My issue with GardenWeb

Minnie got me thinking about this when she posts a message about a pets forum and she mentioned "another site" that has one. Here's my story...
I bought a new mole trap and put it to use. I went to GW when I caught one after the first day of use. There were tons of posts in the pests and diseases forum about moles and how people were sick of them. So I posted the picture of the mole I caught, still in the trap (dead). The picture was not the least bit gross (in my opinion) and it had a lot of dirt caked around the mole in the trap so it wasn't gross at all. Anyway, about a week later I tried to post some garden pictures and I kept getting re-directed to the Disney site. I didn't know what was going on. I even mailed the webmaster and told them they may have been hacked or something and explained what was happening to me. I kept trying to post over the next couple of days and had no luck. I sent another message asking for help (to the webmaster, named Spike). I still didn't recieve a reply to my messages about my troubles. Finally I got to thinking about the stupid mole picture and wondered if that may have had something to do with it. I sent another message to the webmaster about my trouble and mentioned that I think it's possible that I've been blocked from posting because of the mole picture I posted...and expressed my frustration and got a little snippy with him in the message. Keep in mind, he didn't bother to reply to my previous 2 messages about the problem. Finally, he replied to the 3rd message and basically confirmed my suspicsion, badmouthed me and told me to go find another garden site to visit. I sent a message to the president of the company that runs the website and asked for a second chance...because I had not even been warned about posting pictures like that and was given no 2nd chance. There were no guidelines posted as to what type of pictures would be acceptable either. Since it was the pest and disease forum, I thought they would be ok with it. I did not recieve a reply to my message. I sent messages to other people I knew on there who posted frequently and asked them to send a message on my behalf. The reply they got back from the webmaster was very meanspirited and again badmouthed me, worse than he orginally had done in the reply to me. He talked about me as being a child and so on...and my email was not deserving of a reply...(the ones I sent to him asking for help with the posting problem). The funny thing is, many of the people I tried to get help from, spoke of other people who were arbitrarily banned as well. I then sent messgaes to his website's sponsors and I got a few replies back that said they had complaints from other people who had been banned for trivial things. I even had one sponsor who said she was pulling her sponsorship because of the repeated complaints. They basically said what I had thought...that his banning of people was very arbitrary and unfair to the members. So now you know why I really can't stand the GardenWeb site and the people that run it. I would expect them to act professionaly and respond to their members concerns...even if the member has done something unacceptable (in thier eyes)...you have to at least make the member aware of the issue and give them a chance to respond. I was given no such chance. So, I therefore urge you NOT to visit GardenWeb.

It's a shame people have to be like that! I am sorry that you have had to deal with 'him'. Sounds like some other organization I was affiliated with. Legalism and tyranny! He should post rules if he is going to be banning people.

Thanks Dave for being so sweet!

One more thing...Look at my previous posts on here. Do I seem like a trouble-maker? GardenWeb put a bad taste in my mouth after they banned me/talked bad about me. I'm really glad Dave's is here. I like this site much better anyway. Maybe it was good that I got banned!

Hi Martiboy! Remember me, Kay? I was one of the ones that tried to help you out back then. Well guess what, we're going to have to start paying to be sent to Mouseland so I went ahead and bailed. Landed myself here with help from an Old Crone and this looks like a very nice place that I'm sure I'll really enjoy. Hope things are better for you now.
Kay (Da Shrew)

No I cant say you are a trouble marker! trouble is in the eye of the beholder!

Be happy, you're HERE!!!

Hey Kay :) Yeah, life is good, now that I've found a better garden site (Dave's). GW starting to charge huh?...hopefully we'll start seeing more of it's members show up here. They just don't make any sense to me. I mean, treat your members like poop, and then start charging them? Very odd.

Martyboy! You trouble maker! LOL I never got banned or sent to Disney, but I did get the slap for posting the wrong thing, or irrelevent content, for offering a trade to posters in England, etc. When I questioned the 'better forum' for whatever it was, I got a swift kick in the butt and warned that I would be kicked off. That was right after I tried to be helpful and 'contributed'. I thought the site was in trouble and I didn't want to lose access to all my friends. Seems like most of them are here now. LOL If Mystic had sent me here sooner, I could have saved thirty bucks. LMBO I still peek in at the other site and still have my old lists up but rarely post. I wish everyone could get along.
Michele

Well Badseed, at least YOU got warned...LOL I didn't even get that courtesy.

This message was edited Wednesday, Sep 12th 10:12 AM

Well, I'll miss alot of the people that will be staying at GW but I won't pay. There's too many other places to post and talk garden and trash..LOL! Maybe it's only time that will force Dave to have to start charging also. It does cost money to keep these things going but if this is a more user friendly place, I wouldn't mind paying. I already see alot of GWers here and it feels nice.
Kay

Yep, I'm not sure how Dave pays the bills...but maybe he's independently wealthy?...lol

Marty,

You dont have to CV being a trouble maker here and getting banned from GW is rather like receiving a badge of office (apprenticeship served !). Me, I contributed some factual stuff (hopefully reassuring) in an effort to calm the fuss and fears (not to mention hype) over Foot and Mouth disease in Europe. It was not welcome, so here I am. Oh, I still post things here that provoke a strong response, but that's what this site is good at - you dont have to agree or get offended (well not often !), but it can be stimulating.

OOOOH - Badseed, so you are one of those naughty people who would DARE to trade with Europe. After I got banned I kept contact with several of my former contacts at GW. Surprise, I didnt find one who took the trading with Europe message seriously and many a fruitful trade was completed. happily a lot of them are now here (sensible people, arent we !!!).

El Tel


This message was edited Wednesday, Sep 12th 10:35 AM

I know where you are coming from. I still visit the Farm forum over there. I tried posting and kept getting sent to Disneyland. I sent an e-mail to Spike and he asked about posting under any other names, etc. I finally figured out my "naughty" daughter posted under a fake mail address. The message she posted was on an absolutely disgusting post under the Parents of Teens forum. She was more or less telling the original posters "where to go", quit acting so perverted, etc. Granted, she broke the "law" by posting a fake mail address but on the other hand, he was allowing some real [deleted] (almost to the point of being pornographic) on that forum. He did let me back in. I, too, thought about sending messages to some of the sponsors about his tactics. There is a forum over there called the Kitchen Table. In order to participate in that, you need to pay $15 a year because he threatened to stop it due to lack of sponsorship. Tactics like this make me wonder why there is a lack of sponsorship.

Shrewella, welcome to DG. If it weren't for the national catastrophe that has captured our attention, I'm sure you'd have already been visited by a "welcome wagon" band of fellow Louisianians. Somewhere around here is JustmeLisa, who is from Thibodeaux, and Bud, and many other other Lousianians, too.

It must be expensive to run these sites, but at this point, Dave and Trish get paid "in spades" by our gratitude and thanks. It's a great place to garden, and you get to make your own reputation here. No mice - no ears, no tail, and no trap.

It's kind of like a big party - you want everyone to have a good time, but when somebody starts getting rough with your guests, a good host knows when to step in and warn, then remove the offender. Dave is a VERY GOOD HOST. And the party just keeps on rocking along with new guests showing up all the time. Glad ya'll found us!

Thanks so much go_vols! What a nice welcome there! I must get to know this Dave. He sounds like a really nice guy. No mouse ears here? That's wonderful. Yes, I'd love to chat and get irreverent at times without worrying about the ears so much. But I do respect others' feelings and take on life but I do like to push the limit at times without being really offensive. I just like a good laugh once in awhile even if it's a little skewered. There's just not enough laughter in the world and yesterday was horriffic (sp?) for all of us. It's a sad sad state we're all in right now. It's good to be able to communicate with others for learning, the good times, as well as the bad.

Soup would get pretty boring and bland if we didn't have some one around to spice up and stir the pot!

The reasons many of us have been 'banned' would amaze you. I was myself, for such things as having someone ask where I was, after an absence from postings, for agreeing with a GW rule, but posted under an unacceptable thread, for suggesting that bonus plants are acceptable... Apparently, the contribution one is required to make does NOT guarantee immunity from being banished. I have not only been banned, but frequently received chiding e-mails, in which spite indulged in name-calling. The childish insult of being sent to 'disney' rather than merely banished is a good indication of what we are dealing with. I remained only because of the many good people I met and traded with. Well, that has become unnecesssary now that we found Dave's.
I noted from recent postings there that members are running about 50% in favor of, or against paying. In the long run, I think sponsors are pulling out, members are leaving, and the fee will ultimately be ther beginning of the end of GW.

Wow...I was a little afraid that everyone would think I must have just done something really bad and was banned for it...but it appears that I'm not alone. That's crazy...I can't believe they act that way.

Believe it. I don't know why I was shut out of GP, but I have no intentions of asking him why or of ever paying another visit to that site. I don't want my post to turn into a spite bashing, but let me just say that he picked a good name for himself.

Welcome to the garden Martyboy1. There's more to DG's than you can begin to phantom at this point, but; in a very short time you will realize what the garden is all about.

"eyes"

I was keeping a list of reasons one may get banned. I tried posting it here and no one was interested. My reading of the OP here is that s/he got banned by one of the "monitors". According to a very old post purporting to be from "spike" there are volunteers out there who have banning privlidges and they can ban without Spike's knowledge. "Spike" usually does not respond to inquiries from persons banned by "monitors".

Wish Martyboy1 would post link to "president of the company". I suspect, again based on very old posts, that the company sleeps with Disney.

Welcome home, new friends. It will take me awhile to deal with current events, but I can say with warmth "welcome" and see you on the trading forums.

Another one who has been banned here.I was at GW for several years and was banned at least a couple dozen times for my posts.That is not including the notes I also got as warnings.And then there was the wild flaming from some of the others.I learned a bit slow what to post and what not to post.My problem with the whole deal has been the fact that I go there and share advice but that evidently does not earn me a free place to post of topic in a safe area that will not get me a tea cup ride.Oh well

GardenWeb is run by a place called The Virtual Mirror, based in Highland Park, NJ. They also run the following sites: "Nature.net" and "ThatHomeSite.com". I imagine they are just as fussy about their members on those sites as well. The registered contact for Virtual Mirror is Robert Stewart, whose email address I can provide if you're really interested in contacted them to air your grievances. You may want to think twice about visiting the sites listed above, because I'm sure good ole Spike is the webmaster for those as well. All of these sites are operated from the same address...in Highland Park, NJ.

So I don't cause any grief for Dave by posting it here... here's a link to the contact info regarding GardenWeb: http://www.digibuildit.com/~gardenking/regarding-gweb.htm

This message was edited Wednesday, Sep 12th 12:57 PM

Gardenbabe, from Florida? Is that you???

Uhm,

I hate to tell you this but Robert Stewart and Spike Hernandez are one and the same person.

LOL...so he's got an alias huh?...Well then, it's no wonder that I got no reply from that email address as well. Very interesting.

aren't you glad you're finally here?? That's all that matters.

Amen, tiG! There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home......

LOL,,actually I post alot of advice in the craft forums of the homesite,and am quite familiar with how she all works,that is probably the site I had my first real run into on in crafts of all things and well nature net I am banned from because of a discussion over deer and thats all I am going to say.I how ever got plenty of notes from spike asking me to please watch my postings and always got an answer back from him even when I complained about how other posters were being disneyed.I am looking foward however to getting to know a new group of people and hopefully settleing into this site.

Yeap, Martela! It's the Gardenbabe from Florida! The Crone turned me on to this place. Lucky me! I'm guessing that Serenity might be one of the old group too?

I don't miss GW at all anymore. All my compatriots that left there are here!
Dave's the best! Thanks a millyun, Dave!

Really garden babe what was your first hint

Might have been the Boonies, MT addy.

Ya think and I have been trying so hard to make a good impression by not useing so many commas,,

Gotcha,,,,,you rascal, and you thought you could hide from us,,,,um yeah,, thought you could,,,,but you were wrong.

I think we need an intro thread - I'll go see to it right now!

At least these poor guys will know the size of the influx then!

LadyCrone, We made it. Thank you!

Gardenbabe, Serenity, Gardenbabe --Guess who?

The Garden Party is also going to start charging as of OCT 1
to Post a message
I haven't been banned from there yet, still lurk some, but will be moving over here full time :)

Hi, y'all! I have been banned more than once by Adolph Spike. Most recently, from the Garden Party. My post consisted of agreeing with others that a charge to posters legally implies a contract; that if someone is dissatisfied with a product or service that they've paid for there is usually legal recourse; and questioning if there is a "higher authority" that regulates that website. So then guess what happened? He tracks you by cookie use and the "code" number that your internet service provider uses. You can get around banning for a while by deleting all cookies and temp web pages from your hard drive and using fake names and emails. Sometimes it takes Adolph Spike a long time to catch on. Emailing gardenweb's sponsors sounds like an excellent idea.

I've noticed that he bans people who question his authority. I also have gotten very nasty emails from him (swearing!) after he has accused me of being nasty to people. I can assure you that while I have a tart tongue, I have never personally attacked anyone, swore, or insulted anyone like he has. I have helped many people at that website such has emailing them design or native plant info, for example, or helping them find certain plants.

This looks like a great site. I'm interested in the chat room as the old garden.com had a great one.

Here's to all us rebels!

He'll track you by IP address a lot of times. But if you use an analog dialup service, you may be able to get around that for awhile. With the analog dialup (AOL being a good example), you almost always get a different IP address every time you log on. So what that means is, if he's going to ban you for good, he'll most likely have to ban all IP addresses that originate from AOL...but yes, you must delete your cookies every time before you go back. He's already banned me from posting at work (basically, he blocked anyone at our 2500 employee company from posting when he did that). Since I have a static address at home, I can't really get around it. And hey...why would I want to now? I could care less about ever going back there. There's nothing there for me now. It seems he's created a monster all by himself. I'm not sure he knew what he was getting into when he started banning everyone for no good reason. I'm amazed at the number of people who have similar stories.

This message was edited Thursday, Sep 13th 11:53 AM