Banning Discussions
A couple of days ago a popular member was banned. It would appear that after the banning, postings were made, basically questioning the decision. I must advise members that rule 3, copied below, does not permit discussions of a banning on the open forum, ie “in public”. As you all know, Heidita and I are responsible for the moderation of the forum. We do not ban members lightly nor do we ban for no reason. In my opinion this banning was totally warranted and the moderators acted in accordance with the rules. I would advise against jumping to the defense of a member by questioning the banning on the open forum as this could result in further bannings because of the violation of rule 3.
Rule 3. This Forum is Moderated
Administrators, many of which are non-paid members of SpanishDict, strive to make the Forum an agreeable and fun site so that the other users can enjoy it in comfort. They have the power to take action against any rule violation. Initially, the administrator will warn the offender and if the warning goes unheeded, then he/she will delete the member from the site. Administrators under the terms of this agreement can be revoked at any time. Administrator decisions as deletion of threads or posts, the banning of certain members etc. shall not be discussed in public. Please contact any administrator by PM.
22 Answers
I agree with Rikko. We don't need to know the details. The running of this forum is done excellently and with great care. The administrators strive for the best and the rules are clearly posted. They deserve our support. After all, we are here to learn. Thank you Heidita and Eddy.
Eddy said
I would advise against jumping to the defense of a member by questioning the banning on the open forum as this could result in further bannings because of the violation of rule 3.
Heidi has already commented on one reason why I posted the above comment. In hindsight I suppose I should have clarified at the time another important reason. The above comment was not mentioned as a threat as itimated by Ian-Hill and Birdland. Generally, not always, the result of a member beening banned are PM's being despatched to their friends. Unfortunately they only give their half of the story which in my experience is often biased to their side of the argument. Moderators also have to abide by the rules and as such are unable to discuss bannings. As a result, the "true" reasons of the banning are not seen by the PM recipients. They jump to the defense of the so called injured party and invariably set themselves up on a collision course. It was mainly for this reason that I posted the comment.
Finally, the present rules were not formulated by me and Heidita. We are not the owners of the site. We are expected to conduct ourselves in the same manner as others members and adhere not only to rule 3 but all the other rules as well.
We are very grateful for all the comments, and for all the support we get on this site. Without its members the site would not be so succesful.
Eddy opened this thread as a reminder (this is especially directed at Ian and Birdland) as this rule has been on the forum for three years,ever since the rules were implemented. This rule in particular, exists on any serious forum, please check rule 15 of Wordreference.com. Of course, on that forum, private discussions are never allowed unlike here, but I just wanted to point out this particular one.
Discussion about the rules should take place in the Questions, Comments and Suggestions forum. Discussions about moderator or administrator actions should be discussed via email or Private Messages – not in the public forums.
Please contact either Eddy or me for any further comment, question or anything you wish, thanks for your participation as always.
This is a great site ofcourse.... Surely without the moderators, this site wouldn't be an organized one.
I started a thread for one of the banned member. I thought there is some issue with the site 
.But i got the reason through PM. I think instead of opening threads and discussing about this, we can continue with our learning here.
I'm sorry, Sir ian. But I think I can't have enough money to pay if this website become a commercial one.
So can I just ask who got banned? Unfortunantly I haven't been on as frequent as I'd like to... and if it was a popular member, I may have respected them, however I wanna know who's footsteps not to follow in.
Why can't decisions about banning/deletion of threads/etc be discussed publicly?
