Anyone heard from Doug Smith?

Maybe you should read the whole story before you write that

Q

 

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I'm new here after over a decade away from online coin forums. Can somebody please explain what happened?

 

Right. His point was that certain "political" symbols are apparently allowed here, while others are not. His use of that symbol was not, in and of itself, the reason that he was banned.

 

I should not explanation for a member from France. You understand what they did there. One question: if your boss learn you using a nazi sign as avatar « to prove a point », do you keep your job ??? Not me

 

..oh...idk and i ain't sure but the aftermath seems to be that there's no longer a purgatory for banned members from CT and one can get indulgence on the other site...or if you're angelic like me and others, you can visit both places..

 

Yeah it was pretty obvious we were missing some people. I stayed out of the fray last week as others were saying what I would have, and I don’t need the extra stress.

I’ve signed up for the other chat forum too. It will be nice to be able to chat with those who have been banned over the years from here if they join. It’s sad that it’s come to this… but CT has really handled issues poorly over the last few years.

Anyway… I’ve kept my screen name (that I originally disliked) just so people make the connection. I’ll likely be both places a bit until I decide what works best for me.

 

Then you should put the blame on the administration here for allowing it. Which was exactly the poster's point -- that despite the anti-politics rule, it seems that anything goes when it comes to flags, no matter how vile, and no matter that the symbol on such a flag is still used in current political speech. And that's all I am going to say on this topic!

 

With your attitude, mate, you better stick to this forum.

 

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We don't need this to start up again. Lets do coins and forget the politics!!!!

 

Agreed. When people start asking what happened, though, it's hard to explain without giving at least a couple of details. Which is all I've tried to do. But I think it's a very bad idea to start comparing the relative culpability of Argentina and France in terms of sheltering and/or collaborating with Nazis! Not really appropriate for this forum. Or the new one either!

 

I think some of you are wrong about somethings. We are just a few members short of 67,000 of them. There are I believe less than 10 moderators or administrators, spread over the time zones, so maybe 1-3 at any one time. Moderators do not get paid for their time, it's a service so the forum can exist. If not for some understanding members , moderators have to run into the action rather randomly trying to find any problems. If members put in a report, it is thousands of time more easy for the moderator to find the thread and do their job, but some do not want to "squeal" on someone else. I wasn't available when the original thread exploded, nor for the second thread that followed until the end of it where postings were more anger than trying to stop others who continued with the flame. Some were asked to change or neutralize their avatar and mostly they did so. I think when the rules were formulated in "different times" they were sufficient, but members can go to old threads and see when the great increase of banning occurred. Perhaps the rules need to be stronger due to current events. It isn't mine or members call, we all just have to remember to try and stay in the boundary. I am just a member, This is my opinion, Thank you, Jim

 

The mods perma-banned someone for criticizing the use a confederate flag avatar lol...

+ if the mods here didn't perma ban every long-term member who makes a comment they don't like this wouldn't have happened, same thing ruins so many forums - power-tripping mods.

most didn't deserve their bans at all, some maybe a few days. (going back years)

 

Moderators do not make the rules as to what is an offense or what is not, and there is a scale of such for most actions. Moderator activity is reviewed by the administration and they can change what they might wish to , as it is their forum. I do disagree with the power-tripping innuendo, as any penalties are private so only the staff and member knows, not other general members, the administrators can adjust up or down or remove entirely. If a member believe what ever a penalized person tells them, that may be very exaggerated. Many members have been here for over a decade and most have never even been short term banned. Every member has the choice to go or stay here within the rules! I stepped back to just a member as a personal decision and was not asked to do so by anyone.
Jim

 

Exactly, if someone is a good member for a decade why would they be perma-banned for a single minor incident.

 

@desertgem, as a moderator, was doing right until the Admin with the enormous ego threw him under the bus. I would've given up being a moderator, too.

 

It absolutely is left up to the discretion of the (primary)mod of whether or not to enforce the stated rules as they choose to interpret them.

It deserves reiterating.. That so many members are/were pissed off about it IS evidence that it's a controversial political symbol.

A simple: "Hey man, enough people have taken issue with your avatar, can you change it to something else to keep the peace?" -- Would have been the simple, and ultimately, right thing to do.

The mod (who needs not be named) decided to make it his personal Alamo, coming up with a poor justification to continue to allow it. As such, a lot of members that possess strong feelings about the issue have decided to leave, and CT is worse off for it -- One only has to look at the members section of this site and look at the 'Most Featured Threads' list to grasp that.

 

I first came to this site over 5 years ago. Like a lot of people that come here, I had a question about a coin that looked different. I thought I had a coin that was a doubled die. And, of course, it was mechanical doubling. Luckily I received information about that first post from some pretty tolerant members. In short order, I gravitated to the Ancients portion and was won over by the utter civility as compared to some of the dialog going on in the more modern sections. I enjoy both and mostly ignore what I don't like or offends me. I do like poking fun once in a while, but it is almost always in jest.

 

Here is my 2cents worth. This is not to piss off any group of CT readers posters etc. I look forward to opening my inbox and finding a new CT. I do not collect, nor do I have an interest in ancients, I know nothing about them, I see nothing in them. Granted they are a fantastic roadmap to the past but to me that is all they are. I enjoy looking at US coinage from IHC to what ever the current fad is. So many times I have opened CT only to find that the majority of the threads are concerning ancient coins, and I do not get to enjoy CT.
If I am not mistaken, there is a section dedicated to ancient coins and that is where the post should be made, leaving those of us who want to look at and appreciate your newly acquired coin.
The other pet peeve is opening CT and finding a thread that started umpteen months or ever years ago that has a trail of 16+ pages to follow. Why? As for the individuals that have left (partially or completely) contributing to coin talk, that is their decision whether it is due to some rules infraction or they just do not like the way things are run. We all read the rules, and even though we may not like them, they exist and we are supposed to abide by them.
Post your coins in the proper section.
Semper Fi
Phil

 

What is missing in most forums is a "FREEZE" button that staff can use to prevent "rolling" conflict posting in all threads until the staff can get every thing cleaned up and calmed down and actions decided. It is virtually impossible to keep up with one of these "political" argument avalanche chains, let alone make proper decisions, IMO. Jim