I'm generally not much for blindly following. In this case though I see quite clearly. I also see quite clearly what has been crystalized for others prior to my clarity of vision.
I doubt anything will happen, but I didn't know about this until recently and it would surprise me not at all if others here were equally ignorant of its happening.
Good job guys over at ball-pythons.net
admincouncil
Admin
Join Date: 03-10-2005
Announcement regarding eclark
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To all the members,
It is after a tremendous amount of thought and deliberation that we have decided to ban Ed Clark from this site. This decision does not come lightly, nor does it come in the heat of any emotional drama. That time is past. The entire staff has cooled off and made careful consideration of all our options with regard to what is best for the entire site of BP.net....not what any of us want personally.
Most bans are a simple process that are never brought to the membership's attention unless they should happen to notice it when it happens. But this one, we felt it proper to make a public announcement due to Ed's long-term membership here and prolific presence. Most bans come on the heels of explicit infractions against our TOS/Rules. But this one comes only after much subtle nibbling and picking around the edges, until it has reached the point of causing significant damage...like termites, invisible within the rafters of your house.
Ed's presence here has become a constant source of friction and disruption. We have attempted to work with Ed for quite some time to limit those issues, but every attempt to do so was either ignored, or thrown back into our faces. When we made a conscious effort to not let Ed's normal activities here bother us, he rasied the bar with a new level of arrogance, flaunting our passivity and apparent inability to do anything to counter him without making ourselves look bad.
In this most recent flare-up, we swallowed our pride (and our bile) and made a very difficult but sincere apology in order to bring an end to the escalation that HE began. But Ed was not satisfied with that and continued to spell out lies about what was said and done in private. He tried to use our own apology to cover up for HIS lies.
After multiple PMs to Ed in the past that he ignored, some staff members tried to confront him publicly about inconsistencies and possible poor ethical choices on his part. This action was roundly criticized and the staff was told that they should deal with Ed in private if they had any issues with him.
So, Judy sent Ed a private message explaining to him WHY she was concerned about the way he used our site for his own promotion. She challenged Ed to do two things if he wanted to prove her wrong and change her opinion about his intentions toward our site: Be willing to post helpful responses....AND...to refrain from posting pictures of animals that he had FOR SALE on other sites. Instead, she invited him to share as many pictures as he wished of the diverse "cream of the crop" breeding stock he said he had. This was a personal challenge between Judy and Ed and had nothing whatsoever to do with the staff laying down any restrictions. It was entirely voluntary and there were no consequences at all for Ed choosing to not accept that challenge. The only thing on the line was a sincere and public apology from Judy when Ed proved to her how wrong she was about his intentions.
He responded saying simply that he accepted that challenge.
Within 24 hours, he posted a thread with pictures of very pretty CH imports from Africa that he bought to "add to his breeding group." All well and fine...except....that same day, those animals showed up for sale on another forum.
There's no rule against any of that. Ed was under no sanctions whatsoever. There's not even any rules against lying about the animals one posts pictures of, so long as you're not stealing someone else's pictures. Nothing at all would publicly come of Ed's thread. Judy sent him another PM stating that it looked like she wouldn't have to apologize anytime soon. That was it. And that was, as far as Judy was concerned, the end of it.
Then Ed stated in a thread that he wasn't allowed to post anymore pictures. And well...the rest is history, as they say. Despite the lie, the staff did everything they could to bring an end to that drama, even if it meant letting it go and ignoring it. That was what the apology was supposed to do. End it. But Ed's lies continued and compounded after that. And there was nothing the staff could do without making themselves look worse. Judy gave her permission for Ed to post her PRIVATE communications in order to clear the whole matter up....Ed did not return that courtesy.
It has become clear that Ed can not belong to this site without continuing to bring more and greater harm to the very foundation of what it stands for.
This matter is not open for public debate, but if anyone wishes to ask questions or have any point further clarified, they should send a PM to Raj (iceman25) and he will get back to you as quickly as he is able.
The Admin & Staff of BP.net
