[CENSORSHIP] Matthew N. Wright

[theymos]

Banned for trolling? But it's different when you're VIP-donator?

Matthew donated 10 BTC. There have been several VIPs and Donators who were banned (eg. Goat) or scammer-tagged (eg. pirateat40, cablepair).

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[Viceroy]

Banned for trolling? But it's different when you're VIP-donator?

Matthew donated 10 BTC. There have been several VIPs and Donators who were banned (eg. Goat) or scammer-tagged (eg. pirateat40, cablepair).

That is censorship.  Why are you NOT supporting free speech?  How is Matthew any more a troll than Inaba?

How does censoring Matthew and not censoring Inaba help the community in ANY way? 

Surely you cannot believe BFL is legitimate... or your buddy TF's illegal ponzi scheme and unregulated bank.  Of course those guys advertise.  Personally I find it disturbing that you show TF with positive default trust and you still allow both he and Inaba to advertise.... yet you ban Matthew who is a friend to the community. 

Your censorship model CLEARLY favors the bitcoin millionaires over the community.  You are now acting just like any government favoring those who benefit you while crushing any opposing view that doesn't fit with your model of capital redistribution.    Just like the ignore button favors shutting up the vocal. 

Your lack of a 'support' button and only an option of an 'ignore' button causes the entire community to have negative feelings about vocal posters (like matthew) and these people never get to see all his followers.  I'm confident a 'support' button would glow even brighter than his 'ignore' button.

You are gaming the system and specifically shutting down vocal members in favor of those who never say anything controversial.  Why do you fear free speech so much?  Clearly you are not an American because we WORSHIP free speech.

You are acting no differently than the governments who wish us to use their FIAT, no different at all.  No different from Assad who would rather kill off his population than allow dissenting views in Syria.  It makes no sense to ban someone for expressing their ideas and not ban known scammers like Inaba.

My two cents.

[DobZombie]

He got banned again?

LOL!

That's what happens when you give Site Admin the shits!

 

[Loozik]

He edited that poll after people had already voted to create misleading results.

I can't speak to the rest but personally I find the poll system infuriating.  I cannot, personally, seem to edit a poll and make any sense of the answer if people have already voted in the poll.

1. Viceroy, you were actually caught doing what Mathew was banned (resetting poll results and deleting inconvenient poll questions you yourself devised) - evidence: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=241369.msg2561708#msg2561708

2. Theymos, why don't you ban Viceroy?

[Viceroy]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=273066.msg2928097#msg2928097

[farlack]

He was trolling continuously. He hasn't changed: He edited that poll after people had already voted to create misleading results.

Honestly losing more and more respect.. You're telling me you're against trolling so much to 'ban' someone, but you let scammers walk around free with a tag? Whats wrong with that picture? Sounds like censorship to me.

P.S. MNW isn't someone who I'm affiliated with, so a neutral party that isn't pleased on whats going down.

[John (John K.)]

He was trolling continuously. He hasn't changed: He edited that poll after people had already voted to create misleading results.

Honestly losing more and more respect.. You're telling me you're against trolling so much to 'ban' someone, but you let scammers walk around free with a tag? Whats wrong with that picture? Sounds like censorship to me.

P.S. MNW isn't someone who I'm affiliated with, so a neutral party that isn't pleased on whats going down.

Well, the forum policy since a long time ago was to ban trolls (as they impede the speech of others), and tag scammers. Scammers aren't banned outright as they could repay and resolve their issues, but they might still be banned if they start trolling. I believe terrytibbs (and Matthew himself) was one of the prime examples here.

[Kouye]

I'm sorry to say that, but I kinda agree with Viceroy.
If you can edit a poll and remove entries which votes are consolidated with next entry, the problem lies in the polling system.

Maybe you can just flag Matthew so that he's not allowed to post polls, and let him voice his opinions again? 

[farlack]

He was trolling continuously. He hasn't changed: He edited that poll after people had already voted to create misleading results.

Honestly losing more and more respect.. You're telling me you're against trolling so much to 'ban' someone, but you let scammers walk around free with a tag? Whats wrong with that picture? Sounds like censorship to me.

P.S. MNW isn't someone who I'm affiliated with, so a neutral party that isn't pleased on whats going down.

Well, the forum policy since a long time ago was to ban trolls (as they impede the speech of others), and tag scammers. Scammers aren't banned outright as they could repay and resolve their issues, but they might still be banned if they start trolling. I believe terrytibbs (and Matthew himself) was one of the prime examples here.

Oh, sorry I misunderstood, I see now how trolling could be so much worse than someone stealing hundreds even thousands of dollars worth of items, money, and bitcoin.
The thing about scammers, they don't pay back shit.

[John (John K.)]

He was trolling continuously. He hasn't changed: He edited that poll after people had already voted to create misleading results.

Honestly losing more and more respect.. You're telling me you're against trolling so much to 'ban' someone, but you let scammers walk around free with a tag? Whats wrong with that picture? Sounds like censorship to me.

P.S. MNW isn't someone who I'm affiliated with, so a neutral party that isn't pleased on whats going down.

Well, the forum policy since a long time ago was to ban trolls (as they impede the speech of others), and tag scammers. Scammers aren't banned outright as they could repay and resolve their issues, but they might still be banned if they start trolling. I believe terrytibbs (and Matthew himself) was one of the prime examples here.

Oh, sorry I misunderstood, I see now how trolling could be so much worse than someone stealing hundreds even thousands of dollars worth of items, money, and bitcoin.
The thing about scammers, they don't pay back shit.

If you were to think from a different point of view, you'll notice that the tag is essentially a pseudo-ban on the user's account here anyway. Most scammers would abandon ship at that point so the account is not used anyway afterwards. That's the same with the new rating system, where an account that obtained negative ratings would be abandoned unless the user wants to amend his wrongs. Trolls are banned outright as they do not care about doing business/getting funds from others - merely posting worthless stuff and trying to derail discussions.

Now that I've thought about it, trolls/spammers = want to post stuff and hence the way of banning them is to keep them from posting, whereas scammers = want to get people to send them funds and hence the way of banning them is to keep their credibility next to nil, where a scammer tag or the new rating system does.

[tysat]

I want to know what constitutes trolling cause isn't buying ads that attack companies trolling? Isn't leaving inappropriate feedback on the trust system trolling? I mean if Matthew is trolling, then I have a list of about 15 people that should also be banned for trolling.

I guess I don't understand, the censorship around this forum is insane. It would make Satoshi cry. A real shame.

I'm with gweedo on this one.  If MNW gets banned for trolling there's plenty of other people who need to be banned as well.

[Kouye]

I want to know what constitutes trolling cause isn't buying ads that attack companies trolling? Isn't leaving inappropriate feedback on the trust system trolling? I mean if Matthew is trolling, then I have a list of about 15 people that should also be banned for trolling.

I guess I don't understand, the censorship around this forum is insane. It would make Satoshi cry. A real shame.

15 people only ? Am I in that list ? Cause I'll admit I've done my share of trolling too (Because of the evil wine).
You probably should put yourself in the list too, cause your arguments with TF quickly become a trollfest.

Anyway, this still feels unfair.

And I don't have the slightest involvment with Matthew either.
(Full disclosure, I sent him a PM once, asking why one of his post was locked, and he replied)

[the joint]

To me, it not even an issue of trolling (I despise the word, actually).  Matthew contributes to the community not only through speech, but through action.  Whose vision was it that helped Bitcoin Mag launch?  Matthew's, of course.  Even his ill-advised community bet was made in an attempt to show the community how foolish it  can be by carelessly handing out BTC to total strangers (e.g Pirate).  Unfortunately for Matthew, the mere existence of the bet caused some people to act in ways which cost them money.  But it takes a stand-up guy to acknowledge his responsibility to pay back debts he was never prepared to pay back, and as far as I'm aware, Matthew has paid, and is continuing to pay, the debts he owes.

In my opinion, not only shouldn't Matthew be banned, he has downright admirable qualities, and it's a disservice to the community to ban him.

[HeroC]

This is just plain wrong, and censorship. I think if this continues this should be called the "unofficial bitcoin forum".

Is this the official bitcoin forum? I mean, I'm pretty sure bitcoin is about as decentralized as it gets. This forum in no way governs Bitcoin. It's more like a fanboy site that got popular. As for it's "censorship", anyone is welcome to go someplace else. It's just run by a few guys with some spare time on their hands. Hell, go make your own site if you want and call it the official bitcoin forum. This forum is no different than Facebook, 4chan, Reddit, or any other website and forum.

People consider this the official bitcoin forum since Satoshi was using it, is that not a valid conclusion?

Ehh.. not really. He stopped using this forum a long time ago. And Satoshi isn't Bitcoin. If Bill Gates used Facebook, does that make Facebook Microsoft's (Windows) official social media website? The dude didn't even operate this website as far as I am aware of. He's probably posted on many other websites as well. That doesn't make this site, or any others more or less special than another. Let alone official.

I think the forums URL was forum.bitcoin.com. If seems pretty official.

[crumbs]

...
Now that I've thought about it, trolls/spammers = want to post stuff and hence the way of banning them is to keep them from posting, whereas scammers = want to get people to send them funds and hence the way of banning them is to keep their credibility next to nil, where a scammer tag or the new rating system does.

Let me help out with your logic:
The way to ban scammers is ... by banning them.  No more posts, no more PMs, no more problems, amirite?
I understand this is theymos' sandbox, and he sets the rules.  I'm fine with that.  I guess i'm also fine with this half-baked apologia.  Nevermind.

Edit:  This forum seems to be a big deal to Matthew.   Please unban him, if for no reason other than "it's a nice thing to do."
Edit2 @Kouye: done.

[arsenische]

To me, it not even an issue of trolling (I despise the word, actually).  Matthew contributes to the community not only through speech, but through action.  Whose vision was it that helped Bitcoin Mag launch?  Matthew's, of course.  Even his ill-advised community bet was made in an attempt to show the community how foolish it  can be by carelessly handing out BTC to total strangers (e.g Pirate).  Unfortunately for Matthew, the mere existence of the bet caused some people to act in ways which cost them money.  But it takes a stand-up guy to acknowledge his responsibility to pay back debts he was never prepared to pay back, and as far as I'm aware, Matthew has paid, and is continuing to pay, the debts he owes.

In my opinion, not only shouldn't Matthew be banned, he has downright admirable qualities, and it's a disservice to the community to ban him.

+1

[Kouye]

...
Now that I've thought about it, trolls/spammers = want to post stuff and hence the way of banning them is to keep them from posting, whereas scammers = want to get people to send them funds and hence the way of banning them is to keep their credibility next to nil, where a scammer tag or the new rating system does.

Let me help out with your logic:
The way to ban scammers is ... by banning them.  No more posts, no more PMs, no more problems, amirite?
I understand this is theymos' sandbox, and he sets the rules.  I'm fine with that.  I guess i'm also fine with this half-baked apologia.  Nevermind.

Please don't troll too much here. We need to keep this clean and respectful.
This actually makes sense keeping the scammers around for at least those reasons:
- Some were decorated with the tag and came out being legit, after all.
- If I was a scammer, I would MUCH prefer being banned than just getting a tag. Banned, just forget it, and turn the page, much easier, psychologically.

[Mike Christ]

In my opinion, not only shouldn't Matthew be banned, he has downright admirable qualities, and it's a disservice to the community to ban him.

I agree; Matt's a good guy, and I'd rather have him around than not.  Hopefully this ban isn't a permanent thing.

[zackclark70]

This is crazy you ban him but you wont ban the person that offered to pay 1btc to the person that hacks/destroys my forum

 ( someone must have taken him up on his offer as my forum was hacked and destroyed last night )

[ninjarobot]

imho, Matthew is more like a Jester than a Troll.

A jester entertains and often provides value and insight. Trolling is just malicious and annoying.