Re: matty57
Yes it is true he has been banned…
I haven’t had to write one of these in a while but I thought everybody deserved to know the reasons behind this one, and yes, reasons, I did not come to this decision over one single event, nor did I come to it alone, I always take these things very seriously when it comes to a regular member I take into consideration as many factors as possible.
So…
For some months now we have been having problems with matty57 that only the administration is probably aware of, which was the continuous changing his IP address, this is a unique number which identifies each member a bit like a telephone number, there is only one reason to change this, it generally requires specialised software or configurations, and it’s usually to circumvent security measures or to hide your identity and/or location.
I had brought him up on this before being evacuated, at first he denied any knowledge of what was happening, toying with me about the different locations he was showing to be located claiming innocence and ignorance!
As admin I am privy to very limited information provided by the IP address, this is not a new thing, nor a secret, nor a violation of anybody’s privacy, it’s just that the Internet works…
He continued to toy with us as if it was amusing and then started to blame the “University” for having installed some kind of software on his computer of which he had no knowledge and it was them causing the changes.
He would change IP several different times in a night, and still try to blame the University. It got particularly bad while I was evacuated due to the wildfires causing dj to issue warnings, which were not listened to, and a temporary ban be put in place!
Next we have his behaviour to take into consideration, his use of language was upsetting other members, not that we are against swear words but he was unnecessarily excessive and I think he was deliberately provocative, he liked being naughty, stirring the pot, this was obvious, but what was a real concern was his unjust accusations towards other members, serious accusations, which I followed up on. I checked the logs and found that his accusations were usually wildly blown out of proportion , taken out of context and potentially really damaging to the other person's name and reputation!
He was also the common denominator in many altercations with other members, it got to the point where if I heard of anything happening, I pretty much assumed he was involved, usually correctly!
Finally, the so-called surgery, I'm sorry people but he was claiming to be home after a major surgery within very few hours of said surgery, despite all of the complications involved with getting home that quick, laughing and joking as if nothing had happened, no tiredness from the anaesthesia, no complications from the paralysis inducing procedure necessary in a leg amputation, catheterisation, special bandages, stitches, bleeding etc etc because he wanted a cigarette?
We have other members who have had these procedures, it didn't make any sense to them what he was describing!
I am aware that situations can vary, but not to this degree, they were bewildered but didn't want to say anything until it was brought up by other people, which it was, myself and another moderator started asking questions which allowed other people to express themselves and when confronted he just kept coming out with nonsensical reasons and excuses instead of clarifying things, it was done in a way to give benefit of doubt, but I think at this point he was really too entrenched in his alternate reality for this to be possible!
There is more, details mostly, but this is the crux of it, the so-called surgery is what pushed things to this point but as I have tried to explain it was more than this, this was a buildup of things and would have probably led to this point inevitably given time, just insert "different reason"
My apologies to anybody that this may have upset, despite these problems he was well liked, but we just can't have that kind of element in chat, it was not a decision we came to lightly, it was discussed, consulted and concluded after consideration that this was a widespread feeling and the best course of action for the room.
Any comments as always are welcome.
Thank you for your time
Tigger