ATTN fellow SOFTies: this is absolutely ridiculous.

[theliverevolution]

Well, after reading all these 14 pages of different points (and trying to understand it myself) I think I may have to bring up a few points.

Are the rules really enforced in concrete?

Fair enough, if James thinks that Levan's comments were a bit too explicit for the forum, then the rules must be properly enforced. I've read Levan's replys about the wood thing and I have to agree that at first I didn't really get the joke (pardon me for being slow) until others explained it.
Then why isn't this post banned or done anything about it?
The posts in fact imply a more direct and heavier sexual connatation. PLUS! There was a picture that was WAY more explicit and more direct than that of Levan's posts

Also, I sort of noticed this:

5) Please note that this extends to things like offers to modify PSPs and iPhones, selling of modified game consoles and selling of pirate software.

Just look at some of the buy/sell forums. People are selling PSPs and they are also saying its been MODDED, BLATENTLY saying it on their posts.
I posted up a thread in the forum once that I was buying Cds. One guy came to joke that I should just torrent them instead. Although it WAS a joke, I don't think James did anything about it (and thankfully I'm glad he didn't kena anything)

Changes

I think what should happen now is that James outsource the moderator positions to others. Whether people agree or not, James has been trying his best to keep this forum running and working properly, but he's no one-man army

Look at some of the other forums. Other forums have more than just one moderator, very often having 2 or 3 moderators to just moderate one section of the forum. This ensures that many posts are always QC-ed and it'll take away the spam, pure nonsence, etc.

Some of us has been claiming that James made use of this oppotunity to get rid of Levan due to personal disagreements. Fair enough, everyone has their bias. Whether it is true or not, I'm not sure.
Thus, more moderators in the forum would ensure that not only the posts are QC-ed, but also before a moderator can ban anyone, there are other people at the same management level that can also assess the reasons for banning the person before any action can be taken

It also ensures that james don't get flammed unneccesarily and that everything is a bit more fair

 

[ahkiatt]

Final note:

Eh you guys, how old already? Ban on an internet forum leh... Make so much noise! We are in an economic recession and here we are fighting over a suspension. Grow up lah boys. Spend your time on something more fruitful, like learning how to invest in cheap stocks.

And Visa, I think Levan was the one who posted that thread about the cosplay dude(I think). Not you. I wrote it under his paragraph, so chill out man. We all know you're a good kid, this is just a major misunderstanding.

Gosh I'm starting to see what a joke this is, and there isn't even toilet humour involved. Fighting on the Internet, what are we? Youtube comments box? Haha, HAHAHAHAH!

 

[taytehni]

Interesting thread. I wonder how many more posts could James take before he kills this thread.
Now, could someone tell me if I need to hang on to a piece of wood while fingering A minor ?

LAWLS thats a nice one...

 

[Vaiyen]

isn't all these a little frivolous?
it's only a 3 day suspension.
maybe this is what happens when pple are not working.
too much time for silly stuff.

 

[meekahsoh]

Well. Take a look at theliverevolution's post. The problem is not about the banning of Levan per se, but the rationale behind the ban and the frivolity by which the rules are being enforced.

What I see is, Levan being banned for a harmless comment which nobody found offensive, while other offenders are allowed to get away scot-free? Sure, the rules are there, bright as day, but the consistency of enforcement of the rules is hazy at best. It reeks of double-standards and leads people to believe that there was bias during the decision making process.

I feel that we need to revamp the rules and firmly establish a moderating style where the users are comfortable. Let's reset the OB markers and let softies have a say in how they want to be governed.

 

[subversion]

Look at some of the other forums. Other forums have more than just one moderator, very often having 2 or 3 moderators to just moderate one section of the forum. This ensures that many posts are always QC-ed and it'll take away the spam, pure nonsence, etc.

i've been helping James with the posts managementment here...

 

[Mobius]

So any volunteers to moderate the forum?
No one I guess...its a thankless job.

Not happy with this forum? So any volunteers to start a new forum with rules they like?
No one I guess...its a thankless job

 

[vickomaniac]

^ Mobius, you hit the nail on the head.

in the case of james and SOFT, people thanks james for superficial action, and small matters, or to get in his good books.
but once james does something that doesn't fit into their criteria of stuff that they want, he gets flamed, for being strict, biased, and having a stick up his ass.

honestly if you're unhappy with the way things are being run in a particular place, set up your own forum/county/continent/planet.

less bitching, more action.

 

[theliverevolution]

well, it's up to James to decide if he wants to allow other people to moderate. So far he hasn't asked, yet again, no one volunteered either. If he's willing to ask many people will be willing to help. I'll like to help but I can't moderate the forum on a regular basis due to NS

 

[theliverevolution]

i've been helping James with the posts managementment here...

well, that's good. James should give u a moderator post

 

[ahkiatt]

meekahsoh:

You tell me that Levan's old posts are not teetering on the edge of being banned. Let's face it. My signature is really suggestive. But the reason why I have not been banned yet is because I don't post provocative stuff regularly.


Can we close this thread already? It's not good for newcomers to come in here and see soft in such a state. Want to talk, cham xiong, fight, bia zui. We settle outside. This place public area, fight very messy. Other people see I also pai seh lah.

 

[subversion]

letting it run a while longer. if the community here is bent on remediating, such posts will surface...

 

[meekahsoh]

I can't say I've been on the forums long enough to know the extent of his misdemeanor. Yet, according to his posts, he was never specifically 'warned' to tone down.

My point is about inconsistent moderation. Does the rules only apply when a person regularly posts innuendo? There must be a need for consistent enforcement of the rules to prevent this from happening again. If there was some semblance of consistency, I doubt this thread would be started if the rules were firmly enforced. Then it would have been clear that Levan had indeed violated a rule and deserved to be banned.

I'm saying the same thing again and again, but there is indeed inconsistency when the rules are enforced.

 

[wyldeboon]

Let's reset the OB markers and let softies have a say in how they want to be governed.

bro, no offense... tis sentence is reli cute...

imho, i dun think its right if we have a say on how we want to be governed.
there are many factors why we cant. 1 of them is tat tis 'place' belongs to james, another thing is tat everyone have different minds.
a softie want it tis way BUT a hundred softies dun like it tat way.

y cant it be like,just james handling those things,as per normal...
and we as the freeloaders, comply to the rules. if we dun like it, then we go sumwhere else...


there are many2 many2 things in life living in this beautiful, fine country tat i do not like. i believe everyone feels the same way too. but we cant go straight to LKY and tell him off n say tat we want things to be governed our way. its like we want to take over the country. we still have to comply to the rules.

we cant go abt saying, "hey! y tat guy nvr kena ban for saying bla bla bla bla? and tis guy kena ban for saying sumtink?"

tis will go on n on n on n on n on n on...

and i read in 1 of the pages tat levan's post didnt receive any reports etc... so wat?
1 can be insulted but it depends if 1 wants to report or not. maybe there's no busybodies in here or they have better things to do.

i kena fine for throwing cigarette butts a few times... i cant be like, "hey officer! tat ah beng oso got throw the butt on the floor! y nvr fine him?"

put it as unlucky if u want to. simple wat... play by the rules. its a free fun for us! we r not here to change the system... its SOFT. if u want to change the system, change the men in white's system


ok muackz

 

[vickomaniac]

+10 to boon.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

A very interesting note. If you guys have been following the argument too closely, you won't see this trend.

Just a summary of what's happening:

The main topic here is to seek clarification and to question whether there can be more consistency in moderating SOFT. The last straw that got Levan banned was very very light, and thus making a lot of us overreacting over this issue which isn't the main topic of the thread now.

There's a camp here that's displaying typical forum mentality of flaming people regarding personnel issues. There's the carebear group that's going "Oh Levan's good, why ban him?" or "James' so busy, leave him alone la..."

There's another camp in here that's displaying typical Singaporean mentality of "I'm not the one getting banned, so if you're not happy, go start another forum!" or "This is a small matter, I also got banned before! So let it rest lah!" brushing aside and trying to stop any intellectual discussion that might surface out of this.

And there's miscellaneous people coming in bringing models of other fourms and using to say that "This forum is already really good, you'll get banned if you use other people's forum accounts." (I'm too dumb to actually link this with using other people's bank account to finance one's uprising.) ?_? Oh and "James contributed this much and Levan contributed this much!!!"

If we get all this distractions aside, the topic's here really focused on the posts of Levan and James. Lets drop that particular wood innuendo (that a minority of us understand) and how james is busy and how we should all start our own country if we're unhappy about singapore and !@#$ and *&^% and... etc...

Bringing back the topic: there seems to be a misunderstanding between Jame's side and Levan's side?

- James said he sent out multiple PMs that served as warnings against people who have done something untasteful / against the rules here. Levan says he hasn't received anything from him for the past 6 months.

- Is this a case of favouritism / prejudism? Levan got a 3 day suspension for the built up of several small matters that happened over a long period of time. Why then, are there people (seems to be a handful) who blatantly misbehave here and post obvious threads of malice don't receive such treatment?

Point in check, many of people, just what to know whether justice has been done on this particular case and there's nothing wrong with that. If you have points to support Levan's views or Jame's views, go ahead and post, but please, don't come here and post "aiya such a small matter lets just go hush-hush and let it rest la..." or "this does not concern me, not happy go start another forum pls..." cause it's 1) not solving this and 2) might make you sound selfish.

 

[meekahsoh]

Compliance over democracy? If that's how the community feels, so be it. Well then, back to status quo and this discussion would have been pointless. Rather than posting for the sake of keeping this going and seeing the views of other softies, I'mma just let this stew for a little while longer.

To sum up: Being a softie is a compromise. Compromising with irregular enforcement and stepping within the limits of markers which constantly shift. If that's what we want, then that's what it shall be.

Edit: MadWereWolfBoy, kudos, great summary. I guess we've been conditioned to sidestep or SEP-fy our problems that we miss out the issue at hand. I've been guilty of that too.

 

[indianstallion]

Being a softie is a compromise.

I was gonna make a joke about that but I think it will get me banned so I will not. I think best advice is to just stay away from jokes about wood and wood-derived products, oh and also about things that are soft, and you should be fine. (No innuendo intended I swear!)

 

[theliverevolution]

I was gonna make a joke about that but I think it will get me banned so I will not. I think best advice is to just stay away from jokes about wood and wood-derived products, oh and also about things that are soft, and you should be fine. (No innuendo intended I swear!)

You're not helping here.

To add on to MadWereWolfBoy's thread, I'll re-illeterate my points again (for those who were blind or blatantly refused to see it)

- The issue isn't so much on THE FACT THAT LEVAN GOT BANNED. Ergo, why we are protesting or complaining here is on WHAT BASIS HE GOT BANNED.

Kiddos, there's a huge difference here

As i've said before, there are plenty of threads and posts that constantly break the forum rules in anyway or another, most even more blatant then Levan's. I've seen Levan's post and I agree while you can possibly THINK in a crude way, it still is not very blatant as compared to many other posts.

There are other posts that has people swearing, cursing, insulting, cracking crude jokes, etc. But they don't seem to get into any form of trouble or punishment.

Thus, what is the judgement and what governs this forum?

This incident IMPLIES that as long as you're in James' good books, you can practically walk around the rules but if you're not in James' good books, then if James don't like you he'll punish you.

There has to be some form of system here that is FAIR

 

[Godspeed64]

Ok people.. Let's stop arguing and head back to making music! :mrgreen::mrgreen: