I've tried to stay out of this thread, but the longer it runs, the more ridiculous it gets.
Can any one of you making these allegations against the Admin/Mod team here, tell me just exactly what you think they might stand to gain from banning long standing members of this forum? I mean seriously, how does running anyone that knows so much off, benefit them, or this board, in any manner? As has been pointed out, more than once, if you lose knowledgeable members, you lose intelligent answers to new members' questions. The knowledge base of any forum is what drives membership. You can have 1,000,000 members, but if they're all second graders trying to answer questions about ballistics and predator hunting, you probably aren't going to draw a bunch of new members in, and admin knows that.
As for the numbers banned here, they are by no means, out of the ordinary for a forum that has run as long as this one has, nor one with as many members as this one has. If anything, those numbers are probably low. Furthermore, I would dare to guess, that over 75% of the 500+ members banned on this board, were spam accounts, before any of you start dribbling down your leg thinking you're on to something there.
In respect to deleting banned or inactive accounts, that is typically only possible if they have no posts, or a very limited number of posts. If a member did in fact have posts before becoming inactive, or being banned, deleting that member account also deletes ALL of their posts, and that can cause serious problems with the database. It doesn't always, but it can! And, that is not to mention it renders any threads that contained said posts, unintelligible with comments and remarks removed from the middle of conversation. Beyond a certain point, it generally isn't worth the effort.
The Terms of Service here aren't out of line guys; they are very much similar on any board, anywhere on the web. Some forums tend to enforce those rules more closely than others; how closely rules are enforced, tends to depend upon the memberbase. If you are trying to promote a family atmosphere, as is the case here, you enforce the rules more closely. If the memberbase is all adults, you can enforce them with a more relaxed attitude. If you're dealing with a bunch of 20 something, gaming, party animals, you tend to ignore rules altogether; the only ones banned are those committing the most flagrant violations of TOS, and people who stir the pot while contributing nothing. Marco would have been gone a LONG TIME AGO, on a few sites I've frequented; just because.
As for policy and procedure mentioned in respect to banning anyone... warnings given, discussions held behind closed doors, suspensions, temporary bans, etc., that is pretty much standard procedure in the management of any forum gentlemen. I know, I've built several, I've served on the admin team of several.
In respect to "holding a vote and electing members of the admin team"... I don't want to bust anyone's bubble, but until everyone pays for membership, we as non-paying members, have no right to demand such. Whomever foots the bill here, has every right to appoint members they feel qualified to the admin team; they own this board, not us. This is their playground gentlemen, we the members, are allowed to play here, free of charge. They ask only that we respect and abide by the Terms of Service that we all agreed to abide by, when we joined this Forum. If we don't, they ask us politely to do so; often more than once. If we refuse, we aren't allowed to play here any longer.
If you think it's going to be any different on the other aforementioned board, you need to rethink that guys; these boards all operate the same way. As a relatively new board, they may be more tolerant of minor indiscretions, until the memberbase is built. As the memberbase grows, they will be forced to enforce the rules more and more closely, or chaos eventually ensues. I know this for a fact, I have been down that road. They too, will have discussions. They too, will issue warnings. They too, will keep copies of all conversations between admin/mods and members in the back room, for future reference. They too, will be forced to ban you, if you refuse to abide by the rules when asked.
That is as simple as it gets.
As for Catshooter... he is, without a doubt, a very knowledgeable individual in respect to reloading. His understanding of the physics involved was/is at times inspiring. His replies were/are at times, no doubt however, a tad coarse. Personally, I've dealt with a whole lot worse than he ever was, and thus my hide is pretty thick. His extensive knowledge, will be missed.
However... having logged several thousand hours on Admin and Mod teams in the past, I will not second guess the admin team in this matter. It was their decision to make guys; not mine, not yours, not ours collectively. I've been forced to make that decision more than once, and many many times, it was not a pleasant decision to have to make. I have personally seen threads run 5 - 10 pages of discussion in the back room, before a respected member is banned. More than once I've endured the same allegations and insults, that have been cast at members of Admin in this thread. And, on the other hand, I've had my [beeep] handed to me because I didn't ban members fast enough.
Gentlemen, it isn't an easy job and the pay sucks, if you think these guys are getting rich on advertising on this board, you're wrong. Typically advertising on one of these boards, barely pays hosting and bandwidth. Yes, sponsors here do donate prizes, and I would assume that most if not all receive confirmation of where those prizes went as well.
You're beating a dead horse here guys, admin is firm on their position of confidentiality in this matter, and I don't I blame them in the least; hurling insults at them isn't going to change that. This thread, is therefore non-productive. All you are doing, is creating ill feelings. If you aren't happy here, if you can't respect the time and effort that Admin currently commits, has in the past committed, will in the future commit, to keeping this board up and running, then they are very much correct, you should seek another playground in which to play. And, while some of you obviously find that harsh, it isn't guys; it's reality. Plain and simple. It is not, in any way, a disrespectful suggestion; it's reality. If you aren't happy here, find someplace to play where you are.
