And this is probably the single biggest problem people seem to have. Every time they see "banned" they think that poster is never coming back and it has them doing backflips. But if someone posts a picture of a dick in the Lounge, or reveals the true name of a poster who hasn't done so on the forum, or spends a decade complaining about nothing, of course they are going to receive a punishment ban. And that's the second problem. I think a lot of people that complain about this stuff just don't use internet forums - this is it for them, just here. And they don't understand that a punt now and again is absolutely the price of doing business, whether or not you agree with it. And they think they are in some sort of "free space", they don't understand it is no different than a night club, or a museum, or a university, it's a space with owners, share-holders and rules. The sad part is I've been through all this with McVey one on one, and not even that long ago. I took him through every single poster that had received a permanban in a six or seven-week stretch, and why, and it just doesn't go in. I tried to use a pub as an example - that if he was in a pub, he wasn't allowed to do whatever he liked he had to follow certain rules within. He interpreted this as me "telling him to **** off" because i'd said that if you don't like the rules in that pub you might drink in another one. For some reason it was just impossible for him to understand this stuff.
Hey I'm not arguing with your decisions, don't get me wrong. I even considered PM'ing Mendoza telling him that he was running in front of a train but I figured that he's a big boy he knows what he's doing. I guess a lot of us are hard headed over here
Yeah, I didn't think you were, just that you were touching upon some stuff that bore expanding upon. The "and then there were" narrative of mcvey was so odd that I just ignored it for months but it's actually really caught on for some bizarre reason. Anyway - if anyone wants to ask about "what happened with this guy" (over the past two years say) ask and I'll answer. But it's not an infinite offer or one that will allow for a tell-all. Some of this stuff is sensitive (and insane).
*Just for the record*, for what it's worth, I only returned to posting in the Lounge the first time when the mod who baited me into that flame war with his incessant ad hominem attacks before banning me, gave me his express permission. I sincerely apologize to you if that came across as me breaking my word. I really appreciated your intervention there, and I've told a number of posters about it and explained that I find it surreal that people criticize your modding given the heavyhanded and partial conduct of certain other mods.
OK, but you certainly should have explained that to me at the time - you weren't able to post because you told him you wouldn't post there, but because you told me you wouldn't post there. What's the situation as far as the Lounge and you goes now?
There is no way to name one thread, no, it happened over about 15 different threads. You can see the culmination here though: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/toney-vs-tiberi-scorecard-thread.658990/
"Banished," for my (admittedly ridiculous) role in this train wreck of a thread, after being baited with the unprovoked ad hominem in post #78: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/freedom-of-religion.651298/page-6 I've kicked my Lounge habit for good and won't be posting there ever again—so long as it's run by its current mods anyway.
This is actually interesting, being honest, it's a good example. reznick was about to be permanently removed form the forum by myself but I took some advice from some other moderators and Rumsefld spoke up for him. SO I agreed to a temporary ban and then an eye on Reznick when he got back. To be fair to you, reznick, your behaviour has been exemplary since you came back, you normalised your posting (as I see it) and i'm glad I didn't remove you. But I would have been justified in removing you at that time, no bones about that. The problem is that when reznick come back, people don't understand that he's on the final, final, final warning and isn't being treated like other posters - he's on probation, so to speak. So if he'd carried out two minor infractions he'd be banned for them. And the forum would go crazy. "How can you ban him for this!?" But he hasn't been banned for that. Even with this Mendoza thing, people are doing that. What he did this week absolutely isn't ban-worthy; but he wasn't banned for that. He was banned for what went on in the month before this: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/toney-vs-tiberi-scorecard-thread.658990/ And for that. Then he was given a final, final chance to alter his behaviour and continue to enjoy the forum. Here is what the forum is telling me: Don't give these final chances. Remove these guys early, don't give them multiple chances, remove them at the site of their biggest infringement. Because the forum can't cope with these bans that have problems strung out over long periods of time, sometimes over years. I'm thinking, now, that the time of favours should perhaps be brought to an end and I should just start moderating Classic the way General and Lounge are moderated, but i've decided instead to try to use the "Warning Points" system going forwards. I'll give warning points rather than verbal warnings and then the fact that someone has received warnings will perhaps make banning more understandable to people moving forwards. But it's last stab I'd suggest.
I don’t even remember what happened exactly. To the best of my recollection I think back then I took myself too seriously, and then I went fishing for a ban as some kind of rebellious act. But in fairness to myself I’m almost certain that mcvey spiked my tea. You do a really good job at maintaining civility in the forum. I’m assuming you don’t get paid for it, and if you do, it can’t be enough to pay the bills. There are times I don’t agree with your style, as I doubt anybody does. But that’s the thankless nature of the role. I imagine you have a little sympathy for politicians in the sense that they can never please everyone. Overall the good tremendously outweighs the bad, and we’re fortunate to have you as the third man in the ring. Now give me a hug.