The truth will get you banned.

[Biddlin]

When a friend started a site recently, I was asked to participate and joined up. One of the fora was a "Backstage" sort of affair without restriction of politics, religion or anything else. I was wary of the possible personal attacks and inevitable butthurt and I chose to discuss the matter with the admin by pm rather than further inflame the whole membership. I suggested that the site might need to develop some rules and that certain topics were probably going to lead to trouble. The admin got butthurt and banned me, though he didn't have the grace to tell me. I had to pm another admin via a different site, to ask why I couldn't log in. He called me a communist and sad I was banned for not contributing anything of value, though my technical threads are still pinned there. Friends continue to contact me and asked what happened and will I return.
This is what I get for believing admins when they said that there would be no censorship. What makes me the saddest is that I cannot reach out to the good people on the site, I cannot recover my content, but most of all the lies told by the admin that will go unchallenged.
Just venting and a warning that you are more likely to get stabbed in the back by those you trust.

 

[donepearce]

A sign of the times, I'm afraid. Consider the number of men currently losing their careers and livelihoods on the basis of nothing more than an allegation. The days of the fair trial are behind us, and the world is run by the loudest pressure group.

 

[Biddlin]

A sign of the times, I'm afraid. Consider the number of men currently losing their careers and livelihoods on the basis of nothing more than an allegation. The days of the fair trial are behind us, and the world is run by the loudest pressure group.

I guess I'm angry that I was stupid enough to expect honesty. Just as those sites who eschew political content welcome it when it reflects the owners' or admis' viewpoint, that one professed an open forum, but it was only open to those who marched to the right tune.

 

[donepearce]

So many people, when they ask for your opinion really want to hear their opinion in a different accent.

 

[rotorhead]

Been there on many occasions myself. My advice: let it go. Sooner the better.

I've been an admin or mod on countless sites and several truths remain constant:

- Good people really do want rules and guidelines on the forums they visit.

- There is no freedom of speech on an online forum, unless you own it yourself. You will always be subject to another person's interpretation of FoS otherwise. You agree to the terms each time you create a profile on a site. The FoS as outlined in the US Constitution applies to our government, not to privately owned websites, especially if those sites are based elsewhere.

- Friends are only friends if they remain friends *after* they learn of your political leanings, or any other opinion you might have on a subject.

- A person will usually be treated as they treat others.

- Occasionally, a person gets treated like crap out of the blue no matter what he or she does.

- Unless you are invested financially in a web forum or contribute money as a paid member, your opinion on how to run it is usually ignored.

- To some degree, you will have a post deleted or modified at some point.

 

[syscokid]

Friends are only friends if they remain friends *after* they learn of your political leanings, or any other opinion you might have on a subject.

Bingo...

 

[Biddlin]

Like I said, mostly venting.

 

[Kerry Brown]

I think I know the site you are talking about. I still check in there but it is less all the time. There are a couple of friends on there that don't hang out elsewhere or it would be history for me. Don't let the a##holes get you down. The world is full of them. If you let them bother you life can be very rough.

 

[Biddlin]

Don't let the a##holes get you down.

I like some of the a##holes. Relic and I are buds. I just hate the blowhards who can't take as good as they give. It makes commenting less like a conversation and more like a bumper sticker. Most bumper stickers say the same thing, btw:"I'm right, you're wrong! Now get ******."

 

[iblive]

I feel your pain. I joined one and got banned for life...... after less than 10 posts. All I’d posted was who I am. Some background. Where I play. My last post was simply asking how to post a file. Was having problems posting. Went to log in a couple days later to see if there was a response.... and couldn’t. Couldn’t get an admin to tell me what I’d supposedly done wrong. Oh well. Their loss.

 

[Biddlin]

I got banned by the gear page, have no idea why. I didn't post there that much. Don't miss it.

 

[Didds]

So many people, when they ask for your opinion really want to hear their opinion in a different accent.

Thats gotta be one of the best quotes I've ever heard. That yours?

 

[donepearce]

Thats gotta be one of the best quotes I've ever heard. That yours?

Nope, afraid not. The original context was men and women, who just want to hear their opinion in a deeper voice.

 

[drown]

A sign of the times, I'm afraid. Consider the number of men currently losing their careers and livelihoods on the basis of nothing more than an allegation. The days of the fair trial are behind us, and the world is run by the loudest pressure group.

I agree with the sentiment, but a lot of those guys had what was coming to them. My wife's been on the receiving end of plenty of bullshit from guys like that. And if getting rid of them spare's her and my daughter anymore I say good riddance. Biddlin, I'm certainly not lumping you in with this. You are opinionated but a solid contributor, this sounds like a crap way to treat someone.

 

[Hector]

I got banned by the fanboys on the Chapman Guitars forum because I:

- Happened to mention that the water staining on one of their models (photos were not mine, but it clearly showed the problem on more than 1 guitar) led me to not consider buying one until their QA sorted itself out

- Explained to them how the Chapman guitars business model works, including how much each guitar costs to produce.

- Mentioning that I had a Framus (this was the one that REALLY pissed them off, for some odd reason...)

Apparently I was very, very wrong to have done this.

As you can see, I am heart-broken by the banning....

 

[SG standard]

I got banned by the fanboys on the Chapman Guitars forum...

Somehow it's hard to imagine a Chapman Guitars forum having anything but fanboys... I'd expect not being a fanboy would be enough to get you a ban.

 

[AngelDeVille]

I got banned off a couple forums, mostly for telling moderators to **** themselves, no biggie, just add the time saved to practicing the guitar.

I got in trouble on two forums for calling “Rolling Stone” magazine a liberal douchebag rag...

 

[Logan]

I got banned off a couple forums, mostly for telling moderators to **** themselves, no biggie, just add the time saved to practicing the guitar.

I got in trouble on two forums for calling “Rolling Stone” magazine a liberal douchebag rag...

Seriously. Don't change.

Retrobump!

 

[Bad Penguin]

I have had the "honor" of being banned from one of the strat forums, for saying I FELT the strat was a guitar full of design flaws, that people accepted as standard. Oh well, heartbroken over that one.
I follow the Klingon mantra of "Keep your enemies close, and keep your friends closer." Who cares if some "elitist" mod banned you for nothing. That site will die a horrible lingering death, with the most intelligent post being "Uhhhh, guitar? What's that?"

 

[michaelinokc]

So, your friend who started the site banned you?