Regarding the Aussiewench Topic

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

I am saddened that people felt it neccesary to try and garner so much attention online by reposting that topic in Off Topic. I can not be online 24 hours a day and I did indeed already talk to some people via PM that asked me. Here was my PM to them so everyone can read that explains things.

The real root cause of the issue was that a few months ago we got two complaints from a member saying that they had received some PM's inviting them to another site. Invites are not alone a bad thing (and in some cases there are some really good sites out there) but the way that they were invited seemed spam'ish so we looked into it.

At the time we visited the site there were many pages copied directly from this site (maybe purposefully without regard or maybe just copied innocently -- hard to say) that were written by the founder of the site and other people. The information was not from the CIS webpage and was a word for word (including formatting) copy. It was pretty tough on our hearts to see another site steal all the content that blood sweat and tears went into making so we emailed them and asked them to take the copyrighted content down. We never heard back nor at the time knew who ran the site.

At some point after that it became clear it might be aussie who owned the site and when I pm'd her to ask if it was her site she denied it. That was pretty odd in itself (we did not know why she would deny it unless she had something to hide) and also after that date I received a few PM's from people saying that they had been invited via a PM to join the other site (advertising like that is against the TOS to prevent spamming).

It was a tough decision but until today she had denied being a part of that site. Both for the copied content and also since she was denying being a part of the site (made us suspicious of what was going on) we made a tough call.

I am not perfect but I did try to do my best given the way things appeared on this side to us. It is even possible this was a miscommunication but my earlier PM to her to see if she ran the site was my way of trying to open a dialogue.

[rebeccajo 14]

I would appreciate it if you would unlock her account and allow her to defend the allegations of denying the website is hers.

[kitkat1 5]

"Two complaints from a member" and "a few PM's from people saying that they had been invited via a PM to join the other site" and the link and the poster are banned forever? Harsh and uncalled for in my opinion.

Since when is USCIS information copyrighted? It's all over the internet.

[gabby4ever 1]

ditto to what rebecca said !

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

Everyone. I am still the same fuzzy Ewok and it is always possible that I made decisions that were not perfect. As a family your opinions always do matter. Because I was not online the past 6 hours I wanted and all these questions popped up I wanted to reply and let you know. In the future please try and give me some time to reply though before assuming certain things. Also, if I handeled things wrong then I will learn from that. Even an Ewok can only be perfect 88.3% of the time. Sometimes I need to refine certain things and if my decision making here was off base then allow me the chance to get some valuable feedback from you and lets make things good .

[Traviesa 0]

For the record, when I was informed of the FBI site it was through e-mail (and not the e-mail I have attached to VJ) so I'm not sure-maybe people are confused as to what is a PM vs. e-mail. No matter what the situation, I'm having a hard time believing the worst about either involved party in this situation. Like Rebecca said, it would be nice to allow Aussiewench to have a say.

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

I would appreciate it if you would unlock her account and allow her to defend the allegations of denying the website is hers.

I have the PM's. I am at an internet cafe and need to get to a more permanent cafe (was not home and clearly the last six hours was not able to reply). If you can wait for a short while, please, I will be able to address this more. I will try my best to explain the situation from my perspective .

[ceriserose 1]

I can't even reply to this I'm so floored by the double talk.

Ewok I've SEEN the email from the FBI admin to you asking for more information. The only reply was to sanction Lorelle's account.

Lorelle may not be the owner of the board. It may be owned by someone else and she's admining it. You should know how that goes, as you're the admin here, not the owner, right? (Which is how it was described to the membership when Wookie handed it over to you to run on a day to day basis.)

As for the blood sweat and tears, a good chunk of those are from Lorelle. I guess I'd hoped you would have tried a little harder to rectify the "miscommuncation" if only out of regard for the amount of time and energy she's put into this place. A single email? A single PM? No other entreaties? No other specifics? I guess you can make the decision pretty quickly. So can the rest of the membership, however they decide.

I'm saddened at the thinly veiled attempt to mar her character with this. I have no dog in this race, I just hate seeing people treated like #######.

Oh well.

ETA: Well I guess I could reply. Go figure.

Edited May 10, 2007 by ceriserose

[rebeccajo 14]

I would appreciate it if you would unlock her account and allow her to defend the allegations of denying the website is hers.

I have the PM's. I am at an internet cafe and need to get to a more permanent cafe (was not home and clearly the last six hours was not able to reply). If you can wait for a short while, please, I will be able to address this more. I will try my best to explain the situation from my perspective .

Unlock her account.

Do not show me posts or PM's of a member who does not have the ability to comment.

Edited May 10, 2007 by rebeccajo

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

"Two complaints from a member" and "a few PM's from people saying that they had been invited via a PM to join the other site" and the link and the poster are banned forever? Harsh and uncalled for in my opinion.

Since when is USCIS information copyrighted? It's all over the internet.

It is not. Steve the original founder of the website had written certain things that were copied that were not from the CIS page. We wanted to make sure that if any of his hard work was copied that it was either taken down or that credit was given. If a citiation to the source was even given than that would have been great and all would be good. This is why I need time to get home to post everyone. This is really not a big deal it is just that we want to keep this from seeming like it is. Aussie's account is not banned. I just locked things temporarily so that while I was not at the computer I could think things over and address it when I got back. Clearly I was worried that without me being able to post people would assume and get the wrong impression (which happened anyhow). Sorry everyone for not replying earlier but again please give me some time to get home to reply more.

[Jasman0717 9]

Wow, the pot has been stirred

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

I can't even reply to this I'm so floored by the double talk.

Ewok I've SEEN the email from the FBI admin to you asking for more information. ETA: Well I guess I could reply. Go figure.

Let me set the record straight then. She is a great member and I am sorry to have made her look bad if even indirectly. I never once wanted to post anything publicaly and was always willing to chat via PM since I would not post it publically as it would clearly 'mar' her as you said. We never received an email to us replying. Maybe it was missed I am not sure (will check). We get about 30 emails a day so it is possible. Please just realize that from the perspective on this side we tried out best to handle it. Again please let me get home and I will address this more. I think this is just an over reacition and if we all chat nicely (why not use the chatroom) we can all figure it out faster ? Anyone up for the chatroom in an hour or so?

[Fandango 1,439]

I think everyone needs to calm down and give Ewok the time he's asking for.

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

For the record, when I was informed of the FBI site it was through e-mail (and not the e-mail I have attached to VJ) so I'm not sure-maybe people are confused as to what is a PM vs. e-mail. No matter what the situation, I'm having a hard time believing the worst about either involved party in this situation. Like Rebecca said, it would be nice to allow Aussiewench to have a say.

Of course . I will un lock her account when I get home first thing. It is honestly a great possibility that she and I have had a sequence of events that lead to misunderstanding what what you are saying however to be sure and to understand things correctly we really need to have more than a few minutes of forum chat time. I suggest the chatrrom as it is real time. What about in an hour or two? I will annouce a more specific time when I know it.... sound like a good idea?

[rebeccajo 14]

Is it necessary to prune or delete all the OTHER posts about this topic while you get back to headquarters?

What is your problem?