AAA - Ask an Admin Anything (About the Site)

[Meadow Whisper (Natasha)]

I have given my email to said members about 12 times now. No email.
panda@furryteens.org Whoever wants to email me is free to.

I'm pretty curious about who supposedly we have blocked. Also, "removing" is a broad term since, we actually have no obligation to watch members on FA and such, or even have them on Skype. I personally try to keep everyone added for reasons like this, but again, we literally don't have to. We actually prefer to do business through email as Skype has proven to be a problem. I have one, maybe two former members blocked on Twitter, and that's because they were spamming me. If they were trying to be constructive, I wouldn't have blocked them; but instead, I would get notifications at work of them spamming me with useless, sometimes rude stuff. Note that this was Twitter only (FB too as the same happened there), and they could have (and did) contact me through email at any time. I think we have the right to not want actual spam, but I guess that's just me. I do not have ANYONE from here blocked on Skype, FA, or anywhere else.

The person you're referring to (if it's who I think it is) I considered a friend, however I don't anymore because she hurt me PERSONALLY. We are still allowed to have feelings. However, this does not hinder my ability to remain neutral during her side of the story (which, again, hasn't come). And if it did, I certainly would step away in order to remain unbiased.

I would like you to consider that you're hearing a different version of things. Because, unless an email got lost, we have not been contacted by anyone who was banned. And we certainly have NOT denied any sort of communication.

Thank you.

I may be able to shed some light on what's happening here:  I discovered today that FT members have been using the email form on my personal website to discuss FT issues, mistakenly believing that it was some sort of official admin communication channel.  And these were getting caught in a filter.

So, going forward, do not use the email form on my personal website (lupinia.net or softpaw.eu) for FT issues.  It's for my own personal communications only, and the odds of me knowing enough detail about the problem to be able to help are slim.  In particular, I do not handle ban appeals anymore.

[Teriksa]

Hiiii~

I have a few questions!

1) What bans are y'all talking about? I've heard some mentions of people getting into arguments and making the place not-so-nice over on the Debate Boards (and I was sucked into an intelligent 'flame war' (both of us would post quickly with long-winded rants, those these posts were over private messaging services for the most part. Only three were ever created on an official thread) with a very inciteful member through that thread and two others)

2) I was just curious as to how many unique people are active every of this site! It says that there are something like 3,700 members, though I know that many of those members are now inactive or never became active on this site.

3) If we grew larger, would there be more localized/specialized sub-threads? Like a sub-thread specifically for FPS games or a sub-thread specifically for novel-writing? :3

[★ Panda ★]

Hiiii~

I have a few questions!

Sorry for the late response! I didn't even see this post until now ;-;

1) What bans are y'all talking about? I've heard some mentions of people getting into arguments and making the place not-so-nice over on the Debate Boards (and I was sucked into an intelligent 'flame war' (both of us would post quickly with long-winded rants, those these posts were over private messaging services for the most part. Only three were ever created on an official thread) with a very inciteful member through that thread and two others)

Its kinda hard to summarize the bans unless you were directly involved. Basically, like Hooves said here, there was a small group of members who were essentially using this as a place to troll. Flame wars did happen, but the majority of it was off-site and reportedly private on-site (PMs) bullying. It went on for way too long and ended up driving a real rift in the community because of that. Overall, you guys are pretty good with keeping flamewars under control and respecting one another. So hopefully, it was a one-off thing; and we've learned from our mistakes enough to prevent something similar happening again.

2) I was just curious as to how many unique people are active every of this site! It says that there are something like 3,700 members, though I know that many of those members are now inactive or never became active on this site.

Interesting question! I would have no idea how to go about getting an accurate number on that. Your best bet would probably be to keep an eye on the "users online" section. I'd say we have maybe 30 active members at any one time (active meaning regular posters)? It seems small, especially compared to the total number of registered members...but that's probably part of what makes this site great 

3) If we grew larger, would there be more localized/specialized sub-threads? Like a sub-thread specifically for FPS games or a sub-thread specifically for novel-writing? :3

Sure! We are absolutely on-board with growth-related change, and always welcome suggestions for such.

[Taxi]

Quick question: did anyone get banned recently? (Like in the past few months)

[★ Panda ★]

Quick question: did anyone get banned recently? (Like in the past few months)

Yes, the big ban we're talking about happened last month.

[Cadmus]

I know you're probably sick of all these ban questions.
but what about gale of night? was she among the group or did she just leave?

[★ Panda ★]

I know you're probably sick of all these ban questions.
but what about gale of night? was she among the group or did she just leave?

We will not talk about specific members (as is our policy regarding any situation)

[lion dude]

I know you're probably sick of all these ban questions.
but what about gale of night? was she among the group or did she just leave?

Yeah I'd like to know what happened to her too! She was always so helpful and funny...

[Cadmus]

I know you're probably sick of all these ban questions.
but what about gale of night? was she among the group or did she just leave?

Yeah I'd like to know what happened to her too! She was always so helpful and funny...

yeah, she was nice and she just disappeared without a trace...

[lion dude]

After hearing from so many former members I think I can say that a lot of bannings were completely biased and unfair. I'm ashamed at how this site is being dictated

[★ Panda ★]

After hearing from so many former members I think I can say that a lot of bannings were completely biased and unfair. I'm ashamed at how this site is being dictated

I'm sorry to hear that.

[Teapot]

I know you're probably sick of all these ban questions.
but what about gale of night? was she among the group or did she just leave?

Yeah I'd like to know what happened to her too! She was always so helpful and funny...

She announced that she was leaving of her own accord in a thread along with others.

[Alastair]

After hearing from so many former members I think I can say that a lot of bannings were completely biased and unfair. I'm ashamed at how this site is being dictated

I've heard a lot of what users have said about this, how unfair it is, etc. etc., but I fail to see how it's unfair. None of the users have really explained that (at least from what I've seen). If the group of users that were banned were trolling, bullying, causing flame war, and just being toxic in general, then yes, they should have been banned. Especially since they knew what they were doing. The staff even said that banning was a last resort and that they try to avoid it at all costs (if I remember correctly), so when people say that they were too quick to ban people, that just leaves me scratching my head.

Maybe someone can help me understand. I'm not attacking anyone, I'm just genuinely curious. If you want to, PM me to avoid being off-topic.

[MinkyBear]

I know you're probably sick of all these ban questions.
but what about gale of night? was she among the group or did she just leave?

Yeah I'd like to know what happened to her too! She was always so helpful and funny...

She announced that she was leaving of her own accord in a thread along with others.

On SMF all you have to do is go to the memberlist and find alphabetically where their username would be. If they've been banned it won't show up there.

[Cadmus]

After hearing from so many former members I think I can say that a lot of bannings were completely biased and unfair. I'm ashamed at how this site is being dictated

I've heard a lot of what users have said about this, how unfair it is, etc. etc., but I fail to see how it's unfair. None of the users have really explained that (at least from what I've seen). If the group of users that were banned were trolling, bullying, causing flame war, and just being toxic in general, then yes, they should have been banned. Especially since they knew what they were doing. The staff even said that banning was a last resort and that they try to avoid it at all costs (if I remember correctly), so when people say that they were too quick to ban people, that just leaves me scratching my head.

Maybe someone can help me understand. I'm not attacking anyone, I'm just genuinely curious. If you want to, PM me to avoid being off-topic.

(oh shit, did I cause a stink? sorry if this gets out of hand.)
being banned on false pretences, banned for personal and biased reasons. there's all sorts.
the reason you don't see a lot of explanation is because we can't really talk about it because doing so can cause a ban.

[★ Panda ★]

After hearing from so many former members I think I can say that a lot of bannings were completely biased and unfair. I'm ashamed at how this site is being dictated

I've heard a lot of what users have said about this, how unfair it is, etc. etc., but I fail to see how it's unfair. None of the users have really explained that (at least from what I've seen). If the group of users that were banned were trolling, bullying, causing flame war, and just being toxic in general, then yes, they should have been banned. Especially since they knew what they were doing. The staff even said that banning was a last resort and that they try to avoid it at all costs (if I remember correctly), so when people say that they were too quick to ban people, that just leaves me scratching my head.

Maybe someone can help me understand. I'm not attacking anyone, I'm just genuinely curious. If you want to, PM me to avoid being off-topic.

(oh shit, did I cause a stink? sorry if this gets out of hand.)
being banned on false pretences, banned for personal and biased reasons. there's all sorts.
the reason you don't see a lot of explanation is because we can't really talk about it because doing so can cause a ban.

For clarification, I don't think we've ever banned someone just because they were publicly posting specifics about bans. And I don't think we ever will, unless it gets extremely out-of-hand.
What we WILL do is delete or edit the posts accordingly.
To us, that falls under public shaming, which we don't agree with.

[Alastair]

After hearing from so many former members I think I can say that a lot of bannings were completely biased and unfair. I'm ashamed at how this site is being dictated

I've heard a lot of what users have said about this, how unfair it is, etc. etc., but I fail to see how it's unfair. None of the users have really explained that (at least from what I've seen). If the group of users that were banned were trolling, bullying, causing flame war, and just being toxic in general, then yes, they should have been banned. Especially since they knew what they were doing. The staff even said that banning was a last resort and that they try to avoid it at all costs (if I remember correctly), so when people say that they were too quick to ban people, that just leaves me scratching my head.

Maybe someone can help me understand. I'm not attacking anyone, I'm just genuinely curious. If you want to, PM me to avoid being off-topic.

(oh shit, did I cause a stink? sorry if this gets out of hand.)
being banned on false pretences, banned for personal and biased reasons. there's all sorts.
the reason you don't see a lot of explanation is because we can't really talk about it because doing so can cause a ban.

(Sorry about that, I'm not meaning to cause anything! This is my last reply, sorry. My brain isn't working right now, I didn't get too much sleep last night.)

Looks like I don't know too much about the situation, I'm just going to stay back for now.

[Taxi]

Question: why do people say that FT is badly run? In my eyes it's perfect, maybe the people who troll/bully/flame are spreading rumors, I don't know. I was just wondering this for a while now

[Cadmus]

Question: why do people say that FT is badly run? In my eyes it's perfect, maybe the people who troll/bully/flame are spreading rumors, I don't know. I was just wondering this for a while now

yeah...
that's a good point.
maybe I'm being mislead...
hmm...

[Flora]

Question: why do people say that FT is badly run? In my eyes it's perfect, maybe the people who troll/bully/flame are spreading rumors, I don't know. I was just wondering this for a while now

Agreed, every site has problems. So people shouldn't get mad and start blaming staff just for not being perfect. o_O Even though this has it's own ups and downs (just like every other site out there), I absolutely love this site and the people on it. :3 I am glad I joined.