Their messages read:
Pre-Moderation Status
Due to the provocative content of your posts, from now on and until further notice you are being put on pre-mod. All your post will be moderated.
SBFII Staff
What in the world happened on Feb. 17? Was there a great uprising, leading members to make such outrageous posts that a whole slew of them had to be sanctioned? What happened?
Well, nothing specific happened on Feb. 17 except that the staff at SBFII got fed up with criticism. Two new blogs were started in the days prior to that, one by Sassyone and one anonymous. There is no evidence that any of those on pre-mod status had anything to do with those blogs.
If SBFII staff knew for sure which member was responsible for the anonymous blog, they would have been banned, as Sassyone and I were. But they did not, so instead they punished people who had nothing to do with it.
And Mirrim, who was often privy to staff conversations, knew it was coming. In the early hours of Feb. 17th she posted that she was “happy to see the administration of this site finally take a solid stand and oust these individuals.” This included members who had not broken any rules.
It is clear that the sanctions were planned and not in response to any specific posts. Some of those put into pre-moderation status had not even posted recently.
For example, LEM had not posted since mid-December. Yet she received an email, more than two months later, informing her she was now being pre-moderated. Another member had received one warning almost a year earlier. Her last post had been weeks before Feb. 17th and not at all provocative. Others were posting, but had not posted anything deserving of censure. Yet all were punished on Feb. 17th.
One of those who is now censored asked a Board member about the mass sanctions. She asked staff and then replied as follows:
This is what I have found out: The persons who were put on Pre Moderation had received a warning prior to Pre Moderation status. I was told you had received such from Kalua. Although to you, it might look like it was a group, as one entity, move to place all on Pre Moderation, I was told that was not the case. Each person was considered individually and the decision reached was done individually.
This is clearly not true. Some had received no warnings. Some had received a warning quite a while prior to being sanctioned. In one case, the warnings were more than a year old. And yet all received the message that they were being sanctioned on the same day. Not a group? Not believable. Not when some hadn’t even posted in weeks.
According to latest rules, posted Dec 2010, there are a series of steps to go through when sanctioning members. These were clearly not followed.
Sanctions Policy
Warnings stay on record for 12 calendar months.
1. First warning - No sanctions, but a PM reminder of the rules and notification of warning.
2. Second warning - Moderated posts for 7 days. *Pre – Approval status
3. Third warning - Removal of posting and PM privileges for 30 days. *Read Only status
4. Fourth warning - Removal of posting and PM privileges for six months.*Read Only status
5. Fifth warning - Permanent removal of posting and PM privileges. Read-only privileges. *Read Only status
6. For very serious offences member will be issued a complete ban (persistent disruption of the forum, flagrant violation of the rules, bullying, cyber stalking and spamming)
Note: You can appeal the decision to the Appeal Panel as of the 4th warning.
Most of the members who received the group sanction had zero or one warning. Yet they were put on permanent pre-moderation status, which should come only with the fifth warning. It seems clear that the staff decided to rid themselves of members who asked awkward questions, who didn’t buy the party line fed them by staff.
This was not the first time they have thrown out the rules. On Jan. 11, Skywriter was placed on pre-moderation status. Her crime? She posted this question: “Why has knudt been banned?” That was not a question they wanted to answer, because my banning did not follow the rules either. So she was punished for asking. She had no warnings at all, before or after being sanctioned. She was not even notified that she was on pre-moderation status. She didn’t find out until she tried to post. Later, Pickled Tink would post that “asking questions in a polite manner is never discouraged”. Tell that to Skywriter.
They got away with banning me contrary to the rules. They got away with sanctioning Skywriter, contrary to the rules. Perhaps those actions emboldened them. Now they have sanctioned a whole group, again contrary to the rules. And who can complain? Just asking a question about it is enough to draw punishment.
Why have rules, if they are not going to follow them? Why lie about it to their own Board members? It is not as if the Board has any backbone and will call them on anything the staff does. Will they......?
