Forum Topic

Matte had posted a story this morning. Barry Artiste had already given it a GS flag. I tried to give it a GS flag and join the dialogue, which I felt was important, but I kept getting a blank page with 1 on it, and then finally a "page not found" error telling me the page didn't exist on NP any more.

What happened?

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Rachel Nixon

at 13:42 on February 18th, 2008

I'm looking into this, thanks.

PEP

at 15:58 on February 18th, 2008

Thanks, Rachel.

PEP

at 22:29 on February 18th, 2008

I've heard from Matte, who told me that he's been banned from NP. He said: "I did email through their
system - I don't expect a reply - I was blocked
summarily...."

What's going on?

Rachel Nixon

at 12:56 on February 19th, 2008

Matte's account was blocked yesterday by a NowPublic staffer following a posting he made to the site. I've taken some time to look into the matter and consider that this response was disproportionate.

For this reason we are working to reinstate his account and the content within it. I have contacted him to let him know and to apologise on NowPublic's behalf.

While we do expect members to adhere to a basic code of conduct for the good of the community, we encourage dialogue between NP editors and the site's members and see it as an important means of helping the site grow and improve.

PEP

at 13:20 on February 19th, 2008

Rachel, thank you for taking the time and initiative to look into this matter.

I agree with you: I also think that dialogue between staffers and members, as well as member-to-member, is essential for a positive growth.

I'm not sure if you will decide whether or not to leave Matte's story, once he's restored, as an Opinion piece, or ask him to move it to the Forum. That, of course, is up to you. But I would hope that this incident and his views can be used as a springboard for fruitful movement away from "personalities", backing certain political positions, and old grudges. All that can be tricky, but I think that with consistent standards fairly applied and good will, we can certainly move forward. Maybe even get some of our good old contributors back--which would make me so very happy.

René

at 11:12 on February 20th, 2008

This is alarming!

matte

at 15:44 on February 21st, 2008

Well, I am back after being summarily banned - no proper communication, zilch.

I did email Rachel, and so my surprise I received a response and an apology about the banning, so things are certainly not all hopeless in terms of communication. Well, not with Rachel anyway.

However the informative "How to" article has not been reinstated which is a shame because it really did show how to receive a top story position in a few very simple steps.

I have asked, so it might reappear.