[Off-topic] mdhensley5:
Official statement from a mod

Sentry answered and immediately locked the thread. In effect I guess he's saying "I have answered and there will be no more discussion!"

Here's his answer for those of us who have been banned:

Sentry

Moderator

Posts: 1280

Registered: 05-03-2006

Message 31 of 31

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Like moderating anything in the real world, determining what software should be appropriate and which shouldn't is incredibly difficult. Although what has been stated here about violating the proprietary rights of the company which manufactured the software is entirely accurate, that's Microsoft's business and as they have in the past and as they will be in the future, I'm sure they're working to limit their software's illegal distribution.

My main concern as a moderator for AT&T is the safety and well being of the handsets our customers use. I have no personal vendetta against XDA; to be quite honest, I really don't know them from any other site out there. They seem pretty popular in the mobile modding community as they get about 3,000 independent users/guests consistently throughout the day, and they have some knowledgeable resources - but, from a personal level, I've got to worry about the 5,000 - 8,000 people who interface with this forum at peaks throughout the day, many of whom are presumably not privy to the same level of software knowledge as the average user.

If those customers flash their device incorrectly or they do something from that site (or any) which hampers or removes their ability to use their phone, they're not going to call XDA's warranty phone number, they're not going to complain to XDA’s tech support - they're going to call AT&T and they’re going to state that they discovered this software by accessing our forum – something which can be done easily through a tutorial search engine linked to our official site.

Formerly, this had been a real problem with the HTC manufacturer forum, hence the once-floated thread advising not to post unofficial ROMs. I removed it once the official one was released and I was hoping on handling each issue as they came up rather than mass banning users for disregarding our Guidelines and a forewarning.

We've had to handle most posts/threads on a case-by-case basis, regardless if they’re from XDA or elsewhere, so it's been a bit of an uphill battle. The bottom line for me is that if it is an operating system update (i.e. ROM or firmware upgrade), we will intensively moderate those topics. But if it's a piece of third-party software which helps stabilize a device or some sort of messaging software or even instructions on how to remove unneeded third-party trial software, we typically won’t heavily moderate it.

Again, this is a case-by-case basis and its determined largely by our management based on a number of factors including the foreseeable dangers created by allowing users direct access to it.

You won't get banned for using or having a cooked ROM and I have no personal problems with it; ethical aspects of the argument between the creator of the software and those who pirate it are their own argument – not mine. My main concern is the safety and well-being of the handsets our customers and I will handle that specifically.

Going forward, responding to a genuine concern from a fellow customer with a link to software/instructions (not a ROM or firmware upgrade), even if its from XDA, I don’t have a problem allowing it. Responding to users looking for a WM6 build on a version of their BlackJack or Treo 750 with a link or a suggestion to Google it will continue to be aggressively moderated in a case-by-case basis – as always, this information depends on my management’s directives.

Thanks for the questions that were posed here and hopefully I’ve answered them to your content as I have done so to the best of my ability.

11-05-2007 07:10:52 AM