Section 25(a)

[Lisao0o]

Forum URL: parenthesescat.boards.net

I was going to create a new forum then as I am creating it I realised I have used proboards before for the above forum and I woke up one morning to find it had been taken offline, "In accordance with Section 25(a) of the ProBoards Terms of Service, this forum has been taken offline." I searched this and found that this is the section that basically means your forum can be taken down without reason.

I do not want to spend hours on my new forum only to have the same thing happen. I was never given any reason for this and I am wondering basically WTF. I am looking to make a forum and I had really liked proboards until this..... can someone please help me with this issue? I would like to get this cleared up before embarking on making a new one and wasting my time. Can any troll simply report your forum and it is shut down for no reason? I have not done anything illegal or anything, can I please get some support for this issue?

[moonbeam]

No, a forum is never taken down just because someone reports it. The abuse department will investigate any report it receives. Your forum will be safe as long as it follows the terms of service.

I'd guess that the biggest reason forums are shut down is because they aren't pg-13. However, just one or two posts shouldn't necessarily cause it to be shut down either. If it's just something small, the abuse department would PM the main admin a warning, and you have 48 hrs to rectify the situation. If that warning is ignored, or not fully complied with, then you may find the forum shut down. Or, if it's rampant ToS issues all over, then a warning may not be given at all.

Best advice any of us to give is to make sure you read the ToS thoroughly as to what content/behaviors are not allowed.

[Lisa o0o]

Well there was no adult content, I recieved NO notice and just woke up to my forum having being taken offline. I really want a forum but this does not explain what happened to my last one and I had spent many hours on it. I have not even been able to find out why.

[Lynx]

Aug 28, 2015 21:28:43 GMT -8 Lisa o0o said:

Well there was no adult content, I recieved NO notice and just woke up to my forum having being taken offline. I really want a forum but this does not explain what happened to my last one and I had spent many hours on it. I have not even been able to find out why.

You will need to contact the Abuse Department at [e-mail] to find out why, as they are the only ones who will be able to answer your question(s).

[Lisa o0o]

Ok thankyou.

[Lisa o0o]

I have never recieved any response from e-mailing [e-mail] about this

[David Clark]

Unfortunately we'll have to ask that you continue to be patient while you wait for a response from the abuse team, as we're unable to help expedite or check the status of your case. My apologies.

[Lisa o0o]

Well I made a new forum and the exact same thing happened. I woke up this morning and it has been taken offline, again I recieved no notice of this. I have still not gotten a reply from my e-mail about the previous one either.

[moonbeam]

And this is still the wrong place to address it. Admins here are not part of the abuse team and can't do anything to assist.

It might help to know what the general topic of your forum was.

[mmhmm]

If you're getting a notice that Section 25(a) has been violated, something about your forum is breaking ToS. It's possible someone is placing unacceptable material on your forum while you're not there. This could be stopped by not allowing guest posting and requiring guests to register and be approved before they can post. It that's not the problem, then it's the forum itself. We don't know anything about the forum and can't advise you. Neither, as moonbeam pointed out, can the admins here on Support help you. These matters are strictly handled by the abuse department.

[Former Member]

Sept 8, 2015 17:04:23 GMT -8 Lisa o0o said:

Well I made a new forum and the exact same thing happened. I woke up this morning and it has been taken offline, again I recieved no notice of this. I have still not gotten a reply from my e-mail about the previous one either.

what was your site about ?

i got one closed but i knew why.

[Bütch]

        The abuse department does send a PM to the forum owner and they give you 48 hours to correct the problem, if you take longer than that without correcting the problem, the forum gets shut down. I'm living proof, I moved my forum to forums.net that doesn't have the restrictions and problem was solved for me. If one of your members makes a forbidden thread or post and you aren't around for 48 hours or longer the forum gets shut down. That's why it is important you check your forum everyday. It's in the Abuse department's hands now and they are the only ones that can help you now. Support has no part of that area of the forum. If you've had a 2nd forum taken down it must be something in the forum itself I would think

[?adwoman?]

you should consider forums.net(paid service) since the content is more relaxed

[Matt]

Sept 8, 2015 20:31:31 GMT -8 ?adwoman? said:

you should consider forums.net(paid service) since the content is more relaxed

Forums.net is part of proboards, so wouldn't the proboards TOS apply as well?

OP, you need to give us more information on what your forum was about and why it may have been removed.
though I would think that the proboards admin here would be able to at least check on the status of your case.

[Bütch]

        Forums.net is a paid for service where the owner can write his own TOS and Rules. As long as laws are met you may post what you, as guidelines are highly relaxed, but on the free forums they are highly restricted and PG13 is strictly enforced