Re: It's happening
 

asked them to delete my account because puff is overr here germany a word for whorehouse and i dont want to be associated with a site with such a name.
Lets wait and see if they grant my wish...

Re: It's happening
 

Just a question. Does anyone remember signing or agreeing to a membership agreement with Puff? I know I did with CS and I did with the Asylum, but I didn't with Puff. From what a friend told me, the only thing that CS could sell was what was posted before the sale was completed. That since I didn't sign or agree to anything with the new owner, then he wouldn't necessarily own anything I posted after the sale was completed. Unfortunately he would own the membership list including the user profiles and he could do what he wanted to with that material - even selling it to a spammer unless it was something prohibited in the sales contract.

My time swimming around over there is probably over anyway because I just made a post questioning the whole "forum owns your post" concept. I tried to find and read the membership agreement over there and couldn't find a link to it.

Re: It's happening
 

Seriously f'ed up! Press charges against that person. Threats are completely uncalled for on a message board.

Re: It's happening
 

Dave,

Give them my address if they want to threaten anyone. I'd love to test out this new "stand your ground" law they have in Florida.

Re: It's happening
 

I don't know why my Puff PM box was restricted to 50 PMs, but it was tonight. No warning, no notation, nothing.

Re: It's happening
 

I've still got a 100 pm limit there for now.

Re: It's happening
 

Oh I think you know why! :fu



I got nuthin!?!?

Re: It's happening
 

All I know is that I have a PM box of 1,000 here.

Re: It's happening
 

I have had the same problems on other boards... I have received email threats and other questionable communication before. The first one was scary - after that, I took them all with a grain of salt.

It is very unfortunate that folks act that way - after all, it is a cigar board, and nothing else. Some folks become totally absorbed in it and it becomes a way of life, others hide behind the relative anonymity of the public Internet and throw threats that they could not possibly follow up on.

Either way, it sucks, and I am sorry to hear that you are getting harassed. There are several folks in our crew that would be happy to assist, I am sure! :ss

If the person making the threats doesnt have your name and address, there isnt really much they can do, IMO...

Re: It's happening
 

Things appear to be getting waaay out of hand! It's cute to make funny statements, but, jeez, enough already! Don't go over there if you don't like it anymore. But to nag here about there is getting as old as nagging over there about over there! And threatening people is beyond the pale. Don't know what kind of threat this was, but in this day and age you can certainly make that person deeply regret what he did- and so you should! Very sorry this happened- on a damn cigar board of all things!!! Sad, very sad- and pathetic!

Re: It's happening
 

So... let me postulate here..... If "someone" restricted my pm box suddenly when they thought another member might pm me, that PM would then bounce and be able to be read by that someone. This wouldn't then actually be "reading -anyones- " PMs, now would it? It would be very simple to temporarily restrict 10 or 20 users to see if you can catch some PMs in your Puffer fish net.

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No Black Choppers were harmed in the postulation of this caffeine fueled delusion.

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Well, that's a relief!

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Guess I haven't angered anybody yet. My inbox says 500.
Bossman has posted and says he is resetting to 100..:hm

Re: It's happening
 

As far as how vBulletin is set up, the only way a moderator or admin can read your PM's is to switch user id's and log in as you. Yes the owner and admins can do this, but truly do you think they really have the time? The work involved in this changeover they are doing probably keeps them working 20 hour days...

Re: It's happening
 

Who cares anymore, really? Club Stogie is dissolving away there but it is even stronger here.
Puff is OK for what it is and could work out just fine. A motorcycle forum I visit went far more commercial than Puff and I still visit it. Like ads every four posts. They have a store and their own products. Not even very good deals. Some of the mods are in the businesses that advertise.
We should stop bothering Puff and just let them exist.
Club Stogie lives on in spirit.

Re: It's happening
 

What is happening over there is really sad ... that is all I can say.

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Nope, Jon said that he is able to read the bounced ones, but it "rarely happens"

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:r:r:r
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=233_1232912190
:ss
Puffers can be fun!

Re: It's happening
 

I don't think so, looks like a simple hack to me which the site owner/super administrator can easily add.

From the link (date Jan 2009):
This allows a super admin to read the private messages (all folders) from any registered member through the admin control panel.

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=92815

And I don't think they would read all messages ... maybe just those from "esteemed" members. Whether or not PMs were noticed from bounceback or the hack is unclear. I know where I'd place my bet ....

Re: It's happening
 

Steamed members?

Re: It's happening
 

Well, I can tell you for a fact that my PM's were read and since what I was saying privately didn't agree with the new overlord, I had to be put in my place.

For more information regarding how I was "dealt" with I reffer you to my sig.

Cheers,
Rob

Re: It's happening
 

Wouldn't it be healthy for us to just move on? I also miss Louie and it would be nice to go back to the old days but I really like it here.

Not critizing anyone posting as it is therapeutic to vent but it has been a couple months now that we saw this coming.

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Kind of.. no pretty much exactly the way I feel except that it's hard to let go and to not care.

Bottom line is that it has happened. Wars over (don't like the war analogy but need it for the following), it's just "stab the wounded time" at that is always the ugliest part.

Exactly true. Just dealing with folks that didn't want to believe it till it actually happened reactions now. It'll die down this week by itself or not. (<- nasty mean admin promise/threat)

Re: It's happening
 

While my late contributions, via PM, phone, and other contributions there have not been completely positive, I have been attempting some constructive criticisms. It is difficult to push past what can be seen overtly and somewhat behind the scenes there, and I find it difficult more and more to support the changes, yet still hope for some sea change using some firmness at the reins, rather than yanking a painful bit. I find it odd that most of my real and useful contributions to the CS community are not actually in posts recently. (Not that my content has been cigar-centric or even useful most of the time anyway. ;) )

Re: It's happening
 

Well, actually I just found out about this a couple of days ago as the past 2 months or so have been very very difficult for me and my family so I haven't been on any cigar forums.

In other words, I went to logue into CS a couple of days ago and found a completely different website in it's place. So it was a bit of a shock. Then I got treated like $h!t over there and finally banned for absolutely no reason.

So that's my reason for fuming atm.

Cheers,
Rob

Re: It's happening
 

Huh?? Does this ring a bell? This is a post that you put on the other site. Either you don't know why you got banned? or you expected to get banned which of the two is it?

Re: It's happening
 

Hey Rob..

You happened to log back in at an Emotional and frustrating time for some. Posting that 'this place sucks and I don't want to be a part of it' was probably taken by whoever banned you as not wanting to be there anymore.

I imagine that you got caught in a frenzy. Someone opened the door, showed you out, and slammed it...

It's unfortunate because the last week or so has not been pleasant on the boards.

Not trying to start anything here, or say what was done was right or wrong, but just adding a different perspective.

Re: It's happening
 

Like I said.. stabbing the wounded time. No one is 100% right or wrong just that it is time to tone down the rhetoric... except on Cremosas.. they still suck. Oh and Nubs as well. :D Common lore across the divide.

We are still allowed to say cigars suck here. :r

Re: It's happening
 

Yes, it does ring a bell and both statements are true. The first quote is reffering to how b&-hammer happy and all around paranoid the Admins were being on that site and that I was surprised that I wasn't banned for stating the obvious. Never Goatsed the place but if I was going to get banned it would have been worth it.

As my ban message clearly states "You have been banned for the following reason:
No reason was specified.

Date the ban will be lifted: Never"

So yeah, I don't know why I was banned. I didn't break any of the rules and I wasn't Goatseing the place. Just answering a question that someone asked that I understood to mean that they wanted to get banned. So I told them how to do it, didn't actually do anything myself.

See, both of my statements are 100% accurate.

Even puff can't give a reason for my ban so if they don't know why I was b& how am I supposed to know the reason?

Cheers,
Rob

I don't think you're trying to stir anything up. In fact, I'm one of the many that got emotional and frustrated but I didn't pull the trigger and spam the place with Goatse.

Simply stated my thoughts on the new site and that is in no way against any of the rules...

It's all good, I may just get behind 7 proxies and have a little fun with ol' puff. I mean if I'm going to do the time I should probably retroactively do the crime.

Probably won't though because I really don't care enough. I've just got a mean side but it very seldome takes controll and I've got better things to do with my time.

Cheers,
Rob

Re: It's happening
 

:D

A paraphrase. :r

I would have sent the Hog after ya back in the day and then banned what was left of ya. :D Difference is that you would have gotten a pithy explanation in the bye bye. They are probably too busy to put any creativity into the work right now.

We are glad you are here now. And it's time to man up a bit on the past.

Puff mods should do the same.

Re: It's happening
 

Yes, I certainly was pissed off because of some stuff that went on in another section of the forum that got deleted all together and some stuff relating to PM's being intercepted/read by the mods/admins.

Yes, I was being inflamatory and I was voicing my thoughts but I didn't break any rules of the board.

That was a funny paraphrase though.

In the section of the site that got deleted I said to the admin:

"You know, puffer fish is called fugu.
You might want to try sounding that word out. Fugu"

Very subtle or maybe not but that didn't get me banned because everyone else was joining in on the fish bashing.

Cheers,
Rob

Re: It's happening
 

I read it. Not very subtle to me but I'm the sensitive type. :ss

I wish you were a tax accountant with the same passion directed towards the IRS. :D Just was working on mine tonight.. arrgh.

Re: It's happening
 

lulz, if I wasn't just an internet superhero I might have tried the same stunt with the IRS but alas I can't afford that kind of bravado. My finances won't allow it. :dance:

You know, I'm glad you said it wasn't subtle because I wasn't certain if he was going to understand the message I was trying to put forth.

Cheers,
Rob

Re: It's happening
 

Dave, this is why I have always respected you as a man and a BOTL.
I would like to use this opportunity to apologize for my outburst last night. Not only to the couple of members I directed it at but to the whole community. I have many here, and there that I call friends and I want it to remain that way.

The thing to remember is that we all have one common bond that brought us together and that is the love of the leaf. Regardless of our differences in opinions we will always have that thing in common. I just hope that we can soon put all this stuff behind us and together try to help new and old members alike to become a bit more educated about this passion of ours.

Once again I want to apologize to the community for my actions last night.

Donnie

Re: It's happening
 

Donnie, I don't know what you did last night, not sure I want to know *nudge nudge wink wink*

Fact of the matter is I can be an a-hole and it really comes quite naturally to me.

Whatever I said on any board was directed at the entity known as "The Board" and not neccesarily at any single person. I was just speaking my mind and that's not about to change. The Admins/Mods are representatives of that entity so they got the horns. Though I don't really think I made any personal attacks or overly harsh.

After all, nobody got "Goatsed" so it's all gravy under the bridge.

Cheers,
Rob

Re: It's happening
 

Thank you for not Goatseing the board. I have seen that rather peculiar pic before and it is not pretty (if you don't know what it is folks please do not google it) :D

Re: It's happening
 

^^^^^ Yeah, what he said. Do not go looking for it as it's rather disgusting. :D

BTW, I never intended to Goatse the board nor give anyone a hard time, it all started because I was lamenting the death/transformation of CS in a section of the board that only other Gorillas would have seen.

I think puff over-reacted to my post and ended up upsetting other folks that just would have seen my sulking for what it was.

Cheers,
Rob

Re: It's happening
 

I looked for what it was! I really need therapy now... :bh

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I wish you nothing but the best of luck Rob.

Now I am going to try and get some sleep if my Restless Leg Syndrome will allow it. Good night all. :)

Re: It's happening
 

the mods from puff seem to spend a bunch of time over here.........wondering if its just not fun over there anymore?

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They are still our friends and have been for a long time

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Well said. We are all BOTLs, I visit many cigar forums, post on some, read on most. :D

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You have friends here Donnie, and always will. :)

Spot on, Albert. :)

Re: It's happening
 

I think that's a very poor, immature idea.

I think if you came into my house with the express intent of causing trouble, I'd boot you out whether I had a "no causing trouble" sign up or not. Over-reaction? Methinks not.

I understand you haven't had the time to process the change like the rest of us, but it's time to move on. You consider yourself a martyr for getting yourself banned over there, and with the sig line and numerous posts, I think we all know that by now. It's a different environment over here - CA is the present and future, and I humbly recommend we live in those tenses.

Re: It's happening
 

It is so hard not to comment on all this, especially on Mondays. :D

Hope you all have a CA kind of day!

Re: It's happening
 

Mikey,
Great words of wisdom there for a young guy.
Sometimes, even old farts like me, can live by the words of guys half my age and this is an example.

I had personally stayed away. Then, that bastage Admiral tempted me.:D
Went back frankly to poke fun and nothing more.
Not at the admins but at the owner himself.

I can see the sentiments on both sides of the fence. Sometimes, it is hard to let go for some folks. Sometimes, it is hard to draw the line on when to stop stepping on someone when they are down. However, what makes it yet harder is when that person acts like someone seeking such punishment via his actions and his words.
Right or wrong, everyone has varying reasons why they do what they do, specially after a couple of martinis.
I received my 4 points and I assure you I certainly now won't be back for my next 6 as I removed the link from my Bookmarks.
Darn crickets!!!

The one thing that does sadden me to some degree is if any mod there takes any of this or any of it personal. I could be wrong but sure seems some are taking it to heart when not intended at them. Just remember how many said they would be there until the end and how quickly the end came (meant to highlight mods, not just members). Just remember you are nothing but a tool for now. As another member said to me, I hope the mods are receiving ample boxes of cigars for what they do. I know for sure that is not an easy job to do. It is probably quite thankless at this juncture. Just keep in mind who it is you are doing it for and what they have represented thus far to date. It is that part people are lashing at, not you.

Certainly my time has come to stop beating this horse. Will leave it to others, unless Tom incites me again.:D

BTW, Pete, Did your decrease in PMs come after you received my PM? Hmmm.....

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Well, considering I was at 57 of 50 allowed, and I was not only able to receive, but respond to yours, it is very clear that it was restricted after that exchange.

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Interesting indeed.

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Carlos, without going into detail I can say that it is very personal for some. I have received some of the nastiest, vile messages from people that I had always gotten along with very well. It really just makes me sad.

I decided to do it for the guys that are new to our hobby. I would like to help guide them the same way I was guided (actually pushed) when I first signed up. I feel that being in that position is the best way I can Pay It Forward.