Uh, Oh I'm afraid to find out "IF"

Noticing that many people were cleaning out their seeds over the past 2 weeks on the garden web I posted to the seed exchange for any extra seeds for a friend of mine that joined a monastary in Oct. In our Christmas call he told me that they are using seeds from 1980. (Miracles do happen; some seeds took)

When I posted I said I would pay postage and did not post the addy to the monastary knowing I would need everyone's addy to send postage. One person suggested I post the addy for convenience. Of the 20 e-mails I received no one wanted postage; I was elated and thought what a wonderful, giving group. The Christmas spirit still lives on. Than the door slammed shut 8 hours later when I got this message:
[This message originated at forums.gardenweb.com]

This reminder is being sent in regards to the message entitled "WANTED: Donations needed for monastery planting" posted by you to the Seed Exchange forum at forums.gardenweb.com.

Because of the impossibility of verification, soliciting for nonprofit organizations, no matter how worthy the cause, is not permitted in the forums.

You may wish to read over both the instructions found on each forum as well as the user agreement.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/trans/agree.html

If you are unsure which of your postings this is in reference to, please reread this email. If it was sent in error, you may ignore it.

There is no need to reply to this email.

Thank you for participating in the forums and we hope you will take this reminder in the spirit in which it is given!

Thanks!

Spike Hernandez, webmaster

Mind you I didn't get this until I posted: Update to Monastary Donation- (in the body of that text I put the addy. What better way to verify?)

I was quite shocked by the last para. from Spike "reminder in the spirit in which it was meant". Nicely written but he did put a damper on my whole-hearted felling of unity, caring, giving etc. Is it me or am I just too sensitive? I thought "I'm not even going to respond to this silly thing". My dear friend will receive seeds from those that e-mailed me who I responded to immediatly. Yes, I spent the day on the computer waiting for messages ;-). I just don't understand. People are willing to help. It seems that do-gooders get slapped on the wrist. I hope that all who responded did not get the same message. Is that likely? I would hate to think I was the cause of a reprimand to all those that did respond.

I wonder if I'm banned. I haven't been on any of the forums for months due to many personal problems.

To Auntie B and some of the other bannies, "Is Spike mellowing? How does one find out if they are banned?

I mostly read posts to learn more. Did a few trades but nothing of any consequence. Will my education process be stunted I wonder?

I look forward to Dave's e-mails. The personalization on this site is much more desirable. Even if I can't trade at this time at least I know what's going on. I'm curious to find out where I stand with the garden web. Are his words spoken from the heart or is it a camaflouge until the day I try and post?
Curious, disgruntled Carol

Hi Carol,
I can certainly understand what you're saying. I am a recent GW bannee. I was one of your responders who was happy to send seeds to Butler pa. Actually last night they were gladly packed up and addressed. I saw nothing wrong with your post and it was out of heart that so many people willingly responded to send seeds to your friend. If there was a hesitation about the Monastary being real or something..wouldn't it be up to the judgement of the sender, or heck, just look it up while you're on the computer.
Being banned means having all of your attempts to post at GW be redirected to Disney.com. Although I am sure Disney would love more traffic to its site, they wouldn't like it knowing it was done in a negative way. Sometimes if you post smoething at GW, you get a temp Disney redirect, where if you change the content of your post, it will go through. All of the people banned have been permanently banned, though. That's a shame, considering most of us have helped build the site by being loyal quality members. Don't take it so personally, though, with that email you received. I's obvious that someone is having a bad life with their days.

Hey, Carol,

Let's just give up worrying about Spike and his idiot ways.

But, how about posting the details here. I'm sure lot's of members would love to send seed to the monastary.

I would post it as a new topic, though, so people who don't read this thread will see it.

The first time I got one of those asinine messages, I truly DID know the spirit in which it was sent to me. Forget him. Yuck ---- Take Care, Niki

Just wondering, is it legal to redirect to Disney, or anywhere else for that matter?

Dicentra, Brook, Nik, Gabby et al.

Thanks for your input.
Well Dicentra, it seems you were not the only one not offended.
Brooke thank you for the offer to post here. I don't want anything to go to waste. Let's see what they get. If all those that responded to me send they will be 9 very busy men from now until ????????????
Bless you as well Dave for a great site with great people.
Carol

Suggestion for everybody sent to Disney.com.
I wrote a VERY polite e-mail to the folks at Disney telling them about how we all talk about Disney in a negative matter as a result of The GardenWeb and spike sending people to Disney. I said things like "people says thing like I don't want to go to Disney" or "I'm afraid I'll get sent to Disney". I pointed out that it made folks look negatively on Disney. I wished them luck on correcting the situation with the gardenweb.

If spike has given you a raw deal then may I ask/suggest you do what I did and tell other to do the same. It only takes a minute. If Disney hears from a few of us the Disney thing will stop. Yeah I know he'll just do something different BUT it will show that we do have a bit of power and that might make him realize that he should treat people the way he does.
Sari

[ Removed by member request. - Admin ]

it seems like Spike has a list of reasons miles long for which to ban people.

Or no reason at all. Arbitrary is his middle name.