Pardon Fairy Announces

MDJAK wrote in post #15511175
Be careful, Rudi, or we may be looking for you shortly.

Wise advice - the Pardon Fairy did a kind and generous thing and it should be accepted as such.

WE are guests here, not Mods or officers of the organization. If a need for discussion on "disciplinary" or operational matters is still sought, I certainly would NOT do it publicly. Send a PM instead. It's nobody's public business.

Pekka wrote in post #15511127
What exactly is wrong with Pardon Fairy pardoning these two members?

Nothing at all. I am just wondering why the big announcement. Why advertise it at all? Why not let the affected members know by sending them a PM? You know, since we as members are not allowed to ask about such things, and all such correspondence is supposedly better left private, why make this big announcement in public? Why start a thread about?

Is it because you are looking for applause? From the membership in general and the affected members in particular? Because any opinion short of heaping praise is frowned upon or outright warned against in this thread.

Pekka, I have been here for a long time now, and I have not run afoul of the rules often, if at all (I honestly cannot remember). So please read my reply in the spirit that it is offered. Because the mods seem to come down on anyone who is less than ecstatic about the Pardon Fairy announcement, and I am genuinely wondering what we are allowed to reply here.

I will leave it at this (even if my question is not answered, although I hope it is). Out of respect and because doing anything else would be misinterpreted as "challenging authority".

MDJAK wrote in post #15511175
Be careful, Rudi, or we may be looking for you shortly.

Well, I *am* starting to wonder what we are allowed to discuss here on these forums, if anything.

Thorrulz wrote in post #15511190
Seriously? Arguing about a new policy just for the sake of arguing? Personally I am glad that we now have a "Pardon Fairy" here at POTN. Try to remember that it was done during a giving time of year as well so look as it as being given a second chance.

But, if you consider presenting your case out in public with the Moderators and Pekka no less, maybe I and the rest of us here at POTN can welcome you back in 12 months or so.

Just in case...............

I am not arguing with the mods, that is my whole point here. I am asking a couple of questions. Respectfully and and in a civil manner. Yet all I get is: "We know better because we know the whole story". When I change my question to "What *can* we discuss in this thread?", all I get is: "What is wrong with the Pardon Fairy"?

I am asking what we are allowed to discuss in this thread, that is all. Yet I am not getting any answers, just deflections.

sapearl wrote in post #15511227
Wise advice - the Pardon Fairy did a kind and generous thing and it should be accepted as such.

WE are guests here, not Mods or officers of the organization. If a need for discussion on "disciplinary" or operational matters is still sought, I certainly would NOT do it publicly. Send a PM instead. It's nobody's public business.

See above. I am not asking about disciplinary matters. I respect the mods' rules, and in an attempt to find out what we *can* discuss here, I asked them. That is all.

Rudi wrote in post #15511461
Well, I *am* starting to wonder what we are allowed to discuss here on these forums, if anything.

We encourage talk about Photography. This is the initial purpose of this forum. Remember why you originally came here? At least I hope that's why.
Also we encourage talk about member activities in the proper sub forums.
What we do "not" allow is public conversation about Moderator actions, or why. On the surface it seems pretty simple, but many times behind the scene it may be quite complicated for various reasons. We don't want to have this complicated, drawn out discussion amongst ourselves, then have somebody insist we have this discussion all over again in public. Isn't going to happen. So please accept that.
If you have a question or problem with any of our policies or actions, please let us know through a PM. (Personal Message)
Bear in mind that we all have lives outside of POTN as well, so please don't inundate us with a lot of silly questions.
-Bruce

Rudi wrote in post #15511080
So the only replies allowed are unrestrained praise of the Pardon Fairy's decision? Or are we allowed to express our disappointments (with the Pardon Fairy's decision) as well?

What I'm asking, respectfully, is this: Are we allowed to discuss the Pardon Fairy's decision? Or is it all just about heaping praise on the good old fairy?

As I see it, it's not so much the content of the question, as it is the tone in which the question was presented to us? To me, your interpretation of what is "Respectfully and and in a civil manner." & mine are different. And "Why start a thread about?" has the flavor of trolling to me, too. I wonder why that's important to you & why make an issue over it.
And, no, I don't expect an answer, as you've been answered already. Just keep in mind the FORUM RULES, particularly the "don't be a jerk" portion, & we all should get along just fine. <<Note the Smiley!

What if we don't like the people that would be pardoned ? .

tommykjensen wrote in post #15510821
You or anybody else do NOT have both sides of the story.

.

true statement, i only know that there were pleas for their return and that the administration here decided to give them a second chance, which i applaud

tommykjensen wrote in post #15510821
So please stop stirring up trouble.

it was not my intention to stir up any trouble here, sorry you took it that way

DarthVader wrote in post #15511790
What if we don't like the people that would be pardoned ? .

Hey, I don't ALWAYS like my wife, but I always beg her pardon .

The only thing I care about is that both were invaluable contributors here.
I too applaud the opportunity they are being given,
I could care less about anything else. It's nonsense.
Getting them back on board is really all that matters.
Seems to be some hesitation though.

Rudi wrote in post #15511461
Nothing at all. I am just wondering why the big announcement. Why advertise it at all? Why not let the affected members know by sending them a PM? You know, since we as members are not allowed to ask about such things, and all such correspondence is supposedly better left private, why make this big announcement in public? Why start a thread about?

Is it because you are looking for applause? From the membership in general and the affected members in particular? Because any opinion short of heaping praise is frowned upon or outright warned against in this thread.

Pardon Fairy is a public figure and announcements are public because it is supposed to be a season of giving, a happy occasion announced to all. If Pardon Fairy were a cloaked hush hush secretive emailer what would be the point? Someone gets unbanned and other would wonder "why, do certain members have different rules?".

We are not looking for applause for us, we are looking applause and gratulations for those pardoned to welcome them and encourage them to come back.

I really can't understand the negativity from you.

Mod actions can not and wont be discussed in public. Mod actions are what happended prior to Pardon Fairy announcement. Can that be put any simpler? See my previous posts on this thread.

An additional reason for announcing the pardons is so we didn't get inundated with reports about banned members sneaking back when it had been pretty widely known they had received permanent, not time-limited, bans.

I knew this was going to be good when I first read Rudi's posts this morning.

I got to hand it to you, Rudi. You're a scrapper. The tones of the first replies were somewhat apparent, yet you keep pushing in. Tenacious and aggressive might be an appropriate description. But then again, suicidal may fit too.

Thankfully I already had some Orville Redenbacker in the house. Gonna' pop some.

As to the subject, I, too, wondered at first why a public announcement. But I never considered what Pekka and Jon have said. It is a very valid point. Were banned people to suddenly start popping up in forums, there would probably be more WTF posts and PMs than could be handled. You got to admit, Rudi, that is a valid reason for a public announcement.

Picture North Carolina wrote in post #15512923
As to the subject, I, too, wondered at first why a public announcement. But I never considered what Pekka and Jon have said. It is a very valid point. Were banned people to suddenly start popping up in forums, there would probably be more WTF posts and PMs than could be handled. You got to admit, Rudi, that is a valid reason for a public announcement.

OK, I accept that. But then this statement contradicts that completely:

Ballen Photo wrote in post #15511537
What we do "not" allow is public conversation about Moderator actions, or why.

Starting an unlocked thread about Moderator actions is an invitation for discussion, is it not? If not, is it entrapment?

Pekka wrote in post #15407102
Pardon Fairy Announces

This Christmas we invited a buddy of Title Fairy to POTN. She calls herself "Pardon Fairy" and she wanted to create a new tradition for us. Each Christmas she pardons one (or more) permanently banned member(s). She of course consults the mod team for candidates in hope of finding those worthy of the honor.

This Christmas, 2012, Pardon Fairy pardons members

TMR Design
m.shalaby

SMALL PRINT: after pardon the member may be banned of course again if violations continue. We trust good sense and proper conduct of pardoned so that we would not need to resort to such measures again.
A note to pardoned: discussing your ban history/reasons/respon​ses and dwelling around it means a violation to rules. Keep that in mind and enjoy POTN!

Rudi wrote in post #15513122
OK, I accept that. But then this statement contradicts that completely:


Starting an unlocked thread about Moderator actions is an invitation for discussion, is it not? If not, is it entrapment?

The opening post was an announcement by the Forum owner that the listed members had their permanent bans lifted. It was posted in the hope that those members would choose to return to be active productive members of the community.

The post was not an invitation to discuss/critique moderator action. Such public discussion/comments are a violation of the Forum Rules of Use.

I hope that this erases any misunderstanding you may have.

One last question:

Skip Souza wrote in post #15513244
The post was not an invitation to discuss/critique moderator action. Such public discussion/comments are a violation of the Forum Rules of Use.

So everybody who replied in this thread has violated the rules, is that correct? Because critique can be both positive *and* negative.

.

WOW, I began reading this thread because I was curious how a thread with this title could have gone on for 5 pages. Now I see. Just a few of my thoughts:

1) I think the Pardon Fairy is a great fairy;

2) I don't know...or need to know...why anyone was ever banned or pardoned...but that's just me;

3) If I were Rudi and Pekka was my mom...i'd be picking my self up off the floor by now; and

4) I'm so glad I found this forum...a lot of great people with great ideas and great debate about a lot of great things.

I just have one question... rhetorical, actually...but...Rudi.​.. your real name wouldn't be Anthony Harris, would it? Sorry, that's someone I know who has the same type of spoon in a lot of social media fan page pots.