Decorum and Forum Interaction Styles

[poptart]

[NOTE: The below post was initially part of the thread "What Do You Think of the CAP banning frenzy?" posted here. The discussion has been moved to a separate thread to allow for both topics to be explored in a more focused and productive manner. The thread title has also been added administratively, as a title is required in order to separate the contents into a new thread and to focus the discussion.]



I was banned years ago for a mildly snarky comment. Dominique and Professor immediately choked me out along with a lecture about how bickering or negative comments aren’t tolerated there. Now, they have a staff member (Gamtrak) who is the queen of snarkiness, bickering and negative comments. She is mouthy, arrogant, and disrespectful to members. Her comments are allowed and seemingly go unchecked. I wouldn’t be a poster there now if they paid me for my comments.

[MichaelCorfman]

I was banned years ago for a mildly snarky comment. Dominique and Professor immediately choked me out along with a lecture about how bickering or negative comments aren’t tolerated there. Now, they have a staff member (Gamtrak) who is the queen of snarkiness, bickering and negative comments. She is mouthy, arrogant, and disrespectful to members. Her comments are allowed and seemingly go unchecked. I wouldn’t be a poster there now if they paid me for my comments.

poptart,

Without knowing what you posted on the CAP forums it is difficult for me to have an opinion about whether it was appropriate for you to have been banned there or not. However, the post you have made here crosses the line of reasonable behavior in my opinion.

I can say that my personal experience reading the posts Gamtrak has made in this forum would not cause me to make the sort of statements that you have made here regarding her posts. And I had someone here with an account that has not been banned from the CAP site take a look at the posts there, and they formed the same opinion with respect to her posts at CAP.

Attacking someone without solid evidence as your first post in a forum is definitely not the right path to go down in terms of being a valued community member. I think it is reasonable to have specific complaints about a specific post, but generally negative statements without clear substantiation don't help anyone and only serve to diminish your own reputation within our forums.

Michael

[CityGuard]

I was banned years ago for a mildly snarky comment.

Banning happens too often at CAP, and I am sorry to hear about the apparent overreaction to your comment then. I hope that they will change their moderation policy to one that focuses on resolution rather than isolation.

I need to address the remainder of your message. The personal attack against GamTrak that you made in your message was inappropriate and does a serious disservice to the conversation. It seeds a hurtful and unwelcoming environment and that is something we will not allow to grow. I ask that you rescind the divisive comments. I hope you will take a moment to re-read your message and consider the impact of your words and approach your interactions in a more welcoming and inclusive banner.

Robin, I know I speak for many when I say that your humor, kind spirit, and friendliness are greatly valued and you will always be a welcomed member of the GPWA community.

[poptart]

I fail to see humor, friendliness or kind-spiritness in these few examples below (there are others). I got banned for much less:

If you are stupid enough to think that he will get the industry regulated alone than you are drinking to much of our own kool-aide.

Obviously you don't have a clue as to what is going on and I'm done wasting time on you, but you best leave me be and find something else to do.

Hey Stupid, I see you are living up to your name today and trying to get folks rilled up today with lame A$$ comments huh? LMAO

You DON'T tell me what to do, think or feel. Spend your time worrying about your business and don't worry about what I'm doing because your opinion means nothing to me. Got it?
I don't need to see your BS so find some other posts to derail.

I'm NOT even going to waste my time on you xxxxx. YOU just don't get it!
You are the type to bitch, moan and complain about stuff worse than a woman, but never offer any useful suggestions and I'm NOT in the mood for crap today.
I have a lot of personal work, CAP work and getting this industry regulated so I'm going to get to it.

[TheGooner]

In full fairness ... I recognise that thread from the Free-for-All Politics section where pro-McCain and pro-Obama supporters go at it hammer and tongs and it is unmoderated.

Almost everything in that section is let go ... and I'll agree with PopTart that I found that style response hard to take and I stopped reading the politics section after coming across a few of those.

I don't think that I've seen anything like that OUTSIDE of that subsection from GamTrak were business has stayed as business.

Mind you did I tell you about the time on the GPWA that I questioned the existence of .... ah no ... politics and religion are definately areas I've learned through experience to avoid on forums.

[Skinski]

... politics and religion are definately areas I've learned through experience to avoid on forums.

That reminds me of back when I was a young man and my dad was the foreman on the job...he had a rule that you could talk bout most anything on the job, but he would not allow politics or religion to be discussed at all. Though he's been gone for a while now and I'm much older and hope to be wiser man , I can understand why. lol

[Chips]

I was banned years ago for a mildly snarky comment.

What I do not understand is if you were banned years ago from CAP, how are you retreiving all this data? The personal attack on a highly respected member of both forums is not welcome one bit. Many posts can appear to be "snarky" if the context is stripped and the bare elements remain.

Ok, I premised to stay neutral re. CAP/GPWA but this part ticked me off as it is way off the beaten path. Robin has never (in my eyes) appeard less than profession in regulated posts. And has always held my respect.

nuff said.

[Jinnia]

Maybe due to the membership was banned and not his/her IP???
That's one way.

[CityGuard]

I fail to see humor, friendliness or kind-spiritness in these few examples below (there are others).

I recognise that thread from the Free-for-All Politics section...it is unmoderated. Almost everything in that section is let go...I don't think that I've seen anything like that OUTSIDE of that subsection from GamTrak were business has stayed as business.

has never (in my eyes) appeard less than profession in regulated posts. And has always held my respect.

Thank you for providing clarity to the concerns you raised. I hadn't seen those comments in particular, and they seem uncharacteristic of Robin. I can certainly understand behaving in a different manner when discussing a contentious topic in a passionate manner, especially when there is a "green light" given to that kind of interaction. Because of this I think it is important to read intentionally unmoderated discussion with a different frame of reference than is normally used.

But I think this raises an important larger point, which is whether it is constructive or not to provide an intentional "anything goes" space in a forum? I can understand going outside normal decorum and making use of an anything goes area, but have to say it is hard for me to explain the reason for featuring that type of section.

[ogpaper]

Thanks for pointing me to this thread. I am the CAP memeber posting under :Stupid:

GamTrak is extremelly offensive lady and I wouldn't give two sh$ts, if she was not a moderator at CAP. I am posting this to back "poptart" and not start anything with GamTrak - I can always do it on CAP, but she is not worth the effort.

The snippets above are from an UIGEA regulation discussion, not from free-for-all politics, as Gooner mistakenly commented. I was also given a handful in the now-disappeared thread about CAP-GPWA. There are also quite a few other long-time members who managed to witness GamTrak's comments before the thread vanished into thin air.

Oh, and for the record, I am far from being a McCain supporter

[casinobonusguy]

I thought cap banned a member named 'frenzy' when i first seen this thread as I have not seen many bannings in my 2+ years there.