Firewalls and port forwarding.

[Lord Alderaan]

In the end when you 'visit' a forum someone else runs you abide by their rules. If you were a seasoned internet forum goer you would have know forums often include sticky or announcement topics including code of conduct besides rules stated elsewhere.

And even if a moderator or administrator or any forum staff wasn't the epitome politeness in pointing out a rule you broke you should have the respect to at least stay at same level of politeness. But no you had to escalate...

The manner in which you stated your personal preference and the reasons thereof suggested that the rules we have here are stupid.

Then going on telling forum staff which specific manner should be used to publicize rules implies mismanagement.

Then you start smartassing about the exact definition of a word while not only the opinions but also the definitions vary from forum to forum.

Next you insult the whole community by suggesting our forums are ineffective and even annoying to those who seek help especially compared to other torrent clients.

And last but certainly not least you thank the people that did help you...

You insult me by thinking I would appreciate such thanks after such a show if disrespect to this community and its staff.

[blah_b_lablah]

Lord Alderaan,

Well I must say I disagree with most of what you said.

You argue that as "a seasoned internet forum goer" I should know to look in stickies for extra rules. Even assuming I had the interest in wading through posts looking for obscure and unnecessary rules rather than risk upsetting the moderator of a forum which in the overall scheme of things isn't important to me, your argument contradicts itself.

If I should assume I have to look through stickies for extra forum rules because that's the way it happens in most forums, I guess using the same logic I can also assume I can post here in the same manner in which I post in other forums without objection.

Why can't the rules go where the rules go?

Your politeness argument is rather odd. Why should I respect someone who's not polite to me? And why should I worry if my reply is in the form of an escalated level of impoliteness if I don't respect them?

I'm glad I gave the impression that the rules here are stupid. They are.

And if I implied an opinion of mismanagement, I'm sorry. I should have tried harder to state it I guess.

I'm not sure which word I argued about when it comes to it's definition. I don't recall that.

I never said the forums are ineffective, just that they have low traffic compared with others. Annoying? I don't recall that either, although I guess it's obvious that this isn't a very welcoming place, and maybe most other people leave without bothering to express their opinion like I have. But please don't put words into my mouth.

You apparently assumed that I gave thought as to whether you would appreciate my thank you. This is incorrect. I said thank you because it was something I considered the right thing to do. If you wish to turn that into an insult then I'll leave you to deal with something you've created in your own mind as it's of no interest to me.

I guess if nothing else, silverfire's post #25 has simply proved that most of my earlier assumptions regarding the moderation of this forum is correct.

Double posting is negligent? What, is the extra blue line in the middle something I should take out public liability insurance for in case it upsets someone? Now I've heard everything.

"we identified excessive quoting... and double posting... as the two most prevalent issues for us to tackle"?

I guess that puts world hunger in perspective.

"I fit under the definition of a 'social parasite.' My main enjoyment in moderating these forums comes from stepping and subsequently stomping on others' toes; their grief is my happiness. However your definition of maturity labels my actions, I can guarantee you that I'm enjoying this far more than you ever will."

What can I say? The forum is moderated by someone with the maturity of a 5 year old.

"You decided that your way was the only correct way and went against policy to continue pursuing what we as moderators judged to be inappropriate actions, including but not limited to: repeated violation of rules and personal attacks on staff, resulting in your ban."

Exactly. Seeing as we're equating this forum to hypothetical laws, here's some reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience

When taking such a path I'm prepared to accept the 'consequences' (in this case being banned). Although given the insignificance of the consequences in this case, it'd be wiser to enforce them without any childish blah, blah, blah's if you want the 'consequences' to be accepted, rather than to be taken as a challenge to come back for more 'consequences'. Unless of course the interests of the forum come second to the moderators having fun.

[Lord Alderaan]

You used the supposed fact that you were a experienced forum goer as an argument for your claim that all the rules should be placed in the rules section. I contradicted that by saying a significant portion of the forums out there spread their rules over a rules section and a separate code of conduct sticky. Either your not a experienced forum goer or your argument does not support your claim. I don't know what else you are rambling about but imho that contradiction still stands uncorrected.

I expect silverfire won't like me saying it but I agree that he/she could have been a bit more polite. But I know from experience the amount of work moderating forums can be, the frustration it can generate and the effectiveness of being a bit stern instead of polite. Because of that I respect him/her more then most people would. The fact I'm upset about is your reaction. It was totally undeserving. You get a minor tap on the hand and you completely lash out.

The rules here aren't stupid. I'm sure the majority will agree. But even if they were, you are a guest here. Instead of screaming out the rules are stupid you should have the composure to just go away. You are here asking for a favor and on top of that expect everybody to behave to your liking. I hope u see the stupidity of that yourself...

I was trying to tell you that thanking people after insulting the community they are part off isn't the right thing to do by stating my personal feeling. Of course I can't tell how other people feel but my emotion was instinctual. But if you aren't interested in emotions we create in our own minds as a result of your remark why did you thank us in the first place?

Obviously lashing out with insults on a forum where you were stepped on your toes is not Civil Disobedience. But its obvious you consider yourself and your opinions the center of the universe so I'm pretty sure I'm even wasting my time here.

[Switeck]

What I think needs to be mentioned one more time is this message thread was supposedly about Firewalls and port forwarding. A few important points were made on it that I don't believe have been made on any other similar posts. I don't write long posts just for the sake of the original poster, but in the belief it may help others with similar problems.

...but now all that is lost in the noise of people arguing over forum rules.

And even an idiot should know this thread isn't the place for that -- it goes beyond off-topic and into just plain rude.

[Lord Alderaan]

@switeck: I agree and do feel guilty about that when I started off-topic. Sometimes I can't keep my mouth shut... I guess were all human after all

On-topic:

imho the questions of the original poster are answered and it should just be locked or something.

[blah_b_lablah]

Lord Alderaan,

You keep putting words in my mouth and then debating them as though I've said them (I'd quote the bits of your post I'm replying to for clarification but apparently that's just silly around here).

I never used the reasoning of being an 'experienced forum goer' for arguing that the rules should go where the rules go. I stated my opinion there without any qualification. It was you who brought my 'experience' into it, and I simply pointed out that if as a result of experience I should expect to find rules in 'stickies', then it would be a contradiction not to also expect I should base my posting methods here on my previous experience. Yes different forums have different rules, but under the rules link is the logical place to look for them, which is what I did.

And I'll be honest and admit that in hind site I probably over-reacted. But my general 'experience' when joining a forum, is to have someone (usually a moderator) welcome me to the forum when I first post, and if I've broken any rules (which happens rarely anyway) have them nicely pointed out to me. So yes, when after my second post I was threatened with being banned for something as silly as trying to make my posts clear, I was rather annoyed. I guess because some people seem to be emotionally attached to a corner of the internet, they forget that it means nothing to anyone else, and as a result also assume their site has some divine right to 'respect', when in reality they need to earn it like the rest of us.

The rules here (at least the ones in question) are stupid. And the one regarding double posting (which apparently has a different definition here than it does anywhere else) is without a doubt the most ludicrous rule I've ever come across in any forum, and probably the most idiotic one I ever will. If there's some harm in making a second post, especially when that second post is making a completely different point to the first, or having a blue line in between points (due to the second post) somehow messes up a thread, then I'd love to have the logic behind that explained to me, if there is any logic other than moderator boredom. And as I said earlier, I would have happily 'gone away' had I simply been banned without any immature taunting in the process.

Once again I thanked the people who contributed to the thread because it was the right thing to do. However I can't be worried if they wish to twist that into some sort of insult, although I guess if that's a possible outcome it might explain why less and less people seem to bother with manners these days. I'm happy I know I tried to do the right thing, if not for any other reason than because I felt it was the right thing for me to do, and in the end, that's what I worry about the most.

I don't consider myself or my opinions to be the center of the universe. I've already stated that had I been treated differently I would have simply followed the rules, and I admitted I over-reacted a bit. Experience has taught me that when someone says something like "you think your opinions are the center of the universe" it's usually due to frustration because that's where they're coming from themselves.

Switeck,

while I agree that it's frustrating when a thread goes off topic as this one has, it seems to me to be some sort of indication as to the way this forum is run.

In any other forum I've posted in, had this sort of thing happened, the thread would simply have been removed, or at least all the off topic posts would have been removed leaving the thread cleaned up.

Yet in this case it's so wrong to quote a post that it results in an immediate threat of banning, has a moderator arguing off topic wasting more space than the breaking of the rule in question ever would have (not to mention also messing up the thread more than quoting ever could have) and while posts 'breaking the rules' get edited, the rest is allowed to remain. And while on one hand I applaud the lack of censorship, it leaves a lot of questions regarding the motivations behind the moderating here.

I agree, this thread should be cleaned up, and I'm sure with all the arguments gone neither myself or anyone else would be bothered enough to try and drag them up again.

[Switeck]

Moderators, *Please* lock this thread!

...or delete/move the off-topic stuff.

[Ultima]

I'm not a fan of deleting posts, or censoring (unless it's a blatant rule-breakage of the announcement up above)... Anyhow, since the OP's requested it along with another contributor to the thread, there should be no qualms if it gets locked. Done.

I'm not sure if something like this should be relegated to the Trash forum, so I'm leaving it as is.