Question QUESTION: AskMeHelpDesk.com lists you, as here, as a "computer expert," but I find no degrees or licenses. I did find a Scott Diamond listed as a piano teacher, who appears to be you, also in Long Island, New York. Do you do both? However, even your personal expert website does not list any real identifying information. No phone number, no address, nothing, except that we should pay you 75 cents per minute for your advice. Via PayPal, no less. Please let us know your credentials and who you really are.
ANSWER: I changed my mind about responding. I felt this would be the best place to respond from.
First, I did not ban you. You were banned by one of the head moderators for harassment and alias abuse. This was not done at my request either, if I wanted you banned I would have done it myself, since that's within my abilty as a moderator. You got yourself banned by making a nuisance of yourself with your use of the report inappropriate post link and your harrasing public posts. Nor did I delete any of your posts. The decision to do so was made by other moderators.
You then further compounded your abuse by creating two other accounts to post from. This is called alias abuse and is against the rules of the site.
This started when I politely referred you the guidelines for using the comments feature. I did not chastise you for comment, I simply referred you to the guidelines. It was only after you attacked me that I branded your use of the feature inappropriate, which it was according to the guidelines approved by the operators of AMHD.
And that's the main thing you missed. When you look at the guidelines and the responses to it, you will see that many others agreed with the guidelines, so much so that it was made the official guidelines for the site. While I proposed the guidelines, the decision to accept them was made by others.
I could go on refuting just about every one of your points, but I'm not going to waste my time at this point.
I will say this. Except for your reaction to my trying to educate you about how to use AMHD, your posts were helpful and made sense. I had hoped that you would take warnings from other moderators to heart and try to conform to the rules for using AMHD. Instead you stepped up your harassment and got yourself banned. If you are interested in getting the ban lifted, that can be done. But you will need to apologize to me and the site for your misunderstandings, false accusations and other harassments. Otherwise I would suggest you cease trying to harrass me as I won't respond anymore.
Scott<>
I saw your comments. If you want to discuss reinstatement then use the followup option and we can discuss it.
Scott<>
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Dear Scottt,
"I saw your comments. If you want to discuss reinstatement then use the
followup option and we can discuss it."
What is the procedure?
Yours, C. Todd
ANSWER: First, is an apology. I want to make sure you understand that you were totally offbase. I want to make sure that you know what you did wrong and why it was wrong. Once I'm satisfied of that, I'll lift the ban and let you know that its been lifted.
Scott<>
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Dear Scott,
I am not sure what it is exactly that you want. I said many times that I gave
an "unhelpful" rating because one individual said that physical assault was
alright. I don't know what it is that you want. I never understood it, your
description of "opinion" vs. "fact" in this case. The only conclusion I can come
to is that you did not want me to say that a rating was "unhelpful," and I
should have posted this as a comment / additional posting. You have used
the term "comment" for "rating," which caused a great of deal of confusion
for me. I believe this is what you meant. Correct me if I am wrong.
If you will simply tell me what you want me to put in writing, I will do so and
sign it. However, I will need to know when you intend to lift the ban as I was
in contact with three people over sensitive issues, one of whom was
extremely depressed. I am concerned for her mental welfare, and physical
safety. If I am not able to respond to her message, she make take it as a
serious rejection and I don't know what will happen to her. I could not beat to
know that something bad would happen to someone because I was
permanently banned for not "admitting I was wrong" about guidelines you
have posted.
Therefore, please write down what you want me to say and I will post it or
whatever you like.
I have tried to reach you by telephone, but the person said they were
"another Scott Diamond." Therefore, I hope that this email will be sufficient.
Let me know what you need to here. I am APOLOGIZING for any
misunderstanding on my part.
Yours, Catherine Todd
Answer Ok this helps a great deal. I didn't want to put words in your mouth I just wanted to make sure you understood where I was coming from.
To explain further, the Ratings feature has two parts, the actual rating which is check mark for Accurate/Inaccurate and a comment explaining your rating. The main point of the guidelines is that the Inaccurate (or negative) rating should only be used on a response that is factually incorrect. If you want to disagree with what someone posts, then just add a response to the thread with your point of view.
But that is not what got you banned. You're reaction to my ponting out the guidelines to you was WAY over the top. Your personal attacks against me and your disruption of the site were what got you banned. Comments like; "no one is welcome that does not agree with Mr. Gem, or pay him 75 cents per minute." and "Doesn't "work well or play well with others." were totally uncalled for and totally false. That and your reaction to being warned by OTHER mods was also what got you banned.
I want to make sure you understand that AMHD is a moderated site. The mods try to keep the site from becoming a bash site like so many others. That's one of the reasons for the ratings guidelines. Its one thing to post a response disagreeing with someone, but its another to give their opinion a negative rating.
Two final points. I am a bit unnerved by your stalking me. Especially your attempts to try and call me directly. As far as the $.75/min thing, if you had bothered to read what that's all about, its to give people who want one on one, real time help a way to get it. I don't charge for any advice I give on the forums or even try to get people to pay for advice. Its just offered ans an option to those who want it.
I will reinstate the Catherinetodd account immediately. But be warned you will be on a short leash. Any further examples of harassing other members will result in an immediate and permanent ban. You also need to send PMs to CurlyBen and Fr_Chuck apologizing to them. If you don't, the ban will be reinstated. The other two accounts will remain banned. If you try creating another alias to harrass people all your accounts will be banned.
I'm doing this because I believe you do have something to offer to AMHD and I don't want to cut you off from the people you were helping. By the way, in all of this, my only concern was the integrity of AMHD, nothing else.
