Scenario...
Forum member "A" has only been here a little over a yr or so. "A" hasn't exactly been what most would call a "contributing member". (I'll use Jimbo as an example of a "contributing member"... he shares his knowledge here on the forum which is both helpful and informative to many, many people on here.)
"A" does not do that... "A" doesn't have a wealth of knowledge in pool and rarely if ever, contributes anything pool related.
I can't speak for everyone, but most of us are here because of pool and all things pool related. I would rather read posts by someone like Jimbo (because they're informative) than I would from someone like "A" who doesn't contribute anything of any interest that's pool related.
Jimbo did not call Chilli a name and as best as anyone can tell, he didn't break any forum rules. Going back to "A"... this person did violate the forum rules. Both Jimbo and "A" have been banned before but that's the only thing they have in common.
"A" blatantly broke the forum rules. The recourse for this was being told to "play nice" and then the offending post was deleted.
Jimbo didn't break the forum rules. The recourse? Being told to apologize to someone and since he's been banned before, he'll get a permanent ban if he chooses not to apologize for something that he did not do.
I'm sorry, I've been sitting on my hands since this all went down so as not to say anything. I can't help it... nothing about this is right. I simply cannot believe that a long time, contributing member of this forum will be banned for something that they didn't do and that a short time, non-contributing member can do the very thing Jimbo was accused of doing and walk away without any recourse, not even a strike?
This is a pool forum. If the members were all like Jimbo, it would still be a forum about pool. If all the members were like "A", there would be no catagory to list the forum as other than a generic place for people to post random thoughts about no particular topic.
Banning contributing members and allowing members like "A" to do as they please will turn this place into a generic forum.
Jimbo, I was going to quote some of your key statements that I've experienced first hand and know to be very accurate statements but there were simply too many in the last few posts to break it down. Suffice it to say that I'm one of those people that's usually too afraid to post for fear of being banned. I've spent the last year promoting this forum and all the while I've had to watch any and everything I say so that I can at least make it to the DCC as a member since I'm one of the people organizing and promoting the private room for members of this forum