MODERATOR UPDATE
To begin, I'd like to apologize to our members for the brief delay in the issuance of this statement regarding Ploop and his status here on DBG. The situation unfolded late in the day yesterday, and into the evening, and with family commitments, it simply became too late last night for me to compose a proper statement that would meet my personal standards. With that being said, the situation is as follows:
There have been several issues regarding this vendor for some time now that have given Admin, Heisenberg and I cause for concern. The first, and most obvious, being the widely reported ill treatment of member customers. While not presenting sufficient reason to warrant action in and of itself, it was a situation that weighed somewhat heavily on our minds, given our role as "guardians" of the community, so to speak, and given that our duty, first and foremost, is the protection of the board, it's culture and our members. Simply put, in our minds, there was no place for such treatment of members here at DBG, but from a rules standpoint, this increasingly untenable situation didn't present us with many options in terms of corrective action.
This brings me to the second issue, which is that there had been growing suspicions on our part for a period of months now that "Ploop" was not simply a vendor who had been introduced to DBG by a fellow member, but rather, that very member themselves. The specifics of these suspicions are not important for purposes of this statement, nor in general, but suffice it to say that they were significant and difficult to ignore. Among them was the fact that immediately following any remotely negative feedback post regarding Ploop, the member who introduced this vendor to our board would come to Ploop's defense in what seemed an unusually assertive manner. Again, however, while increasingly untenable, this fact, in and of itself, did not present sufficient cause for corrective action, but did add to our growing concerns.
With all of the above being the "back story", that leads me to the turning point in this situation, which occurred yesterday afternoon. Heisenberg and I were presented with irrefutable evidence that Ploop was, in fact GDX, the member who introduced "Ploop" to DBG. This evidence came in the form of information pertaining to Ploop's packaging and one specific component thereof, which I won't mention in open forum for the safety and security of any member who might have an outstanding order in transit from Ploop. The bottom line is that the evidence presented to us verified beyond any reasonable doubt what we had suspected for some time, which was that GDX was in fact Ploop, which clearly and distinctly violates Admin's rightfully strict rule prohibiting members from actively selling products on DBG. As a result, GDX has been banned from DBG, and "Ploop's" thread will be removed from the board following a one week period to allow members sufficient time to review this final update on his status.
I'd like to take this opportunity to briefly explain the significance of the rule that prohibits members from selling products here on DBG. As many of your know, Silk Road was recently shut down (although reportedly it has been relaunched, at least for now) by the US government for its activities in operating an "open air market" for illicit products. Communities like DBG rely solely on First Amendment protections in order to remain in existence, and those protections ONLY work when we exist as a venue for the exchange of information and as a social community. When the line is crossed from information exchange and social community to active, open marketplace, the First Amendment has no ability to protect us, and the board, it's staff and it's members, become potentially complicit in a number of different crimes under US law. As a result, it is absolutely imperative that NO member be allowed to actively sell and function as a vendor here on DBG while also belonging to the board as a general member. This clearly creates a conspiracy argument under US criminal code, and puts all of us at risk. For this specific reason, we are extremely proactive in enforcing this rule, and as a result, swift and decisive action was taken in Ploop's situation, once the indisputable evidence was made available to us.
For anyone who may not yet completely understand the policy and how it functions, I'll offer HydreauxMan as an example. When arriving here at DBG, he reached out to me and asked where he could post his information and introduce himself to the board. I explained to him at that time that general members were NOT permitted to operate as vendors on DBG, and that while we welcomed new email vendors, in order to establish a thread, he would have to either be introduced to the board by an existing customer and board member and have no direct, personal interaction on the forums, or, should he desire to have the ability to post, he would have to contact Admin and request a vendor membership account, which is what he ultimately chose to do. Even in the case of a transparent vendor account, the vendor's posting ability is limited to answering questions posted by members in that vendor's thread only. No "specials" can be posted, nor any other form of advertising, as this once again puts us at risk of being deemed as a "marketplace" instead of an information exchange community. While there's certainly a fine line that must be walked with vendor accounts, Admin, Heisenberg and I feel that allowing vendor access to their threads on a tightly regulated basis offers both members and vendors a great many potential benefits, and it's our hope that more vendors will avail themselves of this opportunity in the future. In any event, HydreauxMan serves as an excellent case study in how vendors should introduce themselves to the community, and, subsequently, how they should conduct themselves after the initial introduction. His pro-active desire to operate within the rules of our community demonstrates both a sincere desire to serve our members, as well as a level of intelligence and understanding where legal protections and ultimate longevity are concerned. It's this type of vendor that we welcome with open arms here at DBG, and that we hope to attract going forward BECAUSE of our well thought out rules and standards, not in spite of them.
In conclusion, while this wasn't a particularly difficult decision to reach from a technical and rules standpoint, it was not one that was made lightly, as I know that a number of members rely on Ploop's services to meet their medical needs. Please know that this fact was taken into consideration, and that ultimately, this decision was made for the safety and well being of all members, and was one that simply had to be made. I do know that Ploop has a thread presence elsewhere on the internet, and I would certainly presume that he will remain in business, despite not having a presence here on DBG. As a result, I'm confident that anyone who relies on Ploop's services will still have the ability to reach him, and to obtain current information on his status, should they so desire. As someone who has spent a great deal of time searching for high quality vendors with a potential interest in serving our members, I'm sincerely disappointed that Ploop's presence here on DBG had to end in this manner, as it was, quite simply, unnecessary. GDX was confronted on several occasions about this situation, either directly or indirectly, and the vendor account policy and process has been well documented via HydreauxMan's introduction to DBG, as well as other related open forum discussions, so there was ample opportunity to step forward, admit that his situation here on the board was in violation of our stated policies and rules, and to submit a request to Admin to become compliant in this regard. Had he chosen to do so, he, in all likelihood, would still be a vendor in good standing here on DBG. Unfortunately for all concerned, he chose not to do so.
Thank you for your patience and time, and I look forward to bringing you new, more positive updates in the days and weeks to come. Have a great weekend everyone.....
Jewbacca