Bannings and other things (update)

[Volker Pittlik]

Yesterday I spent more than half an hour telephoning with my provider to get the reasons for their letter. The one I talk with was unable to find it out at all. Believe me, I have much better things to do on christmas as to telephone with overstrained helpdesk staff. Now all communication with them will be done by snailmail what will make it slow.

Now as external authorities are in this has to be clarified in all details. Their letter only says that I "illegally accessed" the arena website. There aren't any further details. As long as I don't know what has happend every link to the Arena website will be censored automatically. I don't want to be resonsible if a link occurs here someone clicks on it and he loses his internet connection from their provider.

I'll be on holiday for a week from tomorrow. There will be no changes in the ban and censor status here until I'll return. Dozens if not hundreds of e-mails have been written in the last year with certain people (you know which one). But everything became worse and worse. To complain at my provider (about whatever) is a new level. And that is where I draw the line.

Some words in general: this forum is my private hobby. I don't want to sell something here and do not try to make any money with it in other forms. I ran it now for more than five years. Most of the time I like to do so. No one is forced to read or post here. I'll think about it in the next days. To install a mod which allows everyone to quit his membership without making noise is one thing to think about. There are other possibilities too.

Volker

[mike schoonover]

i'm sticking with you volker.
when i first got on the net in 1999,i somehow stumbled upon
wbforum some how.
since then i usually read the posts every day.
i have recieved tons of good advice,asked for,and
perused from reading others post's.
i have gotten much enjoyment here.
i just wanted to thank you for all your good work and your
selfless devotion to this forum.
have a happy holiday season,and happy new year!.
regards
michael schoonover

[Graham Banks]

I support you 100% Volker.

[Uri Blass]

I decided to post here again after I understood that the arena team is a small team and not all members of the arena forum but I cannot support volker unless I get some explanation how banning the arena team members or banning arena links can be productive to save the winboard forum.

The problems that I see are:

1)You cannot know be sure about the identity of the posters here and I do not see how you can really prevent them to post not in their name.

2)I do not see how banning arena team members is productive to save the winboard forum.

Did they threat to close the winboard forum because people like
Martin blume are allowed to post here?

3)I also do not understand banning arena links unless they complained about links that were posted in the forum.

Based on the post of Volker they complained that Volker illegally accessed" the arena website.

They can claim it even with no link to the arena forum so how forbiding links to the arena forum in this forum can be productive?

Uri

[mridul]

Wish you happy hols Volker and I completely support your decision.
Especially since it is a private hobby (to you, mods and the posters here in general) but more so on more general grounds of fairness and basic net etiquette !

Have a good time.
My best,
Mridul

[Uri Blass]

My question is simple.
Do the steps of volker pf banning the arena team help to get some productive purpose?

Note that I do not see revenge as productive purpose and the question is simply if banning the arena team can help volker to protect himself.

I fail to see how it can help him but maybe there is something that I did not consider.

Uri

[Laurens Winkelhagen]

It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: I support volker completely in this.

[GeoffW]

Hello Volker

Sorry to hear about your problems with the Arena support staff, It strikes me that term is a misnomer anyway. Conkie's behaviour is dragging the reputation of a fine program even deeper into the mud.
Don't let it ruin the enjoyment of your Winboard forum hobby, hopefully things will quieten down shortly and they will confine themselves to running their own forum (assuming they have any readers left).

I am only an occasional poster here, but thought it was important to say I agree 100% with your actions.

Regards Geoff

[Uri Blass]

I can say the reverse, their site illegally requested data from my computer!

Andrew.

Hi Andrew,
I do not understand that part.
I see nothing illegal on accepting people to a forum only if they give details including details like their telephone number.

If you mean to something else then I would like to know what you mean.

Uri

[Joachim Rang]

Of course Uri, the decisions form Volker are not "productive", but I can understand them. The Arenateam is a bit nervous recently and behaves quite aggressive, if I would have gotten such a mail form my provider one day before Christmas I would have felt the same. The temporarily banning is nothing constructive but perhaps needed until Volker has the whole picture what happened and why and then he will make his decisions.

I don't think urgent actions are necessary, let's cool down and finally Volker will decide how he wants to deal with the Arenateam.

regards Joachim

[Guenther Simon]

My question is simple.
Do the steps of volker pf banning the arena team help to get some productive purpose?

Note that I do not see revenge as productive purpose and the question is simply if banning the arena team can help volker to protect himself.

I fail to see how it can help him but maybe there is something that I did not consider.

Uri

Hi Uri,

Banning the mod team of another forum cannot be called 'productive' anyhow,
but it will at least produce some peace and safety here, as long as Volker has sorted out
what really happened.
He will surely know more after his holidays.

Facts:

The so called Arena team acts as one and it placed several
links to Arena downloads here a while ago.

Volker later was prohibited to use those links, which the
Arena staff placed here!

For our own safety he disallowed posts and links from the Arena
mod team, as long as they consider using their own links as illegal!

This intermediate solution has nothing to do with 'revenge' of course.

Please wait with more questions, if some are really left, until Volker
has returned. Thanks.

Guenther

P.S. Don't forget, that one of the members of the Arena team
also threatened to destroy this place.
(just to get a picture about the aggressivity...)

[Uri Blass]

Hi Joachim,thanks for responding for my claims.
I notice that previous posters did not respond to my claims and only said that they fully support volker or fully support his actions.

I can only say that it is better to think before responding to aggression by aggression.

If somebody hit you hitting back is not always a good strategy even if you are not weaker because it can cause the attacker to hit again and you will hit again and both of you will suffer.
If the arena team is nervous recently it is better not to do steps that may make them more nervous.

Uri

[José Carlos]

Hi Uri, your questions regarding produtivity of baning people are very valid ones in my opinion.
I haven't been very active lately but I'll try to answer your questions as directly as I can:
There is productive and there is preventive. Volker finds out, one day before he leaves on holiday, some threat for unknown (so far) reasons. When he gets the email from his provider, he is not sure of anything. He only knows Arena team members issued a complaint so that Volker's IP threatens to cancel his contract if he visits Arena web site again.
Not knowing what all of that means, and having to leave the very next day, he feels his long time hobby is in danger. He can't make productive decisions until he has collected all the data, but he needs to prevent things from getting worse while he's not here.
Banning Arena links and persons who created the threat (remember Arena admins always speak like a compact group) is a preventive measure. Productive? We still don't know, and it's pretty much worthless to discuss it until the necessary data is collected.
Volker had to make a quick and preventive decision. After he's back and has all the necessary information, he'll make a correct and productive decision.

[Albert Silver]

Yesterday I spent more than half an hour telephoning with my provider to get the reasons for their letter. The one I talk with was unable to find it out at all. Believe me, I have much better things to do on christmas as to telephone with overstrained helpdesk staff. Now all communication with them will be done by snailmail what will make it slow.

(...)

Now as external authorities are in this has to be clarified in all details. Their letter only says that I "illegally accessed" the arena website. There aren't any further details. As long as I don't know what has happend every link to the Arena website will be censored automatically. I don't want to be resonsible if a link occurs here someone clicks on it and he loses his internet connection from their provider.

Volker

I don't mean to stir up harsh feelings on this, but recent events make it relevant. The first is that the new www.playwitharena.co.uk site is down, and permanently so apparently. The second news, that goes together with this, is that Christopher Conkie and Michael Diosi have both left the Arena team. The reasons for this are unclear and I have seen more than one version on this, so it is impossible to say. All the same those are the facts.

Conkie began posting in CSS recently, and I asked him about this, but he went ballistic, suggesting I was stalking him by posting in CSS (presumably as he never went there, he never noticed I posted there too), and then made some strange attempts to insult me by calling me subversive and making comments on my name. Weird.

He also went ballistic on a number of members there and was called to attention by the moderators for successive personal attacks.

Anyhow, hopefully, all the fuss on the complaints that caused Pittlik trouble will be cleared up, and I'd like to suggest he open a dialogue with Frank Quisinsky to put an end to the whole sordid affair.

There are no Arena forums working at the moment, though I expect the old ones to re-open. The new Arena 1.1 can be downloaded from the old site BTW.

Peace, and a Happy New Year.

Albert

[Volker Pittlik]

...
I don't mean to stir up harsh feelings on this, but recent events make it relevant. The first is that the new www...co.uk site is down, and permanently so apparently. The second news, that goes together with this, is that Christopher Conkie and Michael Diosi have both left the Arena team. The reasons for this are unclear and I have seen more than one version on this, so it is impossible to say. All the same those are the facts...

I have neither an idea why they shot down the new Arena site after six weeks nor why these two person have left the Arena team. The only fact I can recognise is that things are unclear. Maybe it is shut down permanently, maybe they re-open it tomorrow, who knows?

...Conkie began posting in CSS recently,
...
and was called to attention by the moderators for successive personal attacks.

I guess most German speaking registrants of this forum have already noticed that. As CC can't write here I consider it as a bit unfair to write about him here.

...Anyhow, hopefully, all the fuss on the complaints that caused Pittlik trouble will be cleared up, and I'd like to suggest he open a dialogue with Frank Quisinsky to put an end to the whole sordid affair.

There has been more than one attempt in the past. I don't think there is much sense to provide details in public.

However, a clarifiing answer from my provider about the "hacking" accusation is still pending. Further decisions will be made after I got it.

...Peace, and a Happy New Year.

Albert

Same to you and everyone else here

Volker