Dec 27, 2007 10:06
Over the past few months the once welcoming and friendly to all www.renaissance festival.com forum board has turned ugly.
A few people have been threatened, accused of being trolls and snarking issues. All that was done was questions were asked about the guidelines ,that people were breaking flagrantly.
Confrontations and flaming wars were escalated to a level of mommy tones being used,name calling , and bullying to a point people stopped posting as much or at all.
Many members went was called anonymous, deleted their photo's, personal information, and didn't appear online at all. They were being told that they were next on a list of individuals to be banned if they didn't watch their step.
When confronted with an issue myself i asked questions about the way things were done,people being made moderators that broke the guidelines should have been banned themselves. I in turn was banned for it within 45 minutes.
When questions were asked about it to the administrator ,or any moderator, it was a closed issue and nothing more was said. That's fine.
Within a month of being banned, others started seeing issues as they truly were. Threads that were and are important, Threads were moved , names changed ,other were just deleted without any warning at all. Others were made not important, topic's of discussion were closed once the moderator of said area had replied in strong fisted way. Locked the issue from further comment, saying that the topic and issue was closed.
FOOD ALLERGIES are important when it concerns death or great discomfort when ingested. This issue was blown why out of proportion on many levels. Tones and attitudes were made clear that it made people feel unwelcome , unwanted, and child like. Peoples posts were deleted that agreed with the poster that were not in line with the thinking of said moderator.Peoples private mail was gone thru. Because they can as i was told in a phone conversation with the administrator.
I was told THIS BY THE ADMINISTRATOR HIMSELF.
3 different sets of forum rules now is the norm. one for the administrator, one for the moderators, and a one for the forum users.
The forum users must obey all guideline at all times. no problem.
The moderators can do what ever they want when ever they want, for what ever reason they want. Which has included bashing, name calling , threats , slander, invasion of privacy, lack of an archive.
The administrator can and say what ever he wants to anyone. plus has a delete button.
This was once a very friendly community, items were discussed in a open level headed,sometimes opinionated manner but always respectful manner.
The past few months have turned into a truly dictatorship closed minded area. It is also taken on a appearance of a giant click of people some people can do what they want to someone without ramifications or being held accountable. Others say boo in the wrong tone and get slammed for it. It is not right in so many different ways.
Members that have been there for years with over 3000 posts , thread and topic starters that have pages and pages of replies, that contributed over and beyond , were top poster's in area's was all of a sudden a troll and snarking.
Members that caused laughter thru funny pictures , with great intelligence of unmeasurable heights , whom has a master's and helped build Internet protocols is also deleted.
These members have in turn now are being called disgruntled ex members , slammed and bashed behind backs , and have no way of defending themselves, me included. When another still current members asked for the issue to be dropped for that reason he was accosted for it and he was next on the list.
THIS "Has" turned into a very unfriendly forum and will change the way people attend, view others at faire and beyond those gates.
I was informed that more people are now seeing the light of what the true r/f board is turning into. They are not happy and the opinion that a rennie war on/and off the boards is just around the corner,some moderators and their click of followers verse the users with rights and opinions on how to better inform people, better management, and better user friendly items and keep them safe at gatherings, or at faire. Now people are picking sides.
9000 MEMBERS, only half still active, and a quarter posting in the last 6 months. Over a 1000 haven't posted in over a year. 100 active users a day all the same people most have turn anonymous for one reason or another.So truly , how many people really use the board.
It is a information gathering tools, that truly does not need to be replied to anymore.
The Concerned Majority