Yesterday I was shocked to find out that I was permanently banned from this forum, without any aparent reason. I knew what hit me since I received two messages like this in my e-mail:

From: robpengelly@censored.cen All About Circuits
To: samuel.fmlourenco@censored.cen
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:52:04 +0100
Subject: Your Recent Spam Attack on All About Circuits has been thwarted

Your recent spam attack on $vboptions[bbtitle] has been thwarted with two clicks. Nice try, you're banned.

Just for the records, the only thing I did was report two spam messages that were already there (in "General Electronics Chat" and "Off-Topic" section) and replying to those by showing such were spam (no chance I would be interested). I even contacted Dave and refered that there where two spam messages on the forum.

It seems now I was kicked, and all my messages dissapeared like I never existed. Now I can't prove anything. All in favor of the administrator who did this (which I believe was not Dave's doing).

Just to add to the records. I took the same procedure more than once. I reported two spam messages and replied to them the same way on another ocasion, and never received a warning. I presumed it was OK.

Also, the forum rules don't state replying to spam as a possible offense (since that was all I did).

Hope this message doesn't get deleted. If it does, then I know that the forum must be under a new administration. Replying to this is the least it can be done. I must say I was a respected member of this community (or at least felt I was), dedicated time helping others without asking nothing back (and I always considered that as an obligation). Dedicated my heart and soul to AllAboutCircuits. I guess all the time was lost. My reputation will never be the same again, one thing for sure.

I guess it is time for goodbyes and to move on. I thank to this forum for helping me and adding me knowledge (especially Ron_H and winmx that made me understand what the true meaning of RMS voltage). It was a true privilege being on this forum with users that always were ready to help. Special thanks to lightingman, Dave, Ron_H, recca, winmx and beenthere and all the others that helped me.

Hope I was of any help for those I had the pleasure of helping.

Sincerely, Samuel Lourenço

 

it seem like it was a sort of misunderstanding/mistake from my point of view,
u were of gr8 help and hopefully will continue to do so in future with perhaps an new ID.
regards,
recca.

edit: i just noticed some of my posts also have been deleted (thoug it doesnt really matter ) but which?
were they spams?

 

Isn't there a hidden "trashcan" forum in here? User accounts shouldn't be deleted (at least not immediately), but blocked. If his posts still exist, they can be provided as evidence to other mods and, in case this was a mistake or a hastily-taken decision, he could recover his ID.

Although cumesoftware didn't behave like the usual spammer, he might have posted some things that sort of advertise his own projects, deliberately or not. I don't think that's bad enough to warrant a ban without warning (?), since the subject of his so-called spam actions was both on-topic (software/electronics) and non-profit.

But I suppose this was just a mistake.

 

Thanks for the feedback recca. I really apreciate your concern. Someone else's post were deleted to because they were inside threads opened by me.

Although cumesoftware didn't behave like the usual spammer, he might have posted some things that sort of advertise his own projects, deliberately or not. I don't think that's bad enough to warrant a ban without warning (?), since the subject of his so-called spam actions was both on-topic (software/electronics) and non-profit.

But I suppose this was just a mistake.

Are you refering to the fact that I put a link to my homepage on my profile, to the avatar, or to the fact that sometimes I refered (linked to) some of my projects located on the "Projects Collection" section? Please tell me!
I might be wrong, but if it is inside the subject of a topic, if it is non profit, and if there are no repetitions of messages, I think that is not a case of spam! Or is it?

Please, I need someone to contact Dave, since I cannot PM him. I'm really devastated. I just lost my membership because I replied to the threads of a spammer (I think that was the reason). Sincerely, the first time I opened the account after being banned, I thought it was some vengeance of an hacker. I was incredulous!

P.S.: The projects will be available on the board of my website. Just yahoo for them!

 

This was an unfortunate accident. I responded to a "please remove this spam" message from cumesoftware, and deleted a spamming post. The unfortunate part was that cumesoftware had posted a reply to the spammer, and apparently got "spaminated" along with the real and only offender.

I have responded to a query from one of the board's administrators about the incident. I have no information about the likelihood of disentangling cumesoftware's posts from the deleted poster. I do hope there will be some favorable outcome.

I am sorry for the unintentional deletion of a valuable contributor. Until I can get some feedback about this, my best advice to others is to not post replies to spammers. We only want to get rid of offenders. Cumesoftware was not in that category.

 

This was an unfortunate accident. I responded to a "please remove this spam" message from cumesoftware, and deleted a spamming post. The unfortunate part was that cumesoftware had posted a reply to the spammer, and apparently got "spaminated" along with the real and only offender.

That is a big relief. I feel much more aliviated right now. I was feeling rejected here, just like a criminal. I was really depressed. If I got spaminated in the process, then I should not worry. Peety for the projects though. I will post them on my forum, which is practically safe unless I make a mistake. Then it could be linked from this forum (but from the "Off-topic" section, of course, and not from the "Projects Collection" - it would be a serious disrespect otherwise).

About disentangling, I think it was done the other time. But I think that was because the administrator deleted my post before banning the user (I tried doing this once and it worked - but it was on bbs).

Hope I still can use the cumesoftware nick. But if I can't, it may take a while to get another one. Who knows if I will write on this forum again.

 

It seems the ban is lifted. Thanks to the administration for solving this. Petty that all posts were gone.

 

Hi cumesoftware, sorry again about this. Some of your posts have been undeleted, with the remaining reappearing in the next couple days.

cheers!

 

Hi cumesoftware, sorry again about this. Some of your posts have been undeleted, with the remaining reappearing in the next couple days.

cheers!

So the other posts will reappear (it will be a lot of posts)? That is great! I hope that all the posting I made today doesn't interfere. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart, you and the other administrators were very proficient when solving the problem. I was not hoping that it would be solved. I really appreciate your help so far.

 

cumesoftware, all your posts have been restored. Let me know if you see any others that I have missed.

Dave

 

Since this matter is now resolved, I will close this thread. Any further comments please address to me via PM. Thanks.

Dave