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Once upon a time, a middle aged man, who was happy and content interacting on a skins forum that he had been a decade long member of. The mistake he made was deciding to interact in a tailgate forum as often or more than the team forum. He was a decent debater, passionate in his views and sadly,arrogant enough to believe he was almost always right and rarely wrong. Through enough interactions that were less than respectful, he earned a reputation that was poor among the moderators.
Over time, the damage accumulated to a point where no matter what he said or how he said it was seen as inappropriate. One day, he saw a post there that mentioned a fantastic alternative site that was started by some of the most respected leaders of the first site. Many had gravitated there.
He asked a simple question about the new found place, what was it like? What is it all about?
That question began a chain of events that suddenly resulted in a ban with no reason given. When asked,a mod said. "We wanted to see what you would do".
He was devastated and angry. It was talked about some at the new place and he found that many others had a similar experience. This culminated into a sudden reinstatement at the other place, and a day later after one mundane and non controversial post, a permanent ban from there.
The next few months were a rebuilding of relationship s and reputation and a strong move to being a respected member of the new community.
A year of bliss followed, all was great, and despite mistakes hear and there, the community was strong and united.
Enter politics. The root cause of issues in both places.
Folks began getting personal, going to far, and literally creating enemies for each other.
Mods tried and tried both passively and actively, to surmount the situation all to no avail.
The politics were forceably removed, and the anger just moved to another forum.
The community suffered and all felt the tension and frustration
Today, that middle aged man is sad. He is seeing yet another web home go away. He is angry and upset. Mostly, he is disappointed.
He cares for people here and it hurts to know it may be gone over something so easy to avoid.
Don't be the same as hated places and people of yesteryear, don't adopt the same behaviors that led to disaster,and learn our lessons well.
BGO was a Godsend for many of us, treat it that way. Please!
Over time, the damage accumulated to a point where no matter what he said or how he said it was seen as inappropriate. One day, he saw a post there that mentioned a fantastic alternative site that was started by some of the most respected leaders of the first site. Many had gravitated there.
He asked a simple question about the new found place, what was it like? What is it all about?
That question began a chain of events that suddenly resulted in a ban with no reason given. When asked,a mod said. "We wanted to see what you would do".
He was devastated and angry. It was talked about some at the new place and he found that many others had a similar experience. This culminated into a sudden reinstatement at the other place, and a day later after one mundane and non controversial post, a permanent ban from there.
The next few months were a rebuilding of relationship s and reputation and a strong move to being a respected member of the new community.
A year of bliss followed, all was great, and despite mistakes hear and there, the community was strong and united.
Enter politics. The root cause of issues in both places.
Folks began getting personal, going to far, and literally creating enemies for each other.
Mods tried and tried both passively and actively, to surmount the situation all to no avail.
The politics were forceably removed, and the anger just moved to another forum.
The community suffered and all felt the tension and frustration
Today, that middle aged man is sad. He is seeing yet another web home go away. He is angry and upset. Mostly, he is disappointed.
He cares for people here and it hurts to know it may be gone over something so easy to avoid.
Don't be the same as hated places and people of yesteryear, don't adopt the same behaviors that led to disaster,and learn our lessons well.
BGO was a Godsend for many of us, treat it that way. Please!
