[Admin] User log; Cautions, Suspension, Bans etc

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[Admin] User log; Cautions, Suspension, Bans etc

Post by admin »

In the interests of openness and accountability, this topic will be kept as a log of any accounts cautioned, suspended or banned, for how long and why. All moderators have the ability to suspend users but not delete or remove users. Final decisions rest with admin.

At present, the forum policy is that no individual should ever be banned but suspended accounts are required to agree to the forum guidelines before rejoining the Forum. Suspension is offered as a "cooling off" period for the individual and forum as whole. A unwillingness to respond to administration requests will be taken as a refusal and cause an automatic suspension. If the member does not respond specifically to an administration request, their membership will remain suspended infinitely.

All members are afforded personal anonymity but are required to identify which usergroup (or non-group) they belong to. Members will never be required and are advised not disclose their personal identity to any other member, moderator or bulletin board system operator unless they so wish themselves.

The forum membership process does require individuals to state which group they wish to join. Failure to do so will mean membership is refused or suspended. Requiring members to respond is used as a way to filter out spammer's accounts and general forum trolls.

If members wish to comment, criticize or appeal against person or third party suspensions etc; please do below, or by email to; [email protected]. The following log documents all user management in no particular order of either severity nor chronology.

"Status: active" means the user can post without restrictions.


Advisory limitations

shivsena - status: no action
  • Requested not to keep making new topics on identical subject matters appearing to dominate PBK forum with POV. Given own topic
Cautions

bro neo - status: active
  • Cautioned for making public private messages and not responding to admin requests. Asked to provide supporting evidence for the more serious allegations against the BKWSU. 'Off forum' topics quarantined to own topic
Suspensions

pbkdivya - status: suspended
  • Please contact the moderator when requested
shivashankar - status: suspended
  • Apparent troll, non-BKWSU related. Standard of English insufficient
nara-deva - status: suspended
  • Vashnavite devotee, posts too far off topic. Made multiple membership attempts. Standard of English insufficient
ex-l - status: active
  • Indiscriminate use of adult language. Given own topic to for others to discuss user's conduct.
pbktrinityshiva - status: active

riveros11- status: suspended
  • Made efforts to expose identity of other forum member. Refused to accept by reply forum guidelines (Anonymity of contributors)
tete - status: active
  • Off topic posts. Refused to accept by reply forum guidelines (Keep on topic). Offered moderatorship (Offer refused by member)
sparkal/suss gi - status: suspended
  • Suspended for attacking a newcomer/exiting BK by making personal attacks on the basis that others were using multiple identities, when they were not, and yet himself using multiple identities. Also posts as hugh man.
Bans

mokshakiprapti - status: suspended
  • Suspended for refusing admin requests to identify which group/religion/practise they were promoting. Rejoined as beejroop (Vishnu Party)
beejroop, raj, sakshi dehli and other Vishnu Party members - status: active
  • Suspended for using multiple user accounts, flame warring other members. Off topic posts. Refused to accept by reply forum guidelines (Crossposting identical messages). Spamming forum members via private messages/advertising. Raj believes everyone in the world can hear his thoughts and he is the chosen Chariot of god.

    The Vishnu Party appear to be engaged in a long term strategy to discredit the PBKs which has now extended to attacking the credibility of this forum.
anamik, sachkand, disillusioned, sachkhand_again, truth seeker, satyam, really? and at least two others (all same user) - status: active
  • Suspended for using multiple user accounts, flame warring PBK members. User Sanjeev considers himself to be the reincarnation of Lekhraj Kirpalani and the appointed Chariot of god. Has Vishnu Party connections.
Topics locked

Vishnu Party Ahmedabad - status: no action
  • Flame warring by Vishnu Party members
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mr green
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Post by mr green »

Wow. Don't I get an honoury suspension, for always being able to get past the dirty word blocker ... b um :lol:
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Re: [Admin] User log; Cautions, Suspension, Bans etc

Post by admin »

Moderator Suspensions

proy - status: moderator privileges withdrawn - account suspended terminally.
  • Banned for discussing, and making public on an external website, false accusations based on privileged personal information about other members gained through his moderator status.
BrahmaKumaris.Info takes very seriously its members' legitimate right to anonymity and will protect it as far as possible. Whether exiting a cultic organisation such as the BKWSU or remaining within it to promote positive change, is a difficult and sensitive situation to be in.

In order not to expose individuals to attacks, we wish to recognise this and afford individuals their privacy until they themselves feel that they wish to come out.
cultexit_roy.jpg
john morgan
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Re: [Admin] User log; Cautions, Suspension, Bans etc

Post by john morgan »

I can understand why Proy's moderator privileges have been withdrawn but what I cannot understand is that his account be suspended terminally (which I assume means forever). It may be that this forum is more allied to the BKs than it thinks. The BK concept of time is such that if a person is damned they are damned forever. But, and its a big BUT once one realises that that one is on a "downer" good effort can make it an "upper." If one leaves the "company" before the "upper" bit comes into play a person could mistakenly be convinced that they are on a "downer" for all time.

It maybe that Proy does not wish to come here anymore, that is not the issue I am raising. As far as I am aware no one involved in the recent events which have lead to Proy's banning from this forum has been reciprocally banned from Cult Exit, this is not the issue either.

People do disagree and people do make mistakes, around a year ago I said to someone "I do not want to know you." It took nine months before amicable interaction resumed. Obviously there was a lot more to the situation, simply I took a stand, the person changed and relations resumed. This persons actions from my perspective were far worse than Proy's (Please note that I am not taking "sides" here, I readily admit that my comprehension of the issues is incomplete at best and totally inaccurate at worst) "unforgivable deeds." I am glad that I kept the door open as it has turned out to be far more constructive and certainly easier than maintaining a hard stance forever.

I am against "terminal suspensions" and think a kinder attitude more useful for everyone.
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Re: [Admin] User log; Cautions, Suspension, Bans etc

Post by sarah »

I totally respect this decision. It is one thing to respond to or challenge what individual people choose to post on this forum, but to use information that is privileged and force somebody (myself, I think) to explain publicly why they have kept their identity and location hidden, is certainly a major abuse of trust and completely at odds with a forum the purpose of which is to support and inform.

The action by the administrator has restored my faith in the integrity of this forum and given me confidence that it is a reputable forum and not a gossip column. As for 'Hugh Man' etc - It was childish behaviour and I think a cooling down period is no more serious than having to spend some time on the naughty step. Anyone can rejoin at a later date with a different name if they so wish.
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Re: [Admin] User log; Cautions, Suspension, Bans etc

Post by alladin »

Sometimes it is just the habit of not being able to keep the mouth shut. Later one regrets this kind of "looseness".
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Re: [Admin] User log; Cautions, Suspension, Bans etc

Post by admin »

BrahmaKumaris.Info clearly publishes its forum guidelines, moderator policy and copyright. These are regularly reviewed and individuals are welcome to offer amendments.

It is reasonable that a full reply to your queries, with supporting evidence, should be made but, in the first place, the administrators of the forum in question are offered the opportunity to reply to them. If you are a member of that forum, you may relay their response. If not, they can offer one via the administrative email address.

Members should note that admin is for the discussion forum's systems operation and not a personal user account. It is, and can be, accessed by more than one moderator depending on whoever is offering support at the time.
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Re: [Admin] User log; Cautions, Suspension, Bans etc

Post by arjun »

john morgan wrote:I am against "terminal suspensions" and think a kinder attitude more useful for everyone.
Om Shanti. In the instant case, although the correct persons to decide the level of punishment are the bbysops and sister Sarah, I agree with what bro. john morgan has said above.

In view of the fact that proy has already publicly apologized for his mistake, if possible, the suspension could be changed to a temporary suspension or as Sister Sarah said, he could join us with a different name later on.

Regards,
OGS,
Arjun
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Re: [Admin] User log; Cautions, Suspension, Bans etc

Post by admin »

john morgan wrote:I can understand why Proy's moderator privileges have been withdrawn but what I cannot understand is that his account be suspended terminally. As far as I am aware no one involved in the recent events which have lead to Proy's banning from this forum has been reciprocally banned from Cult Exit, this is not the issue either.
We received no response from any party and so will present our reasoning.

A situation arose where a moderator used their moderator privileges to gain personal information about a newcomer and exiting BK which they then not only discussed with other individuals but posted on other another public forum. This is entirely contrary to this forum's policy and a very serious abuse. For whatever person reasons an individual might have, especially one in a vulnerable state, we respect our members anonymity.

The second individual, who themselves operated more than one account on this forum, then accused others of doing so, the newcomer of being a "sockpuppet" and of sexual misconduct for which they were given the opportunity to clarify or provide evidence but could not.

In the case of the individuals' separate identities, we held detailed evidence prove this was no so. The situation had arisen because of a fault with the system software that had disallowed individuals from joining. It was resolved by manually making a new account for the newcomer and numerous emails had been exchanged in the process.

The moderator was provided with the evidence but continued to make the same allegations and more. Requests were made to the individual and his technician for the web logs of his website, or for him to inspect them, as by now both the newcomer and the existing member were posting on his website and this would have both demonstrated that they were two separate individuals in separate locations, clearing any doubts. Those requests were also refused or ignored, a job that would have taken a few seconds to do.

Amidst other threats, the moderator then posted further personal information on his website identifying individuals more specifically with deliberate intent and barred more than one individual involved from both the public and private discussions of the matter, listing them as "DEAD MEMBERS". In short, disallowing them to defend themselves. However, at the same time, he continued to access his account on this forum and so the decision was made to further protect forum members by disabling his membership. We were informed that he had been previously banned from his own technician's forum for similar behaviour to that afore mentioned above.

Readers should understand a number of background issues.
  • Firstly, the environment in which this website was started was one in which we had been informed that the previous support site for ex-BKs and friends and family of BKs was closed down due to legal threats with confidentiality agreements made by elements of the BKWSU. This website has been subject to one, unsuccessful, legal action by BKWSU leadership and had been given evidence to suggest that it was only in preparation for more legal actions,

    In essence, we know the BKWSU had been attempting to identify those involved in this forum for some time through its networks and, in our opinion, elements were prepared to use legal threats targeted at those individuals to silence open discussion. Legal actions are financially and emotionally draining and time consuming to fight.

    Secondly, individuals exiting, or considering exiting, a cultic religions are in a vulnerable state which should be respected and treated with all due care. Our moderators have the same responsibilities as counsellors or other professionals.

    Individuals leaving the BKWSU, or even considering remaining but enacting reform, may be in very difficult social or personal situations and wish to avoid discrimination. They wish to upkeep good relationships with other BKs still in the group and have no wish, nor reason, to be "outed". It takes great courage to come forward in public and we respect that. Individuals are unquestionably offered the shield of anonymity until they themselves chose to disclose their own identity.

    We protect whistleblowers.
For a trusted individual in a privileged position to disclose information and "out" other members for personal reasons, especially one offering support by way of "cult exit", it is a very serious breach of confidence. It was decided that it was far more important to make a commitment that this forum put its newcomers first before its moderators and set the type of public precedent that we feel the BKWSU should make of any of its privileged members who default.

Of course, this is just a brief overview of the situation. Needlessly to say, every effort was made to mediate this matter off forum and there are other factors involved but we hope this is enough to allow others to understand why the decision was made. It is enough to say that two of the individuals involved had just previously been offered complete and unchallenged directorial control of this website and forum and so any allegations of "control" that they might wish to make would appear equally unfounded. The second individual mentioned above had taken offense that his post were being spell checked and having their formatting corrected to make them more readable, as is our policy.
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