Post by ErikMouse on Aug 9, 2016 3:12:50 GMT -6
I'm not sure where I should post this other than General Chat, but I have been feeling that I needed to discuss somewhere regarding my forum on Proboards since I have been having some concerns to address. Even though I'm still working on setting up my forum here and haven't put a link to it in my signature just yet, I have been reading topics on the Proboards Support forum for anything I might find useful for me with my forum.
However, I have come across many topics about forums being shut down to where there is a white page saying "In accordance with Section 25(a) of the ProBoards Terms of Service, this forum has been taken offline" displayed on them and apparently no reason given or reason is bias as something or something is against forums. Many of the discussions that I have seen had things about people being absolutely shocked over their forum shut down for no reason given, had never been given any reason for it and wondering basically wtf happened or wondering what the heck happened while getting no response from the abuse department that is being very unprofessional by not answering at all.
Others wanting to know if the forum had been taken offline for no reason or is the splash page just quoting the incorrect section in order to cover any and all reasons for taking it down instead of stating an individual reason that is seemingly unbelievably out of the blue, saying that it is outrageous they would take an entire forum down over a few posts by members in one thread and/or wondering if a troll having a vendetta against forums can simply report a forum and get it shut down for no reason as there was never any content that would violate anything, that has a few saying they are sweating bullets over not having access to the shut down forum due to a lack of consultation or of challenging them to put their own forum in order, and undermines the validity of the decision while leaving a question mark instead of a full stop.
There have also been people mentioning there have been no e-mails to the admin, no warnings, no ability to rectify whatever it is that has been deemed unacceptable, and about there being entirely too many threads here where owners say they've emailed and gotten either no response at all, or a simple link to the ToS.
The only things that I have seen come up being said regarding reasons for forums being shut down other than there pretty obnoxious behavior by one individual such as there being threads focused on important local issues, like dodgy planning applications, littering, illegal parking, and lazy politicians, is either personal use to store information, a community of people getting ready for a big secret Santa event, the sharing of art, stories, and daily livelihoods with others, claims that the abuse department accepted a sum of money from so-and-so company to delete an entire forum while it had been suggested that the abuse department may have been bribed to take a forum down. I have also seen something about an assertion made by numerous forum owners/moderators that some posted material had to be removed because otherwise it could lead to legal action against the forum in question.
And to make matters seem worse, I have seen a case where the owner of a shut down forum being unable to get it corrected ended up going to HyperBoards instead of ProBoards, while creating a discussion about what is going on there as well as putting a report on Ripoff Report that I have the links to, but unsure if I should add them.
Anyway, after reading through all of this, it just has me nervous about my own forum that is still in construction as I'm worried that it might happen to me with me getting stuck with not getting a response from the abuse department. I'm starting to wonder if I should make an offline copy of everything I might post there and end up placing a fair use provisions disclaimer on everything including any clipart I may use, and a notice in my story ideas from dreams subforum about anything there having any resemblance to any person living, dead, or in prison, or whatever is purely coincidental, to find someone to check my forum from time to time daily for anything unacceptable as I'm likely to use it to post stories, rpgs, a project being made in RPG Maker 2000/2003, .etc, and feel that I need to discuss this with someone who is knowledgeable in this matter.
However, I have come across many topics about forums being shut down to where there is a white page saying "In accordance with Section 25(a) of the ProBoards Terms of Service, this forum has been taken offline" displayed on them and apparently no reason given or reason is bias as something or something is against forums. Many of the discussions that I have seen had things about people being absolutely shocked over their forum shut down for no reason given, had never been given any reason for it and wondering basically wtf happened or wondering what the heck happened while getting no response from the abuse department that is being very unprofessional by not answering at all.
Others wanting to know if the forum had been taken offline for no reason or is the splash page just quoting the incorrect section in order to cover any and all reasons for taking it down instead of stating an individual reason that is seemingly unbelievably out of the blue, saying that it is outrageous they would take an entire forum down over a few posts by members in one thread and/or wondering if a troll having a vendetta against forums can simply report a forum and get it shut down for no reason as there was never any content that would violate anything, that has a few saying they are sweating bullets over not having access to the shut down forum due to a lack of consultation or of challenging them to put their own forum in order, and undermines the validity of the decision while leaving a question mark instead of a full stop.
There have also been people mentioning there have been no e-mails to the admin, no warnings, no ability to rectify whatever it is that has been deemed unacceptable, and about there being entirely too many threads here where owners say they've emailed and gotten either no response at all, or a simple link to the ToS.
The only things that I have seen come up being said regarding reasons for forums being shut down other than there pretty obnoxious behavior by one individual such as there being threads focused on important local issues, like dodgy planning applications, littering, illegal parking, and lazy politicians, is either personal use to store information, a community of people getting ready for a big secret Santa event, the sharing of art, stories, and daily livelihoods with others, claims that the abuse department accepted a sum of money from so-and-so company to delete an entire forum while it had been suggested that the abuse department may have been bribed to take a forum down. I have also seen something about an assertion made by numerous forum owners/moderators that some posted material had to be removed because otherwise it could lead to legal action against the forum in question.
And to make matters seem worse, I have seen a case where the owner of a shut down forum being unable to get it corrected ended up going to HyperBoards instead of ProBoards, while creating a discussion about what is going on there as well as putting a report on Ripoff Report that I have the links to, but unsure if I should add them.
Anyway, after reading through all of this, it just has me nervous about my own forum that is still in construction as I'm worried that it might happen to me with me getting stuck with not getting a response from the abuse department. I'm starting to wonder if I should make an offline copy of everything I might post there and end up placing a fair use provisions disclaimer on everything including any clipart I may use, and a notice in my story ideas from dreams subforum about anything there having any resemblance to any person living, dead, or in prison, or whatever is purely coincidental, to find someone to check my forum from time to time daily for anything unacceptable as I'm likely to use it to post stories, rpgs, a project being made in RPG Maker 2000/2003, .etc, and feel that I need to discuss this with someone who is knowledgeable in this matter.
