I Know How She Feels: I Was Banned From A Site Myself...No Not Here

@pyewacket (43903)
United States
December 23, 2007 1:19am CST
I was being reflective here about the whole hoopla that has been going on for the past week, since one of our cherished friends had been banned, and despite her emails to the admin and an email writing campaign from many of us to have her reinstated, none of us got replies back or have the member tell her full side of it. We really worked very hard to get Terry back but it was a no go. Some of us, including me, suggested to her that she create a new account so she could once again be a member of our community but she was so thoroughly disgusted by everything that she decided to terminate her account permanently and not come back. I have to admit I got a bit ticked off at Terry for not wanting to start a new account, but then I remembered something, that I almost forgot...I had been banned once too at a site and began to understand. I had once belonged to a rather "exclusive" pagan/wiccan Yahoo group. The moderator and owner was a well known wiccan author no less. I was so happy to join this "exclusive" group and gee, to think owned by a famous wiccan author. At the time I joined I was going through a very rough time, and while I did keep on topic and discuss various pagan-wiccan subjects I also asked for prayer help (the wiccan/pagan way) and did so by filling in just why I needed the prayer help. One of the things that ticked me off though, was I would start really interesting topics to discuss...I STARTED THEM ..then the moderator would chime in with her OWN topic, but a copy-cat version of what I had already started--okay kept my mouth shut. Of course all her "admirers" who were in my opinion a$$kissing her would reply among other things, "what a wonderful discussion idea"--as if SHE were the one who really did--uh, nope, it was me who started the discussion ideas/topics. So on and on this went, and I still continued to ask advice or for prayer help during the rough time I was going through and would still give background info as to why--I did this so the members could understand completely what was going on in my life...just as many of us do here when we start a topic/discussion and we what to elaborate or give an example..Next thing I know I'm banned. When I wrote to her and the other moderators, it was like they just weren't listening. She got her info all twisted up about me, made judgments and assumptions about and against me that just weren't true--like in other words, she hadn't even really bothered to really read what I had been saying in my discussions, or what I was saying to her when I would privately email her to explain things. To this day...and it's been well over a year, I have to admit I still hold a grudge and I would still like to open the moderators eyes and have her understand things, to have the chance to really explain things, but she still would probably be wrapped up in her erroneous conclusions and assumptions about me that were so false and off-base. She said someone like me was no longer welcomed to the group. I even happen to have one of the books the main moderator wrote and is rather famous for, and I know this sounds stupid, but while it's one of my better wiccan type books, I still want to spit at it every time I pick it up. Yeesh. Do I hold a grudge or what? LOL Now unlike our missing member I was tempted to start a brand new account...but then I figured why bother? So I do know what it's like to not only be banned from a site, but to be ignored and not have the truth listened to. So...folks..have you ever been in a similar situation? If not banned from a site, have ever had a friend or relative make some erroneous conclusion and assumption about you, and not given the chance to clear your name and put them right about who you really were or what you were all about? Were you ever to make the situation right? Or did you just figure...oh, the hell with it?
12 people like this
15 responses
@GardenGerty (169556)
• United States
23 Dec 07
I have had friends misunderstand me, and a co worker, as well. The co worker and I just let it go, because we are essential to each other in our positions. I am not angry with her, but she is not someone I would ever trust 100% either. I keep my own counsel, and try not to push her buttons as she gets hot and fiery if she thinks you are stepping on her toes. I am a pretty easy going person, I think. I value your insight on the situation Terry is in, and I think if people will read it carefully they might find some solutions in it too. I see lots of people who get banned come back one way or another. We all need to really listen, especially if we are in a group that names itself as a community.
@GardenGerty (169556)
• United States
29 Dec 07
I did get a message from myLot that said the account was "paused" because of arguments with other members. I did write back and say I suppose that the other members were paused as well. For whatever good it is.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Dec 07
The sad fact is though as with any "community" whether here or in "real" life one does have trouble makers...yeesh, I live in an apt. building and there are trouble makers that I give a wide berth to as I just don't want the aggravation
2 people like this
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
23 Dec 07
wel not on line but in real life and it was to have happened 40 years ago and to this day several people think what happened was my fault. Even when they have been proved wrong! So I do know what prosacution feels like. BUt I said to heck with it and still talk to them makes my daughter mad! but I do it anyhow
3 people like this
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
24 Dec 07
the one I refer to is my sister in law and she never says anything about it to me. And her daughter is the only one in hubbies family that keeps in touch with me SHe dont think it and she is my only contact back home . I talk to her the most any how ever so often talk to sis in law I also figure if she dont meantion it and I dont then she has notihng to build on for its not true and if I dwell on it it would make it her mind that it was true. DOes that make since to you?
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Dec 07
You still talk to them? Why? I wouldn't, but then that's me
1 person likes this
@Stiletto (4579)
23 Dec 07
I've never been banned from a site although I've certainly had people offline making wrong assumptions about me. Unless it's someone I personally care about then to be honest I couldn't care less. The same is true online. There are some people I have become very friendly with and it probably would bother me a little if they jumped to the wrong conclusion about something I had said or done. However, this is not real life and I think sometimes people take sites like myLot way too seriously. If I was banned from here I would probably just come back under a different name - assuming I wanted to come back of course. It's no big deal. I have enough drama in real life - I don't need virtual drama as well. As for your friend Terry perhaps she is just disgusted by the way she has been treated and decided to draw a line under it all. When we've been treated unfairly we have two choices - either move on or fight back. I just don't think myLot (or any online forum) is important enough to waste too much emotional energy on.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Dec 07
I suppose that is terry's rationale that it just isn't important enough to waste too much energy on this whole business, so I do understand
1 person likes this
@ESKARENA1 (18260)
23 Dec 07
Im afraid im with your friend pye, id just walk away, i have no reverese gear. If im not what is wanted on any site then i see it as their loss not mine, Yes i hold grudges and i just keep walking blessed be
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Dec 07
Glad to know you hold grudges too...LOL
1 person likes this
@blackbriar (9075)
• United States
23 Dec 07
-throws her books out- Who needs books when there is interesting reading right here on my puter? My kittens can't knock this all over the place either for me to pick up 20 times a day. Anywayssssssss....I've never been banned from a site/group but I have lost who I thought were close friends only they turned out to be either backstabbers or thought they were better than me with their nose way up in the sky. I've also been the brunt of the kids' jokes at school when I was a kid and was always kicked/slapped/punched/tripped...you name it, the bullies did it. Make ya wonder why I hated school so much and refuse to go back. Actually had thoughts of burning down my grade school when I was attending it, hated it so much and still do. Soooooooooo....yeah, in a way, I know where Terry is coming from and not wanting to come back. But then again, she's also letting the bullies win the war.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Dec 07
OMG---you and me both...I was the kid most likely to be threatened by bullies to be beaten to a pulp...uh, but I was the faster runner....ran away like crazy, but also made fun of a lot too...hehee. Yes, in a way she is letting the bullies win
1 person likes this
@ctrymuziklvr (11057)
• United States
23 Dec 07
Yup, I was banned from here and then from another site that had to do with my being banned here...lol!!! I deserved it both times and said what the heck none of this is real anyway and just got on with my life. I have learned to be very careful here on mylot since I love the money I earn here and don't want to lose it.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Dec 07
Yes, I guess that's all one can do is to just move on..what's that saying, to dust off oneself and carry on? Something like that
1 person likes this
@lilaclady (28206)
• Australia
23 Dec 07
yes I am so disappointed in Mylot, I really thought they were different from all the other sites, I guess I thought they were a little more human....
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Dec 07
I think a lot of us are getting disappointed
1 person likes this
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
24 Dec 07
Oh I totally feel you on this one. I don't know the person who was banned from mylot, but your story sounds a lot like mine and others I know. We were not banned, but more so "shunned" for dumb reasons. For example, I wrote at a site I no longer write at. Often I heard bad things about people there who I liked! People liked to throw around the words "gaming the site" as if anyone who tried too hard to make money there was "gaming" the site. Give me a break! That site gave status to members who wrote a lot. When I saw people get status who didn't write more than a few pieces, it ticked me off. When I'd bring it up, they would turn it all around on me that I'm jealous or whatever. In the end, even though I see a lot of members there I still like, I will not write there b/c of this and many other reasons b/c I still see way too often the people who tick me off!! So if you have bad feelings towards the leads of that group, you definitely shouldn't join. The best is to stay as far away from the site as you can and find a new one :) I'm sure there are other more accepting groups out there.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Dec 07
Yes there are plenty of sites around. Pity though, cause it seems sooner or later you meet up with the same problems. I think it's a case of people just plain not having anything better to do than to backstab at others. BTW..you're not talking about the "Y" site..LOL. Technically speaking I'm still a member there, but hardly ever go there anyway...heard there's been problems there
1 person likes this
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
24 Dec 07
Well now that you put it that way...I do understand how that feels. It wasn't a forum but people in my "real life". I still don't speak to them and have made no effort to bother setting them straight. I know it won't matter what I say so why waste my time...and it's been a year and a half for me. I think in a situation like Terryz's, if I knew for sure that I didn't want to be a member anymore, I would make a new account just for the sole purpose of coming back here to totally blast the administration and the trolls. I'd go all out with capital letters and naming names. I know it or my new account wouldn't last long but oh well.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Dec 07
I know. Sometimes it really does seem a waste of time to set people straight about things especially if they stubbornly have their minds made up and nothing one said to them would make a difference
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Jan 08
i used to try to clear my name (in friend fights)..but as i got older,i started going with "the hell with it" unless they really started rumoring. i figured if they were that quick to accuse me,when they know me,it's not even worth my bother to give them anymore breath or energy. nothing i said changed it,so i finally walked away.
• United States
21 Jan 08
i hear you. y'know how my mom is..
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
6 Jan 08
It's kind of harder to just walk away when the person spreading lies and rumors about you when it's your own mother...which is exactly what she did at times. It wasn't until people got to know me that they realized what a lier my mother had been
2 people like this
• United States
24 Dec 07
I have never been banned from a site or anything, but I have had disagreements with friends or relatives that were uncalled for. I can understand the feeling quite well. Maybe you should be giving someone a taste of their own medicine here.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Dec 07
I think my all time worse experience was all the crap I went through with my own mother...oh, what a lier she was just to make herself look good, and told all kinds of lies about me, so many people she talked to had made their own conclusions about me. It wasn't until they really got to know me, that they realized what a con artist, lier my own mother was...yeesh
1 person likes this
@worldwise1 (14885)
• United States
24 Dec 07
Too bad, pyewacket, she wasn't as eager to read your emails as she was to steal your discussions. Over the course of my life I have seen many things of this kind happen to undeserving people. I have even been in that position myself a couple of times. There is nothing worse than being falsely accused and not being allowed to defend yourself. If your friend has decided to cut her ties with this site, so be it. There are other sites where she will ,I'm sure, be welcomed.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Dec 07
I'm actually thinking of starting my own site..LOL. No, no one will get paid on it but could be another alternative??
1 person likes this
@3lilangels (4639)
• United States
23 Dec 07
well no i never was banned but i really thought mylot was different and more reasonable from the other sites and i am really dissappointed in their decission and they should start smarten up and making the right decisions and not allowing great people like terry to have to leave.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Dec 07
What is bothersome is that they took the word of the troublemaker who purposely went against terry but never gave her the chance to speak or defend herself
1 person likes this
• United States
29 Dec 07
I've never been banned from a site as yet, but who knows what the future will hold, lol! I remember I had a couple of smart-a$$ answers here on this site and I was ready to jump down their throats and probably would have been banned, but, I removed myself from the computer for a day, and forgot about it. I just wish she would come back, start again and have fun with all of us, as we did with her. She's just giving the troll what she wanted and that's where I would draw the line.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
30 Dec 07
I know I get a lot of smartass answers from people too, and want to sometimes throw the computer out of the window as I'll be fuming. I always try to reply to such responders as diplomatically as possible...of course if I really said what I wanted, well...hehe
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
7 Jan 08
I must say nothing like that has ever happened to me online although I was forced out of my job with the ultimatum "quit or be fired" due to health problems. If I were banned from this or any site I'm not really sure what my reaction would be, as to whether I'd come back with a different account or not. That would be a classic case of having strong feelings both ways...lol! I'd be angry with the admin for treating me unfairly but I'd also miss my friends so much, so I don't know what I'd do. Basically, I can understand perfectly why someone would do either. If that makes any sense at all. Annie
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
7 Jan 08
My mother had a similar thing there. They were downsizing at the job that she ONLY worked for about twenty years. She was only 56 at the time and so had a while to go before official retirement, and here she thought she'd be working until retirement..so it was either walk in one day and the boss saying "You..you're out.." or "volunteer" to leave...she did get a "package" deal for leaving on her own accord, but it still sucked. It took her a long long time to try to find another job at her age.