Well this is quite the tale....

[John67]

Funny or not, SmallTown, it’s certainly true. I used to take the occasional look on CoB over the years, as posters like Tortured Mind could be very funny. There were always major arguments going on and for years, each time I looked in, you were in the thick of it.

 

[Jan_Aage_Fjortoft]

A mess of a thread over at that other website and shows you what a terrible site it is but there are a few things that are worth discussing.

This is what Cooper claims the emails looked like:

From: fmttm admin <fmttmadmin@gmail.com>
Sent: 23 March 2021 20:11
To: <cooper671@>
Subject: Re: Privacy Request

I hold no information whatsoever about you. I don't even have your name. Just an email address that you registered under that is all.

I was extremely disappointed at the threatening tone of the last email - actually the first I recall getting.
It underlined the reasons for excluding you. This is is supposed to be entertainment. It is also my website. As such I don't expect people to email me issuing threats etc. Would you do that if someone stopped following you on facebook?
I wish you all the best for the future but request you interact on another forum now. I think it is best when you have chosen to make this so personal.


On Mon, 22 Mar 2021 at 21:49, <cooper671@> wrote:

Hi i contacted via website but no reply. Please see this as a request for personal information held on me. You have to reply within 40 days fail to do so will result in me reporting you to the ICO.

Cooper671 username on your website

Thank you

I don't know if we can take Cooper at his word but I do think communication on this website is lacking at times. Rob is right it is his website and he can choose to ban whoever he wants. But if people are banned they should be told. Not by applying these soft bans that some posters have suggested exist. Can we have some clarificaiton if these bans actually exist?

And if you really did ignore him then I don't think it's unreasonable for him to remind you of your legal responsibilities. You shouldn't see it as a threat. In the same way that if I contacted Facebook, Google or Twitter to ask what information they held on me they wouldn't see it as a threat either.

Having said all that - it's whether we can take Cooper at his word. If the reality is a bit different then that changes things. I'm not suggesting that Cooper should be allowed to return as that has nothing to do with me. I don't know the reasons he was banned but it would be nice for a bit of transparency at times regarding bans etc.

 

[SmallTown]

Ah bless, just deleted an insulting comment on my facebook page from "Mark Acko" - liddle I presume. Banned from here and over the road, he obviously now follows my account on fb. Or rather, he did, because I've just blocked him.

He's a proper psycho that one. He's barks worse than has bite though. It's actually sad, he's an overweight old man who is confused that the world has moved on. I've never interacted with a more unworthy individual

 

[SmallTown]

A mess of a thread over at that other website and shows you what a terrible site it is but there are a few things that are worth discussing.

This is what Cooper claims the emails looked like:



I don't know if we can take Cooper at his word but I do think communication on this website is lacking at times. Rob is right it is his website and he can choose to ban whoever he wants. But if people are banned they should be told. Not by applying these soft bans that some posters have suggested exist. Can we have some clarificaiton if these bans actually exist?

And if you really did ignore him then I don't think it's unreasonable for him to remind you of your legal responsibilities. You shouldn't see it as a threat. In the same way that if I contacted Facebook, Google or Twitter to ask what information they held on me they wouldn't see it as a threat either.

Having said all that - it's whether we can take Cooper at his word. If the reality is a bit different then that changes things. I'm not suggesting that Cooper should be allowed to return as that has nothing to do with me. I don't know the reasons he was banned but it would be nice for a bit of transparency at times regarding bans etc.

To be fair I sort of agree with cooper on that one. It must be a hard job moderating a website and the guys here do a good job of stopping it becoming like COB. However, communication is appalling when there is in issue. Bans seem to be handed out arbitrarily with no explanation and no chance for appeal. I know it's their site and they can do as they wish but I think there would be less animosity to the admin on here if they took the time to explain their actions to individuals. Most people are reasonable and an email saying "you're being a d*ck so I've suspended you account for a while" should be met with understanding. It's a shock to find yourself banned without even an alert.

 

[Foggysfplandiet3]

The whole point here is to forge a community, with Boro as the common theme.
We have that with the fanzine and over 20 years you would hope we have that here as well. We continue to try...

Amen to that, Rob.

If only Boro was still the common theme. It is gradually being replaced by politics and politics by its very nature is divisive and sets people against each other and then it gets out of hand.

I remember years ago in pubs and bars there were often signs saying “No Politics” because of the trouble such discussion caused, fuelled by booze.

This is why I wish there was a separate section for politics and a separate section for Boro.

 

[Mwelolo]

What a load of nonsense

 

[JackG]

Indeed there are. Someone called "Tommy McKenzie" from over there tried to message me on fb last year, introducing himself as "the rifle". Think he's the one with all the accounts on there using names from here?

Only saw it months later because my account correctly identified and binned it as junk.

He's got even more accounts on here

 

[rob_fmttm]

How are you supposed to communicate when you get replies that are insulting and threatening?

 

[ForssAwakens]

How are you supposed to communicate when you get replies that are insulting and threatening?

He states there were several emails not responded to

based on what Cooper put, how is a data request threatening?

 

[BoroFur]

He states there were several emails not responded to

based on what Cooper put, how is a data request threatening?

Gaz have you considered that Cooper is being selective in which email correspondence he is reproducing over on CoB?
It just may be that one or more of the 'several emails' he refers to do indeed contain threatening and insulting words.

 

[brain_in_a_jar]

I think its important to remember its a football forum, you probably need to have a bit of a word with yourself and get some new hobbies if you're getting so upset about a admin of a forum banning you.

You do have to bite your tongue (or finger tips I guess) on here as you can end up going round in circles and getting more and more wound up by some idiot posters (both left and right) but I think the main question I ask myself is "how important to me is it to argue my point with this anonimous person on the internet" at that point its fairly easy to walk away from a thread or the whole place.

If you are purposefully restricting access as suggested though - that's pretty poor form. Either ban the gadge or don't, don't mess around restricting his profile.

 

[ForssAwakens]

Gaz have you considered that Cooper is being selective in which email correspondence he is reproducing over on CoB?
It just may be that one or more of the 'several emails' he refers to do indeed contain threatening and insulting words.

I’m only going off what is presented, and I have stated ‘based on’.

rob has the opportunity to present his side openly and honestly too, if he chooses too.

like I say we’ve seen coopers claims we’ve seen robs claims, it’s likely to be somewhere in the middle. I’m interested to see what that is

 

[HarryVegas]

Let me get this right Gaz: you're on the board owned by Rob, and have just stated that you think he's telling lies?

Jeez...

 

[BoroFur]

I’m only going off what is presented, and I have stated ‘based on’.

rob has the opportunity to present his side openly and honestly too, if he chooses too.

like I say we’ve seen coopers claims we’ve seen robs claims, it’s likely to be somewhere in the middle. I’m interested to see what that is

Rob shouldn't need to stoop down to that level, it's his board and his rules.
Perhaps he's being restrained by not publishing personal, private correspondence all over the internet unlike Cooper who has joined another forum for the sole purpose of attention seeking.

 

[SmallTown]

How are you supposed to communicate when you get replies that are insulting and threatening?

Yeah I get that, both parties have to be reasonable. I don't imagine, from what I used to see of him on here, being reasonable is high up on Coopers skillset. I was talking personally. I was banned for a while, and it was fair enough, emotions had ran a bit high. The problem was there was no communication, just a message when you try to log on saying username doesn't exist. You don't even know you've been banned. You can run the site how you like course, it's your baby. I just find it really unpleasant when you have no idea what's happening and you don't know whether the site is broken or you are banned.

 

[RavsDad]

Amen to that, Rob.

If only Boro was still the common theme. It is gradually being replaced by politics and politics by its very nature is divisive and sets people against each other and then it gets out of hand.

I remember years ago in pubs and bars there were often signs saying “No Politics” because of the trouble such discussion caused, fuelled by booze.

This is why I wish there was a separate section for politics and a separate section for Boro.

I think that if you're not politically swayed to the hard Left it's quite tiring to wade through the constant and sometimes purile posting on here to find some well argued football-rated stuff about our team. Hell, it's obvious that people have their own political opinions and they are usually quite entrenched. Let's say on Brexit for instance - for about the seven billionth time. And that posters who disagree with that firmly held opinion may well be branded "ill-informed", "despicable", or worse. And of course, political posts of any persuasion will generate massive amounts of posts when they deviate from the opinions of the majority. So it's hard to imagine this being bad news for the sites figures. And some of the comments on COB good or bad as it is, (which I don't currently visit or have registered for) seem to suggest an amount of being hounded on here. Once upon a time it might have been Religion. But now it will be political or racial opinions. What a shame it will be if the good football or lifestyle or genuinely funny posters find this drives them away.

 

[BoroFur]

I think that if you're not politically swayed to the hard Left it's quite tiring to wade through the constant and sometimes purile posting on here to find some well argued football-rated stuff about our team. Hell, it's obvious that people have their own political opinions and they are usually quite entrenched. Let's say on Brexit for instance - for about the seven billionth time. And that posters who disagree with that firmly held opinion may well be branded "ill-informed", "despicable", or worse. And of course, political posts of any persuasion will generate massive amounts of posts when they deviate from the opinions of the majority. So it's hard to imagine this being bad news for the sites figures. And some of the comments on COB good or bad as it is, (which I don't currently visit or have registered for) seem to suggest an amount of being hounded on here. Once upon a time it might have been Religion. But now it will be political or racial opinions. What a shame it will be if the good football or lifestyle or genuinely funny posters find this drives them away.

Are you relying on the obscene, homophobic &, racist rants of neanderthals on CoB as evidence that some FMTTM posters are hounded on here?

 

[RavsDad]

Frankly I'm not. It's the first time I've visited in over a year (following the OP link.) I'm relying on my own once regular, but increasingly rare visits to this forum. Today I visited primarily to see what was been said about our keeper. On non-related football issues or titles that don't suggest any particular subject I'll dip in and out.

 

[BoroFur]

Frankly I'm not. It's the first time I've visited in over a year (following the OP link.) I'm relying on my own once regular, but increasingly rare visits to this forum. Today I visited primarily to see what was been said about our keeper. On non-related football issues or titles that don't suggest any particular subject I'll dip in and out.

Ah right it's just that you said "And some of the comments on COB good or bad as it is, (which I don't currently visit or have registered for) seem to suggest an amount of being hounded on here".

All I can see over there is an idiot who's cloned the accounts of WeeGord, Coluka and Block21.
Some quite disgusting comments about Rob, BoroMart and Adi_Dem.
A lot of ****** emojis.
A bitter ex-poster who has form for going on other boards with the sole intention of complaining about this board.

 

[Nosmo-King]

BoroFur( and others) if it is such a disgusting site why bother even checking it out? Presumably you have no truck with the opinions expressed so I find it baffling why you and others would even bother to visit a site such as it is.....