ATTN fellow SOFTies: this is absolutely ridiculous.

[visa]

http://soft.com.sg/forum/members/roninriot.html

Levan Wee who joined soft.com.sg on 31st July 2000 as roninriot, has been banned from SOFT. It was a quiet affair. There appears to be no explanation, and seemingly no offended parties.

He has been a massive inspiration to many of us other SOFTies. It would be no exaggeration to say that his work with Ronin was what brought many of us to SOFT in the first place.

He has also been instrumental in organizing events like Rock For Good, Rock For Wayne, Lime Sonic Bang and others.

On the boards, he has always shared his insider experiences and is particularly known for his long, informative posts that everybody learns from. He's a man who's been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and is still willing to share.

Long story short- he has been one of the most prolific contributors, to SOFT.com.sg and to the local music scene.

Levan is also known for his wild sense of humour, and it would seem that he was banned because of this.

I feel that injustice has been dealt on these forums, and it is important that you know of this. You are not safe, fellow SOFTies. You have to follow a strict set of rules in this community. You have no say in the formation or enforcement of these rules. You can be banned without explanation or warning.

I do participate in other forums besides soft.com.sg, and I must say that most of these forums are far more understanding and flexible. When somebody does something wrong, he isn't silently removed from the forum. He is brought before the community, and the issue is dealt with by the community.

Did you know that SOFT stands for Sound Of Friends Together? Certainly doesn't seem like it. Frankly, this seems more to me like Operation Coldstore. I would like to know, my fellow SOFTies, if this is acceptable. Because to me, it certainly isn't.

Visa
(all views expressed are strictly my own.)

 

[ETERNALrocker]

Seems like I missed out some stuff...what is it about that he got banned?

 

[visa]

who knows? the evidence was destroyed.

 

[SherT]

This forum has been rafe with racist comments, anti-government sentiment, personal attacks, and worst of all, complete and total daft, and now someone gets banned for a subtle innuendo joke that 80% of the population didn't understand?

Am I going to get banned for speaking out about how absurd this sounds?

 

[Schtauffen]

http://soft.com.sg/forum/music-kopi-tiam/86362-working-wood-home.html

Go figure.

If he's suspended instead, understandable, but Levan 200% guarantee+chopstamp doesn't deserve a perm-ban for all his contributions.

 

[Bad Company]

Thanks for the inside info..It's shocking!I JUST JOIN soft IN JAN THIS YEAR AND IT SEEMS MEANINGLESS.rECENTLY,I DID EMAIL jAMES MY SONG TO BE BROADCAST IN THE SOFT RADIO.BUT,TILL NOW,I HAVEN'T HEARD ANY NEWS YET.I'M DISAPPOINTED!WILL I BE BANNED TOO FOR POSTING THIS???:twisted:

 

[alfa]

wow!!!
ridicoulous it is.
we're Softies are going to miss a colourful character in this forum

 

[gothviruz]

http://soft.com.sg/forum/music-kopi-tiam/86362-working-wood-home.html

Go figure.

If he's suspended instead, understandable, but Levan 200% guarantee+chopstamp doesn't deserve a perm-ban for all his contributions.

The link thread doesnt show anything .. doesnt even show roninriot. wassup?

 

[SherT]

Hi this is Levan
Posting under Sherwin's account cause mine got banned.

I got banned for my responses on 'working with wood'. - a thread about sanding down the wood of a guitar at home.

And guess why?

Because I made a subtle inneundo joke which NOBODY marked as vulgar, and NOBODY responded to negatively on the thread itself, not even the thread starter. It wasn't even blatantly explicit.

Here's what I said. I'm paraphrasing because the post got quietly deleted by James. Figures.

"Well...'working with wood'...sounds kinky! Careful not to use the saw!"

And in response to somebody who asked about using a vacuum cleaner to clean the wood chips.

"Good suction is important when it comes to working with wood!"

Now, obviously I'm talking about something slightly sexual, but I'm not being blatant, I'm not being vulgar, and all the responses to that joke were greeted with a laugh


SO WHY IS IT
That this forum occasionally allows for more obvious racist remarks, anti-government sentiments, random band insults, direct sarcasm, outright rudeness
and I get banned for something subtle?


I have continuously posted long threads with contributive content, such as the one with regards to Internet promotions for local bands, or advice on how to organize gigs, etc - most of which have been requested by other SOFTies to be stickied People who have been following my posts know that, most times, I am VERY (i.e. overly) elaborate with my logical explanations or opinions - most of which are constructed to be constructive criticisms, and most are done with a sharing tone.

It's no secret that I've had my manglings with James in the past, mostly due to my disagreements with the way he seems to practice conditional moderation on these forums where some things are deemed unacceptable while other more glaring things are alright (all of which seem to follow an invisible guideline that is based on James' personal preference for a person or based on his own personal beliefs), but I have also applauded James on many occasions when he did good or posted a good thread.

BUT from this ban I am certain he has perfectly illustrated what I've been saying all along. Conditional governing.

I'm very, very disappointed that this is how James chooses to handle something so insignificant as compared to the far more glaring breaking of rules that goes on in these forums.

If I was explicitly rude, supremely vulgar in a post, and got banned for it, I can understand. That'd be my wrong-doing, no matter how many other positive posts I do. But I didn't. The above reference truly did happen - though James has CONVENIENTLY deleted it for anyone else to see.

So SOFTies I ask you now, when do we draw the line that separates a self-righteous bigot who probably doesn't even understand the meaning of the word 'innuendo' (or 'bigot') and a responsible moderator?

You decide.

Oh no wait, you DON'T DECIDE! James will decide it for you, depending on how agreeable you are to his personal philosophies in life.

Remember the post where he reprimanded a poster who was innocently asking about the differences between being an anti-christ and a Satanist? James questioned the guy's motives, almost insisting that the poster was 'up to no good intentions' even though the post CLEARLY indicated a genuine interest to learn the difference. There wasn't even a mention against any major religions - just a question asked about them.

Remember the post about US politics which James took down, only for him to put it back up again after numerous SOFTies insisted that he put it back up for a healthy discussion? One of his cited reasons was because HE felt it wasn't a healthy discussion and it was veering towards Singaporean politics. Now I see a post about Singapore politics going about now and I don't see him stepping in. Are you going to remove that too James? And by the way, the US politics thread was FILLED with great intellectual arguments and discussions. Yes, James, they may fall outside your obvious lack of intellectual understanding, but they were very insightful.

I always thought forums are supposed to encourage healthy discussions, not be a brutal practice of ignorance.

I am happy to say that I been one of many SOFTies who have participated in many healthy discussions and started many threads with a sharing of information for everyone. There have been agreements and disagreements with my point of view but I have never veered in the direction of racism, offending politics, or topics too overtly controversial without backing it up with proper reasoning. Most discussions have been constructive and well-thought out. and anyone who has ever read any of my posts will most likely see this.

And here I am, being banned after 8 years for a few subtle innuendo jokes.

Fancy that.

I'm sure some of you can think of more instances where these practices of James have happened. I bet you've seen worse things posted from other posters who never got banned or reprimanded.

James, I applaud your hard work on SOFT after so many years. I think what you do is truly admirable. But maybe, just maybe, your years of experience and dedication have gotten to your smug little head.

You have made an enemy from one of the most loyal, consistent and dedicated SOFT forum posters for years.

Thank you for treating your loyal return customers with such disregard.

And in case you're too dimwitted to understand, I was being sarcastic.


Levan

 

[lardylard]

this is so wrong . what has he(Levan) done to deserve this ? is there no justice in SOFT ?

 

[LadyInTears]

im with you levan
omg cant believe how out of hand this is getting..
the 'freedom of speech' notion is not allowed anymore?
and seriously, ive seen worse stuff here, furthermore this is a forum where many different views are shared and of course there is bound to be conflict. but banning him over this? and evidence destroyed? anyway i did read the original post, i found it funny and not at all disturbing


now. the question is,
is Soft becoming a site where only the 'right' things are allowed and the so called 'wrong' things are scorned upon?well, i do think this is truly so, based on this example, worse, so quick to ban without confrontation.


sheeshhh.
chermin.

 

[LadyInTears]

Oh no wait, you DON'T DECIDE! James will decide it for you, depending on how agreeable you are to his personal philosophies in life.

Levan

+1 to this.
im sure this thread and maybe even my replies will get deleted.
damn i cant even decide on what to do@!@#

 

[SherT]

Thanks LadyInTears
I bet you saw the original post. And seriously, if I had done something absolutely wrong, I'll owe up to it. But you read for yourself, there was really NOTHING to it, and I'm sure anyone else who read the 'Working With Wood' thread will agree.

And that is the reason I got banned. It says so on my account when I try to log in.

There is a difference between responsible moderation and outright weight-throwing. At least if he is consistent in his own guidelines, that'd be one thing. But he isn't. I edited the previous post (under Sherwin's account) with more examples of his inconsistency.

I am not even a heavy advocate for 'freedom of speech' on SOFT (And I've voiced this out before). I do believe that forums should have some responsible guidelines, but just what these guidelines are for SOFT seems to be hanging in the air, given James' increasing irregularities in his decisions and discreet deletion of the evident 'crime'.

Levan

 

[joker36]

CAll in the Judges...from s'pore idol :mrgreen:

 

[Mobius]

Levan, would it be better if u talk in person to James about this?

 

[SherT]

I did. I Smsed him first. He ignored and didn't respond, as is his usual ways when he has no good counter-argument.

I also didn't start this thread. Visa did so without my knowing. So I felt I should explain things since the ball was rolling.

Levan

 

[meekahsoh]

mmm double standards aplenty.

 

[bouncy]

Not making an false accusations or assumptions, but I do concur with Mobius that both parties should resolve this asap.

As the saying goes, it takes 2 hands to clap.

 

[SherT]

Even if / when he unbans my 8 year account, I've decided not to bother with SOFT anymore.

If you've noticed, the number of regular posters these days has dwindled down from its heyday years ago. Most of the regulars have left for other forums.

I wonder why.

When you're unchallenged in your pole position in a niche market for too long (the niche market being a forum dedicated to local music), it's bound to get to your head somehow.

But piss off one too many regulars and soon it will come back to bite you in the arse.

Levan

 

[visa]

Not making an false accusations or assumptions, but I do concur with Mobius that both parties should resolve this asap.

As the saying goes, it takes 2 hands to clap.

I think that's besides the point here. JBJ and Chee Soon Juan resolved their problems with the relevant authorities by paying obscene sums of money- does that make everything okay?

To me, it does not.