The forum in question is...

http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/

I have been around on the forum since it was first started. The girl who started the forum Lucyhmm started the forum in 2001 under the email address lucyhmm@hotmail.com. Lucy stopped using the forum years ago and as the hotmail address she used for it was just left unused Hotmail deleted her account meaning that anyone could then make up an account in that name.

And that's what they did, someone from the forum made up the same email address and then got the password for her network54 account sent through to the lucyhmm email account.

Now for the past two years people have been getting constantly banned from using the forum for no reason and that's happening again right now, peoples posts and threads are being deleted or edited and there was one incident where the owner posted the address and phone number etc of a poster on the forum.

It was alwyas a very busy forum and people are getting sick of it now and hardly anyone is using it because of the current owner (who nobody knows who it is) and the random banning of people and removing posts.

Could you please do something about it, either by removing the current owner (who stole ownership of the forum anyway) and passing the admin login etc to another user of the forum or maybe removing all of his moderating powers, if not it would be best if you just closed the forum down.

Right now there are around 10 or more users banned, me included for no reason at all and we have been banned for three days now.

Thanks.

Hello,

In nearly all cases, control of the login is ownership of the forum. That is what it is a terrible idea to give out that info to someone else. In rare exceptions, when there is proof that the login was hacked/stolen, we can intervene.

Please email support@network54.com any proof you have that this occurred. However, allegations in emails are not sufficient.

Sorry,


Nick
N54 Customer Support

Hi,

There is proof all over the forum in threads discussing that he/she stole the forum, there is also a ton of threads where people are complaining about other people being banned.

For proof there is this, a user from the forum posted this on a website called cashloopholes back in 2008, he has since then deleted the post, but thankfully someone from the forum took a screenshot of it at the time...



That's all I have apart from the loads of threads about it on the actual network54 forum.

I would ask others from the forum to post here (and they would) but it's a bit hard since I'm banned, for no reason at all.

The forum is totally unusable at the moment and whoever is the owner now is just doing this for a laugh and to piss people off. Even if you were just to open up the forum again and disable his moderating powers I'm sure everyone on the forum would be more than happy with that.

Cheers.

I know for a fact that Hotmail accounts are not reused. Once a Hotmail e-mail address is created that address is there forever. Even if you never login to it, the e-mail address is still there, waiting for you to return. Hotmail would NEVER allow another person to assume a previously used e-mail address unless they had the credentials to login to it.

Therefore, your story is either a lie or it is false information you were given.

Ripper

Network54 Forum Tech Tips
Airbrush and Paint Tech Forums

Just seen Rippers reply.

You think I'm lying so that I can take control of the forum?... I don't want control of it, if someone else on the forum was given control of it I'd be more than happy if that control went to either Chairman_LMAO or Pink_mook who are the only people I would trust without the forum being turned into a mess, much like it is at the moment.

I don't know personally about the hotmail account thing. I'm only going on what has been discussed on the forum and in that screenshot that I posted, but I do know that it has been stolen as the original owner Lucyhmm wouldn't have done this to the forum.

If the owner (who has stole ownership of the forum) had his moderating powers removed that would be enough.

Please go and take a look at the forum at the moment and you will find threads in the first few pages of the forum about people being banned for no reason.

I would rather the forum was just deleted than left as it is at the moment so no I'm not lying just so that I can have control of it.

Thanks.

Stop going there if the forum bothers you.

I read a few posts over there, I did not see one complaint about users being banned for no reason. To be honest, they seemed like perfectly normal discussions, which is odd with a forum that allows anonymous posting.

This is the reason Nick asked for explicit links to posts with these complaints or posts with terms of use agreement breaches. It is not up to him, or us, the volunteer moderators here, to go investigate your claim. You have to show proof before anything will be done. Posts on other forums are no better than anonymous e-mails. There needs to be physical proof of wrongdoing. Heresay won't stand up here any better than it would in a courtroom.

If there are no terms of use agreement breaches, there is no reason to terminate the forum or remove anyone's priveledges (that cannot be done anyway). The owner of the forum can do with it as they please, as long as they don't breach the terms of use.

Ripper

Network54 Forum Tech Tips
Airbrush and Paint Tech Forums

Ripper, you say above:

"I know for a fact that Hotmail accounts are not reused. Once a Hotmail e-mail address is created that address is there forever. Even if you never login to it, the e-mail address is still there, waiting for you to return. Hotmail would NEVER allow another person to assume a previously used e-mail address unless they had the credentials to login to it."

In that case, could you please comment on the content of the following link:

http://windowslivehelp.com/thread.aspx?threadid=79ef9b45-f103-4519-9d66-e3641f8e44d2

From the horse's mouth:

"Note that once an account has been fully deleted from our system, it is immediately available for registration once again"

"Yes, accounts that have been purged are allowed to be created or use by new users at some future time"

Show that to me on Microsoft's website, not some anonymous bulletin board post from someone claiming to know what they are talking about.



Ripper

Network54 Forum Tech Tips
Airbrush and Paint Tech Forums

There are several different websites with FALSE INFORMATION about Hotmail and how, when, why they will delete your account and what can be done with the account name afterwards.



Ripper

Network54 Forum Tech Tips
Airbrush and Paint Tech Forums

damp_fart speaks the truth. There has been a coup d'état at the aforementioned forum /188020. The new self installed 'owner' is a maniac and an arsehole and bans people for his own amusement. He's running a digital Guantanamo Bay over there.

Here is the original thread where the suspect first declares his intention to take the place over.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1239053496/1305292993/I+could+kill+this+place+right+now......

Here are some threads discussing the secret owners recent banning tirades.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1322746758/StoneManic%27s+been+banned
http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1322657609/UNBAN+HEMMO
http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1323016605/GUESS+WHOS+BACK---
http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1321816178/Has+ROONEY+been+banned+again-

Here is a thread where the owner admits he is randomly banning people for fun
http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1322040990/Nominations+for+banning
http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1317980921/Is+Pissed+Mist+still+bann-
http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1317245580/Who+is+currently+banned-
http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1316739047/Free+pissed_mist+Campaign
http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1316379279/Missing+In+Action
http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1314907692/FAO+Owner
http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1314310461/Right+-+UNban+Pissed+Missed

Here is a thread from over there discussing this thread. You can see the owner piping up there with his usual ****
http://www.network54.com/Forum/188020/thread/1323113268/last-1323287015/THREAD+OF+THE+YEAR

So, this has been going on for over 2 years and it's only being reported now?

The post about taking over was put up April 6 2009 at 10:31 PM
. There was a post here complaining that I did not do the research necessary. Well, here's a clue. It is not my job, as I clearly stated previously, to search through two years of posts to see who is doing what.

Furthermore, as I also stated previously, as long as the owner of the forum does not breach the terms of use, he or she can do as they please. They can ban people, they can edit posts, they can delete posts and they can do it all for fun if they so please.

Once again, if these actions bother you, there are a few things you can do.

1. Stop going to that forum, stop posting there, stop replying there. This way, it will not bother you so much.
2. Create your own forum where you can ban people, edit their posts, delete their posts and do whatever else you like, all for fun, if you so choose.

No one is holding a gun to your head to make you continue to use a forum that does not siut your needs.

There is little, if anything that can or will be done for you, I am afraid, unless you can prove that the forum owner is doing something that is against the terms of use.

I will not even go into why Hotmail e-mail addresses shouldn't be used for forum registrations. I did a search on Microsoft's website and nowhere on the site does it say that your Hotmail address will be reassigned. It does say if you stop using it, your mail and your contacts will be deleted. As a test, I had an old Hotmail address I haven't used in 5 years. I just logged into it, it is still there, as I stated previously that it would be. I had no mail and my contacts were gone, but my e-mail address was still there. I had to jump through a few login hoops, but someone else wasn't using my e-mail account.

Ripper

Network54 Forum Tech Tips
Airbrush and Paint Tech Forums

I have a solution to this. Transfer ownership of the forum to me and i will fund it with all the bells and whistles going forward. I'll also moderate it inline with N54 terms & conditions.

This forum isn't just your average forum, to be completely honest. It documents a small piece of british music history and is well worth saving.

________________________________________________________________________________________
.org365 - The .org Football Forum: http://www.network54.com/Forum/673024/

There are 2 ways to gain ownership of a Network54 forum

1. You and the current owner must agree to the hand-over (seems unlikely).
2. Wait for the owner to not login for 6 months and assume ownership under the "abandoned forum" rules (also seems unlikely at this point).

While it is a shame that the current forum owner is doing things that not all forum users approve of, it is within their rights to do so. Regardless of how they acquired the forum, they have not yet broken any of the terms of use (at least none has been proven yet).

My suggestion to you would be to start your own forum and invite the users over that are participating properly. Make your forum "members only" (this is a suggestion I make for EVERY forum owner, sooner or later every forum has a troll problem and some of them get so out of hand, the only recourse is to close the forum in one way or another).

Ripper

Network54 Forum Tech Tips
Airbrush and Paint Tech Forums