Ridiculous Banning Rules, Ed!

[zimzam]

I agree that if a poster posts something lewd their post will vanish. That makes sense. However, I do not agree that when a person makes a post and some post lewd suggestions/remarks that the whole post vanishes and we all see ourselves as having contributed to a banned thread. Everywhere else on the millions of forums a poster can have just their post removed and the others left available to view, but NOT cause the whole thread and original question and the sensible replies to be removed as well. It gives the lower mentality far too much scope to rule this forum and cause the original post and all subsequent replies to vanish, and some of the replies have been helpful and quite sensible. If someone reports a post then fine - that individual post should be removed but NOT the whole post and its frequent helpful comments. Shall I pick on a poster and have my friends all report him/her so that any post that person answers gets totally removed? The rules are basically very fair but very biased! I posted on B&S about Viagra and saw a few serious replies, and now find the post has gone and shows as banned - why? simply because I posted a comment and a few were a bit crude in answering it? Why should I - or any other serious posters - suffer any post of ours being removed simply because a few decide to vandalise it? Ed, you are going to have to change the rules or the moderation because nobody deserves to have a serious post banned just because one person who replies gets reported and in consequence the whole thread vanishes - delete the unsavoury replies from one or a few people but leave the original post alone will you?

[BBWCHATT]

Zim - I tried to help a gentleman who was posting looking for instructions on how to make a wooden pastille burner for his Dad who is losing his vision. He had built a Doll House for his Grandaughter and wanted his last project before his vision goes to be one of those for his wife. It just broke my heart that I couldn't find anything to help him, so I posted it in 3 different categories with a link to his original one asking for help for him. They banned 2 of them. I guess no good deed goes unpunished as they say.

[daisy48]

I agree with you zimzam and BBWCHAT, I fail to see why a whole thread need be deleted due to 1 or 2 uncalled for reply's as many miss out on the original post/question.

[noxlumos]

Unfortunately in attempting to keep it a "family site" it's actually ended up in a site only suitable for children, and not very enquiring children at that.

[zimzam]

What irritates me is as a moderator on other forums, it is quite possible to edit an individual post or remove one. We do not delete a whole thread! Now either there are a clannish few or a pious few who simply join up to remove a posters name (as they don't like the poster) or the forum is set up in such a way that its very bias. I have read some posts that then subsequently were deleted and have no idea why they were as there was nothing wrong with them. I have read some posts with a few smutty answers and then the posts have vanished. There is smut or rudeness - smut should not be banned but rudeness should vanish.... so perhaps we should have a list of the members names who have reported posts as I think 75% will be the same names. Good posts and wonderful replies are vanishing because of a few silly replies and that is totally unjust and very unfair.

[zimzam]

BBWC I am really so sorry to hear your problems in trying to help someone and having your posts banned. Daisy, I think you have had posts vanish and I know you hace Noxlumos. I had 2 friends here who have now left as they said they wasted their time by replying to posts and trying to answer and help someone as the thread that they had answered had vanished and had been banned. I think the whole manner of reporting threads has got to change pronto - posts CAN be edited or removed but whole threads should NOT be deleted!

[daisy48]

I know what you mean zimzam. I co moderate for the OSSG "Online Seroxat Support Group" and before a new applicant is approved their ISP is traced by another mod. This is a fairly new prodecure with our group but neccesary due to people joining just to cause upset and trouble. At 1st we just banned them but they alway's returned with new ID's. Needled to add,we've never had to delete a whole thread just the "Joker's" in the pack. As you'll probably know, ISP's can be easily traced,it's just a serie's of numbers afterall. Maybe the Tech's on AB could do this?

[kempie]

Firstly, any posts which are in breach of the Site Rules (such as duplicates posted in multiple categories � la BBWCHATT) should be removed. There is no exception within the Site Rules for 'good causes'; if rules are not consistently applied there is little point having them.

Secondly, the users of AB do not have the power to permanently remove any post; this is a power exclusively wielded by the ABEd.

All threads which receive multiple flags for unsuitability by users of the site via the Report this question facility are temporarily removed pending review by ABEd, which only occurs during business hours Mon-Fri. If they are not deemed worthy of permanent removal they can then be reinstated.

Likewise, any posts within a thread are similarly 'policed' by users via the Report this answer option and must also await adjudication by ABEd as to whether or not they are permanently removed.

If it were truly the case that this site was setup so that rogue answers would cause the removal of an otherwise innocuous thread there would not exist the Report this answer option.

I do not believe that the reporting system used by AB is inherently flawed, rather that the part-time moderation by ABEd, and the resulting large time delay before reinstatement of 'pending' posts, is the primary cause of much of the ire visible in this Topic section.

[PollyPlaytex]

Zimzam there is a thread started by you on page 3 of B+S at the mo where you are mentioning buying Viagra. Is this the post you are referring to ? If it is , then it is still there. It has simply been pushed back a bit. Either that or it was removed but has since been restored.

[prospector]

there are many problems around this issue that need to be listed and sorted through .... otherwise change is likely to result in an outcry (remember the change of Topics and sub-Topics/Categories) - much of the original change has since been re-changed several times + the torrent of comment from ABers.

morals ethics standards are seen differently by all - the skill is to find the community balance of what is / what is not acceptable, within the framework of a 'Family Site'?

having a reporting process for ABers is a way of 'taking the temperature' of the community ABers. But, then to allow 'automatic' outcomes from this process ..... i.e. for ABers to be suspended without further Editorial input .... is not so good?

this puts excessive power into the hands of a few ABers who have formed cliques - thru offsite frienship/contact

[zimzam]

I have taken all the comments/answers on board, and I would like to express my agreement with all comments. Prospector, you are quite right that morals, ethics and standards are viewed differently and there is a clique here (they ran a friend of mine off AB) I am human and enjoy a double meaning and a bit of smut but I would not reply in that way here because its not normally necessary and rules are rules. Individual posts can be removed or edited leaving the more serious answers standing - I have seen superb replies vanish because the whole thread was pulled owing to some members answers and that is really bad. members who spend time in replying trying to help see their posts vanish and they have just wasted their time.
Having followed some regular members and their complaints about their answers being removed I can only assume that the clique of Tom, George, Harry, Fred and Mary all gang up to report Bill or Beryl every time they post - sort of thing. I am on the side of really nice ABers and their wonderful posts that vanish because some idiot has ruined the thread somewhere along the line. My time is now limited here as I am sure the clique will now report me at every available opportunity. Maybe I should start a forum for the banned ABers posts/answers.....heh

[ummmm]

Why would they do that zimzam? Although I have seen your name plenty of times I have no recollection of you saying anything that might annoy anyone. I don't see you getting into the arguments and I don't see you complaining at every opportunity. You are making a perfectly reasonable suggestion and I agree with what you say. Although I do get involved in the smut I wouldn't complain when the smutty threads or any smutty answers are removed. As far as I'm concerned some of them are very funny while they last. Despite what others may think I do understand why they are reported and at other times can't. I do believe that a lot of the reporting is done by people with multiple user names.

[muffty]

I don't use this site often, owing to work commitments etc, but often when time allows, read posts that have passed their sell by date! A couple of weeks back, someone posted a question on AB to which there were several replies. As often happens a coversation started up, and one of the posters came on in a different name but following up the previous answer given by them. This is probably why your friend was "outed" because other Abers thought they were running under two aliases. I might be wrong, please I am not having a go, or accusing you zimzam - but this so called "clique" that gets banded about (I believe people have become friends on here) is stretching it a bit too far.

[ummmm]

Is there really a clique? and can anyone name who is in the clique because I really haven't noticed one. This is a serious question?

[muffty]

I have noticed two particular abers who mention this "clique" quite often, but believe it to be some kind of dig at people that have become friendly, chat to each other etc. Probably just sour grapes, cos they haven't any friends and its the only way they can have a moan. One particular member (obviously not going to mention names), of these two, is always getting accused of multiple usernames - probably the only "friends" he/she has LOL!!!

[zimzam]

Ok Ummm and mufty. Let me start by saying I have no wish to be drawn into an argument and I can be wrong in my viewpoint, I just write how things strike me. Some time back my friend intoduced me to this site and a bit later she was attacked by a few (A,B,C,D) and left. I read everything and I often see A reply and hotly followed by B,C and D and then the whole thread vanishes into thin air - so I feel that A,B,C,D all are in cahoots off forum to report a poster and often then the whole thread vanishes.

i have seen some wonderful replies that have all been deleted because a small group have all taken offence to J.

no Ummmm, you won't see me saying anything that may annoy anyone because I like to give allowance for all contributions that I read,whether I like them or not -I honour all contributors and their time in replying (not to me) puts me on a learning path of knowing an answer to something that I have not asked but have read here, but I have seen wonderful replies vanish because the whole thread has been deleted (because of one or many complaints to an individual post) and that is so wrong.
My friend was ousted from here and possibly it was her own fault but I see time and time again ths same names all joining in to fight a poster and then the whole post vanishes - and with it some wonderful helpful replies from other ABers.

Muffty, I have already had sarcasm that I am flubber (when in point of fact we are two individual people) I personally see no ned to register under umpteen names as one is enough for me. My friend was outed for posting under one topic what the clique decreed should have been under another heading. They were not kind about it so she left and that's all I know. Other friends have left as they say this place is run my some members who pull rank - now I cannot agree or disagree but I think there is a problem somewhere as good posts vanish and some legitimate posts come under attack always

[ummmm]

OK, I know where you are coming from. I do understand and agree with what you put in your original post. The reason I said why would they report you was because you are so unoffensive.

Mufty, I think I know who you are talking about!

[zimzam]

I am asking that we do not turn this post into an all out war. I posted in exasperation but not to start a fight. I only have to look down the topics here to see posts "why was my reply banned" and to find answers that 5% of the time it was a rediculous question - 80% of the time it had sensible replies and 15% it got banned because of (a) some ABers posted smut a bit below the punchline or (b) the poster or one to answer was attacked by the clique names who posted and probably reported the answer, so the whole thread was pulled.

Why on earth can't we have a reply showing Fred Bloggs as the one to reply and nothing else of Fred's post apart from "deleted by the moderator" or "edited by the moderator"....we continue reading down sensible answers and the person showing edited/deleted can have their own walk of shame, but the sensible replies are left alone and so is the original thread and question. I can do this on a website I run with 3000+ members and I never delete an original post unless it really is a post that only attacks all members or my forum. Nox? shall I wage war against you and sign in and complain about one/all of your posts and get a whole thread deleted because I don't like your name or you upset a friend in replying as you did aeons ago so all my friends will back me and complain about you? Should I get all my friends to complain about your one answer or post and get any reply you make banned? How about you Zorro or you Ummmm - am I in a clique to report you for whatever you say? I am pretty sure that I could because this seems to be what is happening here. Oh Nox - I love you and your replies and I won't dream of reporing you, but you could be a good example - or should I pick Zorro simply because he offended a friend of a friend of a friend of mine? Or Ummmm because I don't like the name?

[muffty]

Not trying to start WW3 here zimzam. As I said before I rarely come on here, in fact I read more than I post. I am hoping that you have not taken offence at what I have pointed out, as I said before I am not having a go at you. Looking in from the outside (as I do), not getting involved in a thread i.e. contributing, due to my late arrival, so to speak, I probably see things in the cold light of day. I have not mentioned any names, but yes your friend who you have is the one I am referring to. I do however, repeat what I said, and that is this so called "clique" only exists in some fertile mind(s), who have nothing better to add to a thread, when several "friends" (people who have a camaraderie with fellow abers) happen to agree on viewpoints expressed. No-one should be ousted of this forum unless they have overstepped the rules - and that should be by the Ed and/or mods. No-one should feel that someone has intimidated them to the point of leaving the site.

[muffty]

"off" this forum.

[daisy48]

zimzam, I am with you 100%. As previously stated,our support group delete's only the trouble maker's or crude post's. I also reiterate that when a a person apply's for membership another moderator checks his/her ISP before approval just as a precaution in case that new applicant is a "Troll. Yes there is a "Clique" here allbeit small but still a Clique who come onto AB just to chat. Fair enough,the sex chat has now stopped but for those of us who fought to get it under control were branded as "Moaner's" and Miserable.