Our forum was taken down

[avoice7]

Forum URL: truthspirit.freeforums.net/

Our forum was taken down with not much explanation other than "In accordance with Section 25(a) of the ProBoards Terms of Service, this forum has been taken offline." 

You would think after over 5 years of running it, and untold hours of designing it, I could have been given a reason.

Is there a way of restoring it. Maybe remove the offending thread or something? 

Anna 

[Scott]

avoice7 -

We only deal with technical support issues here. Please contact our Abuse Department regarding this matter. You can email them at: [e-mail]

[bigballofyarn]

From what I've read, the abuse department usually tries to contact the admin and make them aware of any violating content. If warnings were ignored, that could be why the entire forum was taken offline. Another reason would be if the entire purpose of the forum was a topic that violated the ToS as a whole.

I encourage you to write to the abuse team at [e-mail] and see if they can provide you with more information.

Unfortunately, the awesome reds of ProBoards Support cannot provide you with more information.

[avoice7]

Sept 6, 2023 6:23:01 GMT -8 bigballofyarn said:

From what I've read, the abuse department usually tries to contact the admin and make them aware of any violating content. If warnings were ignored, that could be why the entire forum was taken offline. Another reason would be if the entire purpose of the forum was a topic that violated the ToS as a whole.

I encourage you to write to the abuse team at [e-mail] and see if they can provide you with more information.

Unfortunately, the awesome reds of ProBoards Support cannot provide you with more information.

No one contacted us via our email or other-wise. No warnings were given. 

I did email the abuse department. 

Thank you for your response. 

[avoice7]

Sept 6, 2023 6:22:58 GMT -8 Scott said:

avoice7 -

We only deal with technical support issues here. Please contact our Abuse Department regarding this matter. You can email them at: [e-mail]

Thank you.

[bigballofyarn]

Sept 6, 2023 6:45:52 GMT -8 avoice7 said:

Sept 6, 2023 6:23:01 GMT -8 bigballofyarn said:

From what I've read, the abuse department usually tries to contact the admin and make them aware of any violating content. If warnings were ignored, that could be why the entire forum was taken offline. Another reason would be if the entire purpose of the forum was a topic that violated the ToS as a whole.

I encourage you to write to the abuse team at [e-mail] and see if they can provide you with more information.

Unfortunately, the awesome reds of ProBoards Support cannot provide you with more information.

No one contacted us via our email or other-wise. No warnings were given. 

I did email the abuse department. 

Thank you for your response. 

I can 100% understand why you are heartbroken, but try your hardest to be kind and respectful with them. Don't write out of anger. They aren't in the business of closing forums. If there is something that can be worked out, I feel like they are the types of people who would be willing to work that that out with you. I hope things work out for the best. *Hugs*

[avoice7]

Thank you.

[Kitty Katt]

Sept 6, 2023 6:45:52 GMT -8 avoice7 said:

No one contacted us via our email or other-wise. No warnings were given.

I did email the abuse department. 

Thank you for your response. 

Just to note: I do not believe the Abuse Department notifies via email. Instead, the forum owner (/user/1) should have received a PM on the forum in question via that forum's PM system. If you are the forum owner, you would need to have logged into the main admin account (username: admin) in order to get the PM - as no other account on the forum would receive it, even if the main admin has more than one account. This is why it is important for the main admin to log into that account periodically. Many forum owners use a second account and may only log into the main admin account only when necessary - but that practice can cause a missed PM sent to that account.

[lesbrewer]

Sept 6, 2023 12:47:13 GMT -8 Kitty Katt said:

Sept 6, 2023 6:45:52 GMT -8 avoice7 said:

No one contacted us via our email or other-wise. No warnings were given.

I did email the abuse department. 

Thank you for your response. 

Just to note: I do not believe the Abuse Department notifies via email. Instead, the forum owner (/user/1) should have received a PM on the forum in question via that forum's PM system. If you are the forum owner, you would need to have logged into the main admin account (username: admin) in order to get the PM - as no other account on the forum would receive it, even if the main admin has more than one account. This is why it is important for the main admin to log into that account periodically. Many forum owners use a second account and may only log into the main admin account only when necessary - but that practice can cause a missed PM sent to that account.

found this. 25. TERMINATION

a) By ProBoards

WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS AGREEMENT, PROBOARDS RESERVES THE RIGHT TO, IN PROBOARDS' SOLE DISCRETION AND WITHOUT NOTICE OR LIABILITY, DENY USE OF THE WEBSITE AND/OR SERVICES TO ANY PERSON FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON AT ALL, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION FOR ANY BREACH OR SUSPECTED BREACH OF ANY REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY OR COVENANT CONTAINED IN THIS AGREEMENT, OR OF ANY APPLICABLE LAW OR REGULATION.


It means they can terminate your forum with out warning. Very sad as this was a well loved and respected forum that I visited regularly.

[Kitty Katt]

Sept 6, 2023 16:40:55 GMT -8 lesbrewer said:

Sept 6, 2023 12:47:13 GMT -8 Kitty Katt said:

Just to note: I do not believe the Abuse Department notifies via email. Instead, the forum owner (/user/1) should have received a PM on the forum in question via that forum's PM system. If you are the forum owner, you would need to have logged into the main admin account (username: admin) in order to get the PM - as no other account on the forum would receive it, even if the main admin has more than one account. This is why it is important for the main admin to log into that account periodically. Many forum owners use a second account and may only log into the main admin account only when necessary - but that practice can cause a missed PM sent to that account.

found this. 25. TERMINATION

a) By ProBoards

WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS AGREEMENT, PROBOARDS RESERVES THE RIGHT TO, IN PROBOARDS' SOLE DISCRETION AND WITHOUT NOTICE OR LIABILITY, DENY USE OF THE WEBSITE AND/OR SERVICES TO ANY PERSON FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON AT ALL, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION FOR ANY BREACH OR SUSPECTED BREACH OF ANY REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY OR COVENANT CONTAINED IN THIS AGREEMENT, OR OF ANY APPLICABLE LAW OR REGULATION.


It means they can terminate your forum with out warning. Very sad as this was a well loved and respected forum that I visited regularly.

Yes, that is in the Terms of Service, but ProBoards is not in business to simply shut down forums because they "feel like it". Unless the entire forum was a violation of the Terms of Service, the Abuse Department will typically attempt to contact the forum owner by the means I have posted above, and I believe they usually give 48 hours for the forum owner to resolve any Terms of Service violations. Once any violations are resolved, the forum would not be taken offline. ProBoards prefers to keep forums online, which is why the Abuse Department is typically willing (again, unless the entire forum, or a majority of it, is in violation) to help resolve any issues. This is why I stated that it is important for the forum owner to periodically log into their main admin account, especially if they mostly use a second account - which would not receive the PM.

[Kami]

Sept 6, 2023 16:59:16 GMT -8 Kitty Katt said:

Sept 6, 2023 16:40:55 GMT -8 lesbrewer said:

found this. 25. TERMINATION

a) By ProBoards

WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS AGREEMENT, PROBOARDS RESERVES THE RIGHT TO, IN PROBOARDS' SOLE DISCRETION AND WITHOUT NOTICE OR LIABILITY, DENY USE OF THE WEBSITE AND/OR SERVICES TO ANY PERSON FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON AT ALL, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION FOR ANY BREACH OR SUSPECTED BREACH OF ANY REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY OR COVENANT CONTAINED IN THIS AGREEMENT, OR OF ANY APPLICABLE LAW OR REGULATION.


It means they can terminate your forum with out warning. Very sad as this was a well loved and respected forum that I visited regularly.

Yes, that is in the Terms of Service, but ProBoards is not in business to simply shut down forums because they "feel like it". Unless the entire forum was a violation of the Terms of Service, the Abuse Department will typically attempt to contact the forum owner by the means I have posted above, and I believe they usually give 48 hours for the forum owner to resolve any Terms of Service violations. Once any violations are resolved, the forum would not be taken offline. ProBoards prefers to keep forums online, which is why the Abuse Department is typically willing (again, unless the entire forum, or a majority of it, is in violation) to help resolve any issues. This is why I stated that it is important for the forum owner to periodically log into their main admin account, especially if they mostly use a second account - which would not receive the PM.

Quick adjustment: in the cases where the forum is fine but some content is in violation, the abuse department gives admins (the "admin" username) 48 hours to *respond* to the warning. Once an admin acknowledges the warning and begins a good faith effort to work with PB to address issues, PB will work with the admin on how fast it needs to be as long as the issues are being addressed.

And just a small point of clarity for lesbrewer and anyone else that may not know: every service has terms and conditions that contain a section similar to PB's 25(a). Just wanted to make sure we're all on the same page regarding that.

[Former Member]

So I can also verify this same for one of my old forums. No PM's, No warnings, just that error. Abuse dept did not tell me why it was that way, for Rule 25a violation. I feel her pain and I was also a mod on that forum (truthspirit.freeforums.net) and personally did not find any wrong content or behaviors. Spammers that sign up were denied as policy too. I don't know if a member did anything wrong but I can confirm our admin and myself did not do anything wrong. Please fight for your users as we support you too. Lots of paid badges and all of that now gone. I have given so many badges and believe in the support for PB which is why I do it, and the admin also gave away so many badges.

Thanks for your help. I have literally given $100's of dollars for PB too. I know that is not an excuse to break rules, but without any warnings, evidence, it makes the users want to leave PB. I don't want to leave PB to be honest. I'm just telling from a user/mod/admin perspective and also went through this fire before.

[Kami]

Sept 6, 2023 18:18:20 GMT -8 @dominicjapan said:

So I can also verify this same for one of my old forums. No PM's, No warnings, just that error. Abuse dept did not tell me why it was that way, for Rule 25a violation. I feel her pain and I was also a mod on that forum (truthspirit.freeforums.net) and personally did not find any wrong content or behaviors. Spammers that sign up were denied as policy too. I don't know if a member did anything wrong but I can confirm our admin and myself did not do anything wrong. Please fight for your users as we support you too. Lots of paid badges and all of that now gone. I have given so many badges and believe in the support for PB which is why I do it, and the admin also gave away so many badges.

Thanks for your help. I have literally given $100's of dollars for PB too. I know that is not an excuse to break rules, but without any warnings, evidence, it makes the users want to leave PB. I don't want to leave PB to be honest. I'm just telling from a user/mod/admin perspective and also went through this fire before.

[Disclaimer: I am not PB staff just a long time member]

Ultimately, there is nothing further the Support PB team can do here; the TOS is a legally binding contract that, in the case of creating a forum, is an agreement between PB and the forum creator. As with many legal agreements, there may be complications that prevent PB's abuse team from being 100% transparent regarding their reasoning for the removal, depending on the situation. It is always super frustrating if you wind up with something that they can't be more transparent about, but it really goes beyond what the Support board folks can help with.

All anyone can further advise is to review the ProBoards Terms of Service in its entirety, as well as the ProBoards Community Guidelines and see if anything listed there may have been something the forum was about — if the forum was deleted without a warning sent to the admin account, it is usually — but not always — because the purpose of the forum (not the stated purpose, but the actual content in practice) was inherently counter to the TOS's stipulations. Beyond that, only the Abuse team can shed more light if there are no complications barring them from doing so (and there often are, just to levelset expectations).

I am sorry it's not really better news, I just wanted to provide some context from what I've witnessed over the years for cases like these. Best of luck.

[Former Member]

Thank you Kami. Part of why I replied (even this is my primary forum) is that I wanted to document this one) and I do appreciate how much you care and want to help us. I know this is out of PB support's hands. I'm hoping avoice7 will use this link as a reference too when she is able to contact the abuse team. I think a forum up for years and faithful, just to be taken down, without any PM's is outrageous. Frustrated is putting it nicely. Custom codes, emojis, I personally have see hard hard this particular admin put on her forum for years.

avoice7, I think with recently advertise here, some spammers got on the board. I remember some all chinese characters, and all chinese posts, and I removed one about one month ago. I know you banned someone there too. Please inform the abuse teams that "that" might be the real reasons of why your forum was banned.

[Kami]

Sept 6, 2023 21:11:17 GMT -8 @dominicjapan said:

Thank you Kami . Part of why I replied (even this is my primary forum) is that I wanted to document this one) and I do appreciate how much you care and want to help us. I know this is out of PB support's hands. I'm hoping avoice7 will use this link as a reference too when she is able to contact the abuse team. I think a forum up for years and faithful, just to be taken down, without any PM's is outrageous. Frustrated is putting it nicely. Custom codes, emojis, I personally have see hard hard this particular admin put on her forum for years.

avoice7 , I think with recently advertise here, some spammers got on the board. I remember some all chinese characters, and all chinese posts, and I removed one about one month ago. I know you banned someone there too. Please inform the abuse teams that "that" might be the real reasons of why your forum was banned.

When it comes to a TOS violation — non-TOS violation removals have different error messages — there are a lot of factors that we as members / users are unable to see. It is not a matter of loyalty, or money spent, or even time spent; it is a matter of what PB views is or is not something that is in violation of its terms. I know that sounds harsh and I genuinely don't intend it to be so, but this is just one of those things where time/money spent are not part of the decision.

Ultimately, we should avoid theorising on the specifics of why a forum was removed. It doesn't help to do so since we don't want to mislead anyone even by accident, and we also don't want to get into any hot water ourselves (since, after all, the TOS is a legally binding contract).

I do encourage you to provide emotional support to the OP via PM, if you so desire, as this is often a frustrating process to go through. It seems like y'all are close, so it might be very kind to offer a few words in private to bolster their spirits.