blonde poker forum

Hi guys.

We debated long and hard before suspending Nemesis. Then we explained our decision in great detail on the forum.

In spite of this there has been several threads, and even a poll questioning our decision, even after being asked by the mods to let it lie.

as we feared, one of these threads descended into a flame war, as a result there has been further suspensions and final warnings issued.

We can't make decisions and then have to answer to very single one of you for it. I'm sorry, but this is a moderated forum and that's the way it is.

Please, cut us a little slack. we're not perfect, but we are honestly doing our level best.

 ;iagree;

We intend this Forum to be "just so". We believe that's what the majority of blondes wish. A place that's friendly, civil, a no-flame zone, where innocent questions can be asked without some smart-arse throwing the questions back in the OP's face.

A place where we can learn about poker, and people, & just chill with like-minded folks.

A place where we can smile, & enjoy ourselves, look forward to visiting, where we can while away a few hours sometimes. Where women & youngsters, & weaker folks, can surf, safe from ill-mannered comments.

From time to time, sadly, we need to take action to keep the place the way we believe it should be. We will do whatever we feel we need to, so as to keep this place the way we &, we think, the majority of you, wish. Nothing will stop us from doing that, thats our brief.

The Forum is free to view, & that gives us the right to run the place the way we wish. Members, who join for free, can accept this, or leave us us, that's their absolute right.

Debate this, or anything else, all night & all day, for ever if you wish. But just keep it civil, please.

That's the way it is gonna be.

OK, let's go.

IMO this forum is better than many others because it has some discipline.

Even if some decisions are not universally popular, at least there are decisions being made.

Jak.

Sadly, we WILL & probably HAVE made some decisions that may have been wrong. That's the way it goes sometimes. Better a bad decision than no decision. We act with good intent, but mistakes are inevitable.

I guess a popular member like Nem is going to cause a reaction when they are banned.  We all think differently and it is impossible to get us to agree on this issue.  I think threads springing up on his banning would have been expected by everyone.  I was surprised it took as long as it did to be honest.  Anyway a decision has been made now, so it will be put to rest

Nem was not banned, Sark, he was suspended for 2 weeks.

I have explained, at length, the process we went through, & why, on this matter.

Sorry, wrong choice of words. 

I would be very interested in knowing why i have been given a final warning, i made one comment on the thread in question and that was a question, if you wanna ban me then have some balls and do it for a reason.

That is so out of order, if IFM has been given a final warning then i want one or maybe two. 

 I am not sure what all these guys have been up to but I am starting to feel  like an old goody two shoes.

I need to be banned/suspended  for at least three weeks, I think bad things all the time, and if I was younger I would post em. 

    ;goodvevil; ;goodvevil; ;goodvevil;

 Oh yes and by the way dont ever take your self to seriously, even sober. 

 rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker; ;kneelsucker;


My god it just like Nemisis never left.

I got one m8 and i was away when it all kicked off!

Hi Ian,

You were sent a note explaining what had been done, & why. You replied to that note, with a copy to me, in a very constructive fashion, before you Posted on this thread. (I replied to your note, & I think it's right that we continue to conduct that debate via PM.)

Let's move on please, you know what we are trying to achieve, & we need your help to achieve it.

Thanks.

Hi James,

Thats correct, but the note you were sent did not refer to the Nemesis thread, as you know, it was "wider".

Let's move on please. I have explained, in this thread, what we are trying to achieve.

Thanks.

Tikay,

I totally understand what you are trying to achieve, and we all wish blonde to stay "just so", but why have some respected members gone straight to a final warning? (no previous warnings issued) Just because someone is deemed as a 'difficult' member IMO does NOT warrant them to be given a warning at all.

I obviously (like others) wrongly assumed that the main reason for getting youself banned was for flaming or attacking other members, it would appear that this is not the case anymore, I now feel we now have to be careful of the way we write our posts, or come across to other members.

I don't envy the decisions that you have to make, and I normally would never criticise you or the Mods but IMHO I there has been more harm done this weekend than good. I do think it was handled incorrectly (a member getting a final warning when they were away, for previous behaviour!! that's just wrong in my book!)

Thank you Jane.

It was done the way it was because an accumulation of small things were building up & causing problems with the Forum "mood". "Tone" is all-important, & we were struggling to keep the tone & mood right.

There are more ways to destroy a Forum than simply flaming or attacking other Members. This WAS explained in some of the (as appropriate) notes we sent.

You may, of course, be correct, in suggesting that more harm than good has been done this weekend - time will tell. Maybe we got it wrong, maybe we got it right, who can say? I can say we acted with good intent.

It's my view that the time had come to do something. Increasingly, business committments keep me away from blonde for longer than I'd wish. This leaves the Mods to look after the place, & they are being deliberately tested & stretched by a few Members. They are spending entire weekends trying to keep the peace on here, trying to placate those who have had rubdowns or smart-arse comments directed at them. Thats wrong, & we needed to do something about it.

Lets hope, from here on in, we can all work together to help make this place be the way most of us like it.

Take care now.

As always in life the following quote tends to hold sway

"The only people who do not get anything wrong are the people who do nothing in the first place"

I have no idea what went on this weekend. I am also being honest when I say I do not want to know. In every confrontational situation both sides will have taken positions that they maybe wished that they hadn't.

I hope all parties with a view can just take one step back and we as a group can start posting some of the most entertaining threads to be found on a web site...poker based or not.


Okay off my high horse now and going to make a cup of tea

Milk with one Sugar please...........

IMHO the tone and mood is set to some extent by the mods cos they are representing blonde. Some of the posts by mods seemed to be getting a bit defensive around the APAT thread time, and now seem to be getting more aggressive.

I may be reading it wrongly but the attitude from some mods now seems to be if you don't agree/have a question about/take an interest in what we are doing then FU.

Say anything derogitory about tribeca/BPL FU.

We are the mods and we have a thankless job. FU.

You might see this an attack but it really isn't it's just trying to show you guys how you are coming across to me and possibly other people. I have met most of you IRL and think you're all cool people. You can of course come across/do anything you like on your own website.

Hope i don't get banned now :redcard: ;scarymoment;

It maybe that it's only me getting this impression, if so please ignore me.

Let them mod, if you don't like it pm them.

I think half the problem is the mods explaining themselves over small matters, don't it just feeds the sharks.

Maybe the mods should be paid?

I'd like them to be James, but we don't have the money right now.

We have around 8 Mods, we need, I dunno, 12 at a guess. If we only paid them £100 a week - an insulting sum for the hours they put in, especially at night & weekends - that would come to over £5,000 per month! That kind of money can only be obtained by going overly commercial on the Forum, or charging for Forum use. I don't intend to go down either of those routes.

But many of them simply would not accept payment for blonde Modding, they do it because they want, I suppose, to be part of what they consider a special place.

Why do you think paying them would help? It's ike paying Football Referees - it does not make them better refs! IMO, that is......

I am, by the way, desperately trying to recruit more Mods, but that's not easy, either. We need female Mods, too, but again, it's not easy finding folks who fit the bill, can cope with the grief they'll get, & have the time available.

In my next life, I'm gonna run a Car Park. That's pretty much the perfect business model!

I have perceived a slight change in the way that some people have been posting recently. Where, in the past, situations would have died down of their own accord, recently some board members seem keen to 'keep poking at things with sticks'.

Mods then ask them not to poke, and to move along.

Members then say 'I want to know why this is here. I don't think it should be here. Why did you put this here?'

Mods then say 'Look, don't all crowd round it poking it - you're blocking the way for everyone else. Just leave it be. It's there for a very good reason, trust us.'

Members: 'Tell us why it's here'

Mods: 'It's here because of reasons X,Y and Z.'

Members: 'I don't agree with those reasons, or the decision. I want it moved.'

Mods: 'You don't know the whole story.'

Members: 'Then tell us the whole story.'

Mods: 'You have no idea how busy we are - there is tons of stuff going on behind the scenes. We all evaluated the situation, made a decision and that's that. If you don't agree then send us an email about it.'

Members: 'No, I'm going to stand here in the middle of the street and shout my grievances to all and sundry.'

More people crowd round, traffic comes to a halt, no-one goes anywhere and nothing gets done.

(I am aware of the irony that, by posting this, I may be perceived as a stickpoker. It is simply a fact that, in order to get people to stop looking at something, you have to tell them what it is you don't want them to look at, drawing attention to it).

If they are paid they would then have a duty to mod, it would be a priority, a few of the arguments over the last couple of weeks have come because a Mod has not had enough time to do the job, they have said afterwards "i was busy playing x many tables" etc Thats fine because its not a job. That used to be perfect for blonde imo, however its a diffrent beast to what it was a year ago, many new members and a lot more posts. More importantly a lot of the people on here don't know each other in person (i wasn't on blonde at the start but when i came along i knew most of the posters already) when people don't know each other the chance of a misunderstanding or a disagreement increases. You wouldn't need 12 mods as well, less mods more hours.

I am not sure why you NEED female mods? IMO the priority should be those who can devote the time needed, not the gender! However if its just so someone can clean up in the mod room then fair enough :D

As for car parks, i have often wondered how easy it is to get involved, it looks an easy way to make money. Crematoriums are another one, what a massive growth industry that is going to be come.

moderators have a thankless task.

they do a great job on here and long may that continue.

as far as im aware rookie too has been given a final warning, i will be advising him to take it on the chin and ignore people deliberating trying to wind him up in the future.

he needs to do what he does best get back to posting constructivly especially in the internet poker and hand analysis sections.

long live blonde!

I started up a crematorium business once.

Sadly, it went up in smoke.

groan

I started a Chess shop once, but I ended up rooked.

Ahh, I see where you are coming fom now.

We are short of Mods - FACT. That's a part of the problem. With some of the Members getting more & more difficult, I need more Mods, end of story. But I don't want Mods who only wish to do it for money.

Female Mods? It is my opinion that as one in 5 or 6 of our Members are Female, we ought to have Female representation amongst the Mods.

I am afraid that as blonde grows & grows, these problems, "difficult" Members etc, will accumulate. Surviving growth pains will determine whether we survive as an entity or not.

Believe me, running this Forum is not easy, it takes up more time & effort than the whole of blonde.

Ah well, as I always say, a little wind in our face does no harm.

I thought you got fired?

Dignity plc is quoted on the LSE. I own shares in it

In the next 20 years as the baby boomers age and the number of retireees expands enormously this is going to be a market where volumes rise and prices charged can go up (unpleasant but true)

Well run business too

No, that was from the time I worked in pottery.

How many of the members are black? Fat? Tall? obviously you get the point i am making.

I think difficult members is over simplifying things a bit to much. You can have 2 perfect members from diffrent forums, put them both on the same forum and you have fireworks.

The job for the mods should be easy, we are all over 18 and should know where to cross the line.

 :D :D :D :D

post of the day!

LOL you know what i meant  ;oops;

Is it not dead money...?

So every time someone dies, while it may be tragic, a senseless waste, at least it is +EV  :)up

Yes very much +EV, for everyone aswell, its not a zero some.

When someone dies its like added money to a tournament. The house (Brown) takes the juice, the players (the family chop the money) and the crematorium (the dealer) gets his tip :D

and of course when a "problem" member dies it is ++EV  :D

I know guys, capitalism at its finest the funerals business

Please don't put ideas in Tikays mind

Yes James, I get the point you are making. But I'm old-fashioned, & I think we SHOULD have Female representation amongst the Mods. WE do have several candidates who we deem suitable, but for one reason or another, it does not, sadly, stack up. We will persevere in the search.

"Difficult" Members? I hear you. We both know exactly what I mean.

The blonde recipe is not that hard to understand - it's embodied in my first Post on this thread.

No, not +Ev for EVERYONE. There are losers too.

It is a zero-sum game, but trust me, there are winners AND losers. Think about it.

Ok that's cool, i would hate for you to appoint someone just because they are female!

How so, i mean the dead dude has no need for money, he is the only 'loser'

Flushys gender irrelvancy policies make for some interesting nights out in Brighton.

only a loser if the afterlife's a bummer Flushy. Who knows?

I see what you mean about difficult members Tikay....

I would never do that, this is not the Labour Party.

But we NEED at leat one Female Mod, some of our Female Members may need to be able to chat one-to-one with a Female Mod on delicate matters. We had the instance yesterday of near pornographic pics on the Forum, (an Avatar actually) & some Female Members hated it, whereas as some guys enjoyed it. So yes, we need Female representation - for practical reasons.

His wife, maybe? Son, Daughter? Cat? Dog? There are two sides to EVERY coin.

How about gay?  :D

Well I'm very happy

We all know that's just a front Snatiramas.  :D

agreed
there are alot of regular female posters on blonde and it would be good to have them represented in the form of a mod.

Agreed

charmaine for mod

I dont think they accept  >:? lol

We might, but what about your 16 saucepans - 17 if you include Paul?

I think this is an excellent call, and one I put forward myself a few months back :)

I'm not sure why it's proving difficult to find a female mod. Without wishing to generalise too much, a lot of the female posters on here seem to be the most 'moderate' people around, and I can think of several who would do a cracking job.  The difficulty being, I suppose, whether they want to take on the task.

I had a problem with that Avatar too, coz I browse the forums at work and that would get me into deep trouble. Any pictures of women not wearing much must be given NWS (Not work safe) tags.


I think Andrew T's post was spot on, some members pushing it all the time, asking questions when they have been given a perfect explaination of events by the mods. Come on guys any member pm'ing others with threats is out of order, dont need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out.

Whats all the fuss about...

Your final sentence is key.......

But by all means, PM me names please. PM is better, please.

I could get wished a happy birthday on the mods board!!

didnt realise tighty...................




 :birthday: :birthday: :birthday:

Please tell us that you arent going to ban Norkage pics on the live updates.
On a serious note it has already been written in earlier posts but anything between the Mods and us mere immortals who might have stepped out of line should be kept private and we as members of the blonde forum should entrust the Mods to do a fair and sensible job and take appropriate action where neccessary.

not today colonel, not today!

'tis done - I've kept it short :)

And I've replied - in kind!

Thanks Claw.

Im sure this is the script to Radiohead's video for Just, one of the best videos of all time. Oh do i have view on all this erm no not really.

As I got near the end of it, I realised the similarities myself. I'm not going to make you all lie on the pavement though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzEdITdGht4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzEdITdGht4)

What do you reckon he  - the guy on the pavement - says?

"When is Nemesis coming back?"

Right beagle the board has had enough of your Flaming and stirring up trouble, have a time out... on the naughty step.

(http://www.the-cartel.co.uk/just.gif)

I started a Sweet shop once, but due to bad financial planning it closed.

I believe it is non sensical what the guy actually says, Tim Lovejoy (from Soccer am) got a lip reader in to translate what the bloke says at the end of video, but it makes no sense apparantly.

The Video is based on JD Salingers book Franny and Zooey,
 The guy has learnt of the Jesus Prayer.(said from the seven centres of the body). Its very complicated book but estemtially its an state of enlightenment you achieve without trying, problem is once you know how to achieve it your trying!!! So you get trapped into a paradox of self prayer.
(very Taoist concept).


the guy is trying not to try, you can't see what he says as the camera cuts away from him when tells.
Radio head represent Zooey, who's sister Franny has learnt abouth the prayer and is withdrawing from the world due to nature of the prayer, they are sitting looking on knowing of the outcome but unable to do anything to alter the results.

Can't wait till i get to bore someone with that later on. Don't know why i never looked into it, having watched the video so many times and wondered what it was about.

Whats really sad is that i only know that because the song reminded me of the book, and then i saw the video it clicked straight away, i forgot about it then about 10 years later i saw Tom talking about how frustrated he got with the idea if the jesus prayer/ uncarved block theory(pu).

btw anyone heard mark ronsons version of just?

hmmmm, i'm an expert when it comes to "not trying" but no sense of enlightenment here. Maybe that will change once i get electricity connected to the treehouse!!

Yeah was doing the round in alternative music circles in the last year or so, it was quite good if memory serves me correctly..

flushy for female mods job . rotflmfao ;nana; rotflmfao ;nana;

good shout Barry

It's just possible this is the Post of the Century.

How clever is that Bongo?

eleventy

Help the yank. Haven't figured this out yet...

Watch the Radiohead video (linked via Youtube earlier in the thread).  Spot a similarity?

Damn, Ive been to Asia for a couple of weeks and seemed to have missed all the fun ;goodvevil;

Are there any links to the original  "Nemesis" thread which has caused this debate , if so PM me.
I do not know the reasons behind Nemesis leaving, suspension or banning ,but I would feel it an injustice in not posting my sentiments about him.

Nemesis has helped me no end with any techy probs ive had, and sometimes i bet it has be infuriating for him trying to get me to understand via PM. As Im a total novice with that type of stuff.
He was one of the few members posts i took time to read as he has a good understanding of the game and true poker world.
I for one truly hope he returns,if allowed too,that is.
If not, Good luck for the future Nemesis, if you happen to read this.
Craig

Most of us feel the same Craig, Nem was most helpful to many of us.

He was not banned, he was suspended for 2 weeks, which has expired now, & he is free to return, if he so wishes. 

Thanks Tikay