stupid webmaster

[dave_a]

So, I have been a member in good standing for years at gardenweb.com where I enjoy chatting with others who share an interest in gardening.

Over the years I have made hundreds of posts, never anything inappropriate. The webmaster is a fundy christian type so I have always avoided cursing or anything of the sort, really prim and proper.

Ok, so in this one forum people frequently ask for help dealing with this or that critter damaging their garden. The thread usually starts off with serious suggestions on dealing with the problem and then degenerates into silliness about "novel" methods of dealing with the critter.

I made a post about squirrel fishing (just like fishing, but with squirrel bait) which I am pretty certain I stated directly was a joke, although I shouldn't have had to say such a thing since there were other posts of a similar nature. (caddyshack type ideas usually get mentioned)

Anyway, I go on with life, nobody in thread compains about my humor, nothing from the webmaster (I have never had any discipliary action from this webmaster) and I have long forgetten the post.

This weekend (2 weeks since the "offending post") I went to post and found myself redirected to disney.com. I use spyware removers/anti virus software, block all cookies except those that are necessary etc. so it seemed unlikely any of that was the problem, but I downloaded new software, ran it etc. Flushed my cache, removed all cookies. Basically spent a few hours trying to figure out what was wrong.

Couldn't figure it out so I emailed the webmaster asking if he has any ideas or if anyone else has reported such a thing since this only happened at that site.

He just responds with "Are you the one who posted that juvenalia about torturing squirrels." Nothing more than that one line.

I was floored. What a butt head. I sent him a polite response apologizing for any offense caused, indicated I didn't see the post as being in violation of the terms of use and had no idea he would be bothered by it or I wouldn't have posted it. Then I added that I felt he could have just emailed me indicating he didn't like the post or something. I wasted hours thinking I had something hostile on my machine.

Is it just me or does anyone else think this guy was a jerk?

I don't know what he is going to want me to do to get posting ability back, probably something fundyish so I just created another account and resumed posting. Felt the need to vent, thanks for your participation.

[Farren]

The guy is a jerk. Christ he must have a boring life.

[viscousmemories]

Yeah even putting aside the absurdity of banning someone for making such a joke, it was incredibly rude to do so without notifying you. That's exactly why I would never feel comfortable posting in an arbitrarily governed dictatorship. What I don't get is why so many people are willing to do so. I mean I understand it's a niche site and you go there for one relatively insignificant purpose, but obviously you care that you were banned or you wouldn't be venting about it here. So are you gonna make a stink there? If not, why not? If your answer is, "it's not important" then why are you bitchin? :)

[livius drusus]

That's bizarre, dantonac. What are the terms of service like at this place? You probably got it under some kind of vague offensive language clause. Did you have any passionate discussions with anyone who might have taken a disliking to you? Because that old post could have just been reported and the webmaster may not have noticed the datestamp.

Oh well... It's not just you. This guy was a highly unprofessional jerk.

[dave_a]

Yeah even putting aside the absurdity of banning someone for making such a joke, it was incredibly rude to do so without notifying you. That's exactly why I would never feel comfortable posting in an arbitrarily governed dictatorship. What I don't get is why so many people are willing to do so. I mean I understand it's a niche site and you go there for one relatively insignificant purpose, but obviously you care that you were banned or you wouldn't be venting about it here. So are you gonna make a stink there? If not, why not? If your answer is, "it's not important" then why are you bitchin? :)


I haven't made a "stink", it's not my style to do so. Part of me would like to post to every forum my compaint, but that would be immature.

All I have done was emailed the guy back stating that while my post didn't violate the terms of use as far as I can tell I apologize for any offense caused. Then I politely informed him that I found the method of his dealing with me to be rude since I was not notified as to what I had done wrong, I just got redirected when trying to post at the site and ended up spending a few hours troubleshooting.

The response I just got back said only this :"Dave,

That is normally what we do, when a person has made a simple mistake.

When someone posts something particularly juvenile, we, quite rightly, keep
them from posting. No one is asking for your approval."

So I sent back this :"Spike, I am not suggesting you require my approval for anything. What I am
asking is why are you being so rude to me for what you yourself called 'a
simple mistake'?
>
>The redirect was juvenile, which is what you accused me of being with a post.
I apologized for the post, what more are you looking for?
>
>A mature way of handling it would be to prevent me from posting with a message
indicating I had done something wrong, not a redirect that tells me nothing
about any offense.
>
>It caused me to spend hours troubleshooting my PC unnecessarily.
>
>Is this how you treat all members? I have been using GW for a couple years
now with no incidents I can recall beyond this one. Are you just having a bad
day or something? Again, I apologize for the post (honestly I see nothing
wrong with the post at all, I am just apologizing for it because it clearly
offended you).
>
>I honestly have no idea why you are being so rude to me.
>
>Am I ever going to have the ability to post again or is my membership
effectively cancelled?
>
>I just don't get the reason for all the hostility over a single post that as
far as I can tell doesn't violate the site's rules. If you didn't like it all
you had to do was say so and I wouldn't make such posts in the future.
>
>That would be the mature way to handle it anyway.
>
>I can't believe you treat everyone this way or there would be no members at GW.
>
>Can we resolve this in a mature way?"


His last response was this: "Dave,

You need to read more carefully. Clearly I was distinguishing between someone
making a simple mistake and someone deliberately posting some juvenile nonsense
about torturing animals.

The idea that I might care what inconvenience you cused yourself is rather
silly.

I think maybe you would be happier at a site geared toward your level of
discourse.

Take care,

Spike, Webmaster"

So, that's it. What he calls a post about torturing animals is just nonsense. Not only do I not torture animals, but on GW I am an advocate of what is called integrated pest management which calls for killing garden pests only when absolutely necessary, but instead focuses on gardening methodology that discourages pest problems in the first place. When a bug/critter has to be killed, highly selective methods that harm nothing else are preferred to broad based methods like leaving posions out. In other words I am something of a critter/bug lover and don't even kill spiders in my house.

I understand that he didn't get the humorous intent of my post, but the guy just pissed me off with his attitude. 2+ years of posting there with no problems and one misunderstood post and this is the treatment I get.

It's no big deal, the site is horribly mismanaged so it's not like I had any trouble registering with a different username. I'm just pissed at how I was treated.

Of all the places I have frequented on the web this is the first and only place I have ever been banned from. One other time I came close to getting banned from another site, but we were able to talk on the phone and settle our differences. It was another site run by a christian fundy with a TOS that served no purpose.

Grrr..

[dave_a]

That's bizarre, dantonac. What are the terms of service like at this place? You probably got it under some kind of vague offensive language clause. Did you have any passionate discussions with anyone who might have taken a disliking to you? Because that old post could have just been reported and the webmaster may not have noticed the datestamp.

Oh well... It's not just you. This guy was a highly unprofessional jerk.


About 6 months ago I had this guy who disagreed with the advice I gave someone to deal with a particular problem (no idea what the subject was). He replied in thread basically insulting me. I responded asking him to refrain from insulting me. He then began making insulting posts in other forums and it appeared to me he was following me around harassing me so I confronted him in a single post. I didn't call him names at all, I just told him that if he didn't cease his behavior I would report it to the webmaster.

He then left me alone.

That is the only conflict I have ever had with anyone on the site.

What burns me is that the people on the site are generally very good people and I have traded seeds/plants with several, and have relationships with several. Now that I have a different username they can't know who I am. the site doesn't provide a means for me to contact them so I would have to tell them who I am in a public thread. If I did that I would have that account yanked.

[viscousmemories]

The response I just got back said only this :"Dave,

That is normally what we do, when a person has made a simple mistake.

When someone posts something particularly juvenile, we, quite rightly, keep
them from posting. No one is asking for your approval."
Ah yes, the stereotypical Sanctimonious Tyrant. Nasty, but all too common in the Forum Administrator species. Insecure authoritarians always recoil when you challenge their judgement. How dare you question his authoritay!

Well I'm sorry, dude. You could probably give his ass a big sloppy kiss and he'd let you back in (after reminding you that he is the ruler supreme, natch) but that's up to you. I probably wouldn't do it 'cause I'm so stubborn, but if the relationships you've made there are important to you it might be worth it.

[dave_a]

no sloppy kisses for his ass, I just created a different account. His last email to me hid behind "policy" and he claimed I was being abusive and disrespectful to "staff".

Geez. The only staff is him and I haven't been in the least bit abusive and by disrespectful I can only assume he means that my criticizing his redirecting me to disney.com instead of sending me an email indicating my posting privelleges had been revoked for whatever reason as immature and unchristian (he's a fundy so I added that hoping it would have an effect) was disrespectful.

Wow. I am just amazed at this man's behavior.

So, he ends his response indicating that it's his duty to prevent me from posting.

My final response to him was that if his goal was to prevent me from posting he has failed since I have so many IPs/emails to use in registering it isn't possible for him to prevent me from reregistering and posting. All he did was cause me to think him a rude, arrogant person who refuses to discuss things in a civil manner.

I made sure to inform him I would register again at a later date even though I had already done so and have begun posting. I hope the guy spends time scrutinizing every new account application for weeks. I told him I wouldn't mention his immature behavior in the forums, but I wasn't going to be shut out from a community I spent years in for doing nothing wrong, nothing to violate the TOS.

At this point I have calmed down, but I was livid before. I just don't get why people need to behave like this.

It's not that he doesn't have the right to do as he pleases with the site he runs, it's that it isn't necessary to treat people the way he has treated me. Given that it isn't necessary, why do it?

[Godless Dave]

Just as an aside, in Mongolia anglers really do use squirrels for bait.