Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The Blonde Forum Saga - warning VERY LONG POST!

Ok, so where do I start? Well I will start by saying I am banned (for life I am led to believe) and so is my wife Charmaine (more on her stroy later)

There are alot of rumours and speculation going on at the moment so I thought I would set the record straight.

It all stems back to the ipoker thread I started where I questioned the integrety of the software (The thread is I believe still on the blonde poker forum) - I was given a hard time by certain people - understandable to a certain extent I suppose seeing as Blonde's own cardroom runs on ipoker. But the fact remained that the ipoker has a flaw in it. The client software does not check with the server software to validate what you see on your screen is infact what the server is sending. This to me is a great security threat. Ipoker finally admitted there was a problem and that it would be fixed in a time scale of 2 weeks. 2 weeks came and went so I posted to ask when the update was going to be released, I was fobbed off by ipoker so i posted my feelings on what I thought would happen, basically nothing, they would forget about it and sweep it under the carpet. Dont get me wrong , the thread became heated on many occasions, too many to post here but like i said, it is still available to read on the forum - although the thread is now locked. There were also various pm's on the subject, some heated. One I remember was from Kev which said something along the lines of "if you dont like it here, then fuck off and make sure the door hits your arse on the way out!"

In my mind, this put certain people "on the back foot" with me as it were - I can understand why but imo it was not necessary. This is where the problems started.

About a week ago I posted on the staking board that I was looking for a few horses to stake on 25c 50c level. I also decided to back a few horses in the $10k on Trillion. Blonde had certain rules about staking/asking for staking - these rules were on the forum. It was pointed out to me by a post on the thread that I had not followed the rules and unless I did, my post would be deleted. I had forgot to put the start time of the comp and also I did not mention it was on Trillion. I ammended the post. Tactics were then switched by saying that I could not stake someone who had less than 300 posts (one of the rules) - the rule said "You may offer to stake players, or ask for staking, but only if you have a minimum of 300 forum posts" - Now i read this as meaning you could not post asking to be staked if you had less than 300 posts and as I had started the thread, I could stake anyone I wanted to. Well there was an argument that ensued over this point - it was not heated at all. Some others agreed with me and posted to say so, others disagreed. It was clear these rules were not clear and indeed they have now been rewritten. This thread has also been deleted so you cannot make up your own mind by reading the contents. Then they changed tactic again by implying that I was forcing people that I staked to sign up to Trillion through my affiliate link which was not true - indeed two of the people I staked already had Trillion accounts (probably downloaded through Blondes own affiliate link). This was a cheap shot at me, the 3rd attempt imo to make me angry and I posted that I thought they were out of order and just using it as an excuse to wind me up. Other people also commented on the thread that they thought the certain memebr was being very picky, one member even went as far as to hint that it was just a personal attack on me. Anyway, I was banned! No email, no warning, no reason. I am led to believe that it is a permanent ban although with no contact from Blonde this is not 100%. It pissed me off a little, not that I had been banned (because I knew certain people did not want me on the forum) but the way in which it was done.

Now my wife also had an account on Blonde, so she posted her thoughts about the subject - again it has been deleted so you cannot read it yourself but it said something like "I fell the treatment of Paul was very unfair, he has a strong opinion and voices it. It seems his opinion does not agree with certain members of Blonde so he was banned. So you can have an opinion, you can post your opinion on the forum, but be warned, if it disagrees with certain members, your post will be removed and you may get banned. I fully expect to be banned for this post which will proove my point"

Well she was right, she was immediately banned and her ban is indeed for life, she had an email confirming this today. My wife has done alot for the forum, posting birthday threads etc.... she even won a blonde award at one of the blonde bashes. She is one of the kindest people you could meet who is not nasty to anyone.

Now banning me as I have said only annoyed me off because of the way it was done, ie no email nothing, and not even for a valid reason imo, but the banning of my wife really pissed me off - that post (which as I have said has been deleted) was one of the only posts I can remember where she voiced her opinion - and for that she was banned.

Now for my part, where I did overstep the mark slightly but I was so angry at the banning of my wife. All of the stories above where I refer to "certain members" well mainly it refers to Kev (If you go on Blonde you will know who I mean). Below is an msn conversation i had with Kev the night of the banning of my wife (warning foul language)::

M3Boy says (00:24):
ban my wife???
M3Boy says (00:24):
wtf for?
M3Boy says (00:24):
for expressing her opinion????????
M3Boy says (00:25):
ban me yes, i dont give a shit, but to ban her???????
M3Boy says (00:25):
all she has done for blonde?
M3Boy says (00:25):
u kow there will be an uproar about this
M3Boy says (00:25):
are you going to ban every member that sticks up for her?
M3Boy says (00:25):
you will have none left!!!!!!!!
Kev says (00:26):
Paul ... just give it up will you,
M3Boy says (00:26):
no i wont
M3Boy says (00:27):
you banned her for what?
Kev says (00:27):
I didnt ban her for your information, but thats irrelevant
M3Boy says (00:27):
its not fuckin irrelevent
M3Boy says (00:27):
trust me!
Kev says (00:27):
you want to make out its me thats doing all this ... fine , think what you like
M3Boy says (00:27):
pick on her is an insult to me ffs
M3Boy says (00:27):
well whoever it was
M3Boy says (00:27):
pass the message on
M3Boy says (00:27):
i know im banned for life
Kev says (00:28):
pass what message on ?
M3Boy says (00:28):
its what some wanted, I can live with that
M3Boy says (00:28):
but to pick on my wife, now uve made it personal
M3Boy says (00:28):
by you i mean the royal you
M3Boy says (00:28):
funny how people know im banned for life before me
M3Boy says (00:29):
she expressed her opinion and you banne dher
M3Boy says (00:29):
thats a fuckin joke! and u know it
Kev says (00:29):
I think you will find that you have been banned for 72 hours as per the email that was sent out ...
M3Boy says (00:29):
i never got an email ffs
M3Boy says (00:30):
i have had 5 people tell me i am banned for life
M3Boy says (00:30):
who deleted the thread also? they show nothing that warrant a ban ino
M3Boy says (00:31):
leave the threads up and let people decide
Kev says (00:31):
well all i know is that you have been banned for 72 hours as per the email ... during that 72 hours the team will decide on the length of suspension or ban
M3Boy says (00:31):
its already decided ffs im not stupid!
Kev says (00:31):
and no, enough is enough, i wont talk about this to you any more Paul, what is the point
M3Boy says (00:31):
no we will talk
M3Boy says (00:32):
at the blonde bash
M3Boy says (00:32):
you can count on it!
M3Boy says (00:32):
im fuckin pissed off!!!!
Kev says (00:32):
is that a threat ?
M3Boy says (00:32):
what fuckin threat?
M3Boy says (00:32):
dont twist my words
M3Boy says (00:32):
im not in the fuckin mood!
Kev says (00:32):
i asked ... is that a threat ... its a question
M3Boy says (00:33):
read what i said! I said we WILL talk
M3Boy says (00:33):
ban me fine i dont give a shit never have never will
M3Boy says (00:33):
but ban my wife?? fss
M3Boy says (00:33):
ffs
Kev says (00:33):
i have nothing to say to you about the banning Paul ... thats a collective decision
M3Boy says (00:33):
bollox is it
M3Boy says (00:34):
so u had a collective meeting tonight did you?
M3Boy says (00:34):
to ban my wife?
Kev says (00:34):
if we meet up anywhere, i will gladly have a beer with you as always, but i wont ever discuss a decision that has been taken by a team of people
M3Boy says (00:35):
cop out
M3Boy says (00:35):
leave the fuckin thread up. or at least her last post
M3Boy says (00:35):
so people can see what she wrote and was banned for
M3Boy says (00:35):
then let people decide
M3Boy says (00:35):
but u wont cos u know ur in the wrong
M3Boy says (00:36):
u expect people to forget about banning me? ur probably right there
M3Boy says (00:36):
but do you really expect people to forget about banning Charmaine?
Kev says (00:36):
ok ... no point carrying on this convo, you are obviously wound up and we arent going to get anywhere ... plus I am knackered and need to go to bed
M3Boy says (00:36):
PLEASE!!!!
Kev says (00:37):
goodnight
M3Boy says (00:37):
you have done more harm than you could possibly imagine banning her
M3Boy says (00:37):
fuck you to
Kev says (00:37):
cheers !

The conversation then continues some minutes later :

Kev M3Boy Paul
M3Boy Kev what?
Kev M3Boy Charmaines account has been suspended for 24 hours, it gives the mods some time to get together tomorrow when more are on to discuss it
M3Boy Kev and?
Kev M3Boy just passing on the information is all
M3Boy Kev why are you telling me this?
Kev M3Boy so you know what is going on ... jesus, thats what you asked me isnt it ?
M3Boy Kev no
M3Boy Kev i didnt ask you anything
M3Boy Kev i dont give a fuck tbh
Kev M3Boy M3Boy says: ban my wife??? M3Boy says: wtf for? M3Boy says: for expressing her opinion????????
M3Boy Kev you have abnne dher for having an opinion
Kev M3Boy you did ask me ... i have now answered
M3Boy Kev thats all i need know
Kev M3Boy ok ... im off to bed. see ya

I have since apologised to Kev for the way I spoke and wish I had worded things differently, although I still stand by what i was saying.

M3Boy Kev just for the record Kev, the way I spoke to you the other night was out of order and I wish I had spoken differently but its done now. I still stand by what I said, just wish I worded it a little (well alot) better

So why am I putting this up here? Well there are I am told some threads on blonde forum at the moment that I would like to comment on, but obviously being banned, I cannot. So those threads only have one side of the story to them - no, the threads do not name names but it is clear who the threads are about.

The whole situation got way out of hand and I genuinely believe that I was not wanted on the forum since the ipoker thread and that if I was not banned for this, then it would be for something else in the not so distant future - fair enough doesnt bother me tbh.

It was the banning of my wife Charmaine that really got to me and yes I did loose it (as you can see above) I could of doctored that conversation, but I want people to know the whole story so they can then make up their own minds.

Just want to add that I in no way think I am an innocent party, far from it - something had to be done by Blonde as situations between me and some members was deteriorating very quickly, but the actions they took was over the top imo. At the end of the day it is their forum and they can act how they feel. At the end of the day, I have to respect their decision.

Do I regret the whole situation? Of course, but whats done is done - time to move on. I am sure I will bump into many people from the forum around the poker tournaments.

If anyone has anything to add or comment on please feel free. I will only delete posts that are untrue.