It has come to my attention that Phil Hardy has been suspended from this forum for “commercial posting”.
A number of contributors may know that Phil is a friend of mine but, for the purpose of this post, I would like to declare my neutrality.
I have seen the post which “broke the camel’s back” and it seemed to me that it was a simple reply to a question about instrument availability.
Phil could, obviously, have pm’d the person but perhaps his reply on the forum may have been of interest to other players (in my opinion).
I have read the rules regarding commercial posting and they seem to be slightly vague, in that there is a degree of licence which can be excercised by the moderators.
Some posters include their URLs on every post and, for that matter, others,
including myself, have their websites as part of their profile, websites where goods, MP3 downloads etc., are offered for sale. Are not all of these, in essence, “commercial posts”.
At the risk of seeming like some sort of conspiracy theorist, do I detect a hidden agenda in operation?
This is a thread that can quickly get ugly, so I’m going to respond and lock it.
I suspended Phil’s account for a month because, in my best judgment, he had not kept with the rules about commercial posts. Those guidelines are difficult to define and we have struggled with them over the years. I think, as they stand, they are about as good as they can get and still represent a reasonable consensus among board members. I just don’t think I can make them any more specific.
There are some ambiguities in them, which is why I can only think of two occasions when I had to act in this way. Phil’s case and one other.
I’m aware that Phil has sent out an email about this to his list, because I have had copies forwarded to me by people. He is in a position to freely tell his account of the story but I don’t feel entirely free to respond in kind and I won’t. It wasn’t an easy call. I consulted with some senior board members before I made the decision. I’d also add that there has been a great deal of leeway given regarding commercial posts, both in general and in Phil’s specific case.
Phil has contributed to this board in many ways, and that made it difficult. If he wants, he can return in a month and, of course, that will be his decision.