Trouble on the Wrong Planet?

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I've noticed a trend towards increasingly tightened up moderating on WP, and then I came here and read all the drama. I really don't want WP to turn into AFF or any number of other forums, AS or NT, I've seen implode over the years. If I am asked or forced to take sides in a debate which does not concern me, I will quit.

I have experienced being ganged up on on a forum to the point where I can't do anything right in the eyes of The Powers That Be, and subsequently banned, and if it starts happening here to large amounts of people, or large amounts of people start being forced to side with one side or another, I'll be greatly tempted to throw my computer in the trash. That's what happened on AFF, on the old Rich Dad Forums there was a little clique that formed and that eventually left to form their own forum and banned everybody who wasn't "in", when I went to Minion Report, a survivalist forum, I immediately got screamed at and banned after just a month. I am starting to greatly miss the old Usenet P2P forums where arbitrary bans and post removals were literally impossible.

I am starting to worry that human beings can't govern themselves, that Thomas Jefferson's great experiment was all a lie, and that when there is power to be exercised, it will be, with an iron fist. I am not pointing out ANYBODY, I am NOT taking sides, but if we can't put office politics behind us, people who have been the victim of office politics so many times ourselves, then forget it, forget it ALL, the net is just a big shopping mall, and that's all it's good for. Forums, this one and others, give me a reason to get up in the morning, and if we can't have net forums, then I spent $1700 building myself a really nifty 2.3 Ghz word processor. I might as well have my old Mac back with the 16 Mhz chip and the black and white screen. Now, can we get along, or do I have to smash my computer?

I wouldn't expect a drastic change like that; after all, it's not like Alex isn't still the owner. And unless he's taken a railroad spike to the brain like Phineas Gage, I don't see his personality changing towards that kind of totalitarianism.

Yes I have noticed that too. I had a moderator warning for profanity and I had no clue what he was talking about so I had to go through my posts and figured what he meant. In the past I was never given warnings for my language and I see other members doing it. But I have not seen any gang ups.

About what happened at AFF, that has ended. All that drama rama is over and things are calm again. No attacks.

the only one ive seen swinging the hammer around here is the monkey guy( cant remember his name starts with a "m") only yelled at me once that was my second post i was swearing.

not complaining just seems like a waste of mod powers policing naughty language. as far as clicks? i dont see any one ganging up, just the few people that post regularly.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion; given that there are active members here as young as 8 years of age, monitoring the use of profane language is not unreasonable, and has been a long standing component of the site rules. There has been on-going discussion regarding the enforcement of the rules, any changes in their implementation that will be coming in the near future, and finding additional methods for issue resolution for the membership as a whole. WrongPlanet is a support site, and its rules and goals reflect that; different forums are best for different purposes.


M.

understandable, there is a kid section that i dont go in. cant possibly see what i could have to do in there. but that doesnt stop the kids from going in the adult section. adult section should be password protected admittance only to 18 and up, and some of the wording policys should be relaxed in there. i got to say i feel bound not being able to talk like i normally do. i have to stop and re-read every thing i type to make sure i didnt say f***.

its a modeling issuse from childhood i cant help it.

"Adult autism issues" is limited to 17 and up; you can't go in if you're younger than 17 or if you haven't entered a birthday on your profile.

well then the vocabulary restrictions should be lifted in there then

The topics can get a lot more risqué there; I don't see why that isn't enough. A lot of the time, cursing just takes away from a post (and I cuss a lot in real life).

They are not lifted there; there is tolerance granted in the Adult forum, but if it offends or causes complaints the rules still apply. Similarly, just because there is a filter that helps to keep the worst language from fully showing in all cases, that does not equate to license to swear freely and hope that it is caught... every is still responsible for their actions.


M.

The only problem I find confusing about the WP rules is mentioning of banned members, my good friend mentioned a banned member and she got a warning and she didn't even know that person was banned.

Half the times, members do not have a clue that the member is banned, if the person knew they were banned, then remind them not to talk them in threads and take it some place else or in an instant messaging, it would save alot of stress.

I don't know if you like that idea?

Who was the friend?

Yes I got a PM too back in Jan about mentioning a banned member and when I told her off, I got a warning. A final one. Everyone said the warning was bogus and the banning. I'm sure Alex thought the same too because he said I wasn't banned.

i still havent got an answer as to who i pissed off the other night

I best tell you that person under PM/IM.

I just don't understand why on earth would a person get a warning when they have no clue and it would be alot easier if the mods tell alex the banned member so he could put the red X's on them.

Unfortunately, Alex doesn't really run the site these days, he just pops in from time to time when things get really out of hand; e.g. a mod damages the site by deleting a longtime member's existence along with their 15,000+ posts.

Rule creep becomes a problem because the TOS is as old as the site and without clarifications from Alex the rules can be whatever the mods want to interpret them as. The only recourse a member with a problem has is to attempt to contact Alex directly, and this can be problematic. I got ahold of him by posting a thread in this forum with the title "ISO Alex Plank", other people have had luck with his AIM account and calling him on the phone, his numbers are listed at www.alexplank.com. If a member is having problems with a member of the mod team, contacting Alex is your best bet, otherwise viotations of the amorphous "rules" can be used to justify a ban, it's impossible to avoid when they're so unclear.

Also, if you feel that you're being unfairly targeted by a mod, speak up about it in this area of the forum. If you are banned you lose access to your PMs and any evidence of misconduct that is contained there, so make a public record of the problem. This also may help alert Alex that there is an ongoing problem on the off chance he stops by, if he doesn't see evidence of problems he has no reason to suspect that things are awry. Screenshots can also be posted to the posterity section of Intensity Squared to provide a record if you fear that threads and posts may be edited or disapeared.

I saved the PMs to word pad before getting banned. After hearing stories about this place and the unfair bannings. I just knew it would happen and it did. I wasn't surprised.

Alex was here before my accounts were deleted though so he didn't just pop back in when it happened.