I had my account at Wordpress.org banned merely for mentioning Classicpress in a post. (Ok, maybe not banned, just “disabled”) Someone had posted they would be looking for another blog platform, and I merely suggested Classicpress (not even linking to it) and my post was deleted and account disabled:
Oddly enough they did not remove the response so it made a bit of a nonsense of the discussion - someone thanking me for a suggestion that isn’t there
I then posted using an old account merely asking what I could do about the new text editor being narrow, and that account also disabled. In neither account had I been rude or offensive in any way.
Just posting this as warning to people because obviously this curtails your ability to get support there.
The ban happened some time after the comments, sometime yesterday I think. I assumed it may just be a temporary “slap on the wrist” but accounts still disabled.
I am sure some mods have discretionary powers to take their own action without too much consultation. they are probably quite busy trying to find half acceptable answers in that forum.
I believe they all have the power to take their own decided action. Though, I’ve seen them discuss items in the #forums channel in the WP Slack. If you want to be unmoderated, you should pop in there and make your case.
That article on the face of it seems totally reasonable, even to the point of saying they want people to go to Classicpress rather than whinge about Gutenberg. Maybe you can mention Classicpress once, but wo betide if you spam by saying it again.
This makes me think it is one or two rogue moderators that are “not getting it,” and just becoming ban-happy, perhaps because they were frustrated by some well thought out articulate arguments against what they have just done.
This attitude has really turned me against them, which is unfortunate because I may still have been converted to Gutenberg, especially as I am in the currently difficult position of being quite tied in to Woocommerce - not the least of which has involved me being a paying customer in regard to some extensions.
Their attitude to people not being able to use Gutenberg has been very confrontational about people not even trying despite some well argued reasons why it isn’t working.
My post from 3 days ago hasn’t been deleted, so I wonder if they just got tired and started deleting anything mentioning ClassicPress. I’ve also been unable to find a post which told a very aggressive admin that “PR isn’t your strong point, is it?” Yet this admin’s posts are still up.
Personally, I am just trying to clarify their policy. I can’t speak for others, but I don’t like the feeling of being censored. So I think it is great they were addressing it, and I stand by the comments I made as I believe it is important if they are going to have this policy that they have clear guidelines about when it is enforced.
I am disappointed to see they have since closed the thread “due to abuse”. I can’t know for sure, but from what I could see it was people just trying to clarify their policy and understand what they mean.
It appears that even just trying to politely get clarity on a new “policy” is considered abusive. Or was that nefarious, too? Seems to be business as usual.
@wadestriebel, totally agree. There are a few key players in the WordPress space who are utterly toxic. I totally understand that forum support is a thankless activity a lot of times, but, when you find that you’re leaving a trail of negativity in your wake, it’s probably time to find a new hobby.
Unfortunately, no surprises there though. The issue is that genuine users are getting caught in their attack on “forks” and that is where the issue is. For me, if I had my post “moderated” and then be told I have to plea my case on slack it would cement my move away from WP.
