Another disillisioned past contributor

Well, here is another disillusioned post. I know, you see them all the time. Big surprise that here is yet another one; but here it is ~ I’m angry and just want to speak my mind~

I got up this morning and found an email informing me “You are banned”.

Good morning! After 4 years of support for this site, both verbal and financial (requested AND un-requested), you made ONE nasty comment yesterday and went from zero warnings to BANNED overnight. Thanks, don’t reply to this e-mail and NO you may not read the rules to see if the one nasty comment was a big enough offense to get you banned~ you can’t even review the rules if your banned until you pay the fine.

That’s not what the e-mail said~ but that was the gist of it.

Gee I wonder why all the oldtimers seem to be gone from Fauna??

I paid my fine. I then had access to read the rules (which have changed MULTIPLE times in the 4 years I’ve supported this site) and apparently calling someone a name is an immediate banning offense.

Okay.

I called the name, and I paid the fine. We’re square. But I’m still angry, I still feel BANNING me was unfair. It is in the latest form of the rules you have written, so I owed $10.

I won’t be “donating” money any longer however. Find a reason to BAN and FINE me if this site needs financial support in the future.

I can’t seem to find what the MINUMUM “Membership level” is to post advertisements in the classifieds. Could some please direct me so I know how much I must contribute when my current membership expires? I only pay the MINUMUM amount to advertise at KS, and at least they have never BANNED me.

Sour grapes. I know. I’m feeling pretty SOUR after my morning email. (oh, AND my "Karma" went to zero points~ more sour grapes.)

Thank you,
Have a nice day~

Ok Cheryl, then please tell me what criteria should I have used to exempt you from the rules and my attempts to clean up the nastiness so many people have complained about on this site.

Should it be (1) That you have been a member for 4 years? or (2) That you are a paid membership contributor here? or (3) Some other reason I am not immediately aware of?

Sorry, I am not going to play favorites for members who have been here the longest, and nor am I going to give special privileges and exemptions for people because they are paid contributors. Yeah, how would that look. You can just guy your way out of having to follow the rules over on FaunaClassifieds.....

Or is that what you people want? You want me to enforce the rules on a sliding scale of monetary value? You want me to have a protected class of people on this site based on whether they have paid a fee or not? Well that is fine with me, if that is what you really want here. I sometimes think maybe I should play "grab the money and run" instead of trying to be fair and even handed, so go ahead make my day and tell me that is what you really want. The fines and suspensions are because just the light slap on the wrist wasn't working. I had one guy with over 150 warning points, for crying out loud! And others not too far behind.

Yeah everyone wants me to clean up this place and get tough with the rules just so long as it only applies to the "other guy". You're mad? Well I'm pretty pissed myself that people can't act like decent human beings towards each other without the darn name calling and waste the time out of my life having to deal with crap like this.

As for the classifieds section, no there is no minimum paid membership required to post ads there. But thanks for giving me incentive to more strongly consider doing just that.

Nope~ I’m not suggesting any special treatment at all. I’ve never asked for special treatment, and if you review our very FEW past communications you will see I am not in the habit of posting or e-mailing with every little petty issue I come across.

I think it was unfair to BAN me as my very first warning.

I was insulted and upset when I saw that, and I still am.

Once I paid the fine and could see the rules (which I could not review while banned) I was able to see that whenever you made your latest changes to the rules, what I thought was a minor offense had become a major BANNING offense. My bad, I should have read EVERY iteration of the rules that have come out in the last several years……I know. But obviously I did not.

That doesn’t change that I am angry and insulted at having been BANNED on my only offense. I’ve never been BANNED from a site before. I’ve been WARNED~ but that’s a little different isn’t it?

Things here have changed. I knew they were changing~ I didn’t complain. I guess I should have, but like I pointed out, I’m not in the habit of whining and complaining about every little issue. My fault if I don’t like it.

But I don’t like it~ and I felt the need to point that out.

Thanks for your time.

Besides updating the rules as needed in at least two different places (top thread in the BOI and in the FAQ section), I also sent out a general broadcast message to all registered members indicating the changes that have been taking place here (http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=74229). If that is not sufficient for me to get the point across, then please tell me what exactly is needed to do so.

For the record, here is the post that got you fined and suspended:

Originally Posted by Cheryl Marchek AKA JM

And it took you longer to type out that you don't have time to make the refund~ than it would have taken to make the refund.

You've gone from being a little petty when you felt insulted ~ to just being a petty, nasty, little jack***.

Your hurting your own rep much more than hers.

So tell me, Cheryl, did you make that post KNOWING that it was a violation of the rules, but you felt that the minor and inconsequential warning point it may have gotten you was worth it? And you are faulting ME because I made the penalty much stricter exactly because I want to END that sort of stuff here? Puhleeze.... The traffic cops don't tell you that the speeding ticket fines have increased, do they? So they pull you over and they are expected to let you go, because you didn't know about the stiffer fine? Again, puhleeze...

This is the kind of crap I am trying to get out of this site and keep it out. If you think this is appropriate for you to do on this site, then perhaps you are just making a mistake in judgement.

As for you previous comment:

Gee I wonder why all the oldtimers seem to be gone from Fauna??

If those "oldtimers" are leaving because the circus they preferred is no longer here, then good riddance to them. And yes you may very well be right that this was the only reason they hung around here in the first place. If that is the case, then I REALLY don't care that they are gone. And if anyone does not prefer that I have this site run in a more respectable and professional manner, I do hope they can find the door without any assistance. I've stated it before and I will state it again: the crap that used to infest this site on a daily basis is over with. The people I prefer to remain on this site will agree with me on this. The others are entirely welcome to go elsewhere, (ex)paying contributors or not. I value MY reputation one hell of a lot more then the few dollars that you may throw my way.

Actually~ NO I did not make that post thinking “Gee, this will get me a warning point or two…..oh goody!” Look at my past behavior, it speaks for itself. I made that post without really thinking.

Kind of like when I’m driving and sometimes I find I am speeding. I wasn’t thinking “I’m going to speed and see if I can get pulled over today.” I just wasn’t thinking about the speed issue. And when a cop pulls me over (last time was 18 years ago) but when he pulled me over he didn’t tell me I was BANNED from driving. He wrote me a ticket and asked me to pay it, I did and life went on.

If you had “pulled me over”~ issued me a warning or even a suspension and asked me to “pay a fine” I probably would not have liked it……but that would be too bad. This is too bad too. I know. That’s why I paid the fine. My problem really is the word BANNED. I didn’t get up and find an e-mail telling me “Your fined” or “Your warned” or “Your suspended”~ I got an e-mail that said “You are BANNED.” I was shocked and wanted to review the rules to see if I had done something to warrant being BANNED~ but I could not get access to the rules without paying the fine. And once I paid my fine my “karma” was at ZERO to top it off. I see it no longer is~ I have no idea why you changed that. If my calling a name was bad enough to take away the evidence of 4 years of contributing to this site~ then you should just go ahead and do that.

Like I said. I know it’s sour grapes. I’m feeling very SOUR over the entire situation myself. It’s just a word. BANNED. But I was BANNED over just a word wasn’t I?

And I suppose if the rules have changed enough that ONE infraction makes me “part of the problem” rather than a contributing member~ then it’s best that we both know what page we are on now doesn’t it?

Thanks for your time.

Cheryl, welcome to the first warning, now banned club.

I endured the EXACT same thing you are now going through. Frustrating? Yup, it sure is but it's also understandable. My mistake was calling someone an idiot. Your comment was a bit more, ahem.....direct, shall we say? Either way, the proverbial Fauna pot was starting to boil over and Rich had to do something to stop it. Trust me, lesson learned on this end and I am sure on yours as well.

Griz

One more thing as I sit here stewing over this. WHERE do you come up with I asked for special treatment ANYWHERE or ANYHOW? Did I write you this morning whining that it was unfair and you should reconsider? NO. I paid the fine and came to the forum you set up to for “Feedback” to politely give my “Feedback” on the situation. I NEVER implied in ANY of my postings that I DID NOT break one of the rules. I admitted that upfront ~ and I paid the fine.

And Bob~ I’m learning a lesson all right, but I’m not sure it’s the one I was SUPPOSED to get. Or maybe it was~ as apparently I am part of the

“crap I am trying to get out of this site” ~Quote from Webslave (I don't know how to do the quote thingy)

At least your karma is on the mend, Cheryl.

Don't worry about it, and don't take it personally. Unless something can be adopted in which positive points can be added to balance out any "warning" or negative points, the warning system is not really going to be an accurate measuring stick for anyone's value to this website.

I know you were just venting, and I don't see anything wrong with that. You're obviously not the only person who feels the situation is a little harsh. However, when it was addressed in another thread, Webslave made it clear that this harsh treatment was having the desired result. So don't sweat it.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=74420

Well, "banned" is a term that the programmer chose in the email, which I admit might be a bit strong. I will ask him to change that wording. But regardless, the fact of the matter is that you were blocked from this site until you paid the fine. How could I do it any differently? Let you access everything normally in the meantime? How many people would pay the fine under those circumstances?

Let's analyze this quote of yours:

Kind of like when I’m driving and sometimes I find I am speeding. I wasn’t thinking “I’m going to speed and see if I can get pulled over today.” I just wasn’t thinking about the speed issue. And when a cop pulls me over (last time was 18 years ago) but when he pulled me over he didn’t tell me I was BANNED from driving. He wrote me a ticket and asked me to pay it, I did and life went on.

No he didn't take away your license. But what would have happened if you had NOT paid the ticket? Yeah, some people do just that. And yes, if I did not collect the fine up front, what sort of incentive could I use to get people to pay the fine if there was no loss to them not to do so?

And yes, I do believe you are asking for preferential treatment. Why else did you start this thread in the first place? What purpose did you want it to serve?

So tell me Cheryl, out of the 25,663 members now registered on this site, why should I treat you differently from the other 25,662 members? Why should I make an exception for you when everyone else is expected to behave in socially acceptable mannerisms that I have requested and now demand from people in order to participate here? How long have you been on this site and had every opportunity to stay abreast of the rules and participate in any changes I have made public and requested input for?

Here's a poll I started recently that is pertinent to this discussion:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=74420

Where is your input, Cheryl? Barring that WHAT EXACTLY is the poll telling me about how I am now enforcing these rules?

Cheryl,

I know this is going to come as a shock to Rich, but I actually agree with him 100% on this one.

You broke the current rules and you got the penalty for doing so. Just like everyone else on this site would have. Your initial post does sound like, to me anyway, that you feel that the rules should not have been applied to you. You may not have meant it that way, but it does come across that way.

And you are not banned in the literal sense or you would not be posting here now. It was a suspension pending the payment of the fine. Nothing more. Granted the email was worded poorly and should be changed. But that little bit of miscommunication is now cleared up.