TonyM

Albert? Seriously, Albert? I think you're in over your head Thierry. Did you talk to him first and then react or did you follow the same protocol as with me?

I have considered the idea of letting those with more than 1,000 posts to change their user title to whatever they please. Do you think that would be a good idea?

I don't consider double identities a ban worthy offense unless the second or whichever number of identities is used to do something dishonest - like gang up on people (as grunt did with chubby - even having back and forth conversations in one thread with himself) or cheat in the stock picking contests.

The moderators are not any of the posters, I wouldn't allow that and it is that way to prevent more flame attacks or fighting between members. Of course I get all the flack, but that's OK. The moderation really works well, we mostly just filter out about 200 spam posts a day and rubber stamp the other posters unless there is something really disgusting. I think gzapper was in moderation for three days before he stopped inserting scatological references into each of his posts. The purpose of the moderation is to keep a certain tone in the forum. Of course, the forum can be improved, and we are not perfect, but we are trying to improve things.

There is a good thing and a bad thing with the awards etc. and of course it causes an elitism but it also creates incentives. When we dropped the prizes I thought we would see a decrease in the posts for the contests, but the public recognition in the user profiles seem to be the motivation for participation, I know that if we don't fix it right away we get an email promptly!

Of course I don't want to erase you from the forum, I just hope your desire to be disruptive and rude is because you are frustrated with things here that you don't like and maybe you feel powerless to change them. Part of that is maybe because I have been unable to devote as much time as needed to run this forum properly, that seems to be changing now and I am becoming more involved, and maybe some things that I let slide before are going to have to change, but I don't think blowing everything up is going to help.

Our registration agreement states that we reserve the right to keep posts in the archives, because if we didn't whole threads would be destroyed. We always honor requests to remove individual posts that for whatever reasons the poster has decided to remove, but it is impractical and unfair to the other users to delete posts once they have entered threads. I appreciate the fact that you recognize this and that you aren't demanding we remove your posts, almost all of which are valuable contributions to the forum's archived history.

Your contributions are just as important as anyone else, to answer your question "of what use could I be to you?" I don't like the way you berate people, and I know there are others here who have done the same thing, but I try to stay neutral in order to preserve the peace and respect poster's rights to express themselves. However, the forum is growing again, and I want it to survive and prosper, and I feel that new users are often intimidated by the harsh response they receive here from some of the senior members. I recognize that you are not the only one that does this. I was hoping though that you were enlightened enough, from your previous expressions of concern, to help cool the rhetoric, so that new users could feel more comfortable. The forum isn't going to grow if we don't allow fresh blood into the place. Maybe some newbies get through our spam filtering moderation system (all new users are moderated until we feel they are legit) but there has to be a better way to deal with any that get through than a public thrashing. And I don't think it is fair to hold the administrators of the forum to such high standards, we are trying to make this place successful, and it is impossible to do this and make everyone perfectly happy all the time.

I may across as cool and spock-like but believe me I am passionate about what I do and it requires great patience to run a forum without losing your cool. The place would be a war zone if I let my emotions run wild. I have chosen to make the running of the forum my priority, and although there may be room for improvement and helpful criticisms and suggestions are always welcome, I don't understand how name calling and personal vendettas contribute anything to the user experience here. I really felt baited over the last little while as you guys cranked up the nastiness in what seemed like an attempt to engage me in a confrontation. I now know that grunt was trying to discredit this forum in order to transplant our users to his, but I really didn't understand why you were helping him in that mission. I know you like it here or you wouldn't care about any of this, and you could just post on grunt's forum and avoid the horrors here, so I hope you give this place another chance and remain a contributor.

I told you what the problem is; a double standard. Your proposed change in the rules is exactly what I had suggested to you in that pm a few weeks ago. Why did I have to go to extremes to get your full attention? Maybe some people are bending your ear, just remember that they have their own agenda as well.

The whole issue of titles has become absurd and intimidating to new posters. Forum leader might as well say post whore, that is all it really amounts to. How much reputation, how many contests won, all lead to elitism. How many times have newbs mentioned that they feel they are not a part of this club? Why are your moderators seemingly planted as spies? Are they ashamed or just lurking and waiting to pounce with petty quips like a small dog that yaps from the safety of his master's lap?

Sounds like you don't want to remove my existence from your forum, I have freely admitted to having more than one identity which is supposed to be grounds for an immediate ban. I have by your own admission caused disruption, of what use could I be to you?

Then there is the issue of obvious scam site advertising and pumpers, didn't super32 just join and tell us how he pissed away $47? How long did you let Prodigy shamelessly pump those sub-pennies? How many people bought into that fiasco that was CSHD?

There are some high level traders on this forum, I won't count myself among them but how many times must they try and shoot down the obvious scheme and try to save some hapless new trader? You know I don't really care anymore, Darwin was right. But you should know that those who are more compassionate than I, do indeed care and they my friend are your real bread and butter for this forum. Without such high caliber members this place would turn into a Yahoo pump & dumparama.

I say that you can do as you wish, it is as I have said several times, your house. Perhaps you will make changes that will make your forum better, perhaps you will drop that emotionless response persona when people point out discrepancies. Does it get tiresome to be held to a higher standard than anyone else? You betcha, comes with the territory, but those who can master the task can reap great rewards, those that don't usually find the occasional smart ass thorn in their side.

Maybe I'll watch for a while and see what transpires, for the moment I do not feel compelled to add any more posts to the general forum. I may never feel compelled again, a negligible loss in the big picture to be sure since I cannot reasonably force you to remove my entire post history.

I agree with you TonyM that the rules should be the same for everyone. I am going to post today or tomorrow an announcement that personal insults between members (we will allow attacks on public figures) will not be tolerated. I am not sure whether the vote will be for an infraction system or the discretion of the moderators, but no foul language between members (and that includes the administrators) will be allowed. The infraction system would allow for some transgressions, with the system putting people in moderation for a limited time and then an outright ban after a certain number of warnings or infractions occur. What would you say to that?

Also, the reputation system was an experiment - most people seem to like it, but if you don't like it, you can turn it off in your control panel, and a black square will appear. I want to let the system continue for another few weeks and then have a vote about whether or not to keep it.

You said "If you had any intention of rectifying any issues then you would have asked me what the problem was and what I expected to be done about it and then made a decision on a course of action." So here I am now, asking you what the problem is. I am listening.

I asked if you thought banning me would solve the problem, apparently you did. If you had any intention of rectifying any issues then you would have asked me what the problem was and what I expected to be done about it and then made a decision on a course of action.

I mentioned to you before in a pm that either everyone abides by the same rules with strict enforcement or nobody does. Your managerial and interpersonal skills are quite lacking.


Nope, the moderation is not an issue, I fully expect it. I can log on at anytime I like and post whatever I like until you delete it using other aliases, it might be tomorrow, next month, next year, who knows? I have no desire to add to your forum post count any longer. I would like all 2227 of my posts removed, all traces of my existence on your forum deleted forever. Then I'll leave you and your nut-swinger brigade alone.

How do you feel about being called a dumb ass? I don't know, how does Gzapper feel about being labeled forum clown? Is that the work of an unbiased admin? Either ban him or leave him alone. How about the petty comments left on my rep, what a farce that system is. How come you or your minions aren't deriding Jim for his disdain over the rep system? How come you haven't answered the question of repaying the money you owe him on the monthly sim and who knows how many others? The books? You are a con man Thierry Martin. Double standards and hypocrisy abound old chap, and I tend to point those things out as they stand out like a Cannuk on vacation in Florida and are difficult to see around.

Again, it's your move I believe. How much time have you spent on me now?

Here is the post that got you put into moderation:

My self-destruction? You do know my suicidal claims were in jest I hope? Perhaps you think that banning me will solve your problem with me? It's been awhile since I've played that game with an admin on a vBullettin forum, I guess I could use the practice. Your move bud.

The way we understood the post, you're saying that you will continue your disruptive behavior and if we ban you because of it you will make even more trouble for us. In subsequent posts you indicated that you enjoy that sort of thing, etc.

What do you want to do about this, TonyM? If you threaten to trash our forum, the moderators here will not allow you to change your avatar, because you could post something obscene or offensive or whatever. I'd like to solve this impasse, but I need some sign from you that we are on the same team here. Nobody wants to ban you, but we can't tolerate behavior that is harmful to the forum. Throwing insults at the administrator is not acceptable. How do you think I feel being called a "dumb ass" and all the other names you call me?

Are you willing to agree to stop hurling insults at me and posting hateful and derogatory messages? You talked about "pushing buttons" so we know you are aware of the damage you are doing. Please let me know. I imagine you don't like being put in moderation or having some of your privileges taken away, but we don't like having angry posters making our job more difficult by challenging our motives and integrity. This is a forum about trading, it is our job to keep it focussed on that.

Let me know what you want to do about this bizarre matter so we can both move on and concentrate on other things.

Here's a thought of the day for you:

Why does my profile have so many views? Why do so many of my threads get so many views? Must be because I'm on ignore and everyone hates me I guess. Maybe it's the traffic accident mentality, they just can't resist looking? Why did only one person (of dubious intent at that) vote to have me banned...300+ views and that is all? I asked this already, do you want to tackle it or continue evading? Hell, you couldn't get more than one vote against the supposedly most hated person on the forum.

I wonder how many replies to 2227 posts and how many replies to those replies and so on? Probably a lit of hits on search engines huh?

Please specify the threat of vandalism I supposedly made.

I received a message that stated I had been banned and that the date the ban would be lifted was never. Is there a secret decoder ring I didn't receive upon joining, much like those books that were never delivered or the $100 prizes that were not paid? Are you going to pay Aiki14 back that money or are you a complete bum? Isn't offering prizes and not paying up illegal?

Don't try to be coy, you can see the negative rep comment left yesterday. In fact you are supposed to be checking those comments to make sure they are legitimate and not vindictive or petty, right?

I keep getting kicked off of forums? Do tell. The reason you and I have an issue is because you do not enforce your ideals even-handedly by any stretch. You go after those that are better at playing the game. When some whiney little punk like reef tries to get his e-thug on with me what do you do? Come to his rescue and give him that reach around that I did not. How long did you let Jack, cornerz, watchtv, et al launch their very obvious agenda before doing something about it? Curiously every poster that you have ever banned or moderated before me did not seem to have their avatar and sig removed and control panel made useless. What is that about? Playing my game is what it is about. How much time have you spent dealing with me? How much do you have to lose vs me? I don't need any forum or joke of a stock picking site to make my living. I love the links to your guest commentaries on real money btw...from 2001, great call on the Naz going back up and making new highs. Did your proprietary trading system come up with that?

I told you last night, you are a rank amateur, you're not even that good with the vBulletin software as you keep having to ask your buddies over at that forum how to make changes. Remember...misdirection and disinformation own you. Now, go back and bring your A game like I asked, this stuff isn't even average.

The reason you were banned for about an hour is because we had to set up the usergroups to put you in moderation without affecting your account settings that would be displayed. Nobody changed their mind about anything. I don't understand why you think it's ok to make threats. Do you feel we don't have the right to make sure the forum rules are followed and respected. There are 46 users currently in moderation, including Grunt and his other user id Chubby. We keep posters in moderation until we can be sure they follow the rules, which are not very strict here. The decision to put you in moderation was made after you threatened to vandalize the forum. Do you think putting you in moderation is unreasonable?

And who called you the forum clown?

TonyM, you've gotten kicked off forums before, why does that keep happening to you? (By the way, we only put you in moderation, so far, for threatening to vandalize the forum.)

I am participating and I'm showing you the same respect that you are showing me. I'm the new forum clown remember? (not very original, I hope you ran this byy Gzapper first) You did ban me and then changed your mind. Stop attacking? I've only just begun. Like I already told you, I love watching you work for me, this is my game and I love it, thanks for playing. Here's a question for you, how come only one person voted me off? A couple of hundred views and that's it, one? There are only a select few crybabies complaining, I wonder if I could guess who one of your moderators is. Anyway, I have things to attend to. Better bring your A game and get some no doz or coke because I require very little sleep and you have so many sites for me to look at. There is one way you can end it that I can conceive of at the moment, you figure it out.

Hey TonyM, why don't you stop the raging and participate in the forum? You haven't been banned, but you should extend the same respect toward others as they do to you, and your posts will be moderated by me or one of the other moderators until you stop attacking.