The DVD Times/DVD Forums Black Book & Ban Thread!

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 31 Dec 2006, 18:30

I wanna know how he got hold of a photo from the last DVDtimes staff meetup!

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 03 Jan 2007, 21:25

From: Colin Polonowski [mailto:colin@thedvdforums.com]
Sent: 03 January 2007 21:00
To:
Subject: DVD Times Ban

Following your post here:

https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... php?t=2770

Your account on DVD Times and The DVD Forums have now been banned permanently. Posting the way you have done on an other site (not for the first time I may add), does nothing but raise problems for everyone involved. How do you think we like it when we spend hours of our time running sites such as DVD Times and the Forum to find people who make use of our resourses for free bitching about us on other sites.

Given you felt the need to start a thread on another site without letting us know is obviously an attempt to stir up bad feeling and is not taken lightly.

Colin Polonowski
The DVD Forums

ColinP · Post by **ColinP** » 03 Jan 2007, 21:27

Thanks to those that actually supported us

I don't know where to start with this mess - although <b>bradavon</b> has received a permanent ban on both DVD Times and The DVD Forums for kicking all this off. No doubt he'll be here to bitch about it shortly, only this time I can actually read and respond rather than let him spout off without giving me a chance to respond. Charming.

1. DVD Times does make a *tiny* profit over and above the site's hosting costs. The Forums makes slightly more but again it's not big money by any stretch of the imagination. Some reviews are of titles supplied by review sponsors, but for the most part we have no financial gain in these reviews and the only return we get is the review copies of Region 1 and JR2/R2 titles.

2. I'm not sure what my personal circumstances regarding DVD Times and The DVD Forums is but I'm owner of both sites and I do know exactly what goes on on both. If people disagree with it then they're welcome to email to discuss things with us and we'll be more than civil - but if you're going to complain on the site OR post somewhere else slagging us off by calling is wankers or nazi's then we'll lock you out.

3. Thanks for all of the personal abuse from people here over a simple black booking that would probably have made no difference in a few months - nice that you feel you can offend and make nasty comments about people who do a lot for no return and provide a service that people use for free. Nasty comments might seem like a bit of fun for some but I've personally seen how they affect people in the long term and I hold those that post such comments in the highest contempt.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 03 Jan 2007, 21:27

Either Shingster changed his mine or we do indeed have a snitch :shock: . I'm more annoyed about that than any DVD Times/Forums ban.

It just means I'll be posting here more

I'm locking this thread to prevent any further arguments, the thread has run it's course. Colin has had his say and that can be the end of it.

p.s - As usual it can be opened if someone so wishes.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 03 Jan 2007, 23:33

Thread re-opened for Yi-Long.

@Brad:
I'd just like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your well-deserved ban (although you didn't deserve a black mark, this thread is definitive ban-material

). One day, Colin and his friends will understand how wrong they are and they will abolish this black book nonsense.

In the meantime, we should stay away and enjoy the democracy that is Bullets.

P.S:

Brad wrote:Either Shingster changed his mine or we do indeed have a snitch

I'd bet on the latter. Still, aren't you glad you got banned ?
DVD Times is no place for good people these days.

I mean... If they give you a black mark for politely asking to reduce advertising space, there's no telling what they might do next.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 03 Jan 2007, 23:39

Whoa! Bullets has been recognised by outsiders? We're famous... and POPULAR!!! YOMFG!

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 03 Jan 2007, 23:45

thelostdragon wrote:Whoa! Bullets has been recognised by outsiders? We're famous... and POPULAR!!! YOMFG!

I want to be official ambasador.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 03 Jan 2007, 23:47

I'm sorry, but THAT position is taken by Brad. But we still have the position of the court jester for you.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 03 Jan 2007, 23:55

thelostdragon wrote:I'm sorry, but THAT position is taken by Brad. But we still have the position of the court jester for you.

Haha, good point.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 03 Jan 2007, 23:57

bradavon wrote:It just means I'll be posting here more

Aww, bloody hell! Come on, ColinP, can you not take away that black mark/ban thingy away so he can make fewer posts he- I mean make more posts on your site?

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:09

Thanks for re-opening it, Tom. I mean, Bullets is all about free speech and members being able to say what they want and voice their opinions. What good would it be that as soon as someone from DVDtimes comes over, who we've criticized over this very subject of being able to speak your mind openly, the thread gets closed because we dont want to step on any toes!?

Fuck that. This discussion is on, and if I do step on any toes, just get over it.

ColinP wrote:Thanks to those that actually supported us

I don't know where to start with this mess - although <b>bradavon</b> has received a permanent ban on both DVD Times and The DVD Forums for kicking all this off. No doubt he'll be here to bitch about it shortly, only this time I can actually read and respond rather than let him spout off without giving me a chance to respond. Charming.

Another reason why this thread should have stayed open. This can be a place where Brad and Colin can openly discuss their differences, without Colin being affraid that one of the sponsors might get upset, and with Brad not having to be affraid of risking a ban when he voices his opinion.

1. DVD Times does make a *tiny* profit over and above the site's hosting costs. The Forums makes slightly more but again it's not big money by any stretch of the imagination. Some reviews are of titles supplied by review sponsors, but for the most part we have no financial gain in these reviews and the only return we get is the review copies of Region 1 and JR2/R2 titles.

I didnt get into that whole discussion before in the thread,and I wont now, as for me, it's not interesting and I basically dont care that much about if a site does or does not profit. I'll leave that to all you guys to bicker about, if it's so important to you...

2. I'm not sure what my personal circumstances regarding DVD Times and The DVD Forums is but I'm owner of both sites and I do know exactly what goes on on both. If people disagree with it then they're welcome to email to discuss things with us and we'll be more than civil - but if you're going to complain on the site OR post somewhere else slagging us off by calling is wankers or nazi's then we'll lock you out.

I think the reason why Brad complained on the site itself, is a; because he said you dont reply to emails being sent. I dont know if it's true, but if it is then it's understandable that people will start using the site/forum to voice their opinion. Isnt it? b; He only 'complained' about the size of a banner. Now I dont know how sensitive you guys are, but to me that seems like a fair question/complaint. Certainly not a reason to give a guy a warning or ban for it. You can just reply to the guy in a civil manner. A forum, or a website like DVDtimes is more then just a website: it's a community, where people communicate with eachother. Now I can understand rules and 'laws' etc, but they do still have to make a little sense, in order to make people feel comfortable enough to communicate freely and openly with eachother.

3. Thanks for all of the personal abuse from people here over a simple black booking that would probably have made no difference in a few months - nice that you feel you can offend and make nasty comments about people who do a lot for no return and provide a service that people use for free. Nasty comments might seem like a bit of fun for some but I've personally seen how they affect people in the long term and I hold those that post such comments in the highest contempt.

Well... I was one of the guys who gave you abuse. I believe I called you a dick, but could have been something else as well. The reason that I dont email you my opinion that you're a dick, is that a; I doubt you'd consider it constructive criticisme, and would change your ways. b; Accroding to Brad, you dont reply to email anyway, and c; I was just replying to Brad's post about what has happened... so why even bring you into that?
You might think it's behind your back, but why would I sign up for one of your forums, just so I can call you a dick to your face and thus get banned for it?
The reason I havent signed up to both DVDTimes or DVDForums in the firstplace, is because it's pretty well known you guys are pretty sensitive when it comes to people openly voicing opinions.
So I already know I wouldnt fit in. I'm not a guy that goes on boards and spams or insults or whatever, but I do like the freedom to be able to speak my mind when needed, use swearwords without them being filtered, etc etc...

I dont consider it 'fun' to call you a dick. I just said what my impression of you was, considering the circumstances. I'd much rather would have liked people coming on this board, raving how cool your site/forum and it's mods were, so I would be encouraged to check it out. Sadly, that has never happened. People like it for the bargains and the amount of knowledgeable people that are posting there, but hate the strictness and the modding and threats... (while others are perfectly fine with it)

I like your site, DVDTimes, and feel it's a good site, I use it a lot to look up reviews. So I do appreciate that...
I just dont like how you treat your visitors, in this case Brad.

Anyway, that's all for now...
I'll be downstairs making myself a loose-meat sandwich...

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:13

thelostdragon wrote:I'm sorry, but THAT position is taken by Brad. But we still have the position of the court jester for you.

I thought Romero was our court-jester?

Grim is the blind limpy guy in the corner with a hunch on his back, right!?

Tom is our resident unlucky french loaf.

Bobbi is 'granny': she is the caretaker of us... she keeps us in line, she teaches us morals and values...

Toge is the baby

Eva is the angry hobbit-boy...

etc etc

ColinP · Post by **ColinP** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:13

Thanks for lifting the ban. TBH I couldn't care less what you all think but when you rant about two sites and the people that spend hours running them without even considering what they've actually done in the past to help you all out then it says more about all of you than anyone else.

Shingster had nothing to do with us finding this thread and there isn't a snitch - hell when you've got a publically accessible site how can you expect something like this to stay hidden.

I've closed down the bulletsnbabes.net restoration project site - I spent days in 2005 setting that up for you lot as an attempt to resurrect and preserve some of the reviews, but seeing as you lot couldn't give two figs about it then it's gone now. I never had any thanks for free hosting of all of those reviews for two years or anything. Instead I get slagged off, called a wanker, a nazi, banned (and then reinstated) all for attempting to defend myself and the moderators on DVD Times and The DVD Forums.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:22

There's 25 guests on that site now!

*slaps Brad upside the head* Now look what you did!

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:23

Kurgan wrote:There's 25 guests on that site now!

*slaps Brad upside the head* Now look what you did!

LOOOOOL!

We really are famous now! [Hiro]YATAAA!![/Hiro]

ColinP · Post by **ColinP** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:23

EDIT: Forget it - it's not worth the hassle.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:28

Personally, I can't see what's wrong with the little advertisement. My God, does it give you eyes cancer or so? Is it a review quality-reducing-factor? Hell no and I think that it was unnecessary to ask whether they could be reduced in size. Brad was probably just being fussy and anal again. As I see it the size is totally alright and not something you get on free hosting sites.

BUT... to give someone a warning for asking? Deleting the comment in fear the sponsors could read his comment would have been more humane (even if not correct if you ask me).

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:29

LOL!!! sorry but i really gotta laugh my ass off here....grown ups acting worse than 5yr olds having a tantrum.

i dunno who colin is, and i have no opinion on him perse, just that why waste energy coming here, to dispute something, that really you shouldnt give a fuck about. brads pissed off. so what? you banned brad for voicing his opinions, brad (or someone) banned you for voicing yours...are you even now? cuz although this is funnier than watching my nephews fight and argue, its beyond the joke that two (or more) grown people can take the internet so seriously as to get so worked up that they can make 7 pages of something.

you put time and effort into it, sure thing, congrats and all that. but why so sensitive? i know you have sponsors, but theres no need to bring a draconian way of ruling to the net, god thats coming soon enough as it is, dont speed it up.

now just grow....the....fuck....up.... got that? or do we have to spell it out to you...that...we really dont give a damn about your little banning contests

*prepares for a bombardment of uptight replies*

to quote ferris bueller "so up tight, shove a lump of coal up your asses, two weeks you have a diamond"

lol @ kurgan and LD tho

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:33

Mordib wrote:well, their site their rules i say, if they choose to be tough s be it. apart frm anything it just adds to the appeal of this place :p and lets not forget when we were first gettig back on our feet again he did help us out a lot rescuing what little of the old material we managed to rescue. 8)

Just making the point that some of us did appreciate the saved stuff way back when (although I personally didn't have a name to put to the hoster.)

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:45

@Shen:
Laugh all you want, but please don't call us puerile.

It's easy to laugh when you're not the one who's getting insulted.
A virtual insult is still an insult.

Shen wrote:i dunno who colin is, and i have no opinion on him perse

My point exactly.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:45

ColinP wrote:EDIT: Forget it - it's not worth the hassle.

I don't think he's coming back.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:46

tom2681 wrote:Still, aren't you glad you got banned?

Ironically no but only really because both sites when you're not logged in have EVEN MORE adverts. I'd forgot quite how covered the sites were. It makes it hard to read reviews, which as Yi-long correctly says has some of the best reviews on the web.

ColinP wrote:Shingster had nothing to do with us finding this thread and there isn't a snitch - hell when you've got a publically accessible site how can you expect something like this to stay hidden.

I don't think it was Shingster despite the evidence pointing his way. It is a bit coincidental that all this is said and only days later you notice.

I don't buy you just stumbled across it (if not Shingster someone else). No way, do you usually lurk at these boards?

ColinP wrote:I've closed down the bulletsnbabes.net restoration project site - I spent days in 2005 setting that up for you lot as an attempt to resurrect and preserve some of the reviews, but seeing as you lot couldn't give two figs about it then it's gone now. I never had any thanks for free hosting of all of those reviews for two years or anything.

And we appreciative for your help at the time but do you think that somehow justifies your actions? Hell that was another life time, with another webmaster.

I happen to be the focal point of the recent altercation but as I said it's not like I'm alone.

You don't honestly think "completely generally speaking now" you don't overreact sometimes? That is a general question not just to you but the DVD Forums mods too. Why are NO members allowed to air their opinions? (your actions btw contradict your statement they can). Why isn't a healthy debate on DVD Forums allowed? Whenever I've tried I get shouted down, the recent example being a fine one.

You may find members have some good suggestions. Agreed it is daft to be having this discussion on a non-related forum but that was never my choice in the first place. What exactly are you so afraid of?

It's not the first time you've been called a Nazi as you know. Please don't act all the innocent, you don't seem to think you have a part to play in this in the slightest. Sure it's your site but I don't believe that means you should get in a strop whenever members have something to say you don't like. You only end up alienating them.

I still don't understand how asking for adverts to be reduced was such an offence in itself it could lead to a ban.

ColinP wrote:banned (and then reinstated)

That was a decision solely on my shoulders while I spoke to others moderators (which since it's been removed wasn't necessary), of which I apologise. As you say yourself that's since been removed as it was ultimately unjustified.

You were airing your opinion which isn't a reason to ban someone and goes against the whole Bullets ethos, something the members strongly believe in.

Under the circumstances however you don't think it was even slightly justified?

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:47

tom2681 wrote:@Shen:
Laugh all you want, but please don't call us puerile.

It's easy to laugh when you're not the one who's getting insulted.
A virtual insult is still an insult.

and insult is an insult indeed, but is there a need for this, i mean, what do you do when your insulted in the street? do you start a fight, or an argument? or do you just shrug it off?

Shen wrote:i dunno who colin is, and i have no opinion on him perse
My point exactly.

your point what? that i dont have an opinion on colin, so i cant have an opinion on this? they are both acting like jerks. omg he insulted me, omg he insulted me and my website...so fucking what, get over it...

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:50

thelostdragon wrote:Personally, I can't see what's wrong with the little advertisement.

I wish people would stop saying that. I never thought there was anything wrong with it.

Okay example: The CD WOW DVD Times advertising at the bottom of reviews is still probably too big but the DVD Pacific one has twice as many logos and is even bigger.

That was only ever my point. That and a sentence with logo would get people's attentions just as much. At the end of the day Colin is happy with how it looks, fine so say No and be done with it.

Bollocks I said I'd ignore this thread. Moving on . . .

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:51

Shen wrote:and insult is an insult indeed, but is there a need for this, i mean, what do you do when your insulted in the street? do you start a fight, or an argument? or do you just shrug it off?

Now, you know we watch lots of martial-arts films. You already know the answer to that question is that we all start demonstrating our skills on the streets and fights break out everywhere we go. That's very silly thinking there Shen.