A quick update to this post since some people do not realize it was written in response to a mass e-mail sent out by Dylan.  To sum up, Dylan said:

"I'm currently recruiting for a new WAR!!"

The gist of the rest of his note (appended at the end) was a call to arms attacking another site for banning him because he kept including a link to storywars in his sig.  A quick look at the other site, which I had never heard of before Dylan mentioned it, showed that they indicate quite clearly in their newbie guide that what he was attempting was against their wishes.


From the absolutewrite newbie guide:

"...we're not too fond of it when people use this forum to try to attract traffic to other writers' forums. Thanks for your consideration."

It doesn't come much clearer than that.  It's not as if you weren't warned.  You have freedom of speech as long as it doesn't infringe on the freedoms of others.  If you don't want to play by the rules they laid out clearly in their intro guide, then they were more than kind to only give you a temp ban.  Moral:  you can't go to someone else's house and expect to say whatever you want since they have the right not to listen and can ask you to leave.

In my opinion, if you have any ethics, you will send another mass e-mail rescinding your suggestion to people to log in at absolutewrite just to promote your site.  That's just using your fans to spam the place instead of writing a bot to do it.  The absolutewrite people haven't attacked you or your site, they have simply tried to keep theirs running the way they like, and that's their right.

C'mon, Dylan.  You are clearly in the wrong here.  Don't make it worse by attacking another site.  Call off your people.

Here is the e-mail I received from Dylan (I'm assuming it was a mass e-mail from the wording):


I'm currently recruiting for a new WAR!!

A brief history:

To help gain readership of storywar I entered as many posts that I could contribute to on absolutewrite.com/forums.. I was banned temporarily twice.

The only link to storywar was in the signature line both times that I was banned. The second time I told them to stick their temporary ban where the sun don't shine, so they banned me indefinetely.

The best reason for banning me the second time that I can think of is that I had a very popular thread going at that time called "I was banned by fascists" which was deleted by the forum mods. (free speech lives on!!!!)

Here's a list of all my posts as dyljos so you can judge for yourelves:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/search.php?searchid=1687809

absolutewrite has a lot of members who love to read stories and poems.. the mods aren't letting them read our stuff. I let a friend use a storywar email address yesterday as a test.. he logged on, posted 5 comments, 1 of them about story war... he was banned!!! please can anyone help? Maybe some of you could register at absolutewrite.com and give your opinion on this if you like.. that would help LOTS!!

Let me know if you have any ideas,
Dyl

********************  

--Last edited by Disco-neck Ted on 2007-05-25 05:59:18 --

just out of interest, are you in bed with absolutewrite? I only ask since the only 'story' you've submitted has been about my relationship with absolutewrite and you seem to be taking it to heart.

PS I am not going to delete your user account (as absolutewrite did to me) or your 'story' because I believe that free speech is a good thing, and Hitler SHOULD rot in hell.

I wonder if this is the same person out to get me, and my stories. I have been hit with vicious attacks and ridiculous comments on some of my stories just because they are currently sitting on top at StoryWar. Freedom of speech is all fine and dandy, but I wish at least they would use their real names when posting ignorant remarks.

I have been a long standing member at absolutewrite, and I never have had a problem with them, same as here at StoryWar. Both forums seem like they are ran by a lot of professional people that love writing, but I guess all groups can have bad apples in them.

Dyan, I think you are right to leave the posting. Like every other story on StoryWar, it will be judged by the people.  

So there will be no confusion, I've added some content to the original post.  I'm curious, dylan, why you won't address the actual issue?  Nobody is denying you freedom of speech, but neither is anyone obligated to let you link to your site when posting in theirs especially after spelling it out in the by-laws.

To be really clear:  I am not in any way affiliated with absolutewrite.  I have been posting in various places under the Disco-neck Ted pseudonym for YEARS and don't use any others.  Also, I am not at all shy about telling someone my honest opinion of their writing, or pretty much anything else, if it seems worth the trouble.  This is easily proven by the fact that here I am telling Dylan what I think of his questionable tactics in trying to whip his fans into a frenzy to attack another site.  

But you guys LOVE to point your fingers in baseless ad hominem arguments rather than deal with the issues.  I ask again:  do you really think that the e-mail and call to war is a good idea?  I don't, and I also object to you using my personal e-mail to deliver your missive of anger.  You really are showing a stunning lack of forethought and possibly a complete lack of morals, all the while crying about your 'freedom of speech' and casting blame on other people.  For shame.