I got banned from the forums after having been considered "too combative" for not taking it lightly that a moderator lectured me on unrelated forum etiquette rules.

I wanted to discuss a legitimate technical issue, which turned out to be coil whine - at the time I did not know it was called that. A community member offered some advice, and I asked them kindly whether they would like to remove a particular question which I've answered in the very previous original post. They became offended by the very suggestion of this and deleted their whole reply, including the useful stuff. The moderator stepped in here and gave me a petty little lecture on all kinds of behavior norms, which I one by one refuted - to no avail, the thread just got locked.

Ok, fresh start. Let's open another topic because I'm not here to bicker - I have an issue to discuss. The new topic got closed within 10 minutes by a mod, threatening me with a ban if I open it again.

I thought that was kinda ridiculous, because I'm a Framework customer and I want to discuss an issue with my laptop, so I opened anothe topic. Sure enough, it got closed and I got banned for a month.

A month has passed, and my problem is still there. One day when I'm browsing the interwebs to understand my issue, I stumble upon another Framework forum post discussing the same thing. My ban being lifted, I jump into the conversation and confirm that I have the same issue, and I share my story of having been banned after trying to discuss this. As you might guess, a mod appears, closes this topic as well, and states that the real reason I've been banned is that I have... wait for it... FREIGHT FORWARDED! And proceeds to permaban me on the spot with the notice "too combative"! What the hell, Framework!!!

I hadn't freight forwarded and I have no possible explanation as to why this mod was jumping at me like that. Anyway, let's take to reddit to complain about this. Quickly, a mob of zealous Framework fans forms, trampling over each other trying to lecture me that freight forwarding is prohibited etc... I WAS NOT TALKING ABOUT FREIGHT FORWARDING! I was complaining about a mod accusing me of freight forwarding and banning me for this bogus reason! And guess what - eventually the thread gets shut down after inevitably devolving into a discussion of freight forwarding (to which Framework has a similarly bogus attitude, although that has changed slightly with them conceding to European single market regulations) - the Reddit thread gets locked as well and I get permabanned from the subreddit for "discussing freight forwarding"!

Ever since, I message the mods on Reddit every now and then, reminding them of the utterly crazy way they've been treating me, and the usual response is just a temporary mute so that I can't message them further.

Does anyone else have a similar experience?

  • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.org
    ·
    1 year ago

    Being kind and courteous to others goes a long way to getting assistanc. Most forum users are not company employees. If support is not available in your country, you are dependent on these volunteers and it would be pragmatic to set aside your perceived grievences to get the help that you are seeking.

    Remember that you are not entitled to any assistance from forum users, such as those that tried to figure out your issue. Nor are you entitled to use a privately-owned community forum - it is not violating free speech to require decorum, even in public forums in most jurisdictions. And, as for support, you are only entitled to what is in your contract or that which is afforded in the laws governing the company's business.