MsTriste
On the Spectrum
Joined: Dec 08, 2005
Age: 49
Posts: 3552
Location: Not here
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 Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:09 am Post subject: |
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| nirrti_rachelle wrote: | Alex, right now, I'm very hurt as many here are. It's going to take alot to heal as individuals and as a group. If we can't trust and respect each other to speak freely, then what good are we to give a voice to the rest of the AS community?
"The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don't agree with." ---Eleanor Holmes Norton |
I disagree with the decision to remove "The Truth" thread. First of all, I thought it was a good, honest discussion. While of course it was dealing with difficult subjects, I thought it was done in a civil way. To delete it does not give me any confidence that anything will change here. In fact, I was starting to have hope in this site, and to find that thread not just locked, but GONE, gives me little hope for positive change and renders the above apology useless, in my opinion.
Further, I do not think Mockingbird said anything that requires an apology. |
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Jetson
The Map Maker
Joined: Feb 23, 2005
Posts: 1219
Location: Vancouver, Canada
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 3:59 am Post subject: |
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I would not want to be paid. Aside from the fact that I don't need the money, I've had the experience of having a volunteer task turned into a paying position in the past and found it just takes all the satisfaction out of the job because I'll always feel I'm not working hard enough.
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What would Flying Spaghetti Monster do? |
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vetivert
gagged, but never silent
Joined: Sep 18, 2004
Posts: 5768
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 6:17 am Post subject: |
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alex - thank you for the apology. i've read your suggestion, and hope it can be made to work, this time.
i apologise for boring people half to death by highlighting this, yet again, but there is still the matter of your accusations against me of my alleged abuse of power, viz:
| alex wrote: | | Vetivert wasn't demodded because of her PM. Her PM was read because there was a belief that she was abusing her authority and it was likely that she would be demodded anyway. Other moderators had complained to me about her for quite some time before I finally took action. I had reason to believe that she had abused her power. I had reason to believe that she had done so via PM. |
| vetivert wrote: | | alex wrote: | | I did read a PM from vetivert as she was an admin and was suspected of using her authority to bully other users into accepting her liberal european views on political correctness. Most of our users are from the states so its hard to justify moderating based on this view. |
really, alex? i was bullying members into accepting my liberal european views by PM? do you have anything to back up this accusation? |
| alex wrote: | | I really don't see what the drama is. A moderator was abusing her power; she got caught; she complained; a bunch of her friends decided to complain as well; then people started spreading lies about WrongPlanet.net; end of story. |
i do not like my character to be impugned, and so respectfully ask that you address this, either by withdrawing the accusation, or by providing evidence to justify it. i do not make false or idle accusations without justification, and would ask for the same integrity from you.
you may not be interested, but if i can help with this new scheme of things, i shall, although i do not wish to be re-instated as a moderator or admin, even if that were to be on the cards.
thank you. |
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Asparval
The Big Chicken
Joined: Jul 03, 2004
Posts: 1175
Location: UK
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:00 am Post subject: |
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Lots of people squabbling.
It's very familiar ~ reminds me of work.
If this is an aspie trait I need to go back to the doctor to check my diagnosis because this is definately not me.
It seems to me there are at least 3,500 members who find it difficult to even post let alone PM.
They are still members. They are not posting but neither are they squabbling.
I find it difficult to post too ~ I also find it difficult to squabble.
I've always thought of squabbling as as NT trait.
AS is a spectrum condition ~ perhaps along with less impairment comes the ability to squabble. |
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Serissa
Ex-Moderator
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Joined: Jul 11, 2005
Posts: 4570
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:33 am Post subject: |
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I wasn't complaining about not being paid; I was simply pointing out that, seeing as modding is an unpaying job and seeing as mods tend to get a lot of crap from members, we need support from at least one side to make our efforts worthwhile, especially in trying times like this.
Thank you, Alex, for a direct response. |
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odeon
Toucan
Joined: Jan 20, 2006
Posts: 296
Location: Banned for comparing WP to a daytime soap!
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:37 am Post subject: |
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I think it was WRONG to remove the "Truth" thread. It screams censorship, as many members probably aren't checking WP every day, and now will not have the chance to form their own opinions of the matter. It's not solving anything, either, because the people that did read it are angry anyway, and not letting them speak this out is only going to get things worse.
I know I'm mad, and I know that I've lost faith in WP. A board of directors will not magically change that; recognising that deleting that thread was wrong might. |
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alex
Developer
Joined: Jun 14, 2004
Age: 26
Posts: 8100
Location: Beverly Hills, CA
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 12:54 pm Post subject: |
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| odeon wrote: | | I think it was WRONG to remove the "Truth" thread. It screams censorship, as many members probably aren't checking WP every day, and now will not have the chance to form their own opinions of the matter. It's not solving anything, either, because the people that did read it are angry anyway, and not letting them speak this out is only going to get things worse. |
I'm sorry you feel that way and I respect your right to hold that opinion. We're still not moving the thread back, however. The thread consisted of members making baseless accusations which have already been responded to.
I've had to continually repeat myself. Private messages are private and are not viewed by anyone other than the recipient. Sure, because of the nature of administration, sometimes a developer working on something will see them. Developers never look at them unless required to do so because of technical concerns or for the well being and safety of our members.
I'm sorry if this wasn't as clear as it should have been in the privacy policy, but it was there. I'm rewriting the privacy policy to make this more clear, but a lot of people would argue that it was your responsibility to ask questions if you didn't understand something in the policy. Here is what most websites would say in this case:
| Quote: |
We never received any support requests asking what terms in that policy meant. If anyone had a problem with it, they shouldn't have used the site. It's your responsibility as a forum member to become familiar with our policies and guidelines. Using the site represents an agreement to all notices in the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. |
However, while I agree with the fact that members should become familiar with all policies and guidelines, I care too much about the members to give such a clinical response. I realize that WrongPlanet made a mistake in making it harder for you to understand the policy but please realize that this is the first time people have had qualms or expressed misunderstanding of the policy and we made a mistake in assuming that people would naturally assume that private messages were accessible by developers in extreme circumstances. That was our mistake and we apologize.
As I said, I made a mistake in not trusting the moderators enough, but most of the community has done the same thing.
We have 3,830 members. 200 are on the site at any given time. I've only seen the same 5-15 people making most of the complaints. These are very vocal people, however, so some people are assuming that they represent the general feeling of site members. This is wrong and I think it isn't fair to expose members to a thread with so many falsehoods and personal attacks. I can only ask you to respect this decision. If you don't agree with my decision, I'm OK with that, but I do request that you respect the reasons for making the decision. In fact, after having made the decision other people have sent me messages thanking me for removing the thread. You just don't hear them because these are members who don't want to become involved in public controversy.
WrongPlanet is not a platform for free speech when that speech undermines WrongPlanet's ability to function as a support community and safe-haven for members of the community. A thread containing a plethora of lies regarding the privacy of WrongPlanet members will only serve in creating an uncomfortable atmosphere on the site.
I WANT you to give me feedback on what you think needs to change. Thats why I've directed people to use this forum. However, attacking others is not constructive and doesn't help WrongPlanet as a community in any way. If you continue not to have faith in WrongPlanet after we've addressed your concerns, you can leave, but I really don't want that to happen. That's why I've always been open to suggestions.
When people complained about intellitxt, i removed it. When people complained about the dating ads, I removed those. When people asked for a safe place to rant without being attacked, I created the Haven. I've worked hard to listen to everyone's input and I value all members of the WrongPlanet community which is what drives everything I do for WrongPlanet.
I thank you for support and hope this answers your questions.
-Alex
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kevv729
Shai-Hulud
Joined: Sep 23, 2005
Age: 50
Posts: 2882
Location: SOUTH DAKOTA
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 1:31 pm Post subject: |
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So where be a Board of Directors or what?
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Come on My children lets All get Along Okay.
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Pikachu
CB and PMR446 operator and RISC OS user
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Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Age: 31
Posts: 2789
Location: half way up a big hill
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| Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:53 pm Post subject: |
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what baffles me alex is why you didn't issue an on the spot ban to the author of that "The truth" thread like you did to me, how are they different from me? what did they do that I didn't? What didn't they do that I did?
I would also consider the reading of the PMs you did more or less the equivalent of reading other people's mail, which can be illegal in some places if my knowledge serves me correctly, and if you have broken any laws in your country (the US) by doing so I would advise that you take the consequences of your actions like a man.
finally on closing
| alex wrote: | | Vetivert wasn't demodded because of her PM. Her PM was read because there was a belief that she was abusing her authority and it was likely that she would be demodded anyway. Other moderators had complained to me about her for quite some time before I finally took action. I had reason to believe that she had abused her power. I had reason to believe that she had done so via PM. |
Why jump to conclusions, you could have at least questioned vetivert without reading any PMs
| alex wrote: | | I did read a PM from vetivert as she was an admin and was suspected of using her authority to bully other users into accepting her liberal european views on political correctness. Most of our users are from the states so its hard to justify moderating based on this view. |
vetivert would do no such thing, she was one of the nicest mods here, only fair that you give her mod status again if she wants it
| alex wrote: | | I really don't see what the drama is. A moderator was abusing her power; she got caught; she complained; a bunch of her friends decided to complain as well; then people started spreading lies about WrongPlanet.net; end of story. |
What lies? I don't understand? no one has been telling or spreading lies, i've been watching this forum for the past few months and not seen anyting that I would see as a lie about you or the forum
Now i've got that off my chest I feel much calmer, I see this as just a repeat of the events that lead up to my own banning, it's always the same issues.
Alex, one more piece of advice for you is to be open with all the users of this forum and all your moderating team, a developer being open and honest in the first place makes things a whole lot nicer for everyone
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RISC OS user and not ashamed to admit it
Who needs Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and BSD on the desktop? Who needs the x86 family CPU? RISC OS and the ARM CPU are the way forward  |
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odeon
Toucan
Joined: Jan 20, 2006
Posts: 296
Location: Banned for comparing WP to a daytime soap!
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| Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 1:24 pm Post subject: |
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What happened to the Truth thread this time? Has it been removed for good, moved, what? Censors can't make up their minds? For crying out loud, MAKE UP YOUR MINDS!!! 
This is like a daytime soap. A really bad daytime soap, and most of them suck anyway. |
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Pikachu
CB and PMR446 operator and RISC OS user
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Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Age: 31
Posts: 2789
Location: half way up a big hill
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| Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:02 pm Post subject: |
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I was one of the recent posters on that thread, and was civil about it, all i said was that I had problems with Alex from my early days, and pointed out he may have broken laws of his country of residence (the USA) and should face the consequences like a man
If that is his response to that then all I can say right now is he is on his way to making the situation a whole lot worse for himself, he should use other methods to avoid incriminating himself, such as be honest and open about the whole situation, not only to Wrongplanet members, but to the authorities should they have to investigate, which no doubt they will
| odeon wrote: | | This is like a daytime soap. A really bad daytime soap, and most of them suck anyway |
I agree with you there odeon, it is like a really bad daytime soap
_________________
RISC OS user and not ashamed to admit it
Who needs Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and BSD on the desktop? Who needs the x86 family CPU? RISC OS and the ARM CPU are the way forward |
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BeeBee
Phoenix
Joined: Apr 01, 2005
Posts: 2257
Location: Upper Midwest, USA
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| Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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This one may not have been Alex's issue. The thread was moved, some mods assumed Alex moved it. Because of that it it wasn't moved back in a timely fashion. Alex guninely seemed shocked that it had moved again. That, combined with the fact that his title was changed to a mean comment and that he hadn't changed the admin password which allowed former admins to still sign on, makes me think someone was causing mischief.
BeeBee |
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odeon
Toucan
Joined: Jan 20, 2006
Posts: 296
Location: Banned for comparing WP to a daytime soap!
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| Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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Well if that's the case, I'm really sorry for Alex. I'm sure he has enough to do without someone tampering on the site. Unfortunately, this turn of events only make this particular daytime soap look even worse. This is the kind of thing that would happen when a bored screenwriter does his thing. This or a brain tumor.  |
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