B
Bertram3
Guest
Magus, member since March 2006 has been suddenly banned from RFF and his IP address has also been blocked as of August 25th 2007.
Mr. Gandy’s pretext for the ban was Magus’ use of indecorous language in a post on the thread ‘Anyone notice Arsenal is gone?’ in the Off Topic section. Magus posted that he would gladly p*iss on Arsenal’s door when next in the town where that enterprise operates, because their absurdly inflated prices were an affront to enthusiastic photographers.
The previous poster, Bill58, equally infuriated and implacable (like most posters on the matter), had said that Arsenal can shove their stuff up their a*se, but that post still stands. Everyone knows where the ‘place where the Sun doesn’t shine’ is.
Beyond this pretext, which is evidently hollow when one considers that double standards were applied, the main real reason for which Magus was banned is because he didn’t accept Mr. Gandy calling him a ‘jerk’ in a private message, which is what happened. Magus immediately posted Mr. Gandy’s private message on the thread and to it a reply to the effect that Magus isn’t going to be intimidated and wouldn’t stay on under the circumstances (personal insults intended to intimidate and posted to the private box).
Had there been a polite warning, as is I think the custom, there wouldn’t have been a problem. I think that the customary practice is that a man is given three chances by those who think action should be taken before taking the ultimate step.
The other real reasons for Magus’ permanent expulsion are well-known. Most prominent among them:
- The fact that Magus was a staunch, passionate defender of Leica cameras and Leica lenses – but not all of them. He knew how to hammer the lesser products. The former annoyed people as much as the latter.
- The fact that he constantly criticised Cosina Voigtländer lenses – but not all of them, not the superb, as he called it, 15mm f/4.5 lens which he really liked.
Of course Mr. Gandy is not a disinterested party when it comes to Cosina Voigtländer.
- The fact that he fervently defended Erwin Puts against all the derogatory remarks made about him by many posters - while still equally fervently disagreeing with some of Erwin’s views.
- The fact that he staunchly defended Chris Weeks whenever the latter was gratuitously attacked by those who have no inkling who or what Chris really is.
- The fact that he challenged the ‘authority’ of the RFF administrators and self-styled ‘RFF gods’ – the self-same that arbitrarily and without even asking assumed that the handle ‘Magus’ implied self-stylisation as a ‘wannabe wizard’.
In fact Magus was given to Alex as a nickname by his boyhood friends, and they still use it. But the ‘just’, ‘decorous’ and ‘objective’ ‘gods’ didn’t bother to ask. In their characteristic manner, they frequently jumped to the conclusions which they preferred because it suited them and their purpose. In fact they often jumped to these handy conclusions without even reading what Magus was saying.
Their ‘decorum’ was only skin-deep. Witness certain threads where they start off being ‘nice’ and end up hurling unthinkable insults from the safety of their keyboards.
Many of them responded to Magus’ ‘rudeness’ toward inanimate objects (cameras, lenses) with true personal rudeness.
Of course they were never banned. They were tolerated, because a forum without ‘gods’ is inconceivable.
There was no equity in the act of banning Magus brusquely either. His virtues, such as the tireless provision of information and technical details to newcomers (others wer too ‘above’ talking to the newbies), for example, didn’t figure in the judgment of those who banned him.
I don’t necessarily agree with saying on a forum that one would p*ss on somebody’s door, but it is beyond comprehension that you can say those same people can stick their stuff up their a*ses one post before and it’s O.K., but you can’t say you’ll p*ss on their door.
That is glaring application of double-standards, only explainable by the fact that ultimately, the RFF administration and the ‘gods’ must have been afraid of Magus, because despite his bluntness there were many on RFF who liked him and his posts, who liked the different angle he brought to bear on things rather than toeing the line, where the ‘line’ appeared to be debasing Leica as much as possible and furthering Leica’s competitors, especially Cosina Voigtländer, as much as possible. ‘Same product for a mere fraction of the price’ was the motto. There were several myths that Magus was keen to battle, but the administration and the ‘gods’ didn’t like it.
But Magus had many PMs and e-mails that testified to the fact that many RFF members liked what he was saying.
He also received many confessions of people who have recently quietly left RFF because they were fed up of the reductive way in which the subject of lens characteristics was treated.
You all know who they are. They were frequent contributors and are now only rarely to be seen. They were by far not as blunt as Magus, but their love of Leica was almost always met with some form of derision or dismissal. Now they post once in a blue moon.
In the period before Magus’ banishment from RFF, one poster among several became increasingly hostile toward Magus, a certain Ferider. In a recent post, he went so far as to spread the lie that Magus had been banned from several forums in the past, like a kind of regressive offender. In actual fact Magus was banned from one forum only and left two others, of his own volition, something he never made a secret of. And the one he was banned from banned him because, once again, he refused to cow-tow to a moderator who tried to bully him via e-mail. So the amazing thing in that case was that although Magus’ reaction to the said moderator was all conducted via private electronic correspondence, off-line that is to say, the ‘penalty’ was dismissal from the forum.
You all know what this is called, don’t you? Defamation, slander, character assassination… In fact there are many words. Stuff for lawsuits.
But even had it been it true, what a manly act to use it against Magus. C*jones grandes…
All of the above demonstrates that forum administrators are particularly susceptible to the arrogance that virtual power may bring. All you have to do is ‘delete’ those with whom you disagree because you are incapable of engaging in dialogue, and in many cases unwilling to do so because you are the ‘authorities’. It is all micro-online-politics in favour of certain virtual vested interests (who gives a **** about keyboard ‘power’?). Woe betide him who offers a pretext to those with administrative rights.
Food for thought?
Hopefully, but most likely this post will also vanish, this poster will be banned, this poster’s IP address will be blocked.
By the way, three of Magus’ photographs, to which he has the copyright, are still on RFF. They should be deleted.
-- WOLFGANG
Mr. Gandy’s pretext for the ban was Magus’ use of indecorous language in a post on the thread ‘Anyone notice Arsenal is gone?’ in the Off Topic section. Magus posted that he would gladly p*iss on Arsenal’s door when next in the town where that enterprise operates, because their absurdly inflated prices were an affront to enthusiastic photographers.
The previous poster, Bill58, equally infuriated and implacable (like most posters on the matter), had said that Arsenal can shove their stuff up their a*se, but that post still stands. Everyone knows where the ‘place where the Sun doesn’t shine’ is.
Beyond this pretext, which is evidently hollow when one considers that double standards were applied, the main real reason for which Magus was banned is because he didn’t accept Mr. Gandy calling him a ‘jerk’ in a private message, which is what happened. Magus immediately posted Mr. Gandy’s private message on the thread and to it a reply to the effect that Magus isn’t going to be intimidated and wouldn’t stay on under the circumstances (personal insults intended to intimidate and posted to the private box).
Had there been a polite warning, as is I think the custom, there wouldn’t have been a problem. I think that the customary practice is that a man is given three chances by those who think action should be taken before taking the ultimate step.
The other real reasons for Magus’ permanent expulsion are well-known. Most prominent among them:
- The fact that Magus was a staunch, passionate defender of Leica cameras and Leica lenses – but not all of them. He knew how to hammer the lesser products. The former annoyed people as much as the latter.
- The fact that he constantly criticised Cosina Voigtländer lenses – but not all of them, not the superb, as he called it, 15mm f/4.5 lens which he really liked.
Of course Mr. Gandy is not a disinterested party when it comes to Cosina Voigtländer.
- The fact that he fervently defended Erwin Puts against all the derogatory remarks made about him by many posters - while still equally fervently disagreeing with some of Erwin’s views.
- The fact that he staunchly defended Chris Weeks whenever the latter was gratuitously attacked by those who have no inkling who or what Chris really is.
- The fact that he challenged the ‘authority’ of the RFF administrators and self-styled ‘RFF gods’ – the self-same that arbitrarily and without even asking assumed that the handle ‘Magus’ implied self-stylisation as a ‘wannabe wizard’.
In fact Magus was given to Alex as a nickname by his boyhood friends, and they still use it. But the ‘just’, ‘decorous’ and ‘objective’ ‘gods’ didn’t bother to ask. In their characteristic manner, they frequently jumped to the conclusions which they preferred because it suited them and their purpose. In fact they often jumped to these handy conclusions without even reading what Magus was saying.
Their ‘decorum’ was only skin-deep. Witness certain threads where they start off being ‘nice’ and end up hurling unthinkable insults from the safety of their keyboards.
Many of them responded to Magus’ ‘rudeness’ toward inanimate objects (cameras, lenses) with true personal rudeness.
Of course they were never banned. They were tolerated, because a forum without ‘gods’ is inconceivable.
There was no equity in the act of banning Magus brusquely either. His virtues, such as the tireless provision of information and technical details to newcomers (others wer too ‘above’ talking to the newbies), for example, didn’t figure in the judgment of those who banned him.
I don’t necessarily agree with saying on a forum that one would p*ss on somebody’s door, but it is beyond comprehension that you can say those same people can stick their stuff up their a*ses one post before and it’s O.K., but you can’t say you’ll p*ss on their door.
That is glaring application of double-standards, only explainable by the fact that ultimately, the RFF administration and the ‘gods’ must have been afraid of Magus, because despite his bluntness there were many on RFF who liked him and his posts, who liked the different angle he brought to bear on things rather than toeing the line, where the ‘line’ appeared to be debasing Leica as much as possible and furthering Leica’s competitors, especially Cosina Voigtländer, as much as possible. ‘Same product for a mere fraction of the price’ was the motto. There were several myths that Magus was keen to battle, but the administration and the ‘gods’ didn’t like it.
But Magus had many PMs and e-mails that testified to the fact that many RFF members liked what he was saying.
He also received many confessions of people who have recently quietly left RFF because they were fed up of the reductive way in which the subject of lens characteristics was treated.
You all know who they are. They were frequent contributors and are now only rarely to be seen. They were by far not as blunt as Magus, but their love of Leica was almost always met with some form of derision or dismissal. Now they post once in a blue moon.
In the period before Magus’ banishment from RFF, one poster among several became increasingly hostile toward Magus, a certain Ferider. In a recent post, he went so far as to spread the lie that Magus had been banned from several forums in the past, like a kind of regressive offender. In actual fact Magus was banned from one forum only and left two others, of his own volition, something he never made a secret of. And the one he was banned from banned him because, once again, he refused to cow-tow to a moderator who tried to bully him via e-mail. So the amazing thing in that case was that although Magus’ reaction to the said moderator was all conducted via private electronic correspondence, off-line that is to say, the ‘penalty’ was dismissal from the forum.
You all know what this is called, don’t you? Defamation, slander, character assassination… In fact there are many words. Stuff for lawsuits.
But even had it been it true, what a manly act to use it against Magus. C*jones grandes…
All of the above demonstrates that forum administrators are particularly susceptible to the arrogance that virtual power may bring. All you have to do is ‘delete’ those with whom you disagree because you are incapable of engaging in dialogue, and in many cases unwilling to do so because you are the ‘authorities’. It is all micro-online-politics in favour of certain virtual vested interests (who gives a **** about keyboard ‘power’?). Woe betide him who offers a pretext to those with administrative rights.
Food for thought?
Hopefully, but most likely this post will also vanish, this poster will be banned, this poster’s IP address will be blocked.
By the way, three of Magus’ photographs, to which he has the copyright, are still on RFF. They should be deleted.
-- WOLFGANG
