Hi Brillo,
Wrote the below but am not posting it in BN66 thread as it is taking it off topic. I have posted here just so that your replies will not count towards your overall post count. Thought that might amuse you
Sorry to the Light Relief massive, the background is here:
http://forums.contractoruk.com/1052491-post1999.html
http://forums.contractoruk.com/1052630-post2007.html
http://forums.contractoruk.com/1052705-post2021.html
http://forums.contractoruk.com/1052792-post2026.html
The below was written as a reply to that thread but I decided not to clog that thread up as it was off topic IMO.
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Brillo - do not want this thread to deteriorate into obvious issues you have about other aspects of the forum. From your post above it is clear that you have issues with me over the closure of TPD, the lack of post counts from light relief counting towards total forum post count and the banning of a user many moons ago.
1 - TPD was closed as long threads affect server performance. Not had time to look at fixing this as it is of low priority to me. If I get the chance I will try and sort it out but to me it is a minor issue in the grand scheme of things. I have not ignored Nick over his offers of help.
2 - Lack of post counts from LR - I am shocked that a grown man is still niggled by this. Compare this to the BN66 issue, step back and try and see how irrelevant this is. The closure of TPD is in the same league IMO. I have even told you by PM before that we are planning some major changes to the forums and will be reviewing post counts then to see if we can make changes that would cheer you up.
3 - The banning of Lucy. Banned for swearing on the forum. There is more to the situation that you are not aware of and you only ever really got one side of the story, from the person who was banned. She was mentally ill. So again, step back and think logically about the situation and realise that you could be wrong in your assumptions.
The above indicate to me that you have a problem with me overall and this is tainting your view of how the issue with the police was handled.
In reference to the PM I sent you and others regarding police contact. This was almost 18 months ago and I am sure I have the PMs on email backup so will be more than happy to try and find them if I must.
I can remember getting the call from a Detective in Manchester with a list of forum IDs and he requested contact details. I explained that without more information there was nothing I could do and I took the list of IDs and went through the whole thread and discounted the vast majority of users and no threats had been made by the users.
Comments by yourself and a few others were way out of line. I will not go into the details of your posts, but suffice to say they were of a serious nature, serious enough for Special Branch to investigate the matter! This was not some low rank PC requesting details.
I spoke to the detective and explained that without the correct paper work I would not hand over details but that I was sure the comments were not serious threats and if I could get the people to contact him then the matter could be resolved without him having to go to court. With the serious nature of the threats I had no doubt that the order would be granted and we would have to pass over your details.
I PMd you all with the detective's telephone number and explained that he wanted to speak to you regarding comments on the forum and you all called him. I spoke with you about the way it was handled at the time and you were more than happy with the results. I did not, and could not, force you to call him. But if you did not then I am sure the court order would have been granted ans we would have had no option but to hand IP and email address information over. As it was, the case was quickly closed and everyone was happy - or so I thought. At no point did we hand details over as you have suggested.
From your post above it seems to me that you have issues with me over other things with the forum and that you are letting these matters cloud your thinking.
I expect you still to apologise for stating that we "shopped" you and others. The fact of the matter is we did not. I acted to help both the police and you resolve the situation quickly and painlessly for all parties, us included. Had you not spoken to them directly I expect they would have got a court order, told us to provide the details and then kicked down your door. As some nasty things had been suggested it may well have been armed police kicking down your families door. I think I acted in your best interests and in the same situation I would do the same again.
HMRC have no grounds to get personal details from this forum, unless you post stupid information on here that is potentially showing you are about to act outside of the law. If you post this, the police get the relevant powers to ask us to disclose information then we will do. As DR has said, a private forum will not solve that and to think it will is naive.
I think you are incorrect about HMRC, they do not have more powers than the police in terms of requesting information of this nature. They would still have to go through the same channels as the police. I have just spoken to the information commissioners office and, just like the police, I would need to see a court order before I had to release any details. Court would only grant the order if they felt necessary. At that point I cannot refuse any longer.
So when you say "Alternatively you could guarantee the privacy of user anonymity and how far you would go to protect that? Will you go to court to defend it?"
Yes, unless we get a court order which legally forces us to hand over details then we would not divulge anything and this has been tested more than once.
I will not ban you for having this discussion but still feel strongly that you should apologise for trying to paint us in a bad light due to your problems with other parts of the forum.
Again, I know how stressful this time is and I am a fair and lenient person, as I think you pointed out when we had the police issue. It certainly was not a problem for you then.
If I am wrong then I am always happy to hold my hands up and apologise and if this is the case now I will be more than happy to again.
Wrote the below but am not posting it in BN66 thread as it is taking it off topic. I have posted here just so that your replies will not count towards your overall post count. Thought that might amuse you
Sorry to the Light Relief massive, the background is here:
http://forums.contractoruk.com/1052491-post1999.html
http://forums.contractoruk.com/1052630-post2007.html
http://forums.contractoruk.com/1052705-post2021.html
http://forums.contractoruk.com/1052792-post2026.html
The below was written as a reply to that thread but I decided not to clog that thread up as it was off topic IMO.
=====================
Originally posted by BrilloPad
View Post
1 - TPD was closed as long threads affect server performance. Not had time to look at fixing this as it is of low priority to me. If I get the chance I will try and sort it out but to me it is a minor issue in the grand scheme of things. I have not ignored Nick over his offers of help.
2 - Lack of post counts from LR - I am shocked that a grown man is still niggled by this. Compare this to the BN66 issue, step back and try and see how irrelevant this is. The closure of TPD is in the same league IMO. I have even told you by PM before that we are planning some major changes to the forums and will be reviewing post counts then to see if we can make changes that would cheer you up.
3 - The banning of Lucy. Banned for swearing on the forum. There is more to the situation that you are not aware of and you only ever really got one side of the story, from the person who was banned. She was mentally ill. So again, step back and think logically about the situation and realise that you could be wrong in your assumptions.
The above indicate to me that you have a problem with me overall and this is tainting your view of how the issue with the police was handled.
In reference to the PM I sent you and others regarding police contact. This was almost 18 months ago and I am sure I have the PMs on email backup so will be more than happy to try and find them if I must.
I can remember getting the call from a Detective in Manchester with a list of forum IDs and he requested contact details. I explained that without more information there was nothing I could do and I took the list of IDs and went through the whole thread and discounted the vast majority of users and no threats had been made by the users.
Comments by yourself and a few others were way out of line. I will not go into the details of your posts, but suffice to say they were of a serious nature, serious enough for Special Branch to investigate the matter! This was not some low rank PC requesting details.
I spoke to the detective and explained that without the correct paper work I would not hand over details but that I was sure the comments were not serious threats and if I could get the people to contact him then the matter could be resolved without him having to go to court. With the serious nature of the threats I had no doubt that the order would be granted and we would have to pass over your details.
I PMd you all with the detective's telephone number and explained that he wanted to speak to you regarding comments on the forum and you all called him. I spoke with you about the way it was handled at the time and you were more than happy with the results. I did not, and could not, force you to call him. But if you did not then I am sure the court order would have been granted ans we would have had no option but to hand IP and email address information over. As it was, the case was quickly closed and everyone was happy - or so I thought. At no point did we hand details over as you have suggested.
From your post above it seems to me that you have issues with me over other things with the forum and that you are letting these matters cloud your thinking.
I expect you still to apologise for stating that we "shopped" you and others. The fact of the matter is we did not. I acted to help both the police and you resolve the situation quickly and painlessly for all parties, us included. Had you not spoken to them directly I expect they would have got a court order, told us to provide the details and then kicked down your door. As some nasty things had been suggested it may well have been armed police kicking down your families door. I think I acted in your best interests and in the same situation I would do the same again.
HMRC have no grounds to get personal details from this forum, unless you post stupid information on here that is potentially showing you are about to act outside of the law. If you post this, the police get the relevant powers to ask us to disclose information then we will do. As DR has said, a private forum will not solve that and to think it will is naive.
I think you are incorrect about HMRC, they do not have more powers than the police in terms of requesting information of this nature. They would still have to go through the same channels as the police. I have just spoken to the information commissioners office and, just like the police, I would need to see a court order before I had to release any details. Court would only grant the order if they felt necessary. At that point I cannot refuse any longer.
So when you say "Alternatively you could guarantee the privacy of user anonymity and how far you would go to protect that? Will you go to court to defend it?"
Yes, unless we get a court order which legally forces us to hand over details then we would not divulge anything and this has been tested more than once.
I will not ban you for having this discussion but still feel strongly that you should apologise for trying to paint us in a bad light due to your problems with other parts of the forum.
Again, I know how stressful this time is and I am a fair and lenient person, as I think you pointed out when we had the police issue. It certainly was not a problem for you then.
If I am wrong then I am always happy to hold my hands up and apologise and if this is the case now I will be more than happy to again.
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