# Not to Push Buttons or Anything...



## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

Well, I was looking for a Mod. to ban the new spammer, (Or is it the same one again?) and once again I found a hint at that old intersite war. 

For example:


"Those idiots deserved what they got. You are free to join them if you feel that strongly about it."

"I haven't found the forum the same since that big escapade"


You get the point. Not to open old wounds or anything, could someone please try to tell me what happened? If no one wants to say, that's fine, but I'd really like t know, as I've found other small hints all over the site.


Oh, and can we kill that spammer? I already sent him/her a "*DIE SPAMMER DIE*" PM.


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

Do not talk about those who shall not be named.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

*sigh*

Fine.

We had a Mod who got way too chummy with one of our most annoying members, a perennial troublemaker. She finally crossed the line and started sending him copies of the discussions we had about him in the moderator section, ( which you non-mods can't see.) Being a troublemaker, he started arguing with our last Admin, and he quoted some of that stuff word-for-word, exposing the problem.
The resulting witch hunt should have fixed it right there, but nooOOOOooo...
It turned out that she had a LOT of friends, many of them decidedly irksome, and she went and told them the passwords for logging in as a Mod! Soon after that they staged a revolt in protest of the de-modding of the offending now ex-Mod, and the hooligans all logged in as Mods and started to wreak absolute havoc on this site. They even banned us real Mods. It took a few days to finally wrest control from them and systematically eliminate them all. One of them finally started leveling credible cyberterroristic threats at us, and we were forced to call in the FBI. THAT made a few guys leave FishForums in a big hurry, most notably the very guy who started all this mess in the first place. We couldn't say why we called the cops due to the ongoing investigation, and that made a lot of other folks all the madder, because they thought we were just yanking their chains and thought that we shouldn't stoop so low, or worse, that we were a bunch of nazis for trying to swat gnats with a bazooka. ( the fact that I really am a nazi never factored into it ) Fullblown revolution then erupted and FishForums was never the same again.

After that, many members complained that we were too harsh on them and suggested that we reinstate everyone. HA! As IF!

There. Now you know. Happy? 
Let it never again be said that those morons didn't deserve what they got, and woe betide anyone who ever again suggests otherwise. My wrath shall be severe.


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

Thanks, TOS.....I never knew really what happened. I can guess who the players were. Again, thanks for laying it out there.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

Thanks TOS. That must have been a nightmare. I understand why no one ever talks about it... 

Moving on!:arrow:


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

actually i must say i am very impressed with the mods on this site. most other sites are so bad you can't even politely debate one simple thing without getting banned. Id personally like to thank the mods for making this a great site regardless of the site not being the same as it was its still a great site.


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

Revolution1221 said:


> actually i must say i am very impressed with the mods on this site. most other sites are so bad you can't even politely debate one simple thing without getting banned. Id personally like to thank the mods for making this a great site regardless of the site not being the same as it was its still a great site.


I agree with this fully. 

I was banned recently from the planted tank for making a post regarding a " vendor " that had no personal section after he lied to me about sending me slate/screws/drill bit to anchor down the driftwood that will not sink. They told me it was because of past history with vendor reviews that the authorities ended up being called. I let this one go as it was a bit ridiculous, but semi understandable to some extent. Say in the context of everyone ganging up on a person for a chain pet store and said person talking to their corporate office.

Made a post with an innate reference to religion, and they modified my post, and then deleted my posts in the entire thread. I told them if they were going to make such a hissy fit over these singular posts, yet do nothing with the amount of attitude that I got constantly, I told them to ban me or let it go. The really weird part was the complete mixed opinions that I received there versus here on my tank/processes and what I was planning to do.

In essence, LOVE FISH FORUMS AND AIN'T GOING NO WHERE!


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

"In essence, LOVE FISH FORUMS AND AIN'T GOING NO WHERE! "

Ditto.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I remember a lot of "why did you delete my thread whining that no one tells me anything" threads. People who had no part in the mess got mad and left. People don't seem to understand that there isn't a 'right to information' from a privately owned forum. IMO, its take it or leave it. So I don't whine about the chat thing unless someone asks, "why are you never on chat"?

Thanks for a bit more info.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Yeah, that was the worst part, really. So many other innocent people were furious that their friends were getting banned left and right, and they left because we couldn't give them the explanation they felt we owed them, despite it being none of their business. Oh well, ancient history; this is why we have to be so careful when selecting Mods. She was one of the great ones before turning on us.

That's still not the worst thing that ever happened around here, though.

Once upon a time, FishForums was often the #1 fishboard on the Web, and always in the Top-5. We worked very hard to cultivate the kinds of members who made this place truly awesome, and then I got what I thought was a pretty good idea. I thought it would rock to re-integrate the FishForums community with Aquabid, it's original sister site, and merge both groups here into the most amazing source of fast, friendly, and accurate information to be found in the net. For a while, it worked. It worked amazingly well, in fact, and we were widely known as THE place to go. Boy, did they come, too.
Then it all came crashing down. Hard.
In an attempt to get one of the most colorful and renowned fish-guys on the web to lend his crowd-drawing power to FishForums, I wound up having to accept his wife as a Supermod. No problem, I thought, and was happy to do it. In fact, she worked out so well at first that Shaggy, the owner, made her the Admin to run things for him. Hey, even better, we thought. We were wrong.
There was a guy on the Aquabid side who was very popular among that crowd, but he had been in some sort of scuffle with our new Admin over on that other site, and in retaliation she banned him on THIS one. --Totally not cool.--
I tried to reason with her, but to no avail. I saw that he, in retaliation of his own, started to hastily build his own fishy forum. I warned her and our owner to cut the crap and un-ban him immediately, but she was too stubborn. You can probably guess the rest. Everything we had worked for for the 4 previous months was flushed away in a single day. All the Aquabidders left Fishforums to go join the new site in a grand show of solidarity, and our alliance was broken. Since our members no longer voted for each others' sites, both of us plunged in the ratings and we haven't hit the top spot since. 

This is why we don't accept new Mods right off the street anymore. It has already cost us too much. SO QUIT ASKING, all you people who keep joining and pestering me in PM's about it the same day. You can't be a Mod here until you're proven.


I'm going to have to delete this whole thread soon before it causes too many problems, so now's the time to ask any more potentially embarrassing or annoying questions about this place. I won't be able to answer some things, though.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

I think that's about it for me! This has been a very educational thread. Thanks!


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

To quote my original reply to this thread:

"Do not talk about those who shall not be named."

Also I wasn't a member yet but I was here for a lot of what went on, and it made me really sad that people would act that immature over what started out as something so silly in the first place. Also this place is only a forum about fish keeping, not politics or religion, so I can't seem to understand why so many people get defensive here.


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## Mr. fish (Mar 8, 2011)

I've run boards before in the past, not fish, Music. And I totally understand the politics and damage ONE mod or s-mod can do. But, lets face it. As much as we want it to be just a simple board with friendly activity, no matter how you see it forums will always be dealt with politics if you WANT to be on the top.

I would NEVER ask to be a mod because I know the annoyance it brings having to constantly tell people no, they get mad and sometimes leave the board. Good, those type of members you don't need anyways. So in conclusion this site may not be as active as some other forums, but, it consists of great members and I'd rather have a 'tight' inner circle than a popular board with a bunch of arrogant bastards anyways. 

Excuse the French


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## fishloverzj (May 3, 2010)

Yeag, I hate it when forums get screwed up because the new mods are power greedy a**holes.

No matter what FF goes through, I shall always stay by it's side. You are my new BFF, FF.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

hmmmmmmm...i remember that fiasco...there are a few folks that still harbor ill feelings about all that stuff...much ugliness went on..and we lost some really smart young people..


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

> I'm going to have to delete this whole thread soon before it causes too many problems, so now's the time to ask any more potentially embarrassing or annoying questions about this place. I won't be able to answer some things, though.



Boxers or breifs? 


I really rather enjoy this site. And it looks like it took going to hell n' back to make it the tight knit, friendly group that it is...


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## Aflat (Apr 16, 2011)

Ditto.....Everyone here seems really personable and are quick to help and/or educate others.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Briefs.

We do try to keep things as friendly and helpful as possible, and I'm happy to report that we really do have one of the most pleasant fishboards to visit on the web. If you don't believe that, just have a look around at several of the other ones and you'll see what I mean. Trolls, flamewarriors, nazi mods, idiots and brats positively flood most of the other sites, along with elitist boors who just love to hide behind their keyboards and insult everyone for kicks. I should know, too; I used to BE some of those jerkwads. When I found this place and saw that not all fishboards are created equal, I was happy to stay and I have no plans to leave.

Now, after all that's been said, I have a new plan. It's a good plan, I think, but a crazy one. I plan to invent a totally new kind of fishy website never before seen on the internet, doing something that's never been done before, and then I want to link it with FishForums in order to use FF as it's free forums. If it works, both sites will become HUGE. The kicker is that I'll need some help for this one, since it's gonna be a doozy.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

Do you have a idea for that never before seen website, or is it just a phrase as of yet?


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

You answered! tehehehe

I find that people who desire positions of power are often people who shouldn't be in positions of power.... but that's why this site is so great... that just doesn't seem to be the case here. And I agree about the other fishy sites. I found this site because I'm relatively new to keeping aquariums and I often have questions about my fishes' behavior... so I googled them. Several forum sites come up, but this one always helps me the most.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Oh yes, I have all the details for the site worked out already. I just don't know how to actually make them happen, that is, write the HTML to make the thing work. Good Hosting is another concern. I need to find a real webgeek.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

Albino????


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

haha I am a webgeek!!!


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

I can't believe this. Somebody stole my would-be URL. Really, now, what are the odds of anyone else suddenly deciding that they just had to have (oddweirdand obscurenonwordgoes here).org? They got .com and .net, too. DOITY BASTIDS!
Now I have to come up with a whole new acronym-friendly name, and that won't be as easy as it sounds.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

Can't you just buy it from them? Or would that cost WAY to much...


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## Mr. fish (Mar 8, 2011)

funlad3 said:


> Can't you just buy it from them? Or would that cost WAY to much...


He could, but, the problem is locating that person.

My guess is you told someone about your idea and they jumped on it.

TOS, I have a close buddy that knows everything there is to know about coding sites. He's literately built over 20-40 forums in his day. I can even show you a few music forums that are still active he's built. I also know good GFX designers. PM me if you want me to give him a buzz


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Actually, the funny thing is that their site is utterly unrelated to fish in any possible way, and the acronym fits their group perfectly. It's just an amazingly unlikely and bizarre coincidence.
Still, I'm extremely annoyed.

Mr. Fish, that sounds great, unless he makes his living at that sort of thing and charges accordingly. I don't have much of a budget to work with for this.


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## Mr. fish (Mar 8, 2011)

TheOldSalt said:


> Mr. Fish, that sounds great, unless he makes his living at that sort of thing and charges accordingly. I don't have much of a budget to work with for this.


Not sure what he would charge me, he doesent do it for a living... He does it as a hobby. But, I'll talk to him and see what he thinks. I'll tell him we on a budget.


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## platies pwn (Nov 29, 2010)

reading this thread makes me feel like i'm reading secret files i shouldn't be reading.TOS,how come you never deleted this thread?


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

he was waiting for someone to come i and ask why he never deleted the thread so he could garrote them...


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

lohachata said:


> he was waiting for someone to come i and ask why he never deleted the thread so he could garrote them...


I remember this fiasco as well. The good news was that it cleared out all of the arrogant adolescents and college kids. The bad news was that it killed chat and wiped out a few knowledgeable younger folks.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

you are right g k.....we lost some good people....but unfortunately there are always casualties.....


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## iheartfish:) (Jan 19, 2011)

hahahahahahahahaha :lol: to loha. This is a really interesting thread to read and it makes you appreciate what we really have. Wondrous forums like this don't happen in a day, and there is always lot's of hard work involved.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

iheartfish:) said:


> hahahahahahahahaha :lol: This is a really interesting thread to read and it makes you appreciate what we really have. Wondrous forums like this don't happen in a day, and there is always lot's of hard work involved.


I agree with that. Most forums, regardless of topic, are run by a bunch of power hungry apes that have no power at their real jobs. Fishforums is of course an exception to that.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i don't need to be power hungry....i am old and mean...that is plenty enough...


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

lohachata said:


> i don't need to be power hungry....i am old and mean...that is plenty enough...


You definitely got the old part down.


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