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What would you do?

  • Thread starter Thread starter abaxas
  • Start date Start date
A

abaxas

Totally off the topic of pinball but I'm curious on other people's views as I'm not sure how to play this one.

NOTE : this has nothing to do with pinballinfo!

If you found out a member of the admin/moderation team had been impersonating another user and posting/commenting on there behalf using the impersonated users username. What would you do/think about this?

Now, what if the member had been given freebies from this other person as they are a business who advertises on that forum. They deny it has anything to do with being involved with the forum. What would you do now?

Finally, what if certain members of the admin team didn't wish for the forum to be involved with this advertiser but have been outvoted due to the above. Noting there are more than one person doing the above.

Sadly, the forum has nothing in the rules stating you cant impersonate another. YET!

I guess my question is, what do people think are the limits of acceptability. Maybe I'm wrong to assume that the person who posts is actually the person who is listed as doing so on the page.

Also, I'm curious if people are happy for moderators/admins to gain advantage outside the forum by using their power/influence in it.

Thanks

David
 
In my opinion, it's not acceptable to impersonate another. As an admin, you are in a position of responsibility and it would be regarded by anyone as such. They are probably in possession if personal data of forum members which that member has chosen to not to disclose but maybe required to give in order to sign up to the forum. Eg, email address, dob etc..

If the admin has obtained services , goods or information by using the other persons ID, then there are criminal offences at hand.

If I was writing a message to ABAXAS then I would reasonably expect ABAXAS to be receiving it. Likewise if you wrote to me.

Not cricket in my book mate.

My 10 pence worth anyway fwiw.
 
I'm sure on OTHER forums it happens a lot as there must be 1000's of forums relating to almost anything you can think of and not all of them are going to as honest and genuine as this one :thumbs:

Impersonation usually means to deceive and by what you have said that is what is happening so sounds like a rather corrupt forum to me so I would 'name and shame' and then let the other forum members vote on it.
 
The posting that the admin did.... Was that positive posts on behalf of this business user, or inflammatory posts or something like that... Just being a nuisance?
 
* thanks for all your input so far.

The posts were advertising the business's wares, status of business updates (new team members) and (my fav) wishing everyone a merry xmas! All very positive.

My view is that trust has been broken. No-one should ever post as another without saying that they are.

In terms of freebies. I take the viewpoint that a free mousemat, mug or pen doesn't matter as we'd all try to blag that. The issue comes when the value starts to creep up.
 
These forums only work if people can trust their admins and that they have an element of privacy. Admins need to abide by the rules as much, if not more that anyone else.
Being an admin is not an elevated privilege but actually one of servitude, being there to help because you want to keep it going, not because you want to gain power.

I am sure there are exceptions but there is rarely a reason to post as another person and certainly not pretending to be them. Even if those posts are positive posts.

As for freebies, if a member of the forum wants to reward the person who set a forum up with something for free then so be it. If that becomes a payment for advertising then it all depends on the forum funding structure and the admin team. For example, if this site needed to advertise and Paul took some items as payment then I would not have an issue. If I pushed for advertising and took a free item as reward then nail me to a stake.

But if someone wanted to give GrizZ a tired old EM project then it is more than likely due to the fact GrizZ is a dude and has a high standing in the community.
 
If I/the forums advertised, anything received directly from that advertising I would make public knowledge.... or at the very least to the other admins/mods. I like things to be transparent as possible... nothing to hide here :)
 
A bit sad if you have to sink so low to get freebies by impersonating a none existing forum member.
Thank goodness we have a great community on Pinball Info and don't have to worry about tossers like that.
 
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