Banned users

[frenat]

A previous poster here was banned for a similar reason. Moonman already had a warning when his thread the previous day was deleted for containing links to the videos. Why are you defending him when he clearly knew that what he was posting was not allowed?

Perhaps Proboards would not have shut the forum down but how can you know? Do you work for Proboards? Usually it is better to err on the side of caution rather than take a chance.

And just what argument did Lunarorbit lose? Moonman wasn't albe to present a conherent argument since his first post.

[spongebob]

frenat said:

And just what argument did Lunarorbit lose? Moonman wasn't albe to present a conherent argument since his first post.

Perhaps he isn't the only one?

[LunarOrbit]

spongebob said:

I didn't see MoonMan's post, but video of Saddam Hussein's execution has been shown in the UK on BBC1, BBC2, BBC4, ITV, ITV2, Sky TV, and CNN, and still photographs of Saddam Hussein standing on the gallows with a rope around his neck, and of his body with the noose still around his neck have appeared in the Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express, the Sun, the Daily Mirror and in every other printed news medium.

What part of "I don't care what other websites/television networks/newspapers/magazines do" don't you understand? This is my forum, if I don't like something I don't have to allow it. It's that simple.

To say that ProBoards would have shut down the forum because those images appeared here is simply a transparent and laughable lie.

Really? Are you sure about that? Have you talked to the Proboards lawyers? Are you willing to gamble that they won't shut us down and delete the 30,000 posts we have made over the last two years? I'm not willing to do that. I do not have a backup of the posts, and I can not transfer them to another forum. If they were to decide that the execution video or still images violated their terms of service all of the posts we have made could be lost. I'm not taking any chances.

I admit the Proboards TOS is kind of vague on the matter. It doesn't explicitly forbid execution videos or images, but it does prohibit "adult content". Do images of dead bodies constitute "adult content"? I'm not sure, but like I said, I'm not taking any chances. I'm not going to risk 30,000 posts over Saddam's execution pictures... he is not worth it.

So go ahead and start your own forum, and then after you have 400 members and 30,000 posts you can do something that violates the TOS. Maybe they won't even notice. Maybe they will even allow it. But maybe not. So by all means, gamble with your own forum, not mine.

MoonMan was banned because he believes that the Moon landings were hoaxed. "I had to do it or ProBoards would have shut us down" is one of the Administrator's standard excuses.

It doesn't matter how many times you repeat it, spongebob, it doesn't make it true. If believing the moon landings were faked was all it took to get banned then explain why you are still here (or turbonium, lionking, and 3onthetree for that matter). Explain to me why I waited until he had made nearly 600 posts before I banned him.

The simple truth is that Lunar Orbit lost the argument and so reacted in the only way left open to him.

Yeah, because Moon Man was so close to the truth... I felt threatened by his superior intellect and had to get rid of him. Care to explain why I left all of his moon hoax posts for everyone to see if they scared me? Your argument is so ridiculous that I can't believe you're actually making it. Aren't you embarrassed?

[echnaton]

To say that ProBoards would have shut down the forum because those images appeared here is simply a transparent and laughable lie.

I see you are campaigning for the same fate as Moon Man.

Calling people liars is not a good way to make friends. LO runs a fair board that gives those who disagree with the majority here plenty of room to make their case. MoonMan was banned because of certain actions not for his beliefs. Whether you agree with him or his interpretation of the ProBoards rules is irrelevant.

[spongebob]

admin said:

What part of "I don't care what other websites/television networks/newspapers/magazines do" don't you understand? This is my forum, if I don't like something I don't have to allow it. It's that simple.

Yes, we've got that SIR!

[Bob B.]

spongebob said:

Yes, we've got that SIR!

If you have a problem with it then leave. No one here will miss you.

[LunarOrbit]

I really don't get it. No one is forced to read the forum, so if they don't like the way I moderate it then they are free to leave. They are also free to start their own forum and moderate it any way they see fit. If other people prefer Spongebob's moderation style over mine then his forum will be more popular than this one.

So go to it, Spongebob. Start your own forum and show me how an anarchist like yourself would do things.

[spongebob]

admin said:

I really don't get it. No one is forced to read the forum, so if they don't like the way I moderate it then they are free to leave. They are also free to start their own forum and moderate it any way they see fit. If other people prefer Spongebob's moderation style over mine then his forum will be more popular than this one.

So go to it, Spongebob. Start your own forum and show me how an anarchist like yourself would do things.

So that's your way of saying "ProBoards would have closed this forum down if I hadn't banned Moonman"?

[PhantomWolf]

I really can't believe you are playing so thick SB. Heck as soon as I realised what MM had done I PM'ed him with a basic, "I suggest you delete those images because otherwise you'll get banned." Why did I know? Because the precident had already been set. Post execution images, get banned, pure and simple.

You seem to be going out of your way to be thick on this one, it's not that hard to figure out.. If it really was something to do with his HB stance, then why ban him over something that had nothing to do the Hoax? Why let him post for so long? Why let you, Turbonium, lionking, kj, HeavenlyBody, or any of the other HB's that post here last more than a day?

The facts are simple, people get banned here for two reasons. 1) Being rude and obnoxious (otherwise considered trolling.) This has even had at least 3 alleged Apollo supporters banned (and one on a 50% warning.) 2) Breaking the terms and conditions set by both Proboards and by this board's administrator. One of those rules is don't post offensive images, and in this case and long before this case, execution images were deemed to be offensive and would result in being removed from the board. MM was official warned by LO and unoffically told he was skirting with banning by me (though I'm unsure if he got it or not before being banned.)

After being warned by LO he made the choice to post offisive images KNOWING the consequences of doing so. MM got himself banned, plain and simple. It wouldn't have mattered who posted them, even if it had been Jay, Bob or I that had posted them, it'd be the exact same result. Trying to turn this into a He was HB so he was banned is just making you look incredibly stupid.

[LunarOrbit]

spongebob said:

admin said:

I really don't get it. No one is forced to read the forum, so if they don't like the way I moderate it then they are free to leave. They are also free to start their own forum and moderate it any way they see fit. If other people prefer Spongebob's moderation style over mine then his forum will be more popular than this one.

So go to it, Spongebob. Start your own forum and show me how an anarchist like yourself would do things.

So that's your way of saying "ProBoards would have closed this forum down if I hadn't banned Moonman"?

How on earth did you get that from what I said?

I have never said Proboards would have closed the forum, only that they could. Here is the line in the Terms of Service that concerns me the most:

The Provider may at its sole discretion remove any message board for any reason.

I can't read their minds, so it's impossible for me to say with any kind of certainty what they will and will not allow. They have some vague guidelines but it is impossible for them to list every single action that could result in them closing a forum.

[Al Johnston]

I have seen ProBoards forums vanish at the click of a finger. It can take as little as one complaint from someone viewing the forum as a guest.

[LunarOrbit]

I really wish I had chosen to host a forum on my own server back when the old forum's hosting expired. It would have given me the ability to backup the forum database and I would have sole ownership so I wouldn't have to worry about Proboards (not that I would allow the execution video in that case). Financially that just wasn't an option at the time, and now we have an established forum here that I can't move.

[spongebob]

alasdhair said:

I have seen ProBoards forums vanish at the click of a finger. It can take as little as one complaint from someone viewing the forum as a guest.

Evidence?

[petereldergill]

Are you going to quit harping on this at somepoint and quit pretending that people here are being persecuted? Post something useful

Pete

[nomuse]

More like a side issue anyhow. If LunarOrbit had decided that no pictures of cats were allowed here (perhaps he had experience with another board collapsing under the weight of cat pictures, or perhaps he was just a felinaphobe), and this was made clear to all participants, and within the last few months a long-standing board member got banned due to posting a picture of a cat....

What can you call a man who suddenly takes time out from arguing about Apollo to post a picture of a cat -- other than SUICIDAL.

I mean, really....the laws of physics will suddenly be amended (or, least, better understood by forum participants) after we've viewed a picture of a hanging? Somehow, one image of a former dictator in a noose proves that there really is no such thing as vacuum, and there is really a temperature in space?

There is no _argument_ in a picture of an execution, other than an emotional one. Was it so essential to making some case (about what...that governments were capable of immoral acts? That humanity was capable of violence?) to put this actual picture into this forum? People have been urged to revolt and war through words alone, throughout the long span of written history. How pathetic is it to decide that you are incapable of making even an emotionally loaded argument, and have to descend to the shock value of a picture. And you are doubly foolish in assuming that this easily available, publicly accessible picture will not be seen by forum participants unless you personally post it here.

Moon Man was warned against this act. He was shown an example of this act and its consequences. And he was even given an opportunity to retreat before it became too late. I can only assume that he intended to get himself banned.