To all members, moderators and associated interested parties of Bluelight and EADD.
After long and careful consideration by the website team, it is with regret that we have had to permanently ban Evey (Evelievibe) from any further use of Bluelight as a social media platform, and she will not be permitted to hold a member account again.
This website, it's members, moderators and administrators have helped this member in every way that we can and we cannot see what else we could possibly offer her upon her return from her current temporary ban. Most important, is the overall disruption to the board resorting in what at times we recognise may have seemed like disproportionate moderation of members posts but this was a necessary evil that we had to take while a permanent solution to this matter was discussed.
Before we go any further it's worth taking a moment to explain why this time is different to the previous two times Evey was "permabanned" and why on this occasion it is final and for good.
One of the issues a number of members have raised during the latter stages of the Evey saga is that she had twice been 'permabanned' and twice returned with very little - if anything - given in the way of explanation. The latter was tricky as we have always had a blanket policy of not getting into any discussion of disciplinary actions involving any member with anybody other than the person or people involved. The reasons for this are fairly obvious and - believe it or not - entirely innocuous. It is simply the case that personal details are just that: personal. Moreover, discussion of staff decisions and how they come about is also considered off-limits for similar reasons: there tends to be a variety of personal information involved and often that extends beyond the individual in question. Whether this is the best way to handle such decisions or not is a valid discussion to have, but there was nothing different or unusual in the way decisions involving Evey conformed to this standard operating procedure.
As Evey is no longer a member. a little background and context may help to explain why what clearly seemed "different or unusual" to many wasn't always as it seemed.
Evey's initial 'permaban' was brought about via totally unprecedented actions involving several EADD posters and a senior staff member who is no longer a member of the Bluelight support team. What happened amounted to a secret panel of hand-picked members "voting off" another member and no matter what one's opinion of Evey's membership here was I'd hope such an approach would be unacceptable to all. When the details became clear it was unacceptable to staff too so the ban was overturned.
Trying to strike a balance between the rights & responsibilities of an individual against those of many others was very far from easy - mistakes were certainly made and it because increasingly clear that it may not be possible to find any kind of balance that would work. "Special treatment" was used again in a last-ditch effort to make it crystal clear to Evey the forms of posting and social behaviour that she typically displayed may not be explicitly covered by any of our rules but very clearly rubbed a great many people up the wrong way. Again the "special treatment" provided to Evey was perhaps not what most were meaning when using the phrase. In this case it was to apply specific and stringent restrictions upon posting that didn't even come close to breaking any rules but managed to cause far more disruption than any posts infringing the rules ever manages.
Ultimately it was Evey and Evey alone whose consistent cycling of unacceptable behaviours transcended the assorted interventions of other members. Even taking into account the input of others, Evey's choices are the sole reason the decision has been made to end her membership slightly ahead of the 10 points it usually takes to reach 'permaban' status. With no sign of positive and meaningful change even being considered let alone attempted it was decided there were no more options on the table. Evey had been made aware that she was on her very last chance some weeks prior to her most recent ban for posts made in The Lounge. She was given a clear choice and chose badly in trying to find a way around the restrictions made on her posting rather than addressing the issues raised head-on. As such she is no longer a member and this really is a final decision.
On the other hand, the quite frankly disturbing at times behaviour and actions of certain other members was also a real problem. It too was totally unprecedented and at times downright brutal. Whilst staff did get things wrong at times, the way some went about venting their frustrations crossed a number of lines on a number of occasions and this also had to be taken into account. It is not fair to take action against somebody for whom the ease and effectiveness of winding up is abundantly clear to all and therefore open to manipulation. There were incidents that were essentially created deliberately by a person or persons sometimes known, sometimes strongly suspected, yet they were almost always astute enough to ensure proof enough to act would be nigh-on impossible. There is no point going over all the 'ins and outs' yet again, but I think it is fair to say that precious few who were directly involved whether through happen stance or choice comes out of this without a few question marks hanging over some of the decisions made.
In finalising the above, we are sorry for the poor experience that Bluelight has become for certain members with regards to the above issue. However, in order to try and put all of this to bed, this thread can be used for constructive discussion regarding the above member and the problems that may have resulted within the community during her presence. We would ask that you keep this topic within this thread so that we can eventually bury it all in the archives where it now belongs. Regardless of our decision - no abusive posts of any kind will be tolerated as is standard on this website and is cited in the BLUA which can be found here http://wiki.bluelight.org/index.php/...reement_(BLUA) and they will be dealt with as standard.
We do hope that we can put this sad episode behind us and get back to doing what we do best.
Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.
The Bluelight Team
Bluelight