Alolan_Apples
“Assorted” Collector
Yesterday, I went over the history of my experience and how my life changed. One way it changed my life was that it shown me more of the media. Since my days on TV.com, I know more shows, more movies, and more video games than what I knew before my membership on TV.com. Another way was that I learned that Cartoon Network was not doing too well around the time I was a member. The animation and style of humor were criticized. I wasn't even aware that Spongebob was going downhill until I joined. It was easy to understand why Spongebob got so much criticism, but I didn't know why the new cartoons from 2005 to 2009 were criticized until like 8 or 9 years later. Here is Part 2 of this experience.
How my behavior changed:
I did not get permanently banned from TV.com until October 31st of 2008. By then, I had a moderation record of 38 moderations (a third of them being moderator discretions or actual actions instead of violations), all within 7 months and 2 weeks. Right now on TBT, I'm three years and six months as a member, and only have seven moderations on my record (I even went two years without receiving one). Also around the time of my ban on TV.com, my editorship on the Chowder guide was stripped, and a link to a website I wanted my friends to follow was deleted. Unlike GameFAQs where you can still submit guides and contributions even if you were banned from the forums, all of your privileges on TV.com are revoked. You can't post or even view the forums, you can't write reviews or blog entries, you can't submit contributions, and you can't update your profile. Also, your account is linked to all of the CNET sites. If you are banned on TV.com, you are also banned on three others (including GameSpot, but not GameFAQs). Also, it is highly forbidden to create another account to evade a ban.
The main reason why I was banned was because I was caught breaking the rules several times, but I didn't listen to the warnings. I was even suspended for five days in the summer for breaking the rules several times. Let me tell you something. I broke the rules far too many times, even more than what I have been moderated for. Most of the time, it was off-topic posting, but I was also trolling, sometimes flaming, and one time, bypassing the swear filter. I do blame myself for breaking the rules all the time, but I can also blame the mods or admins for my ban because of some of their unjust policies, and the users that reported my posts. And towards the end, I purposely tried to get myself banned by flaming, and one user harassed me by looking for my rule violations and reporting them just to get me banned because he didn't like my opinions on his favorite show.
The reason why the staff should be accountable for my ban, not just me, is because the rules were too strict. First, if even 1% of a post you make is off-topic, the whole post is considered off-topic. Even if it's a blog comment. Second, if you talk to somebody that is off-topic, you will get moderated for that, even if you weren't going off-topic. I did get a lot of moderations for trolling, but only one was for trying to annoy other users. The others, my posts aren't even trolling. To tell someone that something is against the rules isn't really trolling. To tell someone that you didn't like a forum game isn't trolling. To even set up rules in a thread isn't trolling. Yet, it goes against their rules, and somebody uncomfortable with my existence is reporting these posts for this. Of course, they have set up strict rules on writing reviews, but I didn't get in trouble with that. Another thing worth mentioning is that their system is very unjust as well. Everything explicitly said in the TOS is against the rules, but there are some things not even said in the rules that you can get in trouble for doing. This happened to me, and I say this is the worst moderation I ever had. I tried to go a whole month without receiving a moderation. Not only I was close and then failed, but it was for the worst common violation (Flaming), and it was an entry on my blog (some place I never even get moderations). Why did it classify as flaming? It's because I was making accusations towards a previous editor. Whatever I said was true, and they said nothing in the TOS about that. Let me tell you this if you're running a forum. If it's not stated in the rules, then it's not a rule, and you shouldn't get in trouble with the site for that. If something is against the rules, then you need to explicitly state it in the rules, or at least implied for people to use their common sense on what not to do. Otherwise it is injustice, and this is why I hated TV.com with a passion for like a whole year after this violation (still mad at them for it).
But to be honest, I was not very good back when I was on TV.com. I've been posting off-topic a lot (including extreme circumstances like when I brought up Ape Escape 3 on a thread about Chowder, which was eventually deleted). And I have been flaming or trolling too. Not only that, but I've been making a lot of weird threads that makes me seem childish (like the thread Are there any characters do you wish were real?). But I was young back then, so that wouldn't be unexpected. And I am autistic, which does back this point as well. But still, I've been more misbehaved like I was back when I was in the first grade. I have improved over time though. If there's any forum site I spent time on that made me a better online user, it would be Little Big Planet Central. Like on TV.com, I didn't know any better as I kept going off-topic or talking about controversies. They kept telling me to stay on-topic and not to do other stuff, but I wasn't taking the warnings seriously. After several warnings and advice, the administrator has given me an infraction that automatically silenced me for two weeks. Ever since that infraction, I have greatly improved, and now I am a better man on the forums. That's why I was more mature back when I joined TBT.
Another major issue with me back when I was on TV.com was how bossy I was. I was like really bossy. When I make a game thread, I really try to dominate the thread. Also, when I was the editor of the Chowder guide (which moderates the TV show forum and manages submissions), I was pretty bossy there as well. The previous editor wasn't a very good forum moderator, as he deleted many threads just to clean up the forum (even though they weren't controversial threads at all). He even said those threads weren't necessary. That's not a valid reason to delete threads. But when I moderated the forum, I wasn't any better either. I deleted and locked threads I didn't like without any reason. And I wasn't too just either. Managing submissions, I can do that very well. But moderating the forum, I was immature. I would also like to say that even I wasn't the editor of other tv guides for cartoons, I did tell the other editors what to do. This is not just bossiness, but that's like trying to take over the site. I have improved a lot, but this was what I was before. I'm still immature today, but I'm more civil and less childish now than I was 10 years ago.
I wasn't alone on TV.com when it came to behavior. Other teenagers on the site were immature and they got banned easily. In a place where mods hardly patrol (usually cartoon boards), the only way to get in trouble is for others to report you, and they will only report you to grief or harass you rather than being mature. The Avatar Board, people have constantly got into fights and other things, so bad to where the corporate staff had to get involved. The Spongebob board, there were these Spongebob vs Avatar conflicts. The tv show boards for Cartoon Network's shows, pessimistic trolls have constantly created hate threads towards the shows or the channel. Today, the same people who said that CN is going downhill back in 2008 are still mad at CN for the damage they did back then, despite the damage CN is doing today.
And that's it for my review on the anniversary from when I joined TV.com.
How my behavior changed:
I did not get permanently banned from TV.com until October 31st of 2008. By then, I had a moderation record of 38 moderations (a third of them being moderator discretions or actual actions instead of violations), all within 7 months and 2 weeks. Right now on TBT, I'm three years and six months as a member, and only have seven moderations on my record (I even went two years without receiving one). Also around the time of my ban on TV.com, my editorship on the Chowder guide was stripped, and a link to a website I wanted my friends to follow was deleted. Unlike GameFAQs where you can still submit guides and contributions even if you were banned from the forums, all of your privileges on TV.com are revoked. You can't post or even view the forums, you can't write reviews or blog entries, you can't submit contributions, and you can't update your profile. Also, your account is linked to all of the CNET sites. If you are banned on TV.com, you are also banned on three others (including GameSpot, but not GameFAQs). Also, it is highly forbidden to create another account to evade a ban.
The main reason why I was banned was because I was caught breaking the rules several times, but I didn't listen to the warnings. I was even suspended for five days in the summer for breaking the rules several times. Let me tell you something. I broke the rules far too many times, even more than what I have been moderated for. Most of the time, it was off-topic posting, but I was also trolling, sometimes flaming, and one time, bypassing the swear filter. I do blame myself for breaking the rules all the time, but I can also blame the mods or admins for my ban because of some of their unjust policies, and the users that reported my posts. And towards the end, I purposely tried to get myself banned by flaming, and one user harassed me by looking for my rule violations and reporting them just to get me banned because he didn't like my opinions on his favorite show.
The reason why the staff should be accountable for my ban, not just me, is because the rules were too strict. First, if even 1% of a post you make is off-topic, the whole post is considered off-topic. Even if it's a blog comment. Second, if you talk to somebody that is off-topic, you will get moderated for that, even if you weren't going off-topic. I did get a lot of moderations for trolling, but only one was for trying to annoy other users. The others, my posts aren't even trolling. To tell someone that something is against the rules isn't really trolling. To tell someone that you didn't like a forum game isn't trolling. To even set up rules in a thread isn't trolling. Yet, it goes against their rules, and somebody uncomfortable with my existence is reporting these posts for this. Of course, they have set up strict rules on writing reviews, but I didn't get in trouble with that. Another thing worth mentioning is that their system is very unjust as well. Everything explicitly said in the TOS is against the rules, but there are some things not even said in the rules that you can get in trouble for doing. This happened to me, and I say this is the worst moderation I ever had. I tried to go a whole month without receiving a moderation. Not only I was close and then failed, but it was for the worst common violation (Flaming), and it was an entry on my blog (some place I never even get moderations). Why did it classify as flaming? It's because I was making accusations towards a previous editor. Whatever I said was true, and they said nothing in the TOS about that. Let me tell you this if you're running a forum. If it's not stated in the rules, then it's not a rule, and you shouldn't get in trouble with the site for that. If something is against the rules, then you need to explicitly state it in the rules, or at least implied for people to use their common sense on what not to do. Otherwise it is injustice, and this is why I hated TV.com with a passion for like a whole year after this violation (still mad at them for it).
But to be honest, I was not very good back when I was on TV.com. I've been posting off-topic a lot (including extreme circumstances like when I brought up Ape Escape 3 on a thread about Chowder, which was eventually deleted). And I have been flaming or trolling too. Not only that, but I've been making a lot of weird threads that makes me seem childish (like the thread Are there any characters do you wish were real?). But I was young back then, so that wouldn't be unexpected. And I am autistic, which does back this point as well. But still, I've been more misbehaved like I was back when I was in the first grade. I have improved over time though. If there's any forum site I spent time on that made me a better online user, it would be Little Big Planet Central. Like on TV.com, I didn't know any better as I kept going off-topic or talking about controversies. They kept telling me to stay on-topic and not to do other stuff, but I wasn't taking the warnings seriously. After several warnings and advice, the administrator has given me an infraction that automatically silenced me for two weeks. Ever since that infraction, I have greatly improved, and now I am a better man on the forums. That's why I was more mature back when I joined TBT.
Another major issue with me back when I was on TV.com was how bossy I was. I was like really bossy. When I make a game thread, I really try to dominate the thread. Also, when I was the editor of the Chowder guide (which moderates the TV show forum and manages submissions), I was pretty bossy there as well. The previous editor wasn't a very good forum moderator, as he deleted many threads just to clean up the forum (even though they weren't controversial threads at all). He even said those threads weren't necessary. That's not a valid reason to delete threads. But when I moderated the forum, I wasn't any better either. I deleted and locked threads I didn't like without any reason. And I wasn't too just either. Managing submissions, I can do that very well. But moderating the forum, I was immature. I would also like to say that even I wasn't the editor of other tv guides for cartoons, I did tell the other editors what to do. This is not just bossiness, but that's like trying to take over the site. I have improved a lot, but this was what I was before. I'm still immature today, but I'm more civil and less childish now than I was 10 years ago.
I wasn't alone on TV.com when it came to behavior. Other teenagers on the site were immature and they got banned easily. In a place where mods hardly patrol (usually cartoon boards), the only way to get in trouble is for others to report you, and they will only report you to grief or harass you rather than being mature. The Avatar Board, people have constantly got into fights and other things, so bad to where the corporate staff had to get involved. The Spongebob board, there were these Spongebob vs Avatar conflicts. The tv show boards for Cartoon Network's shows, pessimistic trolls have constantly created hate threads towards the shows or the channel. Today, the same people who said that CN is going downhill back in 2008 are still mad at CN for the damage they did back then, despite the damage CN is doing today.
And that's it for my review on the anniversary from when I joined TV.com.
