Trouble At T'Mill

"No high horse at all. No lecture at all. Read the post - it was not condescending (as from a high horse) nor was it in any way similar to a lecture.

I was simply expressing bafflement at a totally odd post that looked as if it was really a lost pm back to an individual member, who had earlier communicated by email with you, rather than a constructive post. I was expressing the fact that I was unable to understand the post as it seemed to contain references only one other poster might understand. I was not attempting to be rude to you, just making it clear that I was tired and was unable to understand.

As for influence - yes I was a volunteer mod/co-admin on one previous forum. That doesn't give a person a massive amount of influence, you know. The forum owners/admin have the influence and can instantly rid themselves of any mod or co-admin who they no longer want. It was a very time-consuming task. Ask any mod how much time it took to try to keep that forum afloat, especially when on the one hand there were large numbers of posters who had the direct intention of destroying the place and ON THE OTHER HAND THERE WERE POSTERS WHOSE POSTING STYLE WAS OFTEN GUARANTEED TO INFLAME SITUATIONS (either because they were drunk while posting, because they were unable to control their own emotions, or because they were deliberately confrontational).

I did not pull the plug on 3As. I have explained this, as honestly and clearly as I could before, but will repeat it for the benefit of yourself and others who may not have seen that earlier explanation.

At a time when there were only a very small number of largely inexperienced mods and myself around - the leaflets in Rothley affair blew up. I contacted [redacted] without any success whatsoever. He refused to respond - though I know for certain that he was in contact with a former mod of the forum. I had very good advice at the time (later proven absolutely correct) that the content of a large number of posts to that date were liable to be pounced on by certain lawyers (as [redacted] found to his cost (literally)). The moderation team at that point was unable to undertake the work necessary to check and purge the forum. The other co-admin was on holiday. I felt I had no option at all but to close the forum to public view. I explained at the time on the site and in other places what I had done and that I was trying to contact [redacted]. As for pulling the plug - I had no power whatsoever to do that - I had no access to the server or to the facilities to close the forum.

Your insult that I skulked away is also incorrect. One other factor that contributed to my decision to close the forum to public view was that I was booked to go away on holiday (for a month) just a couple of days after I closed it. At that point the 3As which was owned by [redacted] and had one administrator, again [redacted], would have been without any admin or co-admin for a week as my holidays co-incided (sic) with the other co-admin. It would have resulted in a small group of junior mods being responsible for a very busy forum without sufficient powers to be able to deal with problems at a time when such problems were almost inevitable. Therefore I 'parked' the forum. I repeat I did not 'pull the plug'.

As for 'socks'. At the direct request of [redacted] I created one 'sock' which served a testing purpose for him. I also used 2 other 'socks' at a later date. I am afraid my memory does not stretch back far enough to recall how many posts were made, nor have I any method of now checking the facts but I think it was around a dozen - all made with the sole intention of attempting to ensure the safety of the 3As forum - believe it or not.

I stated I had no intention of raising these issues again in the post I made when temporarily (as I thought) closing the 3As forum. Your ill-informed post gave me no option.

And I am not now skulking away - I am going out to enjoy my Sunday breakfast and lunch with friends.

ps - Yes, maybe this post could be described as being from 'on a high horse' but this one was meant to be."