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

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Nov 2006, 20:41

Black Book comes to DVD Times!

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=63239

You've been warned. We all love this "fair" and "perfectly" justified system after all.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 08 Nov 2006, 20:58

never heard of it before. What's it all about?

edit: aw ic ic... just some censorship bullshit. Ah well, wasnt posting there anyway... fuck them

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Nov 2006, 21:14

Yi-Long wrote:never heard of it before. What's it all about?

Instead of the usual warning system by moderators the guys who run DVD Forums and DVD Times take it one step further by issuing black marks.

You get them for the slightest infringement of the T&Cs (which is easy to do when there are so many): www.dvdforums.com. I'd hazard a guess most DVD Forums members have at least one.

You should see the e-mail you get when you get a black mark, it makes you sound like a criminal.

DVD Times and DVD Forums are very good sites it has to be said with a massive amount of information on both but personally my opinion is they take moderation far to far.

Anyway it's there rules, you want to participate on their site you follow their rules. I'll say no more.

Mordib · Post by **Mordib** » 08 Nov 2006, 21:30

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)

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Nov 2006, 21:34

Do you mean the reviews, which never ended up being used for anything?

Anyway this thread was meant more of a warning than anything.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 10 Nov 2006, 01:50

Some of the comments we get range from the slightly deranged to outright offensive (although it's very rare to receive an offensive comment). We've even had PR folk posting under a false names to rubbish our reviews if we slated a particular title -O Once there was BnB's very own Gil trashing a review under a false name and refusing to acknowledge who he really was.

It all adds up, but there are only around 7 rules or so that have to be followed, hardly a stretch for people to comply with.

You usually infringe rule #3: "No links to or discussion of inappropriate sites - this includes linking to or discussion of other suppliers when a review is sponsored by a specific retailer. Ignoring this will result in removal of your comment." So if you stop yourself next time you want to post about a bigger bargain elsewhere, I don't see why this "one strike" will lead to anything.

The reason we have this rule is not to be greedy (as Tom seems to think so), it's because DVDtimes is a popular site, and therefore costs a lot to run. We also need a steady source of review copies, so we really on etailers to supply us with review copies. Not publicising another etailer's prices (especially when they're lower) is a condition we adhere to in order to be fair to the people who have provided us with the discs.

Godzooki · Post by **Godzooki** » 10 Nov 2006, 08:06

Shingster wrote: Once there was BnB's very own Gil trashing a review under a false name and refusing to acknowledge who he really was.

Best thing i ever done on these boards was ban that cunt!!

Never even heard of dvd times before? Gonna check it out.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 10 Nov 2006, 10:46

Read the comments thread for DVDTimes' The Master HKL review. From beginning to end, tis quite an amusing read if you know Gil, particularly if you remember how he used to really go off on one and accuse Matt Stevens of making argumentative posts under a false name in other forums.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 10 Nov 2006, 11:02

I think Gil is right. And people started getting too defensive when thinking he was attacking the reviewer, they stopped reading AND understanding his motivations and arguments...

Not the first time Gil got misunderstood and therefore blasted.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 10 Nov 2006, 11:49

"Only someone drowned in their own prejudice on dubs would not notice how incredibly well made it is."

"it's sad to see beautiful English dub works like Time and Tide, totally ignored and bashed because of ignorance and prejudice from online reviewers"

Right from his first post, no wonder we got defensive!

It's his blatant refusal to admit who he was that took the piss in that comments thread though, I mean come on, it's not like he was posting anything criminal

brooce-leroy · Post by **brooce-leroy** » 10 Nov 2006, 13:18

That was funny.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 10 Nov 2006, 13:18

Gil may be right, Gil may be wrong but it is the arrogant, aggressive way he conducted himself with (remember the Musa and Equilibrium threads on Old Bullets) that most have trouble with, IMO.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 10 Nov 2006, 13:21

blimey Gil what a pain in the arse he was

is he still around anywhere?

Godzooki · Post by **Godzooki** » 10 Nov 2006, 13:45

Doubt he is around, i suspect the div's been banned from most of the major boards and even if he re-registered i think he would be pretty quick to expose himself as the royal twat he is.

After i first banned him he registered as Mr Gil on the old bullets, but i banned him again and one of his mates usernames he posted under from time to time(usually to gain some support to his rants).

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 10 Nov 2006, 14:07

Ah, the infamous Jonathan Stathes (Running Man)

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 10 Nov 2006, 14:27

I assume The Running Man from the AsianDVDGuide forums is a different chappie though right?

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 10 Nov 2006, 14:29

We all thought Jonathan Stathes (when he joined BnB) actually WAS The Running Man from AsianDVDGuide.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 10 Nov 2006, 18:20

hey,

running man does possess some awfully similar traits to gil...scary either way.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 10 Nov 2006, 18:45

Honestly I like dvdforums as you dont get too much crap from people, no swearing etc... but people do act like idiots and get away with it sadly, they can be petty and childish. Its a nice enuff place mind you and its nice to have rules on some forums and not many on others. The size of the place is wonderfull too and some sections are very nice, the photography and bargains section are always nice for me

Personally DVDTIMES is bad for comments (great for info and reviews), in fact its damn right awful at times with some right knobbers saying crap all about anything.

Still its nothing compared to dvdanswers! what a bunch of idiots them lot are at times! comments like "this films shit, and I havent seen it" are your average post

Good job dvdtimes is a solid site, I say get rid of the awful comment/forums side of it mind you as it can ruin it at times (not always obviously).

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 10 Nov 2006, 19:35

Shingster wrote:We've even had PR folk posting under a false names to rubbish our reviews if we slated a particular title

No way, that's naughty.

Shingster wrote:It all adds up, but there are only around 7 rules or so that have to be followed, hardly a stretch for people to comply with.

True but DVD Forums has lots more.

TBH I wouldn't mind if when you did break a rule the Mods listened to you and if appropriate gave the benefit of the doubt. In my experience this doesn't happen.

I'm often worried about even e-mailing a mod to explain why I disagree about a black mark in fear of getting another one.

Shingster wrote:The reason we have this rule is not to be greedy (as Tom seems to think so), it's because DVDtimes is a popular site, and therefore costs a lot to run. We also need a steady source of review copies, so we really on etailers to supply us with review copies. Not publicising another etailer's prices (especially when they're lower) is a condition we adhere to in order to be fair to the people who have provided us with the discs.

Fair enough. It makes it tricky to compare DVDs then, no?

grim_tales wrote:Gil may be right, Gil may be wrong but it is the arrogant, aggressive way he conducted himself with (remember the Musa and Equilibrium threads on Old Bullets) that most have trouble with, IMO.

Exactly. Man those Musa arguments go out of hand.

All because he couldn't agree that others are allowed an opinion different from his.

romerojpg wrote:and its nice to have rules on some forums and not many on others.

I thought you were dead against rules?

romerojpg wrote:Still its nothing compared to dvdanswers! what a bunch of idiots them lot are at times! comments like "this films shit, and I havent seen it" are your average post

DVD Answers??? When did you actually last visit? It's been DVD Active for about a year.

Chris Gould at DVD Active seems like a nice bloke and (along with DVD Times Reviewers, credit where credit is due) writes some very good reviews.

romerojpg wrote:Good job dvdtimes is a solid site, I say get rid of the awful comment/forums side of it mind you as it can ruin it at times (not always obviously).

I disagree as I reckon most do. Particularly on News items often the comments can be more useful than the article itself.

Shingster wrote:If you remember how he used to really go off on one and accuse Matt Stevens of making argumentative posts under a false name in other forums.

Those were classics. He really is an idiot.

It's worth reading the last 3 posts, absolutely classic

. I wonder why he didn't reply

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 10 Nov 2006, 19:45

I always thought Mister Gil, Jonathan Stathes and The Running Man were the same person...

But there's no way of proving it is there...?

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 11 Nov 2006, 01:00

bradavon wrote: True but DVD Forums has lots more.

TBH I wouldn't mind if when you did break a rule the Mods listened to you and if appropriate gave the benefit of the doubt. In my experience this doesn't happen.

I'm often worried about even e-mailing a mod to explain why I disagree about a black mark in fear of getting another one.

DVDforums is a whole different beast to DVDTimes, I'm not sure how much input Colin has actually had in the T&C's of the place. I think he generally leaves it up to the Mod team to decide all that, a few moderators there have been in that position longer than Colin has been site owner after all.

DVDtimes members certainly have no say in DVDforums policy as well, in fact one or two of our reviewers don't get along with certain moderators there at all (I think). I myself have seen times when moderators have deliberately baited somone until they ban them (I think it actually happened to Kev Gilvear/Moldiver once, not sure.), but in general I think the mods do a bloody good job considering how many members the place has. This forum has you and Tom, which is enough because the member list is pretty modest and almost everyone knows each other pretty well, so when trouble/arguments do flare up we can all shrug it off and still be civll to each other. I'm not so sure that'd be the same if there was over a thousand members, let alone 50,000!

If there's nothing in the T&C's about replying in email to black marks/bans stating your case, then I don't see why you shouldn't have the right to do that, but tbh I think the mods get a lot of annoying emails from genuine tools who just want to cause trouble, so that probably puts them in a bad place for dealing with pretty much any email sent their way.

Fair enough. It makes it tricky to compare DVDs then, no?

TBH if there's a lack of comparison reviews on DVDTimes, then it's almost certainly because the reviewer doesn't have access to alternative DVDreleases or they just couldn't be arsed to provide a comparison review. We don't really shy away from saying there's a better DVD release in a different region, at least to my memory we don't, maybe you might be able to think of examples though. From my own experience, I reviewed Tartan's release of When the Last Sword is Drawn - disc supplied by Tartan - and didn't shy away from highlighting the Korean release and why I felt it had a better transfer.

No, it's really just a case of not blatantly stating you can buy a DVD cheaper elsewhere, it'd be pretty unfair to take a free copy of, say the 3-disc Criterion release of Seven Samurai from CDwow, then say "buy it from DVDpacific, it's cheaper there". If we let the readers say that in the comments thread, it'd still be screwing CDwow over.

In an ideal world, DVDtimes would be a professional outfit, fully funded on its own via advertisement or whatever, most of our discs supplied by studios/DVD distributors/PR firms alone, and we could provide you with all the links you need to get the best DVD release of each film and at the best prices. I'd certainly would be diung that, but it ain't an ideal world.

romerojpg wrote:Good job dvdtimes is a solid site, I say get rid of the awful comment/forums side of it mind you as it can ruin it at times (not always obviously).

The informative and friendly comments vastly outnumber the bad, so I don't think we'll be getting rid of the comments thread just yet, we're just trying to make sure the comments section never descends into the chaos AICN talkback threads are.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 11 Nov 2006, 01:03

Markgway wrote:I always thought Mister Gil, Jonathan Stathes and The Running Man were the same person...

But there's no way of proving it is there...?

Hasn't there been threads where Gil and The Running Man have had running debates/arguments though? Surely he ain't taking the deception that far is he?

If he is The Running Man then the guy controls his feelings well, coz just before he stopped posting on AsianDVDGuide as Gil, his hatred of me and grown so much that he couldn't reply to anything I said without calling me a cunt or a sad fucker!

The Running Man is actually quite civil to me! :twisted:

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 11 Nov 2006, 01:13

I'm sure Gil disappeared (and I'm mean DISAPPEARED) just before The Running Man came on the scene. His opinions and writing style are awfully similar (something that's tricky even for clever clogs to disguise). When we have an instinct that two posters are the same person: they usually are.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 11 Nov 2006, 01:18

I didn't think Gil had that bad a rep on AsianDVDGuide in the first place, so tis very interesting that he has most likely killed off the name and is now TheRunningMan.