Posting there has become like trying to tip-toe through a minefield. And frankly, Spamgirl appears to have lost her damn mind. I used to love the place. Hell, I used to really like Spamgirl. Now I'd sooner stick a fork in a wall socket than visit TN.
That's about where I'm at. I remember the early discussions about "malicious lurkers" who read about the good hits/surveys/requesters, but apparently use that info and never share their own tips. I remember thinking/saying that a 2 tiered forum of some sort could fix that, but christ on a cracker! I wasn't suggesting that 99% of the forum population get relegated to non-turk-only discussions for...months? Hundreds or thousands of OT posts?
Athena, you're spot on. I stopped going there when a thread on transcription tips I posted on (and got thanked for) disappeared behind the Wall... There's no point to hanging out there trying to please the powers-that-be for, what, 150 posts? Why bother? Any forum has lurkers and contributors - it's the nature of the beast. I don't give a damn, really, what they do or do not do, know or do not know, "over there". I'm quite happy where I am.
Except that you're not banned. If you were banned, you wouldn't show up on their member list. By looking at your posting habits, it appears you posted in rapid-fire fashion, so I'm surprised you weren't banned for spamming. And you weren't banned after 20 minutes as you posted there over a period of a few days. If you're going to slag another forum, at least don't lie about it or it makes what you're posting all look like BS.
And what if just the IP address is banned? They'd still show up in the members list, wouldn't they? And I don't think their posting looks like BS, no matter how you put it. 20 minutes or a week - they're ban-happy and... well really - who gives a fekk? they've been too private for too long and Andy's enabled people to get almost-real time help and leads for HITs. It's incredible to me how well it's worked out for everyone. I just like to watch, as I'm no longer concentrating on turking.