BartK I got this update from platuser about Gombessa's ban.
He was actively working against the site to recruit members to another forum.
This is hogwash, as far as I’m concerned. Gombessa wrote nothing on the other forum that was in any way remotely trying to ‘recruit members away.’ I am very glad that Navindra set up this site, but from VS’s perspective, it seems pretty unambiguous to me that if you’re going to ban a user for setting up another site, you first ban the person who set up the other site. They never did this. Are they confusing Gombessa with Navindra? PlatUser has not logged onto PW since 5/26, which I think was the day of the ban. So they’ve not seen any PM feedback from users.
I am speculating here. But my strong sense is that VerticalScope is very minimally involved/invested with the actual content of PW and that because of this, they did not really read through the threads, they have little appreciation of the moderators’ work on the forums, and the banning decision was rather arbitrary. This is the most charitable view I can take of the situation.
Anyways, it’s water under the bridge, at this point. VS’s problems are of their own making, as far as I’m concerned. It’s nice to be here. The other place had felt for a while like it was really struggling, whereas things here feel positive and energetic and alive. Hopefully we can continue on a positive trajectory!
