Ok, This whole thread is directed at me and not the other Forum Moderators, mainly because I do most of the Moderating and I guess it’s time to speak out. I do not have multiple accounts.
I have said this previously and will continue to do so.
This situation has come about because of a meet and greet game.
Here are the facts as I know them:-
• There was a Greet and Meet game in Forum. It is important to note, that this was never advertised as a Square Event and there was an inappropriate date drawn. All it needed was a date swap but instead this option was never offered and caused bad feeling. Tantrums were thrown by the Director and member alike. The member felt he had no option but to withdraw from the game.
• This seemed harsh and being a Forum Moderator I saw there was a better option to resolve the situation. An alternative date was suggested and agreed to replace that persons name in the game. It was a good alternative to withdrawing and ensured that a big poster was in the game and guaranteed reports for the topic. It was also good for the director as he had less dates to carry out. It was discussed with that member and agreed. I then went to work.
• I was not party to this as I was at work. Within hours the directors of the game contacted the member concerned and expressed concern that the change would reflect badly on the random draw, and I as owner of the square and the bot decided that it was a valid point (not that brandy’s was a bad solution overall) and again agreed to withdraw and revert the draw to its original with tango substituting for my dates. Suddenly it was a Square event, presumably because The Directors were Square Mods.
• I returned home from work, to find another tantrum had been thrown by a director and the decision agreed to prior to work had been overturned by Square Moderators who did not have the authority to do so without a discussion at least with a Forum Moderator.
I was seething over that decision as I felt that a member had been bullied into withdrawing, a Director had publically withdrawn from the greet game with no thought to her dates, forum or the game. A Forum Moderator, ie Me, had been undermined by The Square (Forum Moderators would never undermine The Square so such actions were frankly an insult) The decision I had made was actually better for the game and forum but after a long heated argument I was outnumbered 4 to1. I therefore left the decision to stand.
• That should have been an end of it but it wasn’t. It was over as far as I was concerned. I ended up having 4 days of heavy discussion with AusWoody as Head of The Square over the situation. The decision from that resulted in me pulling away from The Square and resigning as a Moderator at The Square. It was best all round and I would return to concentrate on Forum. Another Forum Mod would act as liaison to The Square and we agreed to disagree on the situation again.
• That should have been an end of it again but it wasn’t. Again it was over as far as I was concerned. Egos did get involved and it continued getting nastier and more vindictive and frankly became a vendetta for me and my reputation.
Things began to get nasty and spiteful. Old issues long gone and resolved or so I thought began rearing their ugly heads.
I can hold my own but to my frustration and disbelief, persons were discussing things outside Mod circles and more people had a view on things that frankly did not concern them. And then Lo & behold, this topic suddenly appears and well it speaks for itself really and the persons posting.
During this vendetta, it became apparent that a Moderator in the Square was keeping and storing records of peoples IP’s and had conversations copied. She was using the information gleened in her elevated position as Moderator for her own ends. That’s confidential information of members being kept without due authority.
Then I received a threatening PM from a couple of Moderators at The Square, wanting me to meet a couple of them privately. After the above conduct I had no intentions of doing so. I immediately forwarded it to all The Mods involved. I was not going to be blackmailed!
Quote from AusWoody –
“From this minor misunderstanding has developed a major concern, many of you have blamed Maron for creating this but you are not correct, Maron (and now others) have serious concerns regarding the credibility of the contests being run in the forums based on the fact that several prominent members of forum have repeatedly shown up with the same IP Address”
Minor misunderstanding. It was blown up in to disproportionate levels!
The credibility of the contests in Forum is an afterthought in this matter and is a means to an end, probably in an effort to force me to resign as Forum Moderator. Just so you know, I offered my resignation prior to this topic and it was refused!
The contests are run with integrity and I am disgusted you would think otherwise. I have worked with The Square and you all know I work hard to get everyone involved and enter most of the contests to show support.
I don’t need the money (AusWoody has seen my account) so to what end do you think I would need to stoop so low as to fix draws. Most of the random draws are done by the Robot, under The Square’s supervision and that of any members who attend to partake. So I cant “Fix” that to win.
The Forum Village vote on other contests, so that’s their deciding vote. I cant “Fix” that either but again why would I want to. It defeats everything I work so hard for. I want people in Forum not suspicious of it.
We are always open to ideas to show transparency and fairness in our contests. It’s one of the reasons I have not opened up a new story contest. I am not sure that the current voting is not compromised.
Lover has tried to meet and stated that he would if the detrimental posts stopped in forum. He has had a very busy schedule though. The other two also agreed if a convenient date was fixed. I was never going to attend. This was a good decision as to the posts as they could continue if necessary after the meeting. Forum is public and this is Mod business. I know that is something The Square has failed to understand completely throughout this situation. The leaks have all come from he Square.
It’s a pity because of it, The Square and Forum will, and have, suffered & I doubt many people will ever volunteer for a Meet & Greet game again for some time to come.
The Forum Mods have kept a dignified silence.
Yes, I did say to AusWoody, I would moderate if I felt his post was against TOS and named people, like always. I also wanted to protect Forum & The Square but you know what … who cares any more.
I am accused of having more than one account. I am not the people I am being accused of but can say it till I’m blue in the face, I will never change the mind of these people and frankly I don’t care what they think of me. I have not the time nor the patience to play the game in that way.
But let’s play Devil’s advocate – It’s not actually against TOS to have multiple accounts. Achat probably thrives on them.
Let’s face it, it has been a strong rumour certainly since I started that a lot of the girl’s playing in the game are actually guys. Most shemale accounts have their correct sex account too.
If the person’s spouse and lovers are ok with it, What the hell has it got to do with you or any business of The Square or anyone.
So we are back to the Contests. I can’t fix them as explained previously, not that I would want to.
I don’t need the money as explained earlier and I would be a paying customer x 3. So have as much chance of winning and losing as anyone else, oh yes x 3.
It doesn’t make sense, does it? Really?
Now let’s look at the flip side of the coin.
Now that said, let’s look at the wider issue and the how the IP was obtained.
Only a Moderator could get this information in The Square.
Not only did A moderator store the information but then they – yes more than 1 Square Moderator – took it upon themselves to act on the information and discuss it outside Mod circles.
But more than that, they acted on it further and approached a members spouse to tell him.
That is frankly wrong, sickens me that you could cause such trouble between members and to abuse your position as Moderators in that way.
If you was in employment, you would have been dismissed on the spot for contravening data protection laws.
@ Roxy, the only posts removed in this topic were by the authors themselves, not The Mods.
A new topic was removed after Lover originally locked this topic because it was a PM and was sent to the person directed. They were also acting defiantly to a Forum Mods decision for everyone to have a 24hr break.
The author was fully aware and the reason explained of the moderation.
I am now going to lock this topic. Everyone has had their say that’s involved. Anyone else is too late. You had your chance.
And I'm sure most of Forum is as sick of it as I am !
Achat is fully aware of all this btw. The Forum Mods have bought it to their attention.
