My thoughts on something.

[Nomos]

I have been on this forum for a fair amount of time but you may have noticed my absence over the last few months, this is because I simply do not agree with the way things are being done on here and it has reached the point where I feel I must speak up. Gone are the days of healthy discussion and debate. Its now a case of being bullied, banned and/or having your posts deleted not for breaking rules but for simply disagreeing with a member of the admin/mod team. It is absolutely ridiculous to claim 'professionalism' when obviously breaking rules, being rude to others and generally doing things regular members would be banned for.

I've seen several examples of people joining, asking a few questions then leaving abruptly because others have teamed up against them which is bad enough, but then being slagged off on social networking afterwards? I think ridiculous would be the appropriate word again. My question is 'why one set of rules for some and another set of rules for others?' I'm aware of the fact that a thread such as this will be deleted/locked so go ahead, it will only prove my point further. I am not the only member who views things like this.

I'm not trying to make enemies or insult anybody with this post, this is just the way I see the current situation on this forum and I hope you will all think about it.

Regards, Nomos.

[Kaitey (:]

Nomos I'm sorry to hear you feel uncomfortable here. If you ever think a member of this forum whether admin/mod or not is breaking the rules then please use the report function to alert the rest of the team. Recent banning decisions have had nothing to do with the admin/mod team who actually recommended a warning but were undertaken by the site owners. Again I'm sorry to hear you've taken this so personally.

[Boo]

I have been on this forum for a fair amount of time but you may have noticed my absence over the last few months, this is because I simply do not agree with the way things are being done on here and it has reached the point where I feel I must speak up.

I'm sad to see you don't agree with the rules of this forum but anyone is allowed to vote with their feet as you did.

Gone are the days of healthy discussion and debate.

I find this also sad and completely false, we have a wonderful community of people who help one another, have wonderful discussions on mods and all other aspects of life and share their experiences. Debate without drama is very much so encouraged.

Its now a case of being bullied, banned and/or having your posts deleted not for breaking rules but for simply disagreeing with a member of the admin/mod team. It is absolutely ridiculous to claim 'professionalism' when obviously breaking rules, being rude to others and generally doing things regular members would be banned for.

Despite your disclaimer at the end of your post I am personally offended and also offended for Katie and Simon that you have called us bullies. As someone who has been abused and bullied for a long time in their younger life, to be given this title is quite frankly disgusting and highly insulting. I have never bullied anyone on this forum nor have the 2 moderators and would prefer that you not accuse us of such things.

I have also never seen a case of someone being banned for anything other than breaking the rules. We do not claim professionalism, we are 3 volunteers who give up our free time to help run this forum (a lot of which is done behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly).

Rude is a matter of opinion but as above, if you are upset by something anyone has said or done then we have a report feature present on every post. The same goes for breaking rules, if you see anyone breaking a rule the report feature is there. I'm surprised you claim that so many people have issues yet these people never use this feature. If a member breaks a rule a mod handles it, if a mod breaks a rule an admin handles it, if an admin breaks a rule a site owner handles it. Simple.

I've seen several examples of people joining, asking a few questions then leaving abruptly because others have teamed up against them which is bad enough, but then being slagged off on social networking afterwards? I think ridiculous would be the appropriate word again.

If you can use the report feature on these "examples" then we will look into them. Again this is something that's never been reported and not noticed by the mod/admin/site owner team. We aren't perfect and with a forum that has 3/4 million members we can miss things, this is why we ask our members to use the report feature but again, it's not been used in these cases you mention.

My question is 'why one set of rules for some and another set of rules for others?' I'm aware of the fact that a thread such as this will be deleted/locked so go ahead, it will only prove my point further. I am not the only member who views things like this.

Again, this isn't being brought to our attention, if you can give examples then that's fair enough. A recent question on this was from a member asking why I could "advertise" in my signature and they couldn't (my old sig contained a link to a spiritual Facebook community page, whilst not a direct advertisement it could be seen as such and so I deleted it to be fair). If you can again point out other cases and if these other members you speak for can do the same by using the report feature then again they can be addressed.

I'm not trying to make enemies or insult anybody with this post, this is just the way I see the current situation on this forum and I hope you will all think about it.

Sadly you have insulted me with your accusations but with the amount of direct and indirect abuse and accusations I've been getting in the past 10 days or so I'm not surprised. No doubt people have been whipping one another into a frenzy. Amazingly, decisions that were made recently (as Katie mentions above) were undertaken when I was on holiday, with virtually no internet access, and made by BJS staff, not me, not Katie, not Simon.

I hope people will think about that.

[SleeeepyHollow]

I can't help like feeling like this is blown out of proportion on all fronts. I didn't realise people take it so seriously. If you don't like something, leave or don't get involved. Its the internet.

[Boo]

I can't help like feeling like this is blown out of proportion on all fronts. I didn't realise people take it so seriously. If you don't like something, leave or don't get involved. Its the internet.

When someone accuses my mods of being bullies I'll always take it seriously. I'm not pissed off (as someone is reporting I am) but I will defend those 2 lovely people

The rest is just hysteria as far as I can tell. It'll settle down like it always does.

[SleeeepyHollow]

Oh yeah i agree with that, i just kind of think people don't know when to walk away! I come here to relax, if there is stuff kicking off i generally just avoid it! I guess people come here for different reasons. I've never had mod trouble & have not witnessed any unfairness afaik! Ho hum

[Boo]

Oh yeah i agree with that, i just kind of think people don't know when to walk away! I come here to relax, if there is stuff kicking off i generally just avoid it! I guess people come here for different reasons. I've never had mod trouble & have not witnessed any unfairness afaik! Ho hum

I'm glad you're happy with the forum, nice to see someone is lol!

[catface]

I'm happy too Hazel! But I assume I'm one of the people referred to in Nomos' original post about things being said on social media. So maybe I'm one of the 'bullies' too?
I agree with Becky in the fact that this has been blown out of proportion. Not your reaction at all, your reactions have been justified, but the actions of people that have led to this whole thing blowing up. Sometimes I wonder how boring people's lives must be for them to take things that happen on THE INTERNET so seriously. Cyber bullying is a real and terrifying thing and I think some of the claims of bullying on here are trivialising a real thing that unfortunately happens to people every day.

[SleeeepyHollow]

I'm glad you're happy with the forum, nice to see someone is lol!

I have been lurking round here for some time :p

[MidnightDreamer22]

Well. Personally I've seen only one case like the one Nomos describes, and it was the girl with the small-gauge cheek piercings. It's in the past now but personally I can't say I liked how her case was handled, especially how she was mentioned (not explicitly, but it was clear it was about her) in a different thread after she had already been banned and couldn't speak up for herself. But that only happened once and otherwise I am happy with the forum, I feel that I've made friends here and it's a place where I can talk about anything I want, plus no trolls. There are trolls in every other forum I've joined and they've been VERY annoying.

P.S. I didn't even know there was a third Admin/moderator apart from Kaitey and Hazel O_o Noob much?