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Scott Brehaut wrote:Matt was banned for, amongst other things, posting homophobic comments, racist comments, offensive comments against other posters and offensive comments about those running the trust. In spite of numerous warnings, he continued on and therefore the admin team found that they were left with no choice but to ban him from the forum.

Should you feel that you've been the subject of homophobic comments, racist comments etc, please flag up the post so that a member of the admin team can deal with it.

This forum is to be congratulated for taking firm action against those who clearly overstep the mark in spite of numerous warnings. In these days of increasing attempts elsewhere to censor and silence opposing views, to suppress uncomfortable facts, and to ban free speech, I believe this forum has got it just about right by taking such action as a last resort. However, I believe very few people are beyond redemption, and perhaps after a period of time Matt may be older and wiser.

We're all prone to human error, so every discussion and debate should be tempered with respect and consideration for others, whilst fearlessly opposing those with extreme or outrageous views, but ideally with compelling and cogent argument, sound reasoning and persuasive logic. Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world.

I was once banned from another football forum, and to this day I don't know why, though I can guess: I was expressing views on their political discussion forum which (on that forum at least) were minority views with which many disagreed. Much as I do on our Popside forum, I attempted to convey valid criticisms of feminism (for which I was labelled misogynist) and Israeli Government policies ('controversial', if not anti-Semitic), and views on other issues of the day. At no time was I homophobic, racist or offensive, but I was a lone voice among the prevailing group-think. It is to the credit of our own forum that it can distinguish between censorship of opposing or minority views and castigation of comments which break the basic rules of decency and human discourse.

I'm willing to bet you were banned from the other football forum for frequently violating double-post rules.

I was once banned for agreeing too frequently with brucie (well, my comments were; I don't think I was personally).

I've seen a few clubs (via The National League twitter account) are engaging in major ground works! It would appear Tamworth and Telford are digging up their turf and Dover are working along one side of theirs. Are there any plans to address our drainage problems over the closed period or do finances limit Chris Ralph to simple/general maintenance?

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