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tikay
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« on: October 07, 2005, 12:40:37 PM » |
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After a week away from home, during which I have worked & played almost 24/7, I took the 0610 train out of London this morning so I could get home & get caught up on the Forum. Other than Live Updating, (hope you enjoyed them) I have barely been on the Forum for a week. I regret that greatly, but there are only 24 hours in a day, & I can't have my cake & eat it.
I found 39 PM's awaiting me. 37 of them related, directly or indirectly, to the change of tone & atmosphere on the blonde Forum in recent weeks. By "indirectly" I mean many of them were about the Moderators - but remember, I only found it necessary to appoint Moderators because the Forum was attracting some inappropriate & unsavoury posts. I shall post seperately about the Moderators later today. For now, suffice to say, 6 have been appointed, & another 6 will be appointed in the next feew weeks, so that the 12 of them can work in rotation, & not always be "on duty". But that will be explained in a different thread.
To be honest, when i scanned the Forum this morning, I could have wept. The whole atmosphere has soured, it is astonishing how the odd bad apple can ruin a place so quickly.
I immediately decided that enough was enough. I called up Dave Colclough, who, by the way, is unwell again, & spoke to him at length about where this Forum goes from here. (Dave is still in Baden). We agreed entirely on the course of action we should follow. To the Moderators, over whom's heads I have acted, I apologise. But it's kinda like when the same guy keeps pinching your Big Blind - at some point, you have to make a stand. That time has well & truly arrived for the Poker 425 blonde Forum.
This has been, quite exceptionally, a fun place. "Putting a smile on the face of Poker" was Dave's mission when he & I first discussed setting up blonde. And we achieved that, on this Forum, with a bit to spare, it had THE most beautuful, friendly, relaxing, warm, atmo, quite unique in my opinion. Exactly what we setbout to achieve, & we were lucky enough to attract a great bunch of Members.
Indeed, it was so good, that it attracted sponsorship from Poker 425, that's pretty unusual for a Poker Forum. I explained in depth, at the time, how that came about, & why. They get no editorial input at all, & they have been true to their word, they have left us alone. The money they pay us, contributes greatly (but not wholly) to the cost of Live Updates. These cost a LOT of money. Airfares & hotel costs soon add up. Baden alone cost around £1,500, & that EXCLUDES any payment to Jen, or myself. (I don't take a wage out of blonde). So, on purely commercial grounds, I am obliged to keep this Forum the way it was. We lose the sponsors, we lose the Live Updates. Fact.
But that is SECONDARY to my main concern. This is supposed to be a fun place. Where peeps do not have to be on their guard against personal attacks. Where, after, or even during, a hard day, folks come along & have a good time, nice & relaxed, always cool. There are loads of family folks on here, ladies, children even, & it's safe & friendly for them to be here.
In the last 3 or 4 weeks, it has changed. Not a bit, a LOT. And I don't like it. Adam M, for example, a long-standing Member, got grossly insulted. So did Mel Lofthouse. So did many others. Someone posted a list of Members real names & home towns - quite deliberately, make no mistake about that. These Moderator guys, 48 hours into their new roles have had PM's describing them as tw**s. On behalf of blonde, I apologise personally to those who have been maligned or insulted. That's not why you came here, & I'm very sorry it happened..
Some might even suggest that one or two of the new Members have come on here deliberately to ruin our Forum, to sabotage it. Maybe just because they like to wreck things, or maybe they have other reasons, more sinister. I don't know why they do it in truth, & I don't really care.
Because I am NOT going to allow it. End of story. We run this Forum as a fun place, or not at all. Is that a threat? Nope, a fact.
With immediate effect, I intend to ban any Members who I believe are deliberately trying to destroy this place, or who are posting inappropriately.
You ALL know the rules we have here, they are very simple. No flaming, no spamming, common sense & moderation in all things.
Now we get to the tricky bit, but as far as I am concerned, I am gonna bet the house on this.
This is MY Forum. I will run it howsoever I wish. I do NOT need anyone's permission to do anything. I will explain, in great detail, what I feel I want to explain, but I'll do what i want. I am not answerable to anyone, except to Dave, & to the blondeites who have made this such a beautiful & innocent place. They will support me. I KNOW they will.
So, & here comes the rub. To those who say "are you saying it's take it or leave it?", yes. YES. I am. I have to be as clear as I can on this, let there be no misunderstanding whatsoever. I will ban anyone I feel like banning. I am not answerable to anyone, except the blondites who built this place, to Dave, & to myself. I have invested more time & money in building this place than anyone. The Live Update costs, which are far in excess of the income we have received, have all come out of my & Dave's pocket. In fact, Dave & I have spent a huge 5 figure sum on blonde, & neither of us have had one, single, solitary, penny back yet. Many blondites have also invested their time, doing Live Updates for no money, just keeping this place cool.
You gonna give me the "this is a democracy" stuff, "what about free speech?". Don't bother, 'cos I ain't listening.
As far as I am concerned, I have PROVEN my good intentions to all of you, & I don't need to justify it. You have a prob, you write to me, I answer it. If I, or blonde, can help, we will.
Those who are not happy with this can leave. Now. There will be no argument on the matter. I will ban as many as I need to. Don't give me "you can't do that?" because I can, & I will. Twist those words all you like, but the good guys know EXACTLY what I mean, & have learned by now that tikay has never crossed anyone in his life without good reason.
There will of course be an exodus of indignant ex-blondeites. I don't give a monkeys. There are plenty of other Poker Forums you can ruin. Don't ruin this one.
This place was set up so we could have fun. You can debate, argue, disagreee, all day long, but we will ALWAYS end with a smile and a laugh and a goodnight kiss, like a '50's film. We always try & give a personal welcome new Members, we wish each other Happy Birthday, we put up pics of our kids, & our pets, we do a bit of charity stuff, we talk a little poker. THATS the kind of place we want, & that's what we gonna have. That's what Dave & I planned at Day One. The plan remains unchanged.
These last few weeks on blonde have been ugly, ugly, ugly. Well, no more, enough is enough.
End of story.
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