What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Spamming at gardenweb

Status
Not open for further replies.
**************** NOTE FROM MODERATOR***************

This thread concerns personal views of members of this form, concerning petflytrap.com in relation to gardenweb, and has become emotionally charged. This is a SERIOUS discussion, that doesn't hold to a lot of the light heartedness that we are all familiar with.

Please keep in mind that what your read may not be what was written, sometimes blunt questions come across as mean spirited, I assure you that every person writing in this topic is a very good, and responsible person. Moderators are keeping a very close eye on what happens here, and it will NOT be allowed to turn into a flame war.

As of today, the topic is not locked, I personally don't feel that it should be as it serves as an 'airing of views'.

Remember, Blunt doesn't mean rude. This is a serious adult conversation, and pretty much has nothing to do with plants, so if it's not your cup of tea, then read else where.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

- Ram_Puppy

***************


Did people know that you cannot mention petflytrap at the gardenWeb forum?  I tried commenting on a post at gardenweb referring to petflytrap and they wouldn't let me use the word petflytrap because apparently somebody has been spamming their site with adverts !


(Edited by RamPuppy at 5:26 pm on April 18, 2002)
 
GOE,

That isn't quite accurate. As Spike (the webmaster at GW) defines it, if you so much as mention any site that he has black listed then you are a SPAMMER and commiting an act of terrorism against his site. That you mentioned PFT might well get you booted too.

You might think I am exagerating but this is the reason I was booted from there. I mentioned PFT in an email routed through GW. After I got booted I asked Spike why and that was what he told me. I'd give you the word for word account but there are kids on this site and the language he used is not kid friendly. I can say that I though his definition of a spammer was a bit biased he told me I was as bad as the 9/11 terrorists and that of course I wouldn't see myself as a terrorist the same way they did not.

All in all there is a lot of bad blood between GW and here and I know it might sound opinionated but I think it is all Spike acting like a bratty child.

Pyro
 
I'm sure you could stay at GW if you continually kiss butt. There are people who enjoy that type of thing.
 
Gardenweb must have upped the anti after our little >AHEM< crusade! Anyways, its much better here. Eventually everyone see's the light! Its so much more friendly! I'm sure everyone here feels the same way. Everybody here are more than just members, were all friends. Its just too bad that most of you live a whole continent away 'cuz You would all be invited round to my house for a coffee!
 
... or a beer? :biggrin:
 
Richard UK...I had to laugh at your comment. :) That was so sweet...and true. Its kinda like everyone one is a friendly neighbor who just happens not to live near you. lol But the diversity in location gives great insight into other people's climate, plants, foods and interests.

Spike is just jealous because he has no friends. :biggrin:

Suzanne
 
Richard UK,
If you were closer we could all get together and have a cuppa
or a spot of tea. Tea or coffee would be good but the company would be great. I foresee in the future a Petflytrap/Exotic Gardens annual party somewhere...maybe a garden party...wouldn't that be something special??!!!
smile.gif
 
Gardenworld seems a most unfriendly place. Not only is mentioning PFT cause for banishment, so is offering free seed. Be careful what you say, and remember your GW based email is monitored by a third party. The rules seem to change at the webmasters whim. Very strange, very sad, and not at all to my taste. I much prefer the family feeling here at PFT where sharing and caring is the norm, and good friends are easily made.

Tamlin: banned, and loving it!
 
  • #10
i love you all...

####...i told myself i wouldnt cry...

i only checked out GW after the 'crusade' and was totally unimpressed...

the interface and forum is so ugly and un-user friendly...

PFT's site, forum, service, attitude, and following is much better in every way.
 
  • #11
I am glad you all like it here! Now lick my shoes clean!
smile.gif


jk!

I don't mind saying I think spikeis an imature punk, and comparing someone who just wants to share plant knowledge to a 911 terrorist just shows how little about the world spike really knows. He obviously does not comprehend what shocked the rest of the world that day.

To busy getting a tan from his monitor, searching through everyones mail like 'the austrian corpral' for a site that is all about plants. You know, if we were all there talking about our respective plots to become ruler of the world (I never discuss these plans in public or private, so don't ask!) then I could understand... but OMG! He learned about my plot to send a red dragon mutated flytrap to IRAQ as a gift to Sadam, so when he opened it, he would get eaten! OH NO! BETTER REPORT ME!)

What a goof.

Plain and simple reality is this:

Gardenweb is, as has been stated, ugly, boring, and slow in converstaion. spike, who I will no refer to as diminuitive sharp little stick boy or DSLSB, relys on advertising to keep his site open, so when petflytrap came along, and was instantly more succesful, stripping away members from him just because it was existing as a better place, he had a fit, declared a war, and the rest if history.

If you can't handle the competition, get out of the game ya know?

Banned Several Times over from Gardenweb, and loving it as well.

Ram_Puppy - banned
Rom_Dog - banned
Memory_Hound -banned
there are more... but I forget.
 
  • #12
i was band from gweb for saying "i have seeds for trade or sale" >that was my first band; after asking for a 2nd chance, i got booted for saying "check out this site for info". spike needs to chill.

my past gweb names

Zach-banned
ZCP-banned
assowipo88-banned lol
 
  • #13
I was also banned, after having about four messages deleted. I put petflytrap.com's name in a thread asking for commercial CP providers. WHAT WAS I THINKING? It seems no one else's posts were deleted. Hypocrite?... nah. But on a more positive not (because its not related to GW), I think an annual Petflytrap.com CP meet would be great. We could all meet, swap plants, and give Jeff and Phil lots of money. We could also organize our plans to take over the world! Oh wait, I didn't mention that.

Patrick
 
  • #14
Oh I would also like to add a quote that I love:

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" -Gandhi

I understand that GW and Spike have screwed some people over, but let's try and focus on the positive environment provided here. (not meant in a condescending tone). And yes their layout is ugly. (DOH!)

Patrick
 
  • #15
I don't think we had to worry or talk about gardenweb CP forum as I can see it wouldn't hold for long time there are less and less posts there and Petflytrap all the this time growing so let's delete GW from our bookmark list and keep Petflaytrap grow.
arie
 
  • #16
Petflytrap.com's layout is far better than gardenwebs layout. And all of this talk about getting banned from gardenweb is stupid, because you mention a name, petflytrap.com, you get banned, and also there is hardly no-one in the forums, wereas here there are 400+ members. And here it is very easy to make friends and has a nice atmosphere to it. Anyway, we might as well enjoy it here
smile.gif


Tom

flytrap.gif
 
  • #18
I remember someone had posted the petflytrap URL in just about every CP group on GardenWeb. It was clearly a spamming attack on GardenWeb. I know where I work, whenever we get spammed, the system administrator blocks all incoming email from that IP address. It is a common practice by several companies, so I don't see anything unusual at all what GardenWeb has done to block the spam. It is unfortunate it happened that way, but nobody likes being spammed.
 
  • #19
If I recall the situation, it was many people doing it and not one.

The reason it happened in the first place was due to the fact that Spike and the GW staff felt since we wanted money back for advertising that we paid for as a result of the unprofessional nature of that site and staff, they could call us spammers and ban people for writing our name.

So for that, no mention of petflytrap.com was allowed at all.

Then users were getting banned, their private messages read through and sent nasty email responses for the mere mention of PFT.

That in itself is not right. At all.

No one has to mention this site or the owners, that is fine.

BUT

There were people in there that were trying to reference PFT for content or to buy plants, not to spam. And for that, Spike and Company thought banning was a great practice for treating its members.

The ones that pay for the service. The ones that buy from the advetisers. The ones that offer help to those in need of it the most.

This site was a result of the black listing of PFT from Garden Web. It was because of the policy of shut up and deal with it or leave attitude Spike and Co. has that made this what it is.

I have tried to talk with Spike, many others have also. With no luck. You can see the results of the emails between these members and GW.

I think that it is truly unfair to the user and TOTALLY unfair to the people that are in need of the help they now cannot get.

When all the 'spamming' went on recently on GW, it was a result of one of our great members, who we all respect and admire, getting banned for sending a private message to someone referring them to this site to get a plant. For that, he was banned. TOTALLY unnecessary.

As a result, all of these memebers felt it was necessary to show support for their friend. This was not solicited from this site and was the doing of people on their own. Calm was asked of the members of this site, but due to the treatment that just about everyone in here has gotten, I don't blame anyone for doing it.

It was a sign of support for their friend.

This is an issue many people feel strong about and many do not have good words to say about GW.

It is a shame that you cannot mention this site without being banned or called a 'spammer'. We do not spam that site.

It is amazing to see all the posts of other commercial sites on GW, but I see none of them removed. And we were the only ones to actually pay to advertise on there.
 
  • #20
The "spamming" thing happend way after people were being banned for mentioning the name of our company.

I think the instance you are referring to was more recent... and yes, it was an attack on gardenweb of sorts, by users who thought the 'moderators' of gardenweb were irrational and childish.

It was a statement, against the ever changing, on a whim ... half baked policy that g.w. has.

The opinion of many people with whom I communicated with pretty much said : " They say their site has been spammed? When? Well... if that's how they're going to be, we'll SHOW them spam"

Not necessarily the right action or attitude... but it was from our users who thought gardenweb was being just downright silly... more to make a point than anything else. And at that point, they had already tagged us as "spammers" (for what reason, I've yet to figure out)...

Anyway, a point was made... for better or for worse ... and if they would just LOOK at the users here... that are hateful towards the treatment they received... perhaps they'd retain more users.

<shrug>

No biggie... we are here... they are there... and each company can run their forums how they see fit.

Though... perhaps I should start banning people that mention gardenweb <snicker>
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top