What's the point of private mail if it's ignored?
Posted: 06 Oct 2013, 20:16
First, may I state that this is a genuine attempt to resolve a current situation, not to stir things up. However, in order to place things in context for the benefit of other members who may be interested, I have to jump back a little. A member of this forum, long before I joined, stated an untruth on various sites that I had been banned from Comics UK. As, at that time, I had never tried to join, it was news to me. When I did eventually join, it was immediately obvious that several people's noses were put out of joint and they were in a huff about it. In short order, I was called an idiot, had my postings attacked (usually by the same people) and have been subjected to various personal insults and insinuations by people pursuing their own personal agendas.
This is a tiny minority, of course, and does not reflect (as far as I have been able to ascertain) the opinion of the majority of forum members. However, I do not believe that it is overstating the case to say that certain people are determined to take a disproportionate degree of offence at almost everything I say in the hope of getting me removed from the forum. If they can create the impression that I am the cause of recent unpleasantness, then it increases their chances of achieving their aim. They obviously hope that, eventually, the administrators will get fed up of the controversy which seems to surround me (which predates my involvement on the forum) and take the expedient action of removing me. Then the ones who object to my presence can have what they see as their exclusive playground back to themselves again.
Recently, another member insinuated an outright lie about me on a certain thread, which was then locked. He has taken several potshots of variable severity at me in recent times, seemingly with impunity from being upbraided for his behaviour. Forum members are advised to resort to private mail rather than wander off-topic, so I did. I have now contacted an administrator on three occasions and have been ignored each time. So what is the point of offering this option if it isn't going to be responded to? Am I to assume that the sympathies of the administrator in question are with my detractors? (Which would seem to be the case going by his comments on the forum. "Play the man and not the ball"? I have made no personal attacks on any artist in any of my comments, restricting my remarks to the work and not the man.)
I have tried to participate in the forum to the best of my ability, introducing what I believe to be interesting threads in order to engage members' interest and invite their involvement. When I look through the forum files, I see many topics which I have no interest in, and comments with which I disagree, or bore or annoy me, which I just ignore. Is it too much to hope that the next time I inadvertently make a comment which gets someone's back up, they just ignore it rather than use it as an opportunity to launch an attack not only on my opinion, but also on my motives, integrity or character?
And are any of my private emails ever going to be responded to? If not, what's the point of offering the option?
This is a tiny minority, of course, and does not reflect (as far as I have been able to ascertain) the opinion of the majority of forum members. However, I do not believe that it is overstating the case to say that certain people are determined to take a disproportionate degree of offence at almost everything I say in the hope of getting me removed from the forum. If they can create the impression that I am the cause of recent unpleasantness, then it increases their chances of achieving their aim. They obviously hope that, eventually, the administrators will get fed up of the controversy which seems to surround me (which predates my involvement on the forum) and take the expedient action of removing me. Then the ones who object to my presence can have what they see as their exclusive playground back to themselves again.
Recently, another member insinuated an outright lie about me on a certain thread, which was then locked. He has taken several potshots of variable severity at me in recent times, seemingly with impunity from being upbraided for his behaviour. Forum members are advised to resort to private mail rather than wander off-topic, so I did. I have now contacted an administrator on three occasions and have been ignored each time. So what is the point of offering this option if it isn't going to be responded to? Am I to assume that the sympathies of the administrator in question are with my detractors? (Which would seem to be the case going by his comments on the forum. "Play the man and not the ball"? I have made no personal attacks on any artist in any of my comments, restricting my remarks to the work and not the man.)
I have tried to participate in the forum to the best of my ability, introducing what I believe to be interesting threads in order to engage members' interest and invite their involvement. When I look through the forum files, I see many topics which I have no interest in, and comments with which I disagree, or bore or annoy me, which I just ignore. Is it too much to hope that the next time I inadvertently make a comment which gets someone's back up, they just ignore it rather than use it as an opportunity to launch an attack not only on my opinion, but also on my motives, integrity or character?
And are any of my private emails ever going to be responded to? If not, what's the point of offering the option?