for the record

[cgutjahr]

it runs amiga os, it runs amiga software, I don't think anyone would have a problem with him calling that an amiga mini.

The guy was selling pirated software. No matter what you think about copyright or 'abandonware' in general - people selling pirated content have always been called names. I don't get why this kind of behaviour is suddenly tolerated or even described as somehow benign to the community.

On top of that: he got one warning, which he completely ignored. His thread was locked and he opened a new one with the exact same wording. That's the kind of user you certainly do not want in a decent forum.

[cgutjahr]

which could be interpreted (depending on your angle) as putting the personal interests of the site owner over the actual purpose of the community.

Can you list a few examples? I'm reluctant to accept phoenixkonsole's famous "deleted news item" as evidence, simply because most of his news items are about as relevant and realistic as your average DiscreetFX press release.

The only other case I know is my news item about the Amiga-News WinUAE PPC poll which had been posted but the thread was closed from the beginning. But that's not "half a dozen threads".

That said: This place has been run like that for a decade and a half - I recently saw Wayne Hunt finally admitting on whyzzat that he was just trying to cash out in the later years - so I'm not sure why I still bother.

[cgutjahr]

hmmm. i approved that thread, so not sure why it's closed. anyway -- i just reopened it.

Thanks, I appreciate the gesture.

But the more important question (which is not directed at you, obviously) would be why it was closed, and why my inquiries regarding this are being ignored, both in this thread and the thread I opened four weeks ago.

[cgutjahr]

We are trying to raise the standards of news items here

Obviously.

After just reviewing what you originally posted as news item, I do not think think that this is worthy to be approved as a news release.

I do think that a poll which ended up collecting 850 votes is newsworthy, but I'll admit that this is debatable - e.g. an AW moderator refused to post it as news for the same reason you just mentioned.

But there are several problems here:

1. There was no explanation given. On AW, I got a PM from the moderator. I didn't agree with the reasoning, but at least I knew what was going on - and it's their site to run, after all.

2. Given the poll's topic, you're the very last person who should make such a call.

3. I still don't know why the thread was closed and by whom. If it's not newsworthy, move it to a different forum. Why close it?

Maybe instead of opening a thread it would be better to get the mods attention by pmailing ?

I still don't know which moderator closed the thread, I would have had to PM a random mod? Besides, the forum I used is called "Amiga.org Discussion and Site Feedback", I assumed that's what it was intended for.