blonde poker forum

As many of you will already be aware from Facebook comments, I need to confirm to you all that a situation between blondepoker Forum & "inthebelly" came to a head yesterday, and as a result, his Posting rights were withdrawn.

Initially, the plan was for a "cooler" while the Mods decided what to do. Given the history - there's plenty -  the default setting was a full ban, but I don't believe a final decision has been made yet.

It kinda escalated behind the scenes subsequently, and so it's hard to imagine his Posting rights being restored.

The Forum is owned by the Shareholders, who have mandated control of the Forum to the Moderators.

The Policy is for blonde to be a fun place, where Members & Mods alike can chill, & have a little fun, away from the realities of the harsh, real, world. It's the Mods job to ensure we can all do that.

It's NEVER a pleasant task to ban anyone, & anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong. Who needs unnecessary hassle?

But there appear to be irreconcilable differences between Paul & blonde, & it's soaking up our time too much, & tainting the ambience , so it's best to move on.

It's not personal, I, & the other Mods will bump into Paul hither & thither, & as far as we are concerned, everything is cool, this is purely a blonde/Paul matter.

blonde is a free Forum, & we hope you enjoy it. But we make the Rules, be they right or wrong, & if Members cannot remain within those Rules, we will do the necessary to protect the Forum overall. That applies to everyone. Nobody is forced to become a Member, & we have no obligations to provide Membership. But if Membership is granted, the Member has to stay within our Rules. It's our train set.

There wil be flak on the Net, Facebook, Blogs & stuff, (there already is!), but we've been there before, and the Mods wlll not be responding.

Should anyone have any questions on this matter, feel free to PM any of the Mods.

It's just a poker Forum, & poker is just a hobby to most of us.

That's a shame, i like Paul.

who?

+1 even tho' I ve had a few run ins with him years ago this is a pity. Mods must have their reasons tho'. gg turny






 (hopefully this isn't an April fool ) :)

That's a real shame i personally really like Paul always a real good laugh when we bump into each other. >:(

I have no idea what been going on behind the scenes with whom or about what .... but from a joe average readers perspective I have to say that the ambience is a two way street is it not and from what I read posted by some mods who are supposedly trying to deflame a situation - tbh they fan the flames even more sometimes

Hate to say it because the majority of members (and mods) are fantastic happy go lucky people .... but blonde isnt really that happy a place anymore  :'(

I feel like I've been transported back my old junior school playground.


Hope you all get it sorted

 ;pokergods;

Pretty sad day for me. :(

Paul/inthebelly/Turny was a guy I considered a friend. Not a good friend, only met a few times in real life, but that's the same as most of the friends I've met on blonde. I could perhaps better describe him as a good acquanitance.

We like to see our good acquantance's now and then, at the blonde bashes and such. Waving to the Wottingers when you see them, it's good for the soul.

I liked Paul. He liked a ruck and a bit of controversy it's true, but so do a lot of people. The thing I liked about Paul was his honesty.
There's not too many people who, when you speak to them, give off a sense that you can be 99.98% sure what they're saying to your face is the way you really feel. He was outspoken a lot of the time, but you knew that if he was ever going to knife you, it would definately be from the front and not the back.

Forgive me for speaking about him like the guy died, but the (albeit slightly melodramatic) reality is I'm not going to see him or hear from him again. Blonde is my one stop shop for poker related mixi-popping. cba with facebook tyvm

I'm a gambler, a mathematician, and a statician by profession, I don't use the number 99.98% lightly. Some people are ~90% and that's well and good, but it's a rare old man indeed who hits the higher percentiles. Ironically, the only other person on blonde I think has this quality in abundance is Rod Paradise.

I always admire this quality in a person when I see it because it certainly isn't one I possess. (You can maybe be about 50% sure I like you if I'm being nice to you)

I'm always wary of saying bad things about people, but only when they'll be seeing it. I like to think that's out of a sense of diplomacy and consideration rather than disingenous cowardice, but the reality is that it's probably a bit of both.

So it's out of rebellion against this sycophantic and two-faced nature, and as tribute to the best qualities of Rod and Paul, that I'm going to go ahead and diss them both in another tl:dr post that is to follow directly after this one.

This is my take on things. Might be crazy and off the wall logic but there you go.



Tikay talks about a careful balance in the forum that you guys  the moderators are always wary of keeping.

He's a wise old man and I think this is a good way of looking at things.
Although a balance and an equilibrium always exists, that's not to say that what you do is always in the best interests of maintaing it.

I don't want to talk about the individual circumstances behind the itb ban, because I am ignorant to them and wish to remain so.
Perhaps it was warranted for whatever he did, and it is now irrevocable or whatever, I'm certainly not going to debate that because it would be pointless.

I am a little sad that it has come to this. What was probaly no more than internet bullshit and angry words being exchanged has stolen a "good acquantance" from more than just me. There will be one less Wottinger for all of us Pontypines to wave to at the bash.



Here's where I start to diss you (the mods) and so it's probably where you stop listning and decide that I don't know what I'm talking about. That's your right, but I'm going to say it anyway.

As part of the balance and the equilibrium, there will always be a voice of opposition that stands up and continually questions the authority of the mods and is a troublesome thorn in your sides. A principle antagonist if you will, a dark lord of the sith even. When one dies, another will take their place.

Inthebelly was that voice, and although he is gone, it is an inevitability that someone will step up to take his place. It won't be a concious thing, it'll just happen as part of the natural order of things.

If was ifm, M3Boy perhaps, then it was certainly itb. Now he is going, it will be someone else. Why I think you've made a mistake is because of the old adage, better the devil you know than the devil you don't.

inthebelly should have been relatively easy to handle, nobody took him too seriously. You could have let him have his subtle digs at you and let them bounce of your shoulders and carried on. It must have been annoying I'm sure, but at least you knew where you were and it was reasonably predictable.

Instead there was the need to constantly engage him and very little visible effort to handle him or turn the other cheek, the incident with Rod the other day on the Charmaine thing is typifying that.

While it's not your responsibilty to 'handle' everyone and you don't have time for that etc etc, what is Tikay referring to when he goes on about how tirelessly you guys work to maintain a balance if not this? Inthebelly was the Dark Lord of the Sith and he required special handling.

The it's my ball and if you don't like it fuck off mentality is fair enough, but it only works up to a point.

Please be more careful if the next Sith Lord is as nice a chap as Turny was. (although if it's a c*** insta-ban obv)

So yeah that's it basically, the mods fucked up the balance imo. Whatever Turny did was probably justifing a ban, but it perhaps shouldn't have got to that stage if you guys were acting like the balance maintaining super heroes we need you to be.
 

Fml, that took an hour.
Instead of writing that I could have made ~$1.34 at the tables.  :D

We all have a responsibility to get along and not cause any issues, we are all grown ups. There are rules quite clearly stated as to what is and isn't acceptable within this forum.

When someone does something that rocks the boat they are warned (as I understand it) and if they continue to rock the boat they will be banned either temporarily or permanently.

If someone doesn't like the rules and the way things are done around here then don't come here, simple. If you kick against the rules and it's deemed unreasonable then don't be surprised about being warned/banned. If you don't want to abide by the rules then don't come in.

I don't know a great deal about Pauls ban or the circumstances surrounding it but he has been warned before so it's not that he is ignorant of the rules.

It was his choice to ignore those previous warnings, no one made him act in the way he did apart from himself, so he made his choice and has to accept the consequences.

It's a shame that he made that choice, but it was his choice and I don't think anyone should be held responsible for that apart from him, he knew what he was getting himself in to.

I can't understand the 'woe is me' brigade, it's a choice that Paul made himself. 

No idea of the specifics on this, but I do have a feeling of deja vu. From my own experience you can give some people too many chances as you only have to end up banning them again.

Two great posts imo and if I'm really honest can't see things improving. Is this the same people who bang on about the right to free speech.

Pity you were just an average hard working white Brit Paul, we may not have lost you.

Good luck mate, hope we still meet now and then.

Geo

What does white have to do with it if you don't mind me asking Geo?

Yeah, I found that a puzzling phrase. It's not as if the mods have been letting some asylum-seeking foreigner get away with causing trouble only to come down hard on Paul.

We all inherently know the sorts of posts which are going to get us in trouble, more so if you've already been banned for exactly those kind of posts. Paul's not an idiot, he knew what happened with ifm and M3Boy, he knew he was gouding the mods with his little digs and can't really complain that they had enough.


I think we should have a poll to decide who the next stirrer-in-chief will be.

I was puzzled by why that was needed too.

Tank - start a diary imo.

:hello:

Ban?

Kenwood?

He's still here ???

Yep, unbannable since I have your mad dimez riding on the horsies :)

sigh, more power than Flushy atm

I think some people need to realise just because you have an opinion on something you don't always have the let everyone know about it, especially if it’s likely to rub people up the wrong way or inflame a situation. His constant questioning of blonde policies and pushing the mods patience on thread after thread was only going to result in one outcome.

It is a shame because I thought he talked a lot of sense, just didn’t know when to keep stum for everyone else’s sake.

In some ways I like your post, Tank, but I think it's simpler than that. Trolling is not allowed, Itb trolled, was given several lives, continued to troll, and so was banned. Can't really let someone keep breaking a rule, even if he's a good friend of mods, members or whoever and/or will be replaced by another rebel type member.

Gotta agree with this really.

On the thread wishing Snoops and Flops farewell and good luck he posted some ridic thing about there being more important problems in the world which was neither relevant nor appropriate but in the same tone as many of his posts. I like people who don't shy behind their true opinions but sometimes there's a time and a place.

 :hello:

Ban?

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=31966.msg691293#msg691293 (http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=31966.msg691293#msg691293)


I know what they are doing,

 its easy they are just going through the list 1 by bloody 1, 


ffs Paul you and your mouth............... ;gobsmacked; ;gobsmacked; ;nana;

been nice knowing you Ian....:D

 :dontask: ;marks;

whats trolling?

is it a term from magic the gathering?

p.s im being 100% serious i still dont know.

Or British?

http://tinyurl.com/dz9dwc

Geo was just using a phrase to describe people who conform to the norm, he chose the words poorly but no harm done. Surely not worthy of trying to provoke an additional argument.

I'll be honest, I didn't want to get involved in Turnys ban, and still won't. BUT, your post Greekstein is ridiculous. Turnys post on that thread was 100% spot on. Look how much the ex-updaters wanted to moan and cry wolf and say how hard done by they have been by Blonde.

They sure have had it hard since they left eh? Blackbelt Poker, Vegas etc etc. The amount that one or two of them flamed in that thread was worthy of a ban alone but because Tikay didn't wanna do nothing about it, because he considered them close friends, nothing was done.

If it wasn't for Blonde in the first place the Updaters wouldn't be going to Vegas in the summer, and wouldn't have been there comped all last summer too!

So yeah, there are bigger things in the world to care about than losing 1 of your dozen employers.

Yes but saying it on a farewall thread was a ******* move.

The thread was turning into a debate as to whether it was right or wrong. It wasn't just an goodbye thread.

I have seen this mentioned a few times and feel the need to make a slight correction.  The operation (and possibly domain name) and running of the Forum may be owned by the shareholders but they don't own the Forum in the sense that the forum is a collection of individuals who post/lurk.  Without the members there is no Forum.  If the actions of the shareholders and moderators don't reflect the members views/wishes the Forum will become deserted.

I don't know what criteria the mods use before banning a member but if all the shit stirrerers were banned on this Forum for pissing off the mods you might as well change the name to Bland Poker.

It's the exact opposite. You get more people feeling they can express themselves on the forums without getting shouted down at. 4-5 gone in 2 years realy crippled this forum? :)

If someone could post the link to that thread again then I'll have another read but from recollection I stand by my post.

The forum is a long way from deserted, so by your logic the shareholders and moderators must be doing a pretty good job of reflecting the members views and wishes.

Bit harsh, Rooks. In fact, your final comment was acknowledged in my post where I said:

What I can take out of my time with blonde, however, is enjoyment. I may have disagreed with some of the decisions made and directions taken, but I still enjoyed my three years with the company. At a time when I was stuck indoors grinding out a living, blonde opened a window and gave me the opportunity to do something more proactive. Without blonde, I probably wouldn’t be working for PokerNews or anyone else for that matter, so for that I am grateful. Updating may be hard work, but it can be fun, and being out and about, at the very centre of the game and meeting the people who make it all tick is certainly something I wouldn’t want to trade.

I also didn't complain about what ITB said in the thread. If memory serves me correct, I just posted my honest thoughts, wished blonde good luck and then didn't post on the thread again. If anyone's moaned, it's not me. People may moan on my behalf, but there's not much I can do about that. It's quite a worrying time when you lose a regular income, so I'm very grateful that I have managed to pick up a role at Black Belt.

snoopy1239
Head Beagle
Staff
Hero Member

 Offline

Can you still claim wages?????

 

I assume that's all just you're opinion kuk, i.e. white british representing normality etc?

Also, why are his words "just poorly chosen" while mine are "trying to provoke an argument"?


No big deal. I was curious, so I asked a polite question, that's all.
 

Links to the flaming please.

CBA with links. One that springs to mind was Dana though on a couple of threads if you wanna look back yourself.

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=39891.0

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=39859.msg893160#msg893160

Sandy

Reading back through the thread, it wasn't - Paul's comment came across as a snidey little dig.

As did many of his comments on many threads.

LOL, lets have a dig at him now hes gone but not say anything to him while he was here ay?

FWIW, i didnt necc agree with some of his posts and told him so a couple of times. But for that post I agreed with.

I actually found that post fine. I mean if you put a subject out there into a public forum then you're gonna get a broad range of views. If an opinion doesn't conform with the majority of posts or the spirit/tone of a thread then so what? I think it's quite refreshing when someone posts something individual and different. Snoopy left, which was a bummer. But there are worse things happening in the world...and saying so isn't either crass or untrue imo.

Fair enough if it was posted on the BBC news website but you could pretty much post on every thread and say 'there are more important things in the world'. Sometimes you just have to be tactful and diplomatic.

Yeah dude that's true. But then again if a member chooses not to use tact then ho hum that's not the end of the world either. I don't particularly condone it but it doesn't particularly offend me either.

personally i have lost contact with 4 good friends now they have been banned from blonde

M25boy charmaine itb and charlotte

i spent alot of time in m25boys company when we meet at events round the country but havenet been to many recently, i enjoyed his compnay maybe it was because i have a fetish for hearing badbeat stories

and ITB the man is a legend and helped mend a puncture in glasgow and pushed me around newcastle

they guys have my # and i will have a drink with them any time we meet up

but they know if they stop and think about it why they are no longer welcome on blonde

Things much worse on most other forums on the internets. Just take a look. And I mean mainly from posters whose default MO is argumentz, constantly enflamed by tactless mods. The no flaming policy on here does a good job I think, a common interest and much reduced anonymity helps too.
I speak as an afrocarribean lesbian ninja however, so take all that with a pinch of salt...

Its a term single men use when they reach a certain age when they don their finest on a friday night and go looking for lady company... Once said lady is found she takes them back to her place for coffee... usually under a bridge somewhere...

 ;applause; rotflmfao