Question about T/C

I do not want to stir up a bee's nest with the following question, therefore I will only say I have noticed people disappearing, and leave it at that.

Now to the question:

What is the number one reason for an immediate termination of account (banning) on ATS?

Disclaimer: I am not questioning the current T/C or the judgements passed on ex-members, just want to be informed on actions that could essentially end an account.

As a side note.

I always feel nervous for bringing up T/C as i feel i will be punished for doing so. Is that normal?

Originally posted by MDDoxs
As a side note.

I always feel nervous for bringing up T/C as i feel i will be punished for doing so. Is that normal?

lol


Dude...they don't drop the hammer for petty crap, at least not IMO, and I've pushed the fold more than most.


Number 1 reason..? Blatant attacks that aren't justified...


So, before you attack, make sure to word the post correctly.

reply to post by MDDoxs




Explanation: Uhmmm?

I am no lawyer ... but for me it is quite obvious and I completely fail to see how it can be overlooked.

Here ...

There are currently only 4 instances of the term "any reason" used in the ATS T&C's ...

12d) Severability/Waiver: If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of the Terms and Conditions of Use (or the Additional Terms and Conditions of Membership) invalid or unenforceable, that provision of the Terms and Conditions of Use (or the Additional Terms and Conditions of Membership) will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and the other provisions of this Terms and Conditions of Use (or the Additional Terms and Conditions of Membership) will remain in full force and effect. Failure by either party to enforce any provision of this Terms and Conditions of Use (or the Additional Terms and Conditions of Membership) will not be deemed a waiver of future enforcement of that or any other provision. Any waiver, amendment, or other modification of any provision of this Agreement will be effective only if in writing and signed by duly authorized representatives of the parties

15e.) Recruitment/Solicitation:

i) You will not use your membership in the Websites for any type of recruitment to any causes whatsoever. You will not Post, use the chat feature, use videos, or use the private message system to disseminate advertisements, chain letters, petitions, pyramid schemes, or any kind of solicitation for political action, social action, letter campaigns, or related online and/or offline coordinated actions of any kind.

ii) You will not Post, use the chat feature, use videos, or use the private message system to collect or ask for the personal information (data mining) about forum members, including email addresses and "real life" names, in any manner whatsoever, or for any reason whatsoever.

iii) You will not Post, use the chat feature, use videos, or use the private message system to solicit members of the Websites on behalf of another message board, online community or competitor. You will not attempt to use your membership to encourage or lure other members in any way to other websites or discussion boards in competition with TAN. Doing so will result in removal of your Post(s) and immediate termination of your account.

15m.) Termination: In the event your account or access privileges are terminated for any reason, your information and Posts will not be removed unless there is a violation of the Terms and Conditions of Use and the Terms and Conditions of Membership. Requests for voluntary "account deletion" and removal of your content will not be honored without a reasonable reason, provided in writing, to TAN.

22) Disclaimer: TAN does not and cannot review all of the content of every message Posted and does not accept responsibility for the contents of any messages. We reserve the right to delete any message and/or restrict Posting rights on the message board for any reason whatsoever. Should you continue to Post messages that violate these Terms and Conditions of Membership, your account may be terminated, your ability to access to the Websites may be restricted or blocked, and your service provider(s) may be contacted about your behavior. Furthermore, TAN expressly reserves the rights under the law to take any other actions deemed necessary.

Personal Disclosure: I hope this helps everybody to see clearly now.

I appreciate the information thus far.

I just want to make sure that I, and others if needed, are well aware of actions that will result in immediate termination without warning.

reply to post by MDDoxs

reply to post by MDDoxs


Dear MDDoxs,

I see you have made many posts so I guess I am surprised by your question. Personally, I have seen people say fairly strong things and not be kicked off. I have also seen people given second chances after having been dropped. The Mods can probably tell when someone is drunk and is just rambling, I believe they have opinions on all of us, heck, they have to read our words enough. They also discuss individual members with one another. I believe I have read that no one Mod alone can eliminate an account, I believe (and the Mods correct me if I am wrong) that they sort of get together and discuss ending an account.

There is something else I wish to mention. There was one person who wrote some hateful things because he disliked Christians and disliked me. The problem was what he wrote and I do no know what he wrote, the posts were deleted by the Mods and they never told me what he had said. I like that policy, I don't need to know, it is not my site and I like the fact that the site is maintained in a manner where what is prohibited is prohibited. Not my site and not my rules, I per-approve things on my blog because I don't have people that can check it and quickly remove things that I would not allow and I cannot do it myself 24 hrs a day.

A few times the Mods had to correct my behavior or delete a post, especially early on when I was still trying to figure this whole thing out. I never felt beaten down, they always treat people with respect as far as I have seen. I think they always give you a warning.

reply to post by AQuestion


I have been warned and had my posts removed for calling someone an ignorant troll. In this situation I was very upset with the reaction of the mods, because the poster I replied to continually twisted my words and questioned my parents judgement after I gave an example from my childhood where my dad would buy me McDonalds. All of his posts contained offensive statements which, while not direct name calling were just as bad IMO. The mod refused to remove his comments and I was warned and fined 1000 points for calling the guy a troll when I have seen countless others call people the same thing. This guy would just not let up, it was really sad. But the mods would do nothing about such tasteless attacks. Since then I am very disappointed in and wary of those who hold power on this site, and their policy of selective enforcement.

reply to post by steppenwolf86


Dear steppenwolf86,

I have my own blog and control it, if they kick me off here that is there choice, I don't own this site. If you don't like their rules then quit their site. I had one site change their rules to get me back on and I didn't, I did not like the new rules and loved the people. If you can be heard then you have freedom, if others will not repeat your words you are still free and they don't need to repeat your words. ATS has the right to ban me, you and anyone else, they can limit what they rebroadcast to whatever they want.

tothetenthpower has pretty much nailed it here.

Those points leave little room for misunderstanding. I know it's been said before but members pretty much have to want to be banned or be in an excessively uncooperative mood to be banned - the thing most staff comment on after they consent to help here is the amount of discussion that goes on behind the scenes and the understanding we try to extend. For example we know people have bad days, there's one member (yea, you know who you are) who I had quite a giggle with when he returned after a lengthy and heated discussion only to apologise about having a little too much to drink the previous night.

He was a long term member who hadn't brought himself to the attention of staff too many times before and he'd had a bad day and a little too much. The conversation with him took up a good sized portion of my evening that night but staff are supposed to be here to help ATS, not just blindly enforce T&C's. He admitted and (with a cheeky grin) apologised for the T&C violations and (staff also have good memories) the insults, accepted his 'few days to cool down' and that was that.

We really do try to be understanding wherever possible and, as is the case above, help out. If I recall correctly there is a post somewhere which simplifies the T&C's underneath each outline with the phrase 'don't be an ass' or somesuch, and that is a pretty fair interpretation.

Jak


Please do note though that, should they have cause for contacting you, insulting the ATS members who also happen to be volunteer staff and spend their free time trying to make ATS a better place for us all is really not appreciated. The comments made toward me in the scenario above were dealt with at my discretion, when staff see such behaviour toward their fellows it is not warmly received and is generally one of the most expedient ways to get yourself banned. If you have a genuine desire to see a situation resolved, no matter how frustrated you may be, please don't do it. If things get that hot for you in a conversation with staff then take a minute, take a night if you wish - we don't mind.

Plus, whatever names you come up with - we've probably heard better. :p

just out of curiosity what happens when we do see trolling? maybe an example situation could help me understand it better i know alerting mods is probably the first step but what does ats offical policy say on the trolls?

reply to post by RalagaNarHallas


The things to look out for are spam ( posts linking to other message boards, advertisements, etc ), porn, profanity, abusive posting ( calling names ), and anything that appears to be deliberately obtuse and deliberately disruptive. My personal rule of thumb is that if a post doesn't strike as something I would say in public and in mixed company - then it's most likely problematic - and worth alerting.

Once a post is alerted, if it is an egregious violation it will likely be removed quickly. For less immediate concerns alerted posts may remain extant for awhile - or even indefinitely - as staff moderates by consensus and we truly do try our best to give members the benefit of the doubt. What appears trollish at first might well end up simply being a passionately stated or unpopular opinion. In such cases we try very hard to avoid editorializing.

The important thing to know is that there are a finite number of volunteer staffers and we do not see every post submitted to ATS. Our interactivity is much like any other members. We click on threads and surf them just as you do. So there are things nobody sees - and this is why it is important for members to alert anything that they feel to be problematic.

Here are some links to help with specifics about posting guidelines:


Mod Note: Profanity/Circumvention Of Censors – Please Review This Link.
One Line and Short Posts – Please Review This Link.
Courtesy Is Mandatory – Please Review This Link.
Stay on Topic – Please Review This Link.
What is a Troll?
ATS Terms & Conditions
YOU are responsible for your own posts.
Ending the Politcal Trolling on ATS
**ALL MEMBERS** The recent surge in Hatred, Racism, and Sheer Stupidity STOPS NOW.

If any member ever has any questions - please always feel free to contact a staff member or use the alert and complain features.

Hope this helps.

~Heff

reply to post by Hefficide


thank you for your reply! i was more talking about being disruptive to the thread and not using logic and deliberately twisting peoples words a just general mocking and being condescending to other members would this fit the definition?

reply to post by MDDoxs

i have no idea.

reply to post by RalagaNarHallas


It depends. Technically, yes. But the problem is perspective. If a member were to post a theory, say, that trains don't exist and are actually a complicated ruse based upon holograms to make us all feel more free to travel than we really are ( totally made up so as not to insult anyone who might have specific beliefs ) - and another member were to come along and deconstruct that theory in the process of proving it fallible and incorrect? Then it's all fair - provided that the skeptic attack the ball and not the player... IE deconstructing the idea and not the member who offered it.

Example of on topic: Trains are holograms? That's just crazy and here is why....

Example of not on topic: Trains are holograms. Dude you're crazy. That's stupid.

The fact that interpretation of intent matters is precisely why we not only have an alert function, but also the policy of staff consensus.

Logical fallacies are also problematic and should be alerted if they are seen and seem to be disrupting the flow of conversation and debate.

~Heff

reply to post by LastProphet527


I'm no fan of Republicans and I think the Tea Party is the most dangerous political group in modern American history.

Oh and Hitler was a jerk. That's pretty darned universal. No?

~Heff

Originally posted by AQuestion
reply to post by steppenwolf86

 

Dear steppenwolf86,

I have my own blog and control it, if they kick me off here that is there choice, I don't own this site. If you don't like their rules then quit their site. I had one site change their rules to get me back on and I didn't, I did not like the new rules and loved the people. If you can be heard then you have freedom, if others will not repeat your words you are still free and they don't need to repeat your words. ATS has the right to ban me, you and anyone else, they can limit what they rebroadcast to whatever they want.

Its not something I am going to quit the site over, I just found it odd that people are able to post blatant insults and drag a thread off topic by continually twisting a persons words but that I was punished for calling them out on it. It was also upsetting because the poster continued to accuse me of lying about a personal experience that did not involve anything fantastic other than the idea that because I was underweight as a child my doctor at the time encouraged my parents to feed me anything I would eat, including a Happy Meal from time to time. He proceeded to state I was a spoiled only child and that my parents were unworthy of having children.

But I got posts removed because I called him a judgmental imbecile. At the very least his posts should have received a warning as well for being so far off topic.

reply to post by steppenwolf86


Dear steppenwolf86,

I was responding to the general comment, I had no idea what you were dealing with specifically, I did not read the thread and you did not mention it. As a rule, name calling will get things deleted.

Originally posted by AQuestion
reply to post by steppenwolf86

 

Dear steppenwolf86,

I was responding to the general comment, I had no idea what you were dealing with specifically, I did not read the thread and you did not mention it. As a rule, name calling will get things deleted.

Right, but why were his insults not treated in the same manner?