yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Off-topic] GiGi77:
pcardoza changed HIS name to Jameson! a few months back. Wirelessforeman was on there whenever G8keeper, Pama28 and Swife were all on there. (or at least I was told HE was a HE!?!?!? Let me know if I was told wrong)
[Off-topic] GiGi77:
I didn't see what I was supposed to be offended by. :confused: I've made forum buddies with people on both sides of this issue. Do I know what was said or not said in pm's to each other? No, I might would had a different opinion towards both sides. Do I like it that VALUED MEMBERS got banned? Absolutely not! I think that members should be able to plead their cases. I think members should be told upfront how long a ban is gonna last for, whether that be days, weeks or permanent. Do I think that the forum has suffered, in my opinion....YES! I don't think it was right to close the VCM either. Does my opinion matter to them? Probably not and that's what probably disappoints me the most. :(

Right before the VCM was closed, Moderators began archiving (deleting) old threads. So members like Cara will now show that they have no postings. Since I've only been a member since 2005, I don't know if this is something that they routinely do!? :confused:
[Off-topic] nightrider:
You hit the nail on the head. I think the moderators over do not think that a member has the right to say some thing to better the forums and the current moderators (from the looks of things) seem to be bent on it is their way or good bye. I honestly feel that the moderators have put their member in a big hole and bind and are the main cause of the rift between the members. Any good moderator should not allow the embers to have to defend them and when a moderator, especially from a company line AT&T, should never let or have any one fall into the hate game and unfortunately this seems to be there big time right now.I call that a game of divide and conquer and it sure is happening while they are sitting and sipping their coffee (or what ever else) and laughing as to how they got poor innocent people to do their dirty work for them.

Another nail you hit on the head is that you said you do not know what happened in PMs and that goes for many and the one who should do the same rout as you is Wilcre, I bet he was not shown the PMs or even any thing that went in the background and all he did is take and accept the words that were fed to him by the moderators. It is a shame that they used him and let him get insulted.

As to posts being deleted, now I am angry as my posts and his responses are not there to show him what harm he did and hope he takes it as a lesson learned and not dive into things that he has no idea about.
[Off-topic] FoneJunkie:
Well, look what the cat dragged in. Good to see you Cara. How have you been? Have you been catching up on the state of the at&t forums?

Wilcre seems to be too busy to answer my questions, so it appears that he has conceded every point. I guess it's tough trying to find enough time to answer the charges, duck the phone calls from the customers, sling mud as GiGi put it, and still play nice with his mod buddies at at&t. It's a shame that he can't see the mods for who they are and how they are using him. He's here trying to explain their actions while they are busy locking threads and banning members. Then there's that pesky chore of archiving posts and PMs to hide the evidence from their bosses.

Anyway, Cara, it's good to see you again. We had our differences from time to time, but I still consider you a friend from the old days. I wondered what ever happened to you.
[Off-topic] Athena:
Doing well! You?

I'm afraid there's not much to see over there. VCM has been yanked, they have a new special forum for the "Community Leaders". Pcardoza is still around, he goes by his mod-given pet name "Jameson!".

The lounge is an even bigger rep cesspool as it was a year ago.

If you do decide to check things out, just be careful, you might get blamed for being coerced into returning, rather than your going there on your own free will.
[Off-topic] Athena:
It's only recently been done. Prior to this, you could have gone to my very first posts in 2003.
[Off-topic] wilcre:
_____Thank you GiGi...
[Off-topic] wilcre:
_____Thank you very much jwzg...
[Off-topic] wilcre:
_____It is appreciated, thank you for the apology.
[Off-topic] wilcre:
_____Actually that was not meant to offend her, and i have also communicated that to her also already.

_____No i did not find it and or ask anyone to delete it, go over there and PM mod.moose and ask her to ind it for you, then you can give me the link to it. and no i wont ask because the thread was not created by me.

_____Why should i not fess up to it if i am being accused of it, i cant mount a defense for myself because no one is here [AKA: Mediator] to confirm or deny the info i give out here, and the ones here are biased so they cant be conferred with on this matter.

_____If you want to know why they are not here defending themselves, go and ask them, i wont do that for you or anyone else.
[Off-topic] cara1382:
Hey, FJ. yeah we did have our run-ins sometimes. I dropped out of site at Cingualr to get some things squared away in my life. I think I have done pretty well now.

And Wilcre, you still haven't addressed any of the issues that FJ raised. Like he said, I think you are prooving him right. But it look slike your doing a good job of offending people around here to. Like they say, you can run but you can't hide. If the mods at AT&T are really that bad, why is anyone still there? Wilcre, why are you still there if they are so misguided? You must like that kind of stuff you know all the drama and such. I guess its good that I don't go back cuz I sure don't need no more drama in my life. Ok, so its late and I need to go. Write back, ok?

cara
[Off-topic] torquemada:
Hello, cara!

You knew me under a different name (and it doesn't matter here what it was).

Good to see you again. I am glad that things are working out for you and that you seem happy.
[Off-topic] LuvMy8125:
Back On Topic Now

I think somewhere along the way, we've lost the focus of why this thread was created. . . and that is the fact that there are two moderators completely out of control on the AT&T forums. Then we also have the brown nosers who will defend them to their death -- even though the tide could turn on them at any time.

After being a part of the AT&T forums and reading THIS thread, I would have to honestly say that if I were NOT already an AT&T customer and was looking to change providers, it would NOT be AT&T that I would be running to. If the heavy-handed moderation on their site is any indication of their overall customer service experience, that would be a deal breaker for me.

What good is network coverage and getting the phone you want if you can't get reliable support and ask questions about your phone without the risk of being banned from the support forums because you dared ask the "wrong question"?? :eek:
[Off-topic] GWelker62:
I've kinda implied this earlier. Let one of them get banned for some trivial crap and I bet they change their tune.

I have to agree that this thread may have lost some focus. Maybe a revisit of why each of us are participating in this thread is in order. The OP started this thread because they felt their banning was uncalled for. I joined this thread for the exact same reason. I made a promise to Wireless Foreman I would expose their moderation practices through whatever means possible. My goal in participating in this thread is their demise as an at&t moderator. I don't want them to lose their job per say, they just need a position where they don't have interaction with the general public. My hope is that someone higher up than those two mods will read this thread and take some action.
[Off-topic] FoneJunkie:
Well, I don't know why this thread was started, I simply stumbled upon it.

But since it's here, I am going to climb on and shout from the rooftops that the at&t forum is full of corruption and mismanagement. The mods in charge are bent on pushing their personal agenda above serving the customers. As I and others have stated over and over, both here and elsewhere (including ON the at&t forum), it used to be a place where frustrated and confused customers could go to get help from knowledgeable and helpful people. It simply is not that anymore. It's become a 'good old boy club' for the mods and their pets. Customers with issues or questions are treated more like a bother than the valuable company asset that they are (or should be). They are ridiculed in the private areas of the forum, and the reps openly treat them with condescension. T

A forum where long-time members (considered valuable by some/many/most) are banned for speaking out, or much worse, for congratulating another forum member in Spanish is in serious need of oversight by someone other than the current set of hot-headed and heavy-handed mods.

I agree that the personal attacks are uncalled for, but valid criticism of the mods an their apologists is not only on point, but absolutely necessary. Call them out and hope they will respond here in an open forum where both sides can freely state their cases. IMHO, that will not happen, though, because in an open forum they cannot 'stack the deck' and call all of the shots. Neither can then 'archive' the threads which 'out' them and expose their actions in the name of 'cleaning up the old posts'.
[Off-topic] mdhensley5:
The reason I started this thread

I started this thread after I was banned for making comments about XDA in the 1st "WM6 upgrade for the 8525" thread. At the time, the guidelines only prohibited the posting of direct links to unofficial ROMs. I did not post any links to XDA or anywhere else.

The moderation in that thread was out of control. Posts were being heavily edited or deleted entirely. People were being banned for questioning the mods. New guidelines were being made up on the spot. No official information regarding the update was being posted. People were frustrated by the lack of information and the unfair moderation of the thread. The moderators were not handling things in a manner that calmed people down or in a manner that would have created goodwill. The constant threat of a "one way ticket to banville" was not what was needed.

Anyway, after Gwelker, FoneJunkie, and others started showing up in this thread, I realized that the problem with Sentry was not just in the one thread.

If anyone in authority over the AT&T forum moderators is reading this thread, then please consider fixing the problems that are being reported here.
[Off-topic] TheBlackKnight:
Another long time ATT forumer!

It was just a matter of time before I came in here so I would like to add my 2 cents as well! Like the others, I have been on the ATT forums for many years. I have seen mods come and go. However, that place lost its meaning over time. When it was the original ATTW forum, the concept was "customers helping customers." The mods were friendly and even helped out members with their account problems. Ever since the takeover by Cingular, the mods changed their focus and the atmosphere became more "corporate." I have made many friends there but refuse to return to a non-friendly and corporate environment. Members don't get paid to help others...but if the environment is more hostile, what incentive do members have in helping others out?
[Off-topic] jwzg:
I must say that the AT&T customer service I've had has been top-notch. I've been treated royally during all of my customer service calls, and even had a callback 2 months after converting my data plan to unlimited to see if things were going well.

I don't think the forum issue is indicative of AT&T's service in general, but others here may have had different experiences.

Moderators here are kept in check by our site admin and each other. We keep each other informed about decisions on a "mod-only" thread and discussions are typically held before a member is banned unless the first post is obvious spam or warez.

That is what makes this place great. Members helping members, a responsible and gifted group of mods and a site admin that is supportive are all good things for other forums to emulate. My sincere hope is that AT&T forum's admin will get this mess under control soon.

I am going to let this thread run its course, but make sure that the personal attacks stay out of it. Our patience only runs so deep.
[Off-topic] jwzg:
Wow, that should have been the first post. Let this be a lesson to us about proper forum management. There were too many layers to that arrangement. We here have chosen to have relatively few mods compared to our size. Since our mods are chosen internally, we make sure there is continuity in the way that issues are handled.

It may seem as if we are asleep, but we rely on the little a lot, and most of our members have thick skins :) I feel about banning the same as I feel about capital punishment... legal, justified and rare.
[Off-topic] GiGi77:
How I got here....

Someone on this forum posted on the at&t forum regarding the bans and threads being locked over there and I followed the link, found where some of my co-VCM'ers were hanging out. Many of them thought that I would get in trouble for being over here

and

there BUT I live in a free world and that's why I made my user name the same as it is over there - I don't have anything to hide from the at&t mods, who I hope are reading this post. I think that the at&t mods should have had a mediator come into the VCM board and ironed these differences out. Instead it's shut the doors, lock the place down. And those VCM'ers that are still over there will probably shout "it's their forum, their rules!" Well you know what? The only reason it's a popular forum is because customers were willing to help customers. Now it's like one Rep. stepping on another Rep's toes.
[Off-topic] Dream Rider:
I'm not sure but it seems that my ranking up has been frozen since posting here.

I learned about cell phones the hard way when I "washed" my cell phone by mistake!!

Since then I have learned that I can buy a go phone and use my SIM without buying a phone at full retail. No one offered me that option at the Corp. stores or through CS.

My contract has been up for a while now and I buy my phones on craigslist or ebay. I try to help other members on the AT&T forum because CS has provided me totally useless solutions to some of the issues I had with a few of my devices.

I have always received courteous treatment from AT&T/ Cingular CS for billing and plan issues. On the Forum there are often rude and attacking responses to those who are frustrated with their experience with CS or their devices. It seems like it is blame the victim to some.

I continue to stay and help as I can because many of the past members provided me with polite helpful answers and solutions and I like to give back some of the good I received. It does feel different there now:( .
[Off-topic] GiGi77:
Funny that you should say this because I was thinking the same thing! I know "they" say it's computer generated (randomly) but I'm beginning to think like you. There's one member that has already changed ranks over there this weekend, twice in just 2 to 3 days. That's when I got to noticing that my rank hasn't changed. If we're being held at our same rank, that isn't very nice.
[Off-topic] TheBlackKnight:
Not that rank matters over there (unless you have time to build up a bank of over 35,000 posts and trying to break the world's record) but there's probably some truth to that observation!
[Off-topic] mdhensley5:
I totally agree that the ranking system can be monkeyed with. Haigher8525 and I watched as one lady was made a contributor after 100 posts. Then, just this week Kareem9NBA was made a contributor after 300 something posts.
[Off-topic] TheBlackKnight:
At ranks below I Am A Cellphone, you need to have a combination of # of posts, pages read, time spent online and activity in posting in other forums (outside of the Lounge). I have seen people rank up very fast. So in your particular example, the person with just 100 posts have the combination in order to rank up...it's not just based on number of posts.
[Off-topic] GiGi77:
Is there a reason you don't want to give your user name on the at&t forum, over here? :confused: I'm trying to figure out if I conversed with you over there!
[Off-topic] FoneJunkie:
I really don't have a problem with the mods banning people 'just because', but at least they should have the huevos to say that's why. Instead, there is all this double-secret-probation crap, complete with trumped up charges so they can justify themselves. Sentry and WF, be men and say you banned us because we ruffled your feathers. And Wilcre and Jameson don't get banned because they cover your butts and you like that.

It is at&t's site, so, at&t can make the rules. The problem is that they have mods with absolutely no integrity running the place.
[Off-topic] GiGi77:
The lounge was brought in after the Member's forum became everyone's water cooler and certain members got tired of reading congratulation*, off topic and jokes.

*I'm sure that when they were a newbie they appreciated hearing "congratulations" but now it's taboo to do that! (I still do it to jab some of them! :D )
[Off-topic] Dream Rider:
Anyone know anything about CanYouHearMeNow at the AT&T forum. He often presents like he is a rep but often offers some distorted information (just like Reps have been known to do,) and can be quiet rude at times. He also provides a lot of very good info too.

Just wanted to wonder:confused:
[Off-topic] GiGi77:
I assumed he was a Rep. because he got into a heated debate a few weeks/months back. I know that he was asked by Mod. Moose at least once to watch how he responded to members, that it should be a pleasant experience for newbies.
[Off-topic] mdhensley5:
I would definitely have a problem with that. That's an abuse of power. If I don't break the rules, I shouldn't be banned. A mods personal feelings toward me shouldn't be part of the equation. That's the kind of thing that minorities have been fighting against for years. Don't ban me just because I'm black, gay, or Irish and you don't like me.
[Off-topic] FoneJunkie:
I understand, mdhensley... I was being somewhat sarcastic. My real point was that everything the current set of at&t mods (NOT necessarily the Lithium variety) is underhanded and disingenuous. In a perfect world, the at&t forums would be run fairly by mods who actually have integrity. If that were true, there would be very little banning ... and there would be NO banning for arbitrary reasons. In fact, ironically, the whole race issue was a huge part of the basis for the last meltdown (the whole concept of a Spanish language forum is necessitated, some would submit, because the large Hispanic population in this country refuses to assimilate into the American culture). But what they were willing to do (and actually did do) for the Latinos they refused to do for the Asians, the Germans and the French... but now I digress.

Your point was well taken, and mine was tongue-in-cheek.
[Off-topic] wilcre:
Well i will confirm for you, that yes he is a rep, and he ahs almost as big a chip on his should as Timmay did/does.
[Off-topic] sykes_33:
where can i find a ATT flash rom so I can change my MDA tmobile to a ATT carrier?
[Off-topic] wilcre:
_____I am assuming that the remark to the post count is at me, In my own defense, where everyone here now knows I am rep I shall say this.... With me being a rep, I could literally be a 1 person posting machine {Worse than what people think i am now}, considering that I have access to almost all of the internal systems, I could go and correct at least 50% of the posts in the forum, thus increasing my post count exponentially, but I do not, I have been registered there for 1249 days, and I frequent all 34 (Now 35 sub forums), I average 28.52 posts daily, so yes I have a high post count, but I have a even higher stats for viewing and reading {Which i have always done more of on the forums anyways} than most as well.

Total Messages Read 1844062 / 1249 days = 1476 Messages Read Per Day

Total Board Views 365999 / 1249 days = 293 Board Views Per Day

Total Minutes Online 770639 / 1249 days = 617 Minutes Online {10 Hours} Per Day {Approximately 1/3 of that time is while at home}

_____So with that said, I know that there are people that wont agree with the above info, and there are probably some people that may agree with what i said, And then there will be people that will turn this to make it look bad, So no matter if good or bad, these are the facts.
[Off-topic] Dream Rider:
Thanks for letting us know. At least I know who I'm messing with if I challenge his responses. :o
[Off-topic] wilcre:
_____I have very few on my ignore list, But outside of any of the Timmmay reincarnations, he is at the top of the list.
[Off-topic] Athena:
Personally, I have a major problem with the banning of long time members, who have been more valuable than 99.9% of the "trained" reps who frequent the site. I am disgusted at the fact that the mods are allowing their employees to complain about "how dumb customers are" or how they are *GASP!* being forced to do their job! On the site that was built based on "dumb customers" helping other "dumb customers". Unfortunately, with G8Keepers departure & Sentry's arrival the forum went downhill, fast.
[Off-topic] LuvMy8125:
Thank you for the quite enlightening history. And you're right. . . the numbers speak for themselves. :p Now I know how my hard earned dollars are being spent when I pay my AT&T Wireless bill every month. :eek:
[Off-topic] GWelker62:
They have been known to give out awards for being helpful, like this one below. :D

Ooops, wait a minute...I think that is my ticket to Banville. :o FJ, don't you have one like this?
[Off-topic] TheBlackKnight:
There was no need to defend yourself...I was merely making a general comment that post count does not equal quality information that has been given out over there. You may have been Post Whoring over there but that doesn't mean the info. you have provided is accurate or helpful.

Nonetheless, this is not an attack on you personally. The facts are that there are others on the ATT forums who provide non-quality information and remain there because they conform to the environment set forth by the current people in charge. Those people that have been banned have been segregated because of a difference of opinion that could not be worked out with the existing Moderation. What's really sad is that the other so-called CLs as well as former VCM (Jameson, John_B, Kungpowkitten for example) continue to bash the others that have been banned -- claiming they were the cause of the closing of the VCM. They can bash all they want without knowing the truth because apparently, none of them can handle the truth!
[Off-topic] DIE_HARD:
Mine is BS as I didn't link to anything.

Here is what I get when I go to the forums... I don't even get to login!
[Off-topic] FoneJunkie:
Did you just call him a 'post whore'?

What is sad is that they are not able to think for themselves. They are too busy learning the steps to the Sentry Shuffle. And you would think that John_B, of all people, would be able to get the inside scoop, what with him being a Lithium mod on that forum. But then again, if we expected all moderators to be fair and unbiased, we would not be having this discussion about Sentry or WirelessForeman, either.

BTW, where are Sentry and WF? Haven't they been called out a number of times to speak their side on this debate? What are they afraid of (besides the truth)?
[Off-topic] FoneJunkie:
Die_Hard, that is very interesting that you have been banned for violating the manufacturer's property rights. What rights to YOU have as the owner of said 'property'? What kind of crap is at&t (and more correctly, THEIR MOD STAFF) trying to shove down our throats? What a load of horse-hockey. But again, it's typical for the mentality with which we are dealing.
[Off-topic] mdhensley5:
Description of a post whore
[Off-topic] GiGi77:
Mine changed today sometime or another, I'm now a Cell phone in training. :cool:
[Off-topic] Dream Rider:
I think the age of the poster is coming through:rolleyes: Maybe that's what the 5 stands for.:eek: