USER SUSPENSION: US CANTEEN GURU

[ADMIN]

**This post is informative only. User responses have been disabled.**

 

Members of the USMF community:

 

Today the administration was unfortunately forced to suspend the account of community member "US CANTEEN GURU."

 

We do not take the banning of a member lightly. The USMF administrators have spent time going through each and every one of this member's posts (including some that were quarantined earlier due to user complaints) prior to making our decision. It is clear this member has some in-depth knowledge of certain aspects of militaria collecting - which we do applaud. However, it was also clear that this member had repeatedly made baiting, taunting, flaming, and other inappropriate posts.

 

In the past this member's name has shown up in member complaints. The typical complaint being that US CANTEEN GURU makes posts baiting members to engage in arguments. Over and over US CANTEEN GURU made posts, which when read contained statements that could clearly cause upset among members - and it obviously did given the number of complaints. The most recent set of complaints came in regards to a post that US CANTEEN GURU made which included some disparaging comments about one branch of the service. These complaints came not only from members of that service branch but other members as well. We understand that each one of us has, at one time or another, said something inappropriate without the intention to be inappropriate. I believe it was US CANTEEN GURU's position that he meant merely to discuss historical inaccuracies in the press and popular culture. However, the administration felt that this was not an innocent mistake, especially given the tone of US CANTEEN GURU's other posts. (And, while it did not effect our decision, I admit I was NOT impressed by US CANTEEN GURU's private messages to me complaining about various members, moderators, and an administrator and failing to take any responsibility whatsoever for the situation.)

 

The point of USMF is to provide a nice, friendly atmosphere within which members can discuss various aspects of militaria collecting. To fulfill this goal, we hold each and every member to a standard - act like adults. Part of acting like an adult is the ability to facilitate meaningful discussion without angering, offending, and/or upsetting the very people with whom we wish to have discussions. When members demonstrate a repeated inability to adhere to this standard, the USMF administration is forced to ban the member's account.

 

In the future, all members are encouraged to refrain from being baited into online arguments. There are some forums where this inappropriate behavior is applauded, however USMF is NOT one of those places.

 

ADMIN