Topic: Is it legal for a forum to start charging for access to user-provided content?

[Garp]

No offence to the refugees, but do we need to be berating another forum on this one? I don't think that this forum is the place for the recently released hostages to be venting their anger at their former captor.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Can you suggest a better place, Garp, given that they are no longer able to vent their very justifiable spleen in the other place because they have all been thrown out for so doing ?

** Phil.

[peshwarinaan]

No offence to the refugees, but do we need to be berating another forum on this one? I don't think that this forum is the place for the recently released hostages to be venting their anger at their former captor.

I think it's incredibly important that we voice criticism here.

This forum is the closest thing to a "sister forum" to bircurries as you'll find, sharing many of the same members and (obviously) a very similar structure and content. The issues raised could be relevant to this forum or any other similar kind of forum online and are worth discussing.

Plus, people who have contributed content to bircurries in the past need to be made aware that their posts are now behind a paywall.

This isn't about berating another forum at all, but rather about informing people of what's happening within the BIR community, especially if you feel that injustice has been done. After all, if you can't have civilised, polite, yet sometimes critical discussion then what's the point of a forum?

[Ghoulie]

Exactly

[jalfreziT]

As for the owner i feel sorry, he doesnt need people arguing with him, I think he needs help.

I stand steadfastly shoulder to shoulder with MickyP here.

A warning for newcomers to the curry community about "what is out there on the internet" = needed

Criticism and general slagging off of CA = doesn't really help anyone. He very likely needs the kind of specialist help that can't be found on a curry forum.

[peshwarinaan]

Looks like other members have been banned according to the admin's latest update (emphasis my own):

Please note that another couple of members have been banned from this forum for bringing this forum into disrepute elsewhere.

Please rather send me a Personal Message, or email me, if you have any gripes, complaints or concerns about this forum. But please DO NOT air your dirty laundry in public or, in particular, elsewhere. Hardly a very sensible, mature, respectful or constructive way of going about things.

The irony of this statement is astounding. First of all because it's his dirty laundry being aired, borne of a situation which he created. Secondly because it seems totally lost on him that blankly refusing to engage in any form of open conversation is the anethema of a "sensible, mature, respectful or constructive" approach. And finally, banning people for raising issues "elsewhere" (i.e. here) when it's literally the only option we have, since he's chosen to block all attempts at discourse on his own forum.

This guy needs to learn what mature conversation is. If his ideas are sensible then he should be willing to defend them and discuss them. The fact that he's behaving like a dictator - silencing and oppressing anyone who dares speak out against him - surely says all you need to know about the situation. He's obviously been taking lessons on leadership from the North Korean government.

And by the way, I want to reiterate that I don't give a toss about the drama between bircurries and this forum, and don't care about whatever history exists between the two forums. As I said, if Cory Ander wants to lock down his forum going forward then I don't have a single bad word to say about that decision; but all previous content must still be available to non-paying members.

It cannot be tolerated for someone to take freely submitted content generously provided by the BIR community and restrict access to it under his own terms.

[George]

No offence to the refugees, but do we need to be berating another forum on this one? I don't think that this forum is the place for the recently released hostages to be venting their anger at their former captor.

I disagree. He brings it upon himself. It was an object lesson on how not to run a forum, just like Andy's realcurryrecipes or whatever it was called, which went before. These people don't have a clue and both have failed. Your comment is a bit like saying it shouldn't be allowed to criticise Hitler, whereas the opposite applies in that it's illegal to express support. Perhaps it should be disallowed to express any support for CA here,

[Sverige]

You say CA has failed with his forum George,  but you also mentioned that you have been a member there under a different name and it seems that you

[mickyp]

You say CA has failed with his forum George,  but you also mentioned that you have been a member there under a different name and it seems that you

[Garp]

it was nothing to do with the introduction of a Paywall it was the principal of overnight not being allowed access to one"s own material,

But you can still access your material, you just have to pay for it; ergo it was the Paywall which brought you here.