Email Threats

[DROliver]

This is in response to threatening emails I have received over the last 3 days.

My name is Steve and I post under Dr.Oliver I have a PhDs in Molecular Biology and Psychology. I own a private (soon to be public) web hosting and data management company, that is empowered by the Homeland Security Office . I am the one who owns the server that storm2k resides. I have been engaged in a study on Internet behavior since 1999. From my personal beliefs and from experiences that have come via the study, I base this message.

To set my position I feel that storm2k is a bit restrictive, but that doesn’t deter me from posting or reading or interacting in that community. I know their rules and I respect their rules. It goes for all communities I visit and interact in. The analogy that works well is:

I do not allow smoking in my house, yet I have friends who smoke and visit everyday. They respect my rules and they don’t smoke. We have mutual friends who allow smoking in their home and I also visit there often. I understand that when I visit, there will be someone smoking there, (Of course I beg them to stop) I never tell him they cant. I respect their rules.

Its simple, you want to post in storm2k or any board you must post within the rules. You know that if you break the rules, your post will be deleted and if you continue you will be banned! It’s really not that hard to figure out. So for all the people who say “ I have been banned”, know full well when they made their posts they were going to be banned. That goes for all boards.

The issue of moderation is simple, yet it seems to be a very hard thing to accomplish. For one in my opinion storm2k has too many moderators (too many cooks scenario). There has to be a balance. Also, it is one thing to delete a post; it is a much different thing to edit a post. I hope this practice is not being used, but if it is, it needs to stop. A moderator has the right to delete a post if they deem not within the rules or move a post to its proper section. A moderator has the right to notify the poster of deletion and placement. A moderator does not have the right to edit a post for any reason like spelling, bad words, incorrect facts or links. The moderator has the duty to notify the poster of the problem and should allow the poster to correct those mistakes. Remember the post is the property of the one who made the post! One other thing that should not be practiced is the deletion of a whole thread, just because there was a bad reply to it. The point of this paragraph is to make an argument for the following:

If someone’s post is deleted they should be notified in private to correct the matter. If someone is suspended or banned that should be made in public, with all the posts that resulted in their suspension. This will solve the conspiracy theories form bouncing around.

Its simple you want to interact in a community you must obey their rules, if you don’t like them then don’t interact.

In regards to the Ticka1 matter:
I have known her since 1999 and consider her a friend. Over the years I have defended her when people were pointing fingers. Ticka1 is a big reason why storm2k has had success. It just goes to show you how egregious her violation was.

I told Marshall and Chad to make this public to head off what has now become a bashing feast. However, by keeping the problem private they acted with class and professionalism, by respecting Patricia’s rights and feelings. But if has come back to haunt them. This is very unfair to them. Ticka1 is not the victim. The storm2k community is the victim. What she did was a huge and most unacceptable violation of people’s privacy. There is no excuse for this, nor is there an excuse for not returning the money, it belongs to the storm2k community no more excuses!.

To all who make this argument:
quote “
But for this to be about nothing more than a measly 112 dollars...what the hell?” from will at wwbb.

weatherman33
$112?? Are you people insane? I thought it was like a thousand or something. You have made at least 5 boards suffer, most significantly your own, over $112! That is just sad.

It doesn’t matter if it is 1 penny or a million $$ the money is not hers. It goes to show you the principles some people have or how the completely ignore the real facts. To me it’s not about the money, we can replace it. It’s about the privacy of the members of storm2k that has been violated. It’s about the efforts of Marshall and Chad to make sure this never happens again and how they are treated.

My suggestion to Ticka1,Marshall and Chad is to make their cases public. Patricia, you should make a public apology and return the money ASAP. This(below) falls short if you were attempting to apologize.

The Official "I'm Leaving Storm2K Thread
Sad but true - I hope Storm2k can mend the fences and become the board that it was meant to be.....I have no ills feelings and never will - its about the weather.

I for one was banned over 2 months ago - at that point - I realized the surreality of relationships there and made it a point to get a real life. I left the internet for 6 weeks. For those that have asked - I have told my side of the story - while others refuse to listen and yes I did make mistakes and have an error in judgement - and lost several internet friendships over it and did things I'm not proud of - but I'm only human and trust me I have learned from my mistakes. No second chances given. Reality is friendships are never really friendship over the internet - this person that I trust - did a 360 and did and said things - do I care - not anymore. As I posted at kevin's site - I hope these 4 or 5 people find the peace they are looking for.....I'm not leaving the weather sites and the internet no matter how many IM threats I received from members of the storm2k staff and how many times they threated to post PM's all over the internet btw my 8 year old read some of them...just to know my computer here is a family computer.

And finally - for those that donated money to storm2k- yes I still have that money - I had the check written and everything ready to mail to marshall and then the threats, taunts and blackmail started - I got angry and shred everything into pieces. I don't ever intent on keeping the $112. Yes I did deduct my portion of the money that got storm2k started - no one else wanted to donate the funds and this was before I was asked to go solicting donations - I put up close to $100 to launch the site. The money will be return - but only in a manner that will protect me.

Mike, Freaky and Jetstreak - I know you'll have strived hard to clean all the Storm2k BS off this board and make it what is should be fun and entertaining - its your decision to keep this post up - I think its time I post my side of the story.

God Bless everyone.

Also Patricia you need to stop instigating this problem by making posts that you know will fuel the fire.
From Ticka1 on wwbb

I have not heard anything from you. No I will not PM you what you have to say should be made for all to hear why the hide it that way?

What threats and who are making them?



Quote “The money will be return - but only in a manner that will protect me.”

What does that mean?

Here is an example of instigating:


How many weather boards do you visit daily???

Do you post on all of them are mostly lurk???? I know there are about two or three that I mostly just read and learn from - the others I will jump in and participate.

With the weather being so uneventful ... getting rested up for the severe weather that might happen this spring and then of course hurricane season.

From ticka1 on wwbb



You say you want closure, yet you still post something like that, why?


Bottom line is, make the allegations and defenses public and let the people decide for themselves.

To finalize my answer on the threats of bringing down storm2k,the barometer bob show and the server.

It is ironic this is happening(never happened in 5 years and over 500 servers)and this server is continually under attack since these problems have arose. I have purchased another server and placed it in our 2nd data center in our cage. We now have a redundancy system in place and any successful attack will only mean a very short down time period.

I am not accusing anyone(it could be a random attack on a non-profit community based server) and the FBI is investigating all IP’s logged from these boards.

I will be the first to say a little controversy keeps things going ,but once it crosses the line and it involves personal and economic threats then the controversy needs to end.

I am posting this on 4 message boards and I did not confer with any admin or mod for permission to post.


Peace
Steve O.

[Rainband]

Excellent post. While I agree with most everything you said, the Moderator issue I don't. With all due respect, I have been a member/moderator here from practically the beginnning. Only recently have we had ANY serious problems.Too many cooks. Only a few are in the kitchen at a tiime. The issue of too many moderators, there are a lot of us, but if you look usually only two or three are on at a given time. We do our best to keep the peace here and we follow the rules of S2K while doing it. I understand this situation of late is uncalled for and causing you and many others a lot of stress..hopefully it is a random issue and like you said the FBI is investigating. Whomever it is. They will get caught in the long run. The staff here isn't perfect but I assure you the decisions we make/made are in the best interest of S2K and it's members. I guess what I am trying to say steve is I/we appreciate you and all you do. I just felt like I was being told I didn't know how to do my job. I was given rules to follow as a moderator here at storm2k, we all were and for the most part we always do. Sometimes a post does need to be edited and if we do a pm is sent out. If we delete a post I assure you it needed to be deleted. Etc etc. Usually when we have to edit or delete a post it's because there was a profane or expletive in it or a direct insult to one of our members. This is a family board..always has been always will be. Also We copy the post in the staff lounge before it's deleted. Like you said S2K has it's rules and lately we have had some join that don't wish to follow them. It's not an issue of us not knowing how to moderate, like I said we have done fine thus far. The problem is there are a lot of people who would like to see us fail. The best solution is to ignore them and not feed the fire. We are only human. Hopefully all the trouble is over and we can get back to enjoying S2K. Bring on the Hurricanes. Again. Thanks for all you do bud. We appreciate it.

[cycloneye]

Thank you Steve for all the work you are doing to keep storm2k running against a very minority group who wants to cause trouble and keep the excellent work.Also keep the investigation going to see if those who are making those threats are caughted and pay for it.About the moderators I think the number of them that are at storm2k is apropiated due to the number of members we have and the growing number of members continue.

[DROliver]

Hey Rainband,
I am sorry if you thought I was saying the moderators are doing a bad job,that is not the case.

First I am addressing the overall theme of why people on one board hate the mods on this board.One of the issues was post editing.I have never had nor have I heard of anyone here complain about that issue.

I dont know the policy of storm2k on banning someone I would assume it must have the blessing of Marshall or Chad.

Under our study we have found that the more a board is moderated the more problems the board will have.An increase in the number of moderators only increases the number bad events.I am assuming this is because of personality differences amongst moderators.

This was not an attack on storm2k moderators you guys do a fantastic job!

Steve O.

[j]

I've purposely stayed out of this since I was one of the victims of PM reading. No details needed, but I think suffice to say, THIS is the core issue at hand. Invasion of privacy. For me, it is over, and has been for some time. I hold no grudges, and I'm glad to see the board is moving forward instead of back peddling.

Good job to all.

[ColdFront77]

An ongoing problem has been and continues to be the members of one board in particular not liking what the rules are here. "Family atmospehere is wrong?!?!?!"?

With that said, I am not as active as I once was here. I do want to continue to be an active member of Storm2K, more so than I don't want to. The main reason for not posting here, like I have been in the last few days is because of the absence of topics to respond to.

I am "on the fence" on many of the issues that are currently going on. I can only express some of my thoughts into words, opposed to all of them.

[vbhoutex]

STEVE!! EXCELLENT POST!!!

You are entirely correct about editing posts. IMO, if we have a post that violates the rules, we need to pm the person who did it, give them a chance to fix it, and if they do not do that in a timely manner, then it must be deleted, not edited. I also agree about not deleting an entire thread, but sometimes, at least of late some have been an entire bashfest and everyone was served best by deletion of the entire thread(this would not normally be the case). I do understand your points on the mods, but I feel the way we are set up to operate here as a group works well. I am not about to go into the details of how we operate. No need. ALL of your points are valid in one way or another and EVERYONE needs to read your entire dialouge and take heed. You indeed are a voice of reason!!! Thanks for all you do!!!

[ColdFront77]

I am a "limited" moderator (opposed to a "regular" moderator) in charge of statistics here at S2K.

I am content with being a "limited" moderator more so than I am discontented. Not being able to know what may or may not be happening with members statistically is a situation I have dealt with it on and off since I finally (I hope that doesn't across rude) since I got the position, the middle to late portion of last year.

[furluvcats]

I'd like to know where the moderators were when I was being attacked by a complete stranger a few months ago in the election post? I stopped posting for a while while this attack was going on, and sat back and waited, and no one did anything about it. Much credibilty was lost during this time. I'm one of those passive posters that posts about fous fous things and don't tend to get involved in any debates here, but I feel I should step up to the plate here and ask that all personal attacks be moderated "fairly and balanced". Is as much attention paid to the storm2k "family member" that attacks, vs. the outsider? I'd like to see it balanced out.

[Rainband]

I'd like to know where the moderators were when I was being attacked by a complete stranger a few months ago in the election post? I stopped posting for a while while this attack was going on, and sat back and waited, and no one did anything about it. Much credibilty was lost during this time. I'm one of those passive posters that posts about fous fous things and don't tend to get involved in any debates here, but I feel I should step up to the plate here and ask that all personal attacks be moderated "fairly and balanced". Is as much attention paid to the storm2k "family member" that attacks, vs. the outsider? I'd like to see it balanced out.

Next time pm one of us furluvcats. I am truly sorry Like I said we are Human and we do our best.

[Lindaloo]

Sorry that happened to you Shan!! As John said, PM an Admin or a mod right away.


Excellent post Dr. Oliver and straight to the issue at hand. And thanks for clearing that up about the moderators. You are right, some of us are not liked because of how we we enforce the rules. I will never apologize for enforcing the rules of S2K because I am proud of the stance MF and Chad have taken to provide us with a friendly and flame free atmosphere. It is refreshing.

And I also use my PM feature without fear of someone reading them. We are safer today because of the continued vision that MF and Chad have for S2K.

[Rainband]

Hey Rainband,
I am sorry if you thought I was saying the moderators are doing a bad job,that is not the case.

First I am addressing the overall theme of why people on one board hate the mods on this board.One of the issues was post editing.I have never had nor have I heard of anyone here complain about that issue.

I dont know the policy of storm2k on banning someone I would assume it must have the blessing of Marshall or Chad.

Under our study we have found that the more a board is moderated the more problems the board will have.An increase in the number of moderators only increases the number bad events.I am assuming this is because of personality differences amongst moderators.

This was not an attack on storm2k moderators you guys do a fantastic job!

Steve O.

Thanks bud. I was just explaining the over moderation comment. I appreciate your reply

[ColdFront77]

I can't keep my thoughts to myself with what ever my capacity is (was and maybe in the future). As a diehard member of Storm2K [not as much as in the last year, in the last few days] first and foremost to the admins., mods., the frequent members, then to the those that post 'moderately' and finally to those that lurk... you should all want me to express my views about the site/the current goings-on.

I would think and hope to some degree everyone would agree that if we let people have a chance to get their point across in debates; in turn that would bring in some members that were once here and those that may be getting tired of corresponding here because of the issues that have arisen in the last few weeks. I agree that the "family atmosphere" is a good thing. I have been mentioning repeatedly that it doesn't make any sense why anyone wouldn't like it... ranking on people for no reason, for that matter even if there is a "reason," it shouldn't be blasted throughout the boards.

I also would think and hope that members of less strict boards find condescening remarks toward them and/or groups of people at any given time, a good thing.


Also, shouldn't the PM feature [Private Message] (phpBB apparently has it set up this way?), be just what it means, private. Admins. having access to information that is wanting to be discussed privately on whatever issue should be between those two individuals.

[chadtm80]

Some good points Steve.. As far as the to many Mods part. We have a larger then average team, but there all part timers. Some here now, some here later.

furluv cats.. Mosts of the violations we catch on the board, we catch because a member tips us off to it.. By all means if you ever see anything or are a victim of flaming contact me personally and imediatly.

[mf_dolphin]

I'll attempt to address a couple questions/comment:

Frist Steve's original post. I agree with a lot of what you say but I respect your opinions and appreciate you taking the time to post them. As others have stated, we do have a large staff at S2K. We did that intentionally so that no matter what tiem of day (almost at least) there's a staff member here to help. We also wanted a representative cross section of the board on the staff since we make a lot of decisions with their input. The people on staff are all long time members and are proven contributors to the board. The hardest thing to do as a Moderator is to seperate your personal feelings and convictions from your duties as a Mod to apply the rules fairly to everyone. I can tell you from experience it's not easy to do. In the course of our history we have removed staff memebrs who couldn't quite make that happen. As a group we discuss posts are try to come to a conclusion based on the good of the overall board. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes we make mistakes but we try real hard.

As to the Ticka situation, we made every effort to resolve the issue privately and allow her to remain a member of this board. We removed her Admin rights after the issue with the PM's. In light of her contribution in starting S2K we gave her an opportunity to "save face" but as you said Steve it backfired. The decision to ban came only after weeks of trying to get her to respond about the money with no response.

[mf_dolphin]

Sorry, missed furry's post. As Chad said, we try and read as many of the posts as we can. I'm sorry I missed that or just didn't read all th eposts in the thread. Please contact a Mod, Chad or I. Please accept our apologies.

[streetsoldier]

I'm usually online in here either VERY late at night, or in the midst of the day, when most of our Mods are working, or busy, sleeping, or dealing with other matters.

Since you all are painfully aware of my position on most subjects, I take EXTREME measures to be fair and objective when a post or thread could be constured as "questionable"; i.e. I put my feelings in my back pocket when acting on behalf of these Forums as a Moderator.

As such, my first duty is to Storm2K, not any socio/economic/political agenda I may champion, and my job performance refects that care.

FYI, and thanks for being my "family",

streetsoldier

[furluvcats]

I appreciate the response from all of you, thanks. I like this place and I'm hoping there will be no more flaming towards me or anyone here, but if an instance does arise, I'll be sure to email one of you.

[Rainband]

I appreciate the response from all of you, thanks. I like this place and I'm hoping there will be no more flaming towards me or anyone here, but if an instance does arise, I'll be sure to email one of you.

Good Glad you feel better about this now