Admin Abuse

[The_Flying_Skeptic]

First of all, it is not up to you to dictate how or with what tone other members choose to reply...

Agreed. All I can dictate is what replies I'll respond to.

If a post is deemed unsuitable then it will be dealt with by the moderators or admins.

I don't think obscenities and name-calling are illegal on this forum.

holy crap, now if an atheist arrogantly and rudely wrote in one of his posts "Please, no stupid comments or try not to be stupid, theists." I doubt Darwinian would go out of his way to say "You can't tell people how to respond. Let the admins handle that." so in the name of obscenities and name-calling that many atheists here represent themselves with, i say fuck you darwinian.

Section 3 of the forum rules states..

Spamming people with a large number of swear words instead of making a point will result in a warning and a ban for repeat offenders. Whilst making an insulting or impolite remark in a discussion is not specifically covered by this rule, it is certainly not recommended. If you cannot present your point without insulting someone, you don't have a point worth presenting.

And insulting an admin is seriously not recommended.

I am therefore warning you that your behaviour is not acceptable and any repeat may result in an official warning resulting in post moderation and continued infringements, a ban.

Seems you haven't been doing your job as an admin: I've read other members being insulting with no point many times. I pointed out that you were being a hypocrite and insulted you. you respond to my criticism by threatening me? If you think you can abuse your 'power' as an admin on this site that way, I don't want to be a member of this forum.

[Tiberius]

Ok firstly, Darwinian wasn't being hypocritical. AngelThMan stated in his post:

As always, only respectful replies will be addressed. Light bantering, criticism and snide remarks are okay. I make them, too, and it’s part of the fun. But no obscenities or name-calling.

Bolding mine. In other words, AngelThMan was trying to create his own rules for his own thread. Sorry, but that's not how things work here. You may start the thread, but the discussion is open. If people want to be insulting, it's down to them. You can't stop them, and neither will the staff.

Darwinian responded by saying that AngelThMan could not "dictate how or with what tone other members choose to reply", and AngelThMan agreed, explaining the intention of his original message. Darwinian also said that unsuitable posts are dealt with by the staff, which is true. At no point did he say that unsuitable posts were ones that insulted or contained swear words.

There isn't any abuse of power here. Darwinian objected to you insulting him, as any of us would have seeing as it was a meaningless insult. There was no need to insult him; he'd done absolutely nothing wrong.

[The_Flying_Skeptic]

Ok firstly, Darwinian wasn't being hypocritical. AngelThMan stated in his post:

As always, only respectful replies will be addressed. Light bantering, criticism and snide remarks are okay. I make them, too, and it’s part of the fun. But no obscenities or name-calling.

Bolding mine. In other words, AngelThMan was trying to create his own rules for his own thread. Sorry, but that's not how things work here. You may start the thread, but the discussion is open. If people want to be insulting, it's down to them. You can't stop them, and neither will the staff.

Darwinian responded by saying that AngleThMan could not "dictate how or with what tone other members choose to reply", and AngelThMan agreed, explaining the intention of his original message. Darwinian also said that unsuitable posts are dealt with by the staff, which is true. At no point did he say that unsuitable posts were ones that insulted or contained swear words.

There isn't any abuse of power here. Darwinian objected to you insulting him, as any of us would have seeing as it was a meaningless insult. There was no need to insult him; he'd done absolutely nothing wrong.

People are going to respond how they want to anyway; I'm sure Angelman knows that yet Darwinian insisted on shoving the rules in his face. I still think that if an atheist was the one laying out how theists should respond, no admin here would be going out of their way to point out the rules. I see Darwinians behavior as hypocrisy. People accompany their opinions with insults here all the time: "If people want to be insulting, it's down to them. You can't stop them, and neither will the staff." He can be a big boy and defend himself instead of threatening me in a private message.

[Darwinian]

There may well be many posts were members have personally insulted each other but not to the degree that you insulted me and especially not for such fallacious reasons. Also, if there other members who have done this then they certainly have been here for more the 5 minutes you have been here for and have built up a certain degree of rapour and respect within this forum. Something which you certainly have not done.

If you had been here for at least several months, had a good reputation, a good number of decent posts under you belt and were well respected then I would have simply let your comments go. For example, if fr0d0 had said fuck you darwinian it would have been different because I 'know' him.

You, on the other hand are a newcomer and have yet to build up a good reputation. You've already let down other members of staff, earned at least one neg rep and now you've seriously pissed me off. Not a good start is it?

When you first came here, you had a run-in with leo (yet another admin you irritated) and I spent a good hour trying to calm you down and convince you that this was a decent place and you should try to fit in. I even attempted to advice others not to give you a hard time because you were new and needed time to settle in. And then, just over a month later, because you misunderstand a comment that I, as an admin, make to another member which, was none of your business anyway, tell me to fuck off. You may call me a hypocrite but I call you two faced and immature.

And as far as abusing my power, I'm one of the most laid back staff members here, and we're all pretty cool. So, if you really don't think that a civilised and well run forum is the place for you then may I respectfully advise you to do what you advised for me, and take your arrogant and childish presumptions with you.

[The_Flying_Skeptic]

I was expressing my opinion towards your behavior on the public forums. If the discourse between you and angelthman on the rules of the forums was 'none of my business' then you could have kindly sent him a private message explaining the rules of the forum instead. I am a contributing member of the forums and I've donated to the forums and hope to continue donating to Hayter's cause. I'm sorry for the stress I may have caused, but I'm compelled to call out atheists that are unnecessarily rude (as if rudeness was ever necessary) to theists. I'm not saying you were particularly rude but as an admin I still think you could have handled the situation differently especially if you feel that a post on the public forums was none of my business. I suppose I defeated my own purpose by insulting you, and now I'm truly sorry.

[Tiberius]

Ironically, you've managed to now piss off the entire admin team:

leo-rcc: On arrival.
Eilonnwy & Adrian: By failing to show up twice to podcast recordings.
Darwinian: By insulting him for no reason.

*applauds*

Luckily we're all fair; we don't hold grudges. I still stand by Darwinian in this case; he handled the case perfectly well. He didn't warn or threaten to ban AngelThMan; he just pointed out the rules.

[The_Flying_Skeptic]

Ironically, you've managed to now piss off the entire admin team:

leo-rcc: On arrival.
Eilonnwy & Adrian: By failing to show up twice to podcast recordings.
Darwinian: By insulting him for no reason.

*applauds*

I explained myself and told you I was sorry for not showing up to the recordings. I can't even remember how I pissed of leo. I insulted Darwinian for a reason but I should have left out the insult. I don't think anyone who disagrees with my criticism is stupid or anything. I was just expressing my opinion.

[leo-rcc]

For the record, you never pissed me off, you just took one of my comments in the shoutbox the wrong way and were getting very agitated about that (it was about demanding reps or something).

[Pippy]

hey, hey admins!

<thumbs nose and sticks out tongue>

[Minimalist]

Here.

You can borrow this.