Off-topic message for my friends here
Sorry about this off-topic post.
I was hoping to get a satisfying result from the DTVPal testing. It's worth repeating that a change in PSIP sent by the CBS affilate here has made my DTVPal operate a lot better, but unfortunately there are still issues. (Hmm, can't seem to stay off-topic even when I'm trying
) The point was, I wanted to get the DTVPal testing done first and THEN deal with the issue described this post, but I guess it can't wait any longer.
I think headings are good. I think they made my DTVPal review more accessible than some of my other recent long posts without headings, so I'll use some here.
My ban at avsforum.com
I'm taking a break from DTVPal testing to straighten out this business about being banned at avsforum.com. It's always been a matter of curiosity, as much as anything, as to why I was banned with the false accusation of having "Multiple user ID's."
The problem is how to approach making an inquiry about this, because there are two very different possibilities for why I was banned.
Is my ISP the problem?
One possibility involves my ISP. I'm using the relatively new Wireless Minneapolis Wi-Fi network. I actually registered at avsforum.com in April using dial-up while I was waiting for this citywide Wi-Fi network to be built. It was originally scheduled to be finished in November 2007, but I wasn't able to start using it until May 1, 2008.
The ISP is usiwireless.com, which is the new Wi-Fi division of usinternet.com. They dynamically assign IP addresses. For now, there isn't even an option to get a static IP address.
Anyway, since the network is new and still under construction, I thought that maybe some mix up in doling out IP addresses meant that another avsforum member and I could have logged on using the same IP address at some point.
If that's the case, it's an innocent mistake due to confusion about a new ISP, and I hope the other guy in Minneapolis didn't get banned as well.
Was my choice of user ID the problem?
The only other possibility I can think of is that it's all about the user ID I chose. I selected rrrrrrobert, perhaps a bit impulsively. For those that don't know, there is or was a guy at avsforum with the user ID rrrrrroger that caused quite a ruckus because he was adamant that DTV was badly designed and that he could have done a better job. He lived in a rural area and had a mostly legitimate complaint that he could receive a lot of channels via analog, even if some were weak and snowy, but not nearly as many digitally. He did go on and on about it, and maybe he still does, but I haven't seen a post by him lately. (He may have no interest in the DTVPal?) I found rrrrrroger's rants, and especially the responses to them, amusing enough that I thought I'd get in on the fun, subtly, with my choice of user ID. I didn't intend to do parodies of rrrrrroger's rants or anything. I HAD put together a signature based on his, but it was accurate info about my own reception situation, and I hadn't displayed it yet on the posts I made.
And Robert is my REAL NAME, so I thought rrrrrrobert would still work fine after the digital transition was past and rrrrrroger's rants were long forgotten.
I seemed to recall a few cases where moderator Ken H was getting really irritated with rrrrrroger, so I googled them up and found the ones I remembered. I won't link to them here, because it would probably just lead to pointless speculation about their meaning (probably by yours truly), but I'm hoping that anger at rrrrrroger didn't rub off on me simply due to an unfortunate choice of user ID.
Timeline of the Ban
I had read avsforum occasionally many times, but didn't begin visiting it fairly regularly until I became aware of the $40 government coupon program. I felt like I knew some of the members quite well from reading so many posts, even though I was just a "lurker" at that point. I came to respect the knowledge and common sense of Rammitinski and the extensive fact collection work of Malouff, for example. I was always glad to see the broadcast industry perspective from bdfox18doe. I was amused by the, let's say, "persistence" of not only rrrrrroger, but Lexus1208 and Dagger666. I even recognized a name, "narkspud" that I knew from another, unrelated, forum (BasicHip.com; revisiting there I see a link for "Secret Agent Man Radio." Interesting. But not suspicious.
)
After lurking for a couple of months, I registered at avsforum.com on April 24, 2008. (At least, I noted that date when I wrote down my password.)
I finally felt compelled to make a couple of posts on May 18, 2008. (
link 1a,
link 1b,
link 2 ).
I was pretty busy at that time, and didn't check back until a week or so later. I clicked on an attachment to someone's post, and that's when I found out I had been banned:
vBulletin Message
You have been banned for the following reason:
Multiple user ID's.
Date the ban will be lifted: Never
Gotta love that "Never"!
I still get that message today (if I'm logged in).
I was aware of options I could try, such as deleting cookies and trying to register again. But in that case, I would actually be guilty of what I was falsely accused of, having multiple user IDs. I decided to just let it go and return to lurking.
Telling others about my ban
Eventually Scott's DTVPal review at the start of this thread led me to register here at satelliteguys.us.
On June 17, 2008, I got my first private message (PM) here from partsman_ba. He said:
partsman_ba said:
Your summary post is the best, most concise piece of writing I've seen in this thread. I encourage you to keep it updated so we can refer anyone too time-pressed to read this whole thread.
Maybe you should change your sub-heading from "Junior Member" to something like "Crap Cutter!"
I responded
Thanks! And thanks for linking to it over at avsforum.
I would've posted it at avsforum myself, but. . .
and told him the story.
A similar thing happened later with Malouff, but they were the only people I told. I told them they could quote my PMs at avsforum if they wanted to, because I was curious enough to want a true explanation of why I was banned. (Because of the ban, I couldn't PM an avsforum moderator, for example, to ask what was going on.)
partsman_ba and Malouff have been almost more interested in getting me reinstated at avsforum than I was myself, although there have been several times I wanted to comment on something and couldn't.
I was surprised to see a fan club was almost forming at one point! Talking Rat joined (or maybe founded it?).
I appreciate their efforts, and now I want to make an effort of my own so that their work was not in vain.
I was never given an explanation for the ban
partsman_ba and Malouff were both eventually told that someone else's account couldn't be discussed, but Malouff was told recently by moderator Ken H that there was a "legitimate" reason for my ban. I'm skeptical! The multiple user IDs reason is NOT a legitimate reason; if there is a different legitimate reason, it's not the one I've been given. Saying there was a "legitimate reason" for my ban almost seems like slander from where I'm sitting (which ironically demonstrates the danger in skirting your own privacy rules).
I understand why they can't tell partsman_ba and Malouff any details due to the forum privacy rules, but I don't see why they can't tell me. They have my email address, of course.
It seems to me that if you ban someone, you can at least inform them of the real reason why. I was only "given" a reason by the automated message from the vBulletin system. I received no email. If I was sent a PM, I was banned before I was allowed to read it. (In my banned state, I can't even see if I have any private messages or not.)
I guess I have to do the asking myself. It was hard to for a banned user to find, but I eventually discovered this Contact Us page: (
link ) So that's where I am now, ready to make contact.
You can help me out with a little more information
The problem I'm having now is I don't know how to approach this. If it's just an ISP error, I can just make a simple appeal for the situation to be corrected. But if someone at avsforum has ill feelings toward rrrrrroger that have rubbed off on me somehow, I need a completely different approach.
Because of the ban, I am unable to do a member search at avsforum. Malouff once tried to search for me and found I was banished from search results as well (even though my posts are still there; see links above). I wonder if the same is true of rrrrrroger. I haven't seen a post from him in a long time, but I've been mostly sticking only to the DTVPal-related forums at avsforum since my ban, so I may have missed him. Could some one do a member search on him and see on what date his posts stopped, if indeed they have stopped?
Please post what you find in this thread; I'm having trouble keeping my PM box from filling up, and I don't think the satelliteguys will mind another post or two regarding this "drama." We should be able to get back on topic quickly.
What I'll do next
I will use your info about rrrrrroger to decide what approach I should take in making an inquiry through the Contact Us form -- whether I will ask for technical details of the ban, or ask for a true reason for the ban -- and whether I will ask to be reinstated as rrrrrrobert, or ask to be allowed to make a 2nd registration with a different user ID.
Correction: I said above that partsman_ba and Malouff were the only people I told about my ban, but I recall now that later (2 weeks or more later, I think, after it seemed to be common knowledge) that I did mention it, in passing, in a public post or two, and I also mentioned it to one other person in a PM.