An eye for an eye, A tooth for a tooth (Admin discussions)

Thu 23 Oct 2008, 10:34

Oh for goodness' sake, it's like trying to deal with kids in a playground sometimes. At least kids are usually willing to learn and listen, which is a concept that some alleged grown-ups seem to have great difficulty with.

Roger - I am completely aghast at your message to Alan. You appear to have some belief that the norms of civility do not apply to you, just as you appeared to think the other week that the "post under your real name only" rule didn't apply to you. Well, sorry to tell you, but they do. Do not do it again or your account will be blocked. This isn't a playground, let alone your own personal playground, and to be honest, teacher is getting a bit tired of mopping up your mess and his thoughts right now are ranging from "permanent exclusion" to "ASBO".

I'd also point out that in theory I can read any messages sent via the site - pretty obviously they have to be stored somewhere, and that somewhere is in the site database. Thus far I haven't done this, but if I feel someone is abusing the system I won't hesitate to do so.

Alan - you are far from the only one to speak out; the posting right at the top of the forum, 'Civility', is me making pretty much the same point. And I absolutely agree that certain people can, at times, seem to love the sound of their own voice so much that they don't realise they're drowning out everyone else.

But again I would ask that you please contact me first before starting a potentially inflammatory thread, never mind one which is seeking a ban which would actually be very difficult to implement. It isn't as simple as just flicking a switch and banning someone from the site forever; they can try to come back under any number of e-mail addresses and aliases. If I have to I will - but it's not a simple option.

Once again I'd come back to the point that the best way to improve the forum is to make a positive posting; and the best way to dissuade the more tiresome posters, in public at least, is to ignore them. Thank you, as ever, to all those who can and do bring something positive to the forum.