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

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 28 Dec 2006, 19:41

I'm gonna give you a BnB black mark for talking about DVDTimes on Bullets.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 28 Dec 2006, 20:26

You'll get a black mark for giving brad a black mark.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 28 Dec 2006, 20:45

I don't believe it for a second, Colin Polonowsk is a fine and upstanding gentleman.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 28 Dec 2006, 21:08

tom2681 wrote:I'm gonna give you a BnB black mark for talking about DVDTimes on Bullets.

If we had the "same" black mark system here there would be no members left.

You and I included

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 28 Dec 2006, 21:54

Lourdes wrote:I don't believe it for a second, Colin Polonowsk is a fine and upstanding gentleman.

Maybe he is, maybe its someone else doing it? mods? as thats an odd reason to give out a black mark.

Its not like he was saying

DVDPACIFIC SUCKS BALLS DONT ORDER FROM THEM!

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 28 Dec 2006, 22:18

@ Romero. Can we get his quotes on DVD or something?

That's unlucky Brad. Whilst I think DVD Pacific are within their right to advertise in exchange for a review disc, I do think that ad is taking the piss. Personally, I think a simple "Snakes on a Plane is available at DVD Pacific, for around $xx.xx" would suffice - but it's nae my site, I don't visit it (unless Shingster or someone reviews a JPN R2) and I hate DVD Pacific with a passion, so I won't be ordering anything from them, with or without their affiliate code.

Problem is, Times allow themselves to be whored out by all these suppliers - making their site look like arse. By all means supply a review disc in exchange for a clear & visible ad - but all this anal kissing is vomit inducing and is enough to deter me from the site. But hey, thousands other don't seem to mind - so good on them!

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 28 Dec 2006, 22:38

BiscLimpkit wrote: @ Romero. Can we get his quotes on DVD or something?

That's unlucky Brad. Whilst I think DVD Pacific are within their right to advertise in exchange for a review disc, I do think that ad is taking the piss. Personally, I think a simple "Snakes on a Plane is available at DVD Pacific, for around $xx.xx" would suffice - but it's nae my site, I don't visit it (unless Shingster or someone reviews a JPN R2) and I hate DVD Pacific with a passion, so I won't be ordering anything from them, with or without their affiliate code.

Problem is, Times allow themselves to be whored out by all these suppliers - making their site look like arse. By all means supply a review disc in exchange for a clear & visible ad - but all this anal kissing is vomit inducing and is enough to deter me from the site. But hey, thousands other don't seem to mind - so good on them!

How do you expect Mr. Polonowsk to pay his quality reviewers - who can't spot NTSC>PAL - nothng if he isn't making bank on sponsorship, ads and referral schemes? You take things too much for granted. If you had your way poor Colin would need to get a job and you'd have to go read more compotent reviews elsewhere.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 29 Dec 2006, 00:28

Exactly Bisc.

I read DVD Times reviews as politics aside of the way the site is run the majority of reviews are very well written, thorough and answer the questions. Too many DVD reviews are so poorly written.

The DVD Pacific and the like advertising is recent (hence why I asked if it could be reduced) and up until now obtrusive advertising would only appear if you're not logged (i.e - registered). I have no problem with advertising but it takes up so much room, way more than even the Conclusion.

Which was really my point, it's now hard to read the conclusion.

romerojpg wrote:Maybe he is, maybe its someone else doing it? mods? as thats an odd reason to give out a black mark.

Lourdes is being sarcastic: https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... php?t=2987

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 29 Dec 2006, 00:32

romerojpg wrote:Maybe he is, maybe its someone else doing it? mods? as thats an odd reason to give out a black mark.

Its not like he was saying: DVDPACIFIC SUCKS BALLS DONT ORDER FROM THEM!

Alas it's not the first and won't be the last time DVD Times/Forums mods overreact and hand out warnings for farting (ironically apparantly exactly the words used for something they don't do).

Do you want to read Colin's reply to why it was justified? I managed to hold my tongue and be polite (it's best to be professional I think).

My e-mail, with original notification:

-----Original Message-----
From: DVD Times Server [mailto:admin@dvdtimes.co.uk]
Sent: 28 December 2006 18:51
To:
Subject: DVD Times Black Book Entry

bradavon,

Following a breach of the Terms and Conditions at DVD Times, a 'Black Book' entry has been recorded against your account. Multiple breaches of the Terms and Conditions in a six month period may result in a temporary or permanent ban from the site.

You can view all of the 'Black Book' entries stored against your account by viewing you user account on DVD Times.

In order to avoid further breaches and a ban, please ensure you stick to the rules outlined by DVD Times. In most cases a ban will be imposed after three breaches, although this is at the discretion of the site administrators and in extreme circumstances bans may be imposed immediately.

DVD Times Team

From: -------
Sent: 28 December 2006 19:16
To:
Cc: 'DVD Times Server'
Subject: RE: DVD Times Black Book Entry
Importance: High

Hello

Can you please explain why I have a black book entry?

The subject says "complaining" about a black book entry. With due respect I wasn't complaining, no offence but does it look like I was complaining? I was only asking if the advertising could be made a bit smaller. Isn't it a fair question?

Of course I completely understand advertising is crucial but was only asking if it could be made a bit smaller. For example if the DVD Pacific logo was reduced by only 20% the gap at the bottom would be smaller but still very much obvious.

Is the point I should've e-mailed? To be fair I've e-mail 3 times in the past and never received a response (twice providing feedback to the comments system). Only the other week I e-mailed asking why quotes don't work properly in the new comments system but never received a reply. I appreciate you're busy.

Incidentally checking the T&Cs I signed up to it mentions nothing about asking about advertising size to be reduced or posting questions comments.

Please reconsider your decision or at least change the wording. I honestly wasn't complaining, I don't think my post says I was.

Regards

Colin's reply:

From: Colin Polonowski
Sent: 28 December 2006 19:33
To:
Cc:
Subject: Re: DVD Times Black Book Entry

Why have you sent this email to so many addresses? It doesn't mean I'm more likely to read it and makes me more inclined to ignore you.

You felt the need to comment on the 'advertising' on a review and there are a number of reasons why you were black booked; The comments system isn't supposed to be used like that - if you're posting a comment then it should be relevant to the review, title or discussion in question. Commenting on the size of advertising is NOT relevant; We don't want advertisers to see such comments as we rely on them for some Region 1 content on the site and if they feel that it's not worth their while then no-one benefits.

On top of all of this, there are avenues - such as providing feedback by email or making use of the countless requests I've made to provide feedback via comments in the appropriate place - which you should use to make comments like this and while you may not get a reply we do listen to everything we receive.

The black book entry is valid - you did complain about the size of the advert and I did reply explaining why it was there. Therefore the entry will stay.

Colin

p.s - I sent the e-mail a couple of times as their "contact us" verification checker wasn't working and kept insisting I typed the keyword in wrong. I didn't.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 29 Dec 2006, 01:00

Colin is just a dick. Why even bother with such a forum?
Hell... if it were me I'd do anything in my power to call an all-out war against their tight-assed rules and poewr-hungry idiots who act like m/gods... (if I cared)

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 29 Dec 2006, 01:04

That's why I don't join those loser forums moderated by Nazis. If Bullets ever became like that I think we'd all walk.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 29 Dec 2006, 01:10

Yi-Long wrote:Colin is just a dick. Why even bother with such a forum?

I don't really except browse the bargains forum, which ironically you don't need to register to view. There are lots of bargains in there.

I like to say thanks to the posters their though if a bargain comes up. That's the members not mods btw.

It also being honest has a massive user base (again members not mods). For example I recently asked about a digital camera query, fat lot of good it would do asking that here. There's simply not enough members.

As for DVD Times comments by it's nature I'd quickly get over it losing that.

I was banned for 2 weeks once (from DVD Times) for posting about the Bugmenot Firefox extension on Bullets. Remember Yi? It was ironically you who I recommended use it.

Some snitch went and told Colin who then banned my account. I was more annoyed we "had" a snitch than anything else.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 29 Dec 2006, 01:14

I'm sure I'm not the only one with DVD Times/Forums black books here? Romero must have some.

I'll wear my black books like ASBOS I think

For those who don't know: Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, designed to stop kids causing trouble but now as seen as a badge of honour.

* I have 2 at DVD Forums, both given in November just gone (again silly reasons). One more and I'm banned for a week.
* Now 1 at DVD Times.

Markgway wrote:If Bullets ever became like that I think we'd all walk.

It's a given it won't; I hope it's a given.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 29 Dec 2006, 01:47

bradavon wrote:
Yi-Long wrote:Colin is just a dick. Why even bother with such a forum?
I don't really except browse the bargains forum, which ironically you don't need to register to view. There are lots of bargains in there.

I like to say thanks to the posters their though if a bargain comes up. That's the members not mods btw.

It also being honest has a massive user base (again members not mods). For example I recently asked about a digital camera query, fat lot of good it would do asking that here. There's simply not enough members.

As for DVD Times comments by it's nature I'd quickly get over it losing that.

I was banned for 2 weeks once (from DVD Times) for posting about the Bugmenot Firefox extension on Bullets. Remember Yi? It was ironically you who I recommended use it.

Some snitch went and told Colin who then banned my account. I was more annoyed we "had" a snitch than anything else.

Yeah I remember me wanting to post something there underneath one of their reviews, but cant really remember you getting banned, or someone ratting you out.
Still absolutely sucks ofcourse. You think it's a posting member here that ratted you out, or someone who just browses this forum occasionally but doesnt post?

The only time in my life I ever 'snitched' was when I recognised a thug from our town on a site by the police where they asked the public if they recognised any of the hooligans they had on there. It was a guy who used to be in my class back when I was a kid, and we had been in a bunch of fights with eachother (me being pretty much the smallest kid, him being the kind of kid that started shaving at 11...)
Couldnt resist turning that fucking asshole in.

Not just because I hate the guy himself, but also cause he was wanted for being a violent hooligan, which I hate as well...

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 29 Dec 2006, 02:00

Colin wrote: if you're posting a comment then it should be relevant to the review, title or discussion in question. Commenting on the size of advertising is NOT relevant; We don't want advertisers to see such comments as we rely on them for some Region 1 content

F*ck him.

If he cares more about his advertisers than his fellow DVD-Times members, then:

Advertising is evil.
One more reason not to visit DVD-Times.

Where's my Colin-shaped voodoo doll ? ...... :twisted:

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 29 Dec 2006, 02:10

tom2681 wrote:
Where's my Colin-shaped voodoo doll ? ...... :twisted:

...try looking in the toilet after you went for a nr. 2

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 29 Dec 2006, 02:24

Yi-Long wrote:Still absolutely sucks ofcourse. You think it's a posting member here that ratted you out, or someone who just browses this forum occasionally but doesnt post?

Probably and hopefully the latter.

Yi-Long wrote:Not just because I hate the guy himself, but also cause he was wanted for being a violent hooligan, which I hate as well...

Yeah agreed that's very different.

tom2681 wrote:If he cares more about his advertisers than his fellow DVD-Times members

They pay his bills. I bet a big portion goes in his pocket.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 29 Dec 2006, 02:51

Lourdes wrote:How do you expect Mr. Polonowsk to pay his quality reviewers - who can't spot NTSC>PAL - nothng if he isn't making bank on sponsorship, ads and referral schemes? You take things too much for granted. If you had your way poor Colin would need to get a job and you'd have to go read more compotent reviews elsewhere.

Well, for a start none of the reviewers get paid, DVDtimes does not generate bundles of cash. Colin also has a full time job, hence the reason he rarely contributes any reviews to the site. Oh and finally i'm not surprised that an obnoxious snob like you finds the reviews not up to your standards, if only everyone on the planet could own a projection set-up and have flawless taste in films then we could all be as smug as you, eh Lourdes? Cretin.

I've been saying this all through the thread but the members of these boards seem to have some sort of mental block when reading this thread, but DVDtimes is NOT run by the same people as DVDforums. The forums has a large team of Mods who run the place in Colin's place. Colin is just the owner, he has very little to do with the day-to-day stuff. The forums is moderated by 2 people: Colin and Dave Foster. So please, just because Bradavon recieves a black book from DVDtimes, don't all of a sudden lump the place into the same bracket as the DVDforums, as their rules are much more strict.

I can't believe the attitude of the only two mods on these forums, both are demonstrating a quite frankly disgraceful lack of professionalism (for want of a better term) as moderators. A good moderator should not post offensive, shit-stirring comments trying to drum up negative feedback against another forum, regardless of what type of site it is or how much a pain in the arse the staff on those forums are. Forums wars are never a good thing. Already people have started slagging off DVDtimes as a review site as well, when the place is easily one of the better review sources in the UK and features many fine reviewers like Mike Sutton, Noel Megahy and Gary Couzens.

Anyway, about Brad's black book. I'm sorry brad but you did blatantly complain about the size of the DVDpacific sponser blurb and therefore you made yourself eligible to recieve a black mark. Was it harsh? Probably, it's not like you were trying to start a veto against sponser adverts, and I seriously doubt DVDpacific were gonna jump ship because a few of our members think the advert is too big. But hey, it's Colin's site and he can run the place as he see's fit. The DVDpacific adverts are a bit on the huge side, but it's dead space right at the bottom after the end of the review. I could understand Brad and Bisc's problems had Colin placed the damn thing right in the middle of the reviews, but all you have to do is scroll paast it to get to the comments section. Not exactly a major imposition!

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 29 Dec 2006, 02:53

Markgway wrote:That's why I don't join those loser forums moderated by Nazis. If Bullets ever became like that I think we'd all walk.

The only issue here is that Brad thinks the internet is serious bidness. We just need him to delete spam.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 29 Dec 2006, 03:27

Shingster wrote:Well, for a start none of the reviewers get paid, DVDtimes does not generate bundles of cash. Colin also has a full time job, hence the reason he rarely contributes any reviews to the site. Oh and finally i'm not surprised that an obnoxious snob like you finds the reviews not up to your standards, if only everyone on the planet could own a projection set-up and have flawless taste in films then we could all be as smug as you, eh Lourdes? Cretin.

I've been saying this all through the thread but the members of these boards seem to have some sort of mental block when reading this thread, but DVDtimes is NOT run by the same people as DVDforums. The forums has a large team of Mods who run the place in Colin's place. Colin is just the owner, he has very little to do with the day-to-day stuff. The forums is moderated by 2 people: Colin and Dave Foster. So please, just because Bradavon recieves a black book from DVDtimes, don't all of a sudden lump the place into the same bracket as the DVDforums, as their rules are much more strict.

I can't believe the attitude of the only two mods on these forums, both are demonstrating a quite frankly disgraceful lack of professionalism (for want of a better term) as moderators. A good moderator should not post offensive, shit-stirring comments trying to drum up negative feedback against another forum, regardless of what type of site it is or how much a pain in the arse the staff on those forums are. Forums wars are never a good thing. Already people have started slagging off DVDtimes as a review site as well, when the place is easily one of the better review sources in the UK and features many fine reviewers like Mike Sutton, Noel Megahy and Gary Couzens.

Anyway, about Brad's black book. I'm sorry brad but you did blatantly complain about the size of the DVDpacific sponser blurb and therefore you made yourself eligible to recieve a black mark. Was it harsh? Probably, it's not like you were trying to start a veto against sponser adverts, and I seriously doubt DVDpacific were gonna jump ship because a few of our members think the advert is too big. But hey, it's Colin's site and he can run the place as he see's fit. The DVDpacific adverts are a bit on the huge side, but it's dead space right at the bottom after the end of the review. I could understand Brad and Bisc's problems had Colin placed the damn thing right in the middle of the reviews, but all you have to do is scroll paast it to get to the comments section. Not exactly a major imposition!

I thought I didn't make you agitated Shing? Don't player hate.

But damn, I thought that some of the reviewers got paid at least, I was fishing to check on that. Poor buggers, and what a laugh! Giving away your time and efforts for someone elses profit.
It's not hard to estimate the cost of the 2 (possibly 3) servers Colin uses the his sites. It's quite the joke, making all this fuss about sponsors and referrals but not buying a local server. And then not knowing how to manage it so we enjoy the lengthly daily downtimes for crontabs. There's a fair whack being made. And I don't appreciate sites and forums that are being run as businesses but aren't honest about it.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 29 Dec 2006, 11:08

You're talking out your arse Lourdes as usual, if you feel so strongly that Colin is profiting off of DVDtimes and thDVDforums then send him an e-mail and I'm sure he'll put you straight. Until you've actually ran sites as popular as those two though, then you really have no clue what you're talking about. There are other costs to consider rather than just the servers, we don't grow the DVDs we review on trees you know.

Oh and sorry, but superior asses like you don't agitate me quite as much as you seem to think. I suppose if you ran a DVDreview site it would be the bestest ever with no downtime, no advertisements, and a steady stream of reviews of each new release across most regions that all point out every single video flaw.

In fact, I think this entire thread has an unneccesary amount of cowardly backbiting against Colin, afterall he's not a member of these forums and cannot speak for himself (I won't be informing him of the thread). And for what? Because he dared to give Bradavon a black mark? He hasn't even BANNED him yet! How petty can a forum of people be to get together and slag off (and in Lourdes' case character assassinate) someone just for running his own website the way he sees fit (and what's worse, it's one of the moderators that's conducting the entire thing).

Also, it's not like any of the regular posters on these boards have been frustrated by Brad's general cluelessness before. (I don't say that to be offensive brad, but you have to admit you're pretty fucking clueless sometimes.)

Internet, serious fucking business indeed!

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 29 Dec 2006, 11:53

LOL! since when did the internet become a place of black marks and character slurs for having an opinion, or disliking something on a website? the draconian way of ruling comes to the net...had to do it sometime...

you ALL just need to chill out...

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 29 Dec 2006, 12:22

I have to say I think Colin's response is OTT - does reducing the size of the ad hurt Pacific or DVD Times? Er no

The ad will still be there.
What he said is silly IMO, especially since Brad just asked a civil question and was in no way rude.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 29 Dec 2006, 12:39

grim_tales wrote:I have to say I think Colin's response is OTT - does reducing the size of the ad hurt Pacific or DVD Times? Er no The ad will still be there.
What he said is silly IMO, especially since Brad just asked a civil question and was in no way rude.

Which is exactly the problem with threads like these, no one here can get the full context within which Colin made these comments. For you Grim and other members of these boards it may look petty, but Brad has a long history of posting comments on DVDtimes that contradict our sponsor referral programs (many times has he posted in the past telling people to buy from such and suhc e-tailer etc) which is the reason why Colin had to set up such "draconian" laws in the first place. Add to that the fact no one likes being told how their own website should be ran (again something brad as done many times in the past) and I think that's why Colin's inclined to be a bit more pedantic when dealing with Brad than other members tbh.

Also I have to ask, does the size of the advert really hurt the viewer? I mean it's big, but so what?

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 29 Dec 2006, 13:03

Okay here goes, Slasher dips his toes into this flaming thread

Shingster wrote:Anyway, about Brad's black book. I'm sorry brad but you did blatantly complain about the size of the DVDpacific sponser blurb and therefore you made yourself eligible to recieve a black mark. Was it harsh? Probably, it's not like you were trying to start a veto against sponser adverts, and I seriously doubt DVDpacific were gonna jump ship because a few of our members think the advert is too big. But hey, it's Colin's site and he can run the place as he see's fit.

I can see Shingster point of view, at the end of the day it is Colin own website, which he is paying for. But saying that, I really do feel that Colin went a little OTT with the black book and Bradavon did try to settle this issue in an email. It wasn't rude at all.

Oh well, we just have to be a bit careful over at Dvdtimes. I really didn't know there was a rule for this.

Lets just have everybody chill out now... Comeon the year is nearly over, lets just have some fun