, have a break from the forum and come back all refreshed, I for one would not wish to see you banned, but carrying on as you are I can see it happening.

regards

Lynda

 

[splinter]

ban-all-sheds.

As you know this is a privately owned forum. Most of your previous posts have been helpful to others, but recently you appear to keep wishing to argue your point of view (that's fair enough) but in doing so you "slag off" others / and twist things around. This is not acceptable.

May I suggest that before you do something you may latter regret that you desist from this style of comment, have a break from the forum and come back all refreshed, I for one would not wish to see you banned, but carrying on as you are I can see it happening.

regards

Lynda

A totally unessasary and confrontational post

 

[Bamber gaspipe]

moderator

As you know this is a privately owned forum.

But not owned by you, presumably.

I for one would not wish to see you banned, but carrying on as you are I can see it happening.

That would be Admins decision wouldn`t it?


I also notice that you are the only Mod to introduce yourself personally & have the signature `` I have a delete button you don`t``

Pretty inflammatory for a `Moderator `& more than a little full of yourself. No doubt this will be removed `lynda`. We don`t need to know your name, Mod will do fine.

 

[Pensdown]

ban-all-sheds.

As you know this is a privately owned forum. Most of your previous posts have been helpful to others, but recently you appear to keep wishing to argue your point of view (that's fair enough) but in doing so you "slag off" others / and twist things around. This is not acceptable.

May I suggest that before you do something you may latter regret that you desist from this style of comment, have a break from the forum and come back all refreshed, I for one would not wish to see you banned, but carrying on as you are I can see it happening.

regards

Lynda

A totally unessasary and confrontational post

Thats not the way I read it.

Ban-all-sheds is one of the most respected members of this forum, maybe not in this part but certainly in the electrical forum and that was a personal post by Lynda. I for one would also hate to see him banned but he must chill out and stop getting wound up by posters who only input in this part of the forum.

But on the other hand maybe he's bored and it's time to move on, who knows

 

[noodlz]

It seems that the deletion of the thread and accompanying pictures has caused certain members distress and an inability to understand the reasoning behind the actions. Therefore for the LAST time i will spell it out.

The entire forum is NOT an over 18 site. It has not been set up that way, it is not styled that way and it will not be. The forum is viewed by a whole range of ages, and indeed there have been numerous posts from school children, some quite young asking for assistance on school projects.

The subjects that are debated on the general forum are wide ranging and tackle some complex and difficult issues and they can be quite hard to moderate. What one person views as fair is viewed as unfair by another person. They are also not moderate 24 hrs a day so some issues slip through the net or are not picked up for a while. This doesnt help when people have such strong views on subjects. In the case of this post, however all the mods are in agreement and so is the owner of the site that the picture of a dead child, regardless of nationality, race or religion and cause of death was wholly unsuitable for this site, as were the other links placed on which corresponded to it. For that reason and that reason the picture was removed and a polite note explaining why.
It was also stated that we were quite happy for the subject matter to be debated.

The following rants that were posted and insults directed to the moderators were also wholly unsuitable for a family forum, and since most posters referred to it in some way it was decided the whole post was in need of deleting rather than simply locking. A post explaining these actions was placed on the board. There are measures in place to take up complaints regarding the moderating or any posts placed on this site which can be done privatley.

The forum is there for members to use. It is not mandatory or compulsive. It is a privately run forum and that means that the rules are listed and members are expected to abide by them. Some latitude is given, however when it is deemed that the boundaries have been pushed too far then action will be taken regarding that post or thread. Sometimes it is not an easy decision on what to let run/edit/delete or lock. In other cases it is a quite clear and simple decision and in the eyes of the moderators and owner of the site it was in this case.

If you wish to post or view pictures of a similar nature then it is suggested your time may be spent better elsewhere. If you feel unable to debate your point without the use of such illustration then it may be better to reasses your debating skills and vocabulary. If you also feel unable to make your points to the moderating staff without the use of such insults, then again you may want to reflect on your actions. Several threads following this have been locked or debated. Many supported the action that was taken, by the removal of this picture. The site has rules and it is up to Admin to decide what they are and the moderators to enforce them. It is not a soapbox for anyone who shouts loudest and rudest to get his point across and dictate what they think the rules should be without thought for the other users on the site, regardless of who they are.

I would respect these comments a great deal more if the continuous offensive bile from people such as Bob.Dole were not tolerated. He repeatedly offends people, yet here he still is. What would it take to ban someone like him?

what a.ss wipe you seem to talk nothing but hot steemy sh.it your tyhe devils belly scum , and cant wait to sh.it yea out..........

Hardly suitable for a family forum and everyone knows this is a common occurence.

 

[Softus]

Hardly suitable for a family forum and everyone knows this is a common occurence.

noodlz, it can all be summed up by these two statements:

The following rants that were posted and insults directed to the moderators were also wholly unsuitable for a family forum and since most posters referred to it in some way it was decided the whole post was in need of deleting rather than simply locking.
.
.
.
Many supported the action that was taken...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

ban-all-sheds.

As you know this is a privately owned forum. Most of your previous posts have been helpful to others, but recently you appear to keep wishing to argue your point of view (that's fair enough) but in doing so you "slag off" others / and twist things around. This is not acceptable.

If by "slag off others" you mean that I don't treat posts containing hatred and violence as some kind of joke, and tell people just how disgusting they are for making such posts, then guilty as charged. Perhaps you should read some of them, sometime, really read them I mean, and really think through the scenarios they are advocating, and see whether you think they are acceptable in a civilised society, let alone a family forum.

But twist things around? Not true.

May I suggest that before you do something you may latter regret that you desist from this style of comment, have a break from the forum and come back all refreshed, I for one would not wish to see you banned, but carrying on as you are I can see it happening.

Hopefully I won't end up giving you that satisfaction.

But unless the fundamental issues of biased moderation, and moderators using their power of delete to remove legitimate debate which touches on their bias, and their refusal to discuss their decisions (a statement followed by a lock does not constitute a discussion) are resolved then this problem is never going to go away.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It seems that the deletion of the thread and accompanying pictures has caused certain members distress and an inability to understand the reasoning behind the actions. Therefore for the LAST time i will spell it out.

The entire forum is NOT an over 18 site. It has not been set up that way, it is not styled that way and it will not be. The forum is viewed by a whole range of ages, and indeed there have been numerous posts from school children, some quite young asking for assistance on school projects.

The subjects that are debated on the general forum are wide ranging and tackle some complex and difficult issues and they can be quite hard to moderate. What one person views as fair is viewed as unfair by another person. They are also not moderate 24 hrs a day so some issues slip through the net or are not picked up for a while.

How do you explain the situation where issues that are flagged to you are not dealt with.

Please look at this post, for it crystallises the whole problem at the heart of all this:

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=392916#392916

In response to the question "If you advocate killing him by dropping a bomb on him, how many other people do you think it's OK to kill at the same time?", Slogger said

"its human lives we are talking about and life is cheap over there so lets up the anti and say 200".

Are you really going to sit there and tell me that that statement is acceptable on a family forum?

Are you really going to sit there and say that "life is cheap over there" is not racist?

Given that "everybody knows what bombs do" was a commonly used justification for the deletion of the photo I published, are you really going to sit there and say that Slogger's view that it is OK for deaths like that to happen in their hundreds is not a post in favour of violence. Please hold the image of that little girl in your head, and imagine hundreds like her. OK for a family forum is it, advocating that kind of thing?

This doesnt help when people have such strong views on subjects. In the case of this post, however all the mods are in agreement and so is the owner of the site that the picture of a dead child, regardless of nationality, race or religion and cause of death was wholly unsuitable for this site, as were the other links placed on which corresponded to it. For that reason and that reason the picture was removed and a polite note explaining why.
It was also stated that we were quite happy for the subject matter to be debated.

The following rants that were posted and insults directed to the moderators were also wholly unsuitable for a family forum,

I posted one "insult" directed at the moderators.

You could easily have removed that post, and it would not have damaged the topic.

Other than that, I don't recall any other rants.

and since most posters referred to it in some way it was decided the whole post was in need of deleting rather than simply locking.

You had said that you were happy for the subject matter to be debated. Other than or or two instances of links to the photograph, or the article in which it appeared, it was only referred to in terms of "a photograph of a dead child"

A post explaining these actions was placed on the board. There are measures in place to take up complaints regarding the moderating or any posts placed on this site which can be done privatley.

1) Privately does not work. I have no great expectation that this will work, but at least it exposes the things that are wrong.
2) A lot of what is being discussed cuts to the heart of what kind of debate we want here, and what kind of environment is to be fostered, and for those reasons it should be done in public.

The forum is there for members to use. It is not mandatory or compulsive. It is a privately run forum and that means that the rules are listed and members are expected to abide by them.

The enforcement of those rules is not done even handedly.

Again I am going to ask you to think about the essence of what Slogger was saying:

"life is cheap over there so it's OK for hundreds of children to be killed by bombs in order to bring about the death of one man whose views I do not like"

Again I am going to ask you in what way that is an acceptable thing to say on a family forum?

If you wish to post or view pictures of a similar nature then it is suggested your time may be spent better elsewhere.

The photograph is not the issue.

Its deletion was being discussed in that topic, and I was not the only one who disagreed with your action.

But the deletion of the photograph is not the issue either.

The issue is the deletion of the topic itself.

If you feel unable to debate your point without the use of such illustration then it may be better to reasses your debating skills and vocabulary.

"A picture is worth a thousand words"? It was a very powerful way to get the message across, and a number of other people agreed that it should have been left.

But nobody attempted to reinstate it, and we carried on debating the subject using words.

If you also feel unable to make your points to the moderating staff without the use of such insults, then again you may want to reflect on your actions.

One insult. Just the one. Maybe I should say in response that if you are unable to deal with a single post without the use of the delete of an entire topic then you may want to reflect on your actions.

Several threads following this have been locked or debated. Many supported the action that was taken, by the removal of this picture.

And many did not.

The site has rules and it is up to Admin to decide what they are and the moderators to enforce them. It is not a soapbox for anyone who shouts loudest and rudest to get his point across and dictate what they think the rules should be without thought for the other users on the site, regardless of who they are.

I am not trying to dictate what the rules should be.

I am trying to get the rules enforced in a consistent and unbiased way.


Moderator 4

You have been informed of how to pursue your grievance. This post is going the same way as all the other countless ones posted regarding this subject. It is now locked.