fishy
03-18-2007, 09:28 PM
It was brought to my attention that a particular user was banned while reporting another user, and decided to look into it myself and found a few things.
I've lurked before on FA and on the forums quite a bit, and felt it necessary to register just to report this violation.
First and foremost, the "Enforcement Policy" states the following (Bolded portions are most important):
Fur Affinity Administration and Staff will uphold the policies set forth by the Terms of Service and Submission Policy, and will protect the general interests of the Service. This includes, but is not limited to: art theft, identity theft, harassment, defacement, piracy or other illegal activity.
Fur Affinity is committed to fair and equal treatment of all members. Suspected TOS violations will be fully investigated before action is taken. Members of Fur Affinity are expected to follow any reasonable requests and/or instructions given to them via Administration and Staff within the boundaries of the site's Domains. All international copyright laws and intellectual property laws apply to your galleries. Violating these laws may result in civil fines and/or imprisonment. We shall enforce the rules of the site against all violations of the Terms of Service and the Submission Agreement Policy.
Users found to be in violation of the policies set forth by the Terms of Service will have action taken against their account which may involve removal of submissions, temporary suspension from the Service and/or outright termination of their Fur Affinity membership.
Repeated violations of the TOS rules will result in permanent suspension of your account.
Now, because the journal(s) on Faint's page were indeed removed, It is difficult to establish where the wrongs have been made. However, Mr. Sasaki took a screenshot (albeit with a rude icon in the entry), which specifically calls him out, insulting, and otherwise slandering him. The image can be found here: [NWS LINK (http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k250/sasakiasdf/screenshots/TOUGHGUY.jpg)]
It is clear that the issue was not investigated thoroughly, because it seems nothing was done to faint in the process. It's a clear violation of the TOS to post defamatory images, comments, journals, etc..
To quote the TOS:
Users agree that they will not engage in "disruptive behavior" in chat areas, forums, galleries, or any other area of the Fur Affinity community. Disruptive behavior shall be deemed to include, but will not be limited to, conduct which purposefully interferes with the normal flow of website enjoyment, personal galleries, or dialogue in the chat or forums.
This is still a very vague portion of the TOS that should be addressed (another issue entirely), but from my understanding, posting a defamatory journal entry would be considered "conduct which purposefully interferes with the normal flow of website enjoyment". Otherwise, anyone can make a journal about any user, slandering them and claiming they're X, Y, and Z. I would like some opinions if possible.
HERES THE POINT
Because the administrator/moderator is never mentioned when a ban is administered, I am not aware of who is responsible. I'm sure the administration does in fact know, and according to my first quote of the TOS, the unnamed administrator has broken their own rule.
The irony of the matter was that the currently banned user was reporting a violation, which backfired. But this is a case of "favoring the popular", as it happens all too often.
Before the admins say they have, I'd like to mention this. Giving faint a warning for the journal or asking it to be removed is not an appropriate course of action. He has over 1600 watchers, and he has succeeded in defamation of a user. The damage has been done, and there should be consequences following.
I've lurked before on FA and on the forums quite a bit, and felt it necessary to register just to report this violation.
First and foremost, the "Enforcement Policy" states the following (Bolded portions are most important):
Fur Affinity Administration and Staff will uphold the policies set forth by the Terms of Service and Submission Policy, and will protect the general interests of the Service. This includes, but is not limited to: art theft, identity theft, harassment, defacement, piracy or other illegal activity.
Fur Affinity is committed to fair and equal treatment of all members. Suspected TOS violations will be fully investigated before action is taken. Members of Fur Affinity are expected to follow any reasonable requests and/or instructions given to them via Administration and Staff within the boundaries of the site's Domains. All international copyright laws and intellectual property laws apply to your galleries. Violating these laws may result in civil fines and/or imprisonment. We shall enforce the rules of the site against all violations of the Terms of Service and the Submission Agreement Policy.
Users found to be in violation of the policies set forth by the Terms of Service will have action taken against their account which may involve removal of submissions, temporary suspension from the Service and/or outright termination of their Fur Affinity membership.
Repeated violations of the TOS rules will result in permanent suspension of your account.
Now, because the journal(s) on Faint's page were indeed removed, It is difficult to establish where the wrongs have been made. However, Mr. Sasaki took a screenshot (albeit with a rude icon in the entry), which specifically calls him out, insulting, and otherwise slandering him. The image can be found here: [NWS LINK (http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k250/sasakiasdf/screenshots/TOUGHGUY.jpg)]
It is clear that the issue was not investigated thoroughly, because it seems nothing was done to faint in the process. It's a clear violation of the TOS to post defamatory images, comments, journals, etc..
To quote the TOS:
Users agree that they will not engage in "disruptive behavior" in chat areas, forums, galleries, or any other area of the Fur Affinity community. Disruptive behavior shall be deemed to include, but will not be limited to, conduct which purposefully interferes with the normal flow of website enjoyment, personal galleries, or dialogue in the chat or forums.
This is still a very vague portion of the TOS that should be addressed (another issue entirely), but from my understanding, posting a defamatory journal entry would be considered "conduct which purposefully interferes with the normal flow of website enjoyment". Otherwise, anyone can make a journal about any user, slandering them and claiming they're X, Y, and Z. I would like some opinions if possible.
HERES THE POINT
Because the administrator/moderator is never mentioned when a ban is administered, I am not aware of who is responsible. I'm sure the administration does in fact know, and according to my first quote of the TOS, the unnamed administrator has broken their own rule.
The irony of the matter was that the currently banned user was reporting a violation, which backfired. But this is a case of "favoring the popular", as it happens all too often.
Before the admins say they have, I'd like to mention this. Giving faint a warning for the journal or asking it to be removed is not an appropriate course of action. He has over 1600 watchers, and he has succeeded in defamation of a user. The damage has been done, and there should be consequences following.