Some of you may already be aware that a slanderous and defaming video about the American Detectorist forum has been produced and posted on YouTube by a current member, apparently for no other reason than a perceived slight and a disagreement with our policy and rule of not allowing outside advertisements to be posted on the forum. I have to say that I was personally deeply bothered by this, since all interactions with the member were professional and cordial. We accept nothing less from our staff when interacting with our members. There simply was no legitimate reason for such an attack, and at this point I can only guess at the motive. To me the action also spoke volumes as to the character of the individual.
In any case, I do feel a need to set the facts straight, given that even some members here, who are also members at the FMDF (Friendly Metal Detecting Forum), posted supportive comments to the individual on a post the member made on that forum.
One of the complaints I was made aware of is that the member's link to his blog was removed. I am uncertain as to why this particular action was taken, since it is our policy that links to personal websites, blogs, and other forums are allowed. What is not allowed are links to dealer sites other than those of our sponsors, or links to sites intended to promote products and services, other than those that may directly benefit our members, though these are subject to admin review and approval. In any case, if the link was removed from the member's signature then Angie and I take full responsibility for it. Such things can and do happen, but once the moderators or admins are made aware of the likely error, we review it and we make sure to make it right and to take corrective action on behalf of the member.
Another complaint made is that a link to a contest was removed. This one was at my instruction. The contest was being conducted outside of the forum, and the way it had been presented struck me as an attempt at member harvesting. It may not have been, but that is what it looked like to me. Now, removing the link was not out of fear that we would lose members. That is never the reason for the action and it would in fact be silly, for the reality is that individuals are likely current members of several forums and blogs. Member harvesting is simply frowned upon at most sites. We gladly do review inquiries/requests made to allow certain links, and have even approved a few, but this should not be taken as an assumption that such links are always acceptable, and that they can be posted without first inquiring.
The member also made the suggestion that he was being blocked from our site, meaning that someone here was taking active action to prevent him from entering the forum. This is in fact not true. When the member informed me of his trouble I checked his profile settings and moderation logs to see if anything had changed or if any action had been taken to make any changes. There were none. I then checked our other logs to determine if there was a password issue. What the logs showed was that the member had attempted to log into the forum while apparently using an incorrect password. Once he reached the failed login threshold of 3 attempts, the software directed him to the password reminder screen. There was never an attempt at blocking access to the forum, and in fact, even now, despite his posting of the slanderous and defaming video, he is still allowed access.
Those are the facts of what actually transpired. What others may choose to believe from this point on is their prerogative.
It is unfortunate that this member decided to besmirch the forum's character, and seems to enjoy doing so, given the comments posted at the FMDF. We won't resort to the same.
Thank you for reading, and for your support. It is appreciated more than you may realize.
The American Detectorist Forum Administrators
