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Bug 234468 - Unexplained ban from the forums
Summary: Unexplained ban from the forums
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: Websites
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Forums (show other bugs)
Hardware: All Linux
: High normal
Assignee: Forum Moderators
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2008-08-11 14:47 UTC by David Leverton
Modified: 2008-08-11 15:49 UTC (History)
0 users

See Also:
Package list:
Runtime testing required: ---


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Description David Leverton 2008-08-11 14:47:03 UTC
Today, another forum user falsely accused me of trolling¹ by reporting one of my posts in the report thread.  I replied, defending myself, and now my account (dleverton) has been banned, apparently because defending oneself when attacked is against the rules.  I say "apparently" because I was not contacted first to ask me to refrain from doing so in the future, or even after the ban to explain the reason - I only know because I happened to be in #gentoo-forums and saw a conversation that seemed to imply that that was why it happened.

I wish to request that I be unbanned (either now, or after some suitable amount of time has passed), and also that the forum admins review the relevant policies to try to prevent such a thing from happening in future.

[1] presumably part of the pkgcore crowd's usual jihad against Paludis users and developers
Comment 1 William Keaney 2008-08-11 14:58:11 UTC
Falsely accused of trolling?  You mean, your blatant attempt to derail a technical discussion of a bash script?  Your refusal to honor steveL's request that you not comment any further or continue to divert the thread?
Comment 2 David Leverton 2008-08-11 15:10:22 UTC
(In reply to comment #1)
> Falsely accused of trolling?  You mean, your blatant attempt to derail a
> technical discussion of a bash script?

I did no such thing.  I merely asked him to clarify one of the points that he had previously made.

> Your refusal to honor steveL's request that you not comment any further or
> continue to divert the thread?

Asking a specific person to stop commenting purely on the grounds of being that person seems quite close to a personal attack to me.  Obviously he himself agreed, because he invited me to make an "official complain" (which I did not do).
Comment 3 Mark Bateman 2008-08-11 15:16:18 UTC
As far as I can tell this ban was done for posting in the Gentoo forum's feedback thread. That thread is for instance reporting of other posts/threads not for discussing other reports in GFF

A few months ago there was alot of slagging going on in said thread over a post report. It was at that point that admin/mod's stated that any further posting to GFF that was not todo with reporting a post elsewhere on the forums would result in a ban. iirc zlin got a ban due to posting in GFF in such a manner
Comment 4 David Leverton 2008-08-11 15:31:39 UTC
(In reply to comment #3)
> As far as I can tell this ban was done for posting in the Gentoo forum's
> feedback thread. That thread is for instance reporting of other posts/threads
> not for discussing other reports in GFF

Yes, that's what I understood from the IRC discussion that I mentioned.  This is one of the policies that I would like the admins to review, and if they decide to keep it, I request that it be clearly documented, and for them to approve some other means for people to defend themselves against allegations.
Comment 5 Mauricio L. Pilla (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2008-08-11 15:38:21 UTC
You have been banned for trolling in a support thread that has nothing to do     with you, for abusing the report thread, and for your history of name calling. As it is now explained, I'll close the bug. Future contacts with the forum mods team may be done in the irc channel #gentoo-forums or by the forum-mods@gentoo.org mail alias. 
Comment 6 David Leverton 2008-08-11 15:49:09 UTC
(In reply to comment #5)
> You have been banned for trolling in a support thread that has nothing to do   
>  with you, for abusing the report thread, and for your history of name calling.
> As it is now explained, I'll close the bug. Future contacts with the forum mods
> team may be done in the irc channel #gentoo-forums or by the
> forum-mods@gentoo.org mail alias. 

Disappointing, but only slightly surprising (I expected you to close it as INVALID or WONTFIX), given the forum admins' previous attitude towards Paludis developers.  Just for the record, though:
1) as I already explained, I was not trolling
2) if what I did was considered "abuse", then please at least make that clear in the initial post of that thread, and provide some other official means to dispute reports
3) I don't know what you mean by "history of name calling", but I slightly suspect it's code for "disagreeing with people who spread FUD about Paludis".