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We were very suprised to find the
411 site (the 411 name is
intentional for reasons found below) inaccessible early Thursday morning. We
finally found our bookmark to the message board and were witness to an event
that we can only describe as reminiscent of the gunplay of the Wild West.
It appears the split of the Letz Talk
crew from the site has escalated to include the previous host of 411,
SendAGig. The shootout was between the owner
of Sendagig and with the webmaster of 411, her moderators, and most of the
loyal members of the site.
This is what we understand of the dispute:
1. SendAGig claims non-payment from 411, and hosting of inappropriate material
on the server. SendAGig shut down the site due to these claims. SendAGig posted
a link to the Reality411 domain that would supposedly take one to the material
in question, however when we clicked the link we were brought to a blank page.
2. By some quirk of domain registration, SendAGig controls, and perhaps owns,
the Reality411.com domain name.
3. Posters on 411 seem to have been redirected to the Letz Talk site when
trying to go to the Reality411.com domain.
4. Trying to reach the Reality411.com domain now sends you to a page saying the
site was taken down due to violations of the terms of service.
5. The whole discussion was extremely heated and filled with profanity and
personal attacks which made both sides look unprofessional.
6. Posters on both boards stood by their webmasters. SendAGig was also posting
on both boards.
Our take on this? We thought the split-off of
Elite TV from
TVCH was bad - it now looks like
a day at the playground. This split, as most do, make all sides look bad - this
one to the extreme. The addition of the host of the parent site to the mix
escalated the split from a common occurence to a full-scale war with legal
ramifications - something most splits do not do.
Our advice? It is our belief that 411 will survive this near-fatal blow if they
so desire - the site continues to have support with its members and can
continue to be a vital site if they put this past them. Letz Talk is now in a
similar situation as Elite TV and the recent (missing in action) site that
split from TVCH - if you let the bitterness against your parent fill your
board, you will not survive - move on and make it a site that you can be proud
of - which is what ETV has done. |
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MissMary -
RealityTVfans.com Editor - sent us
her thoughts on the 411 article last issue.
Was just sent to your site about one of our posters Supershirll being poster of
the week, and noticed your article on Reality411.com I am not familiar with the
situation over there, but can only feel sorry for Kristi if this is happening.
I know she works just as hard on her site as I do on mine. The boards
definitely are the area of any site that can be one of the greatest joys and
the biggest sorrows for a webmaster. Check out an article on jokersupdates.com
under essays for another take on a situation on their boards.
I've had a few problems in the last year, but most were due to
misunderstandings, which in most cases were ironed out. When they weren't, I
can't say I was sorry to see those people go. I am very careful in picking
moderators for the forums, as in the wrong hands can totally ruin visitors
experiences. I'm proud to say that the ones I do have, which number about 6
have been around for over a year! I think that says 'something'. :)
In my article I sent you guys earlier about our site, I described how we do not
allow flaming on our site. Reprimanding said flamers usually results in more
flames aimed at either myself and/or a moderator, and finally the banning of
the person(s). It just will not be tolerated on our site. I think this is why
we have attracted the many intelligent people we have, and the ones that have
been with us for well over a year and the new ones that have recently joined
like Supershirll who have decided to stay and said they've checked out a lot of
other boards and find ours the most welcoming. I think our consistancy speaks
for the reason this happens. People can feel safe to post there without being
flamed by other posters OR moderators/admins.
That said, I have had a few breaking points myself in the last year where I
just wanted to shut everything down because of the babysitting that goes along
with having messageboards. Since my moderators are so well versed in what I
expect on the site, I no longer have to worry about that. They deal with the
brunt of anything that happens, and believe me it's rare.
Personally I would never allow a forum specifically for bashing others. Our
site does have a user rating option, but registered users have the option of
turning this on or off. The majority have used this function for pats on the
back not bashing. Another good sign of the 'clientele' we attract I think.
In short, I guess I felt compelled to write, because I have emailed with Kristi
in the past and I'm sure she is not any more happy about this situation than I
would be if it was my site. I don't think the majority of posters on a board
realize the tremendous amount of dedication and work it takes to keep sites
running the size of reality411.com or realitytvfans.com. Webmasters often feel
under-appreciated, and sometimes when we get flamers we tend to take it out on
them with our full fury. Sometimes they deserve it and other times they don't.
I'm just glad I have moderators to temper my emotions! :)
Anyway, that is my two cents, and you do have my permission to reprint this if
you see fit. |
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Flint, a long time moderator at
TVClubhouse sent us this article
on our 411 article last issue.
That article on Reality411 was interesting, and got me thinking about a
discussion some of us had about people on the board this year. Ignoring the
Game BS, which was with a smaller group of people, since BB2 started things
have been a lot nastier than during BB1. Sure sometimes things got heated and
out of hand last year, but it was the exception, not the norm. This time around
it is like people decided that since a lot of the HG's were nasty and obnoxious
that they should be. The number of posts that had to be moderated was
astronomical compared to last year, and that isn't just because mods were being
picky. One of the reasons we HAD to be so picky this time was to prevent things
from getting out of hand.
People can, and will slough it off as Moderators being dictators, or trying to
sugarcoat everything, or over-moderating. If that makes them feel better more
power to them. The sad truth of the matter is that even when some pretty
innoccuous posts got left, call them borderline, things would flare up into a
fight. In order to try and keep a damper on behaviour like that we had to
attempt that time honoured tradition called pissing on the embers. A lot of the
time, people never even saw some of the nastier posts because they were taken
care of right away. For the most part the moderators busted their collective
asses to try and make the board run smoothly, and allow people to talk with
things getting crazy. It was the same with just about any BB site.
Being as egocentric as the next person, and not wandering around the various
boards much I figured that the level of nastiness was peculiar to TVCH. (During
BB2 the board took up most of the net time of all the Moderators.) Reading
about Reality411 and Jokers, and talking to people from other sites showed me
that it wasn't limited to just one site. I don't know whether that is a good
thing or not. All that hatred and negativity over a TV show just seems like
such a colossal waste of time. Add to that the frustration and headaches it
causes for the people running the sites. If they get tired of putting up with
it, the boards will vanish, and seeing the crap taht goes on who would want to
start one? (And I mean REAL boards, not one issue wonders that are created to
just bash a person/people or a site.) As we saw with Joker's deciding not to
put up with the BS anymore and just close up shop, it can happen. Odds are most
admins and moderators have thought about just closing up or quiting rather than
dealing with the BS. Definitely food for thought. |
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Just a few tidbits too small for an article:
It seems that though Zeb has said goodbye to our messageboard several
times, he continues to troll and post to it. He has also begun using members of
other boards names to post sexually oriented messages on the
BBInsider
board.
Dilligaf at TVCH is
engaged! Congrats!
The Top 50 sites seem to be having even more problems. Seems that all the sites
have been deleted from the system and people are having to re-register. If you
have a Top 50 image on your site, it is probably not showing a correct ranking
- click through and see if you are still listed. |
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From our mailbox:
I would like to nominate Goddess from
TVCH. Even though I disagreed
with her regarding the Rosie/Gun Control debate, she stuck in there. Several
posters were firing questions and she answered with concise answers.
Karuuna, another favorite also did well in the fray.
shhh on who nominated her!
(We didn't tell but I bet she can guess!) |
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Have some trash? Send it to us!
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If you have some good scoop on the reality web
scene, or want to nominate a favorite poster, send it to us at
realitytrash@yahoo.com and we will
try to get it into our next issue. And thanks to all of you who have
contributed!
We are also looking for article submissions from our readers. We will give you
your own byline and let you be part of our "Who Runs Reality Trash"
game! |
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TRASH! |
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