skibbarriz wrote:

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We are here at the grace of the people who created and run the forum. If they don't any like particular user, they are at liberty to deactivate their account. No one has a fundamental right to be a member here. If someone sets up a website dedicated to following a topic they are interested in and pay the hosting out of their own money, go check with a lawyer to examine what your rights are for becoming a member of it. Zero. Same as a way a shop can refuse you entry if they wish because they don't like the shorts you are wearing or whatever, because the location is their private property. Even if you feel you have a fundamental right to be able to shop at Tesco, you don't. (They have to avoid falling foul of discrimination laws but that's something else)

I saw Vandenburg recently say some nonsense about how he was a British tax payer so that entitles him to come here to this forum and say whatever he wants about the LTA. In the truest terms, very few of us here have a 'right' to even be here. Only the persons that own the domain.

Sorry but I had to say this because I've seen a few people referring to their ideas of posting entitlements and rights recently on this website. Your rights here? Fewer than some seem to think. The owner of this site can replace the text of every post you make with a single picture of a chicken if they wish to. That's as far as our 'rights' to to lambast the LTA etc on this site honesty go.

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Thanks - this is true, though I think Vandenburg was talking about his 'right' to question what the LTA does rather than his right to do it here. I think you're correct that we are perfectly within our rights to ban anyone we want to (just as they are within their rights to set up their own forum) though I think it's a good thing we err on the side of avoiding being heavy-handed where possible.

While we tend take a light touch when moderating here, as those who have been here a while will know, posters should beware of pushing us too far - those who persist in making the forum less fun for everyone else do risk being banned (though we don't react very well to being told in the open forum who we "should" ban either)

I would also suggest that if anyone has a potentially controversial point to make, they'd do a lot better to make it in a reasonable way instead of in a more troll-like way. e.g. I agree with Jaggy in hoping that Luke doesn't give up singles to concentrate on doubles (at least not yet) and that there are real issues with the doubles rankings (though there are issues with the accuracy of the singles rankings too) but dismissing doubles completely on a doubles thread, going on and on about it on multiple threads and just trying to antagonise those here who value it a lot tends to undermine any valid arguments he might have.

I wouldn't be surprised if Sheddie is collecting some pictures of chickens to replace a few of our posts with as we write ...