Messages

Oh yeah, contrary to the "don't shit up threads" remark, if Scojo or planetoid does start posting again (and I expect you will notice it if he does) feel free to report, post and spam that thread into the floor.

If you keep him busy enough he won't have time to post in more than one place before he's re-banned.

I think my booze is tomorrow. A nice fat can of 3-in-1.

I don't know Jim, there are those films that are so bad they're good. If you know what I mean.

I'm sure his screenplays could be recycled by a community theatre group. Maybe add some musical elements. A moral story about the decline of the coal industry.

Read-through?...Fuck that, Alan Moore only does first drafts of everything.

Its all about the draft notes.

Illuminatus! Illuminatus!

I saw it at the cinema and quite enjoyed it as a piece of entertainment and eye candy.
I hear the Catholic Church also didn't like it, so thats a bonus.

Oh, just by the by, in future the site should remain up to date showing the pending prog/meg way before its due release date, including stories and authors and all that jazz.

This is providing Matt gets me the data on time, I can be bothered to do the update and the site keeps running. So highly unlikely.

Will it get me banned if I point out that you've mis-spelled appreciation ...?

Yes. [spoiler]   (No.)   [/spoiler]

I'm sure I misspelled a lot more than that. I think I counted about 5 on my read-through.

E: Oh, I also added a couple of small points. Most importantly about you guys winding yourselves up.

Please direct your attention to this thread dealing the all the matters noted thus far.

I apologise this was not done sooner. I was watching Angels and Demons.

[Remember that you're arguing on an internet forum.]

While its true that the scurge of Scojo is a blight to any community, there was a lot of drama today which could have been avoided.

Firstly we've had the Cursed earth story thread, which slowly dribbled down the drain due to a small prank and a few spikey remarks.

PeterWolf and King Trout were temporarily banned by w3bz for 24 hours (the sortest time we can do), which has now been liften, in order to let them settle down. PeterWolf maybe got the short end of the stick here as he hadn't really done anything except retaliate, but King Trout seemed to be calling out the mods to do something about him.

Problem Point: We are not here to settle disputes between boarders or to take sides. This is why you were both "suspended".

If two people get into a heated argument on the forum and start throwing insults, its not part of our job to work out whose right and wrong. You can bicker and scream and insult eachother all day long for all we care, so long as no threats are made.

Problem Point: We don't, however, appreiciate back-seat mods, or having our jobs dictated to us.
This is the reason the suspension came down, and it was across both accounts to ensure no mistake about not picking sides. We prefer broader measures over false favouritism.

I apologise for the fact the temporary bans were not made clearer to the users who were suspended. W3bz has a much shorter tether when it comes to settling disputes than I do.

As I said, both accounts have had their bans lifted, that thread has been locked, and unfortunately PeterWolf appears to have unregistered his account. I'll be disabling that "feature" from now on.


Problem Point: Remember that you're arguing on an internet forum.
If you're getting angry then you're using the forums incorrectly. Know when to walk away from an argument and don't try to get the last word in, because you can't.



Scojo, for those who don't know (like me about 6 hours ago), is a name of a person who was on several communities and plagued them quite badly.
His posting style is fairly unique, and he tends to have a negative disposition even if he likes the core subject matter.
He has a tendancy to both post and praise his own work, even if its quality can be questionable. This leads to his being criticised (constructive or otherwise) and more often than not he fails to heed such criticism, resulting in yet more criticism and goading, until insults start to fly.

As best I have been able to work out, the above criticism led to his character being questioned and becoming unwelcome in many threads. This coupled with his frequency to post caused an alienation between him and other posters, and one day he went a step too far and made false claims about members and creators alike.

Scojo was banned from this and many other communities, a ban which stands today.


Today, Jim Campbell after watching user "planetoid" for some time, claimed that he (planetoid) was Scojo masquerading under another name. As Scojo has done this in the past, thus it is more than likely. Several other users followed suit in this belief and thus another thread started to spiral down the drain as arguments errupted. I was forced to temporearily lock that thread and edit some posts elsewhere to stop the issues spreading.

Problem Point: If you have an issue with another user on the forum which extends past simple arguments, please contact us directly rather than shitting up a thread.

I started reading up on Scojo and checked out planetoid. Thus far planetoid hasn't made any posts which would lead me to ban him - he's made good attempts at participation in threads and despite showing a slightly zealous attitute towards his beliefs and denying criticism of any degree, theres not a good reason to fault him. For this reason he has remained an active member.

Problem Point: Planetoid never actually posted anything particularly volatile, just snide.
You guys let the issue wind you up simply by his suspected presence than due to any real threat to the community. If I signed up an account called Scojo and made a few pleasant posts you wouldn't be commending Scojo on his reformed posting style, you'd be crying for his ban and running for the hills.
Strong communities are only as strong as their members.

Inversely to planetoids civility, I've been reading up on Scojo's posting habits on the 2000ad news groups and the more planetoid posts on these forums, the more his posting style reflects that of Scojo's in the past.

I've been very cautious about risking banning innocent users, and there is no solid proof linking planetoid and Scojos many accounts.
It was over 100 posts by planetoid before Jim called shenanigans, and planetoid has only made the odd snide remark, rather than posting anything insulting, despite many people goading him.

However, as Wakes ban for Scojo still stands, planetoids posting styles match Scojos so heavily, and so many users are crying out for the ban to be effected, I've decided to ban planetoids account from the forums.

Planetoid, I take no joy in banning your account and I do so under request of the community.

You've been banned as your posts are in the same style as Scojos and quite frankly I would be suprised if you're not the same person.
In the likely event you are Scojo, I'm sorry the community did not feel they were in a position to give you a second chance as a regular poster, but I can tell you why this is:

• You don't listen to other posters, accept their criticism or point of view.
  You might think you've listened to their point, but you really need to take it on board and not just discard it.
  They're people like you with their own reasons - you need to understand those reasons in order to supply a counter argument. Failure to understand a person results in conflic.


• You post way too much about things people are not interested in.


• You reply to your own threads multiple times even when nobody has shown interest in them.
  Apart from making the forum a mess and bumping worthless topics, this shows way too much interest in yourself rather than in participating in the community.


• You masqueraded behind a new assumed identity.
  You were bound to be found out eventually, and attempting to assume a new identity was an abject failure.


• You have not attempted to endeer yourself to the community.
  Sure, you try to post nice, but the previous events on other forums which have made you so incredibly unlikable have not been apologised for. The collective community do not want you around as you cause trouble.
  The only way you can ever expect to rejoin the community is to come right out, apologise for any past misdeeds and accept any previous misunderstands. You need to ask for the communities forgiveness and acceptance. If the community decides not to give you a second chance, you should leave the community alone. If they give you that chance, you should tread carefully.
  

Your lack of honesty and willingness to accept responsibility and repent your sins on these and other communities are the reasons nobody likes you.


This is now the home of all conversations related to todays events.
Any threads derailed by discussions relating to Scojo, planetoid or the temporary bans will be locked if further discussion continues along those lines.

No further bans will be enacted and a general rules thred will eventually materialise somewhere at some point when I'm not seemingly working my weekend.

Stop shitting up this forum with drama and discuss something nice.
Like kittens.

This thread isn't going anywhere nice. I'm axing it now to save further drama.

You beat me to it. Aww.

Shall we devote the rest of this thread to heaping fulsome praise upon one another and make a solemn vow that if one of us gets banned, everybody else will quit as a gesture of solidarity?

Don't take away my toys.

By the way, Jim, it's 'a' not 'the'.

Surely this is subjective, as to wether you're talking about a specific millionaire ("the" implies theres only the one) or a much broader line about one of many.

"the" sounds more involving and personal, whereas "a" makes it a bit more third person, to my mind.

[FORUMS]

WHEN FORUMS GO BAD

After these commercials.

But how many members of this board don't even read it? I suspect there are several, and what do they contribute to this board apart from trash?

Administration.