pipes.org censorship?

kkendall · Post by **kkendall** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:40 pm

I wonder if it's me, or has anyone else observed the censorship that Melvin Schwartz exercises on the forum over there?

<rant>

I found pipes.org before I found this site. So, I have also been posting the pics of pipes that I've completed on both sites.

Then one day, I register a domain and put up a web site. I posted pics on pipes.org forum of a pipe I finished and said if anyone wanted to see higher res pics they could see them on the site - and I included the URL.

Well Melvin edited the post removing the URL link. hmmmm

I then created a post in the commercial section and added a link to the site.

Anyway, I noticed the other day that ALL of the posts I made with pics of pipes (that were made and subsequently sold) - were ALL removed! deleted! dumped into the bit bucket! sent to /dev/null!

I won't express what really comes to mind (it may or may not have something to do with the Third Reicht), but I will say I'm not impressed with his censorship ... especially when you consider that the site is related to (and the forum itself is running on) an educational institution hardware! (do a whois on pipes.org)

Registrant Name:Steve Beaty
Registrant Organization:MSCD Math & CS
Registrant Street1:1201 5th St - Science Bldg 141
Registrant City:Denver
Registrant State/Province:CO
Registrant Postal Code:80204

The registrant, admin, and tech are all the same contact. Although the IP of the main site (pipes.org) appears to be hosted, the forum's IP address is actually a host within the college! MSCD.EDU - Metropolitan State College of Denver

Anyway, I was just curious if it is me, or do other folks here get similar impressions of them, ie: HIM?

</rant>

sethile · Post by **sethile** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:32 pm

I've heard others mention the handling of pipes.org in relation to various issues. I know a group of collectors that had felt somewhat disenfranchised about his handling of their activities. I had not posted for a while and he axed me. I E-mailed him and he re-activated it. Apparently he has specific ideas about the site and keeps things pretty tightly controlled. That is certainly his prerogative. It's more hands on management than most forums. Perhaps if you E-mailed him he would explain his guidelines? It may be you crossed a line with having your own site and a link to it.

BTW, I don't think where the site is hoisted necessarily an issue. I've had some personal projects up on my university server space and never had any of it questioned, even though it's linked off of my other university pages. It just depends on the the university policies.

mattw · Post by **mattw** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 10:03 pm

kkendall wrote: /dev/null!

(snip)

Registrant Name:Steve Beaty
Registrant Organization:MSCD Math & CS
Registrant Street1:1201 5th St - Science Bldg 141
Registrant City:Denver
Registrant State/Province:CO
Registrant Postal Code:80204

Don't know about the censorship (I have never been over to pipes.org, but will make a visit now), but those portions make the geek in me happy

Never expected to see Linux references on a piping site.

kkendall · Post by **kkendall** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:36 am

Been a unix admin for about 20 years now

kkendall · Post by **kkendall** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:44 am

sethile wrote:.... Perhaps if you E-mailed him he would explain his guidelines? It may be you crossed a line with having your own site and a link to it ....

* I emailed him a few days ago asking about it... got nothing back
* The links were to the higher res photos themselves only, not the main site.

But yanking all of my previous posts was a bit over the top!

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 3:39 am

You give him a right old bollocking, Kim.

I love a good barny.

Go easy on that Third Reich stuff. Kurt's into that German Howitzer music... or is it Industrial Krupp! I forget now... or maybe I'm just stirring sh** for the hell of it!

souljer · Post by **souljer** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 5:10 am

Don't waste your time.

You are not going to get him to change his mind. Steve Beaty seems quite happy to not be involved.

Many in the pipes world have experienced his control issues first hand (including me) and have gone on long rants. Nothings changed except that people move on and enjoy their hobby somewhere else. I'm not sure and am just guessing based on what I've read, but I think that's one reason GreyFoxOnlineForums was created.

TreverT · Post by **TreverT** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 7:19 am

I've had a short similar experience, and have heard a lot of negative stories about his "control issues" over the forum. My own viewpoint is that there are too many good forums to bother with one that is a tough go. Smoker's Forums is my fave, still - Nice place, nice people, and JUST censored enough to be family-friendly, rather than annoying.

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 8:50 am

That's my goal with this site. I refuse to tell anyone what they can or cannot post. The one exception to this is that I want this forum to be family friendly - and by that I mean "Would I let my kids read this?". I also work very hard to keep it spam-free, because I'm sure we all see enough spam in our email.

If you want to post links to your pipes or website, please do! If you want to specifically post a pipe for sale, feel free! The one thing I do ask is that you post overt advertisements in the buy/sell category. But if you post a pic of a pipe and it happens to be bought by another forum member or someone that happened along and saw it on the forum, more power to ya!!

At the end of the day, this is *your* resource, and I want you to feel free to use it. (angry German heavy metal aside

)

TreverT · Post by **TreverT** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:10 am

KurtHuhn wrote: At the end of the day, this is *your* resource, and I want you to feel free to use it. (angry German heavy metal aside )

The gods made heavy metal
and they saw that it was good
They said to play it louder than hell
and we promised that we would!

I'm a mod (Believe it or not!) on a gaming forum, and our only real forum rule is, "Don't be an ***hole." It's like pornography - hard to define, but you know it when you see it.

Edit: Oh, and about the .ORG forum - I posted a blog article link there and it got yanked because the blog page contained a link that led back to my commercial website, even though the article was totally "general pipe rambling" in nature. I don't fuss about it because it's their forum and they can run it as they like, but I haven't bothered posting there further, because when you're in the biz it's virtually impossible to separate your hobby and commercial sides, and I wasn't crazy about trying to hyper-moderate myself to avoid any possible "commercialism".

Xped · Post by **Xped** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 5:23 pm

I also belong to a gaming forum (Xbox Mature Gamers) and the only real requirement is to treat each other with respect...however, we do limit discussions on religion and politics, and the obvious no-no's (i.e. porn). These topics almost always get out of hand...so I have no problem with that. Also, everyone knows the rules up front so there's no surprises when posting.

Basically, my son should be able to read the forum without coming across anything inappropriate. Works for us.

I'm a member on Pipes.org, too, and find it quite annoying to have my posts filtered prior to being posted. Seems like someone has control issues over there. Now, with the anti-smoker sentiment to deal with...that may be the cause. But, I don't see any reason to filter out posts like Kendall's. BTW, I first saw your pipes over on that site, Kendall...nice work!

I like what I see with this site...so far!!

kkendall · Post by **kkendall** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:23 am

I like this site too. Thanks again to Tyler (his site) where I found the link to it, and Kurt for keeping it alive. I have LOTS to learn and this is a great place for an OPEN exchange of ideas.

The feedback from mine and other's posts in the gallery have helped me (at least I think so) to keep certain things in mind when making a pipe. - The latest example is #14 where I paid a lot more attention to the flow of the lines in the shank/stem.

All the HOW-TOs in the other threads are fantastic. This is GREAT place. I won't be going back to .org. It's just not worth it.

bvartist · Post by **bvartist** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:44 pm

My only dealing with pipes.org was trying to add my website to their links page. I filled out the form but my link has never appeared.

I have heard from many people that they are heavy-handed with the censorship on that site.

pierredekat · Post by **pierredekat** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 4:06 pm

One thing about it is that it really helps you to appreciate forums like this one here, huh?

The best ones are run by people/organizations interested in facilitating a discussion. And the worst ones are run by people with a "God complex" or those trying to squeeze a few pennies out of "potential advertisers".

There's certainly nothing wrong with forum proprietors trying to make a little money to cover their expenses.

But I think that encouraging donations or sponsorship is a better way to go than coming down on every single person who tries to post a potentially commercial link and hitting them up for money.

smokingpat · Post by **smokingpat** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 5:52 am

I have had more than a dozen or so of my drunk pipe ramblings not put up for a dozen reasons. Its not a bad site, but i dont think it is a site that allows its members voice whats on there minds.

From my readings this site seems very lax in what goes up. Not that, that is a bad thing.

pipemakersforum.com

pipes.org censorship?

pipes.org censorship?

Re: pipes.org censorship?