Posted by At the Facebook Forum Staff Page and my private FB chat
Mark kept bringing up Cabledrum for about four weeks. Although incomplete they give an indication on how he was presenting this issue publicly within the team of mods and some admins who were members of the Facebook Forum Staff Group Page (not all were):
Ma Rk April 29 at 12:29am
who tweeted the ” Hezbollah ” article that was posted ont eh forum ?
In a Facebook Message later on the day:
4/29, 8:31am Greek Emmy I am sorry about the tweeting Mark. I don’t feel comfortable with this board, first this business with the “-1” reputation of milicak, then this “Poison Cabinet” with its complications, and now my tweeting going all wrong… I don’t think I am up to it really, best someone else moderates this particular Board, pleeease? do you think someone else can step in? I don’t want to let you down but I think someone else should take over this board. Please and thank you
4/29, 9:18am Ma Rk Eemmy…… The teeet was ok….. Just wanted to know if cabledrum asked you to teeet it…. Nothing wrong done,,,,, no need to worry
Back at the Facebook Forum Staff Page that afternoon:
Ma Rk no 😛 I was asking because of a compeltely different reason. I will send you PM and explain. Nothng wrogn has been done and no harm caused…I’ll explain
April 29 at 1:27pm
Greek Emmy thank you 🙂
April 29 at 1:28pm
Ma Rk
Cabledrum:
Just to inform you all about what cable has been up to. He has been removed as board moderator for his platform. We wrote him a long explanation explaining the reasons which he didnt accept and as a result he just tweeted this :
https://twitter.com/#!/Cabledrummer/status/198020386795962368
…Continue Reading
Twitter / Cabledrum: He lied. Al-Manar was his …
twitter.com
He lied. Al-Manar was his decision, not mine. He was fully informed in advance and authorized it.
Like · · Follow Post · Share · May 3 at 5:20pm
Ma Rk
Cabledrum intentions:
I’m still not sure what to do with Cabledrum, especially in light of the last PM he chose to send everyone. I ( we ) have explained why his moderation permissions were revoked and the matter requires no further dabate. He has also bee sending the mods PMs asking them do to this and that as well as pestering and provoking me ( see his Tweet below )
I have lost all my patience and trust with Cabledrum and as a result I have changed his forum status to a new membergroup I created for people who I don’t trust, but don’t have a reason to ban. The new membergroup ” Basic Member ” has scaled permissions meaning he can post but can edit, or send PMs.
Like · · Follow Post · May 10 at 1:42pm near
Isis 4 me it’s enough not to be posting at all… just my opinion… shooting smears vs the admins to not involved ppl of the forum is itself a bad behaviour…
May 10 at 4:22pm · Like
Ma Rk ”suspec” has been deleted and cablrdum has received warnung. Now that he has admitted to breaking the forum rules the time has come to consider more drastic measures.
May 10 at 5:19pm
Ma Rk
after cabledrums tweet we have decided to ban his forum account. The ban was issued after a majority vote via the admin team. His latest tweet prompted me to delete his entire account. We can expect cabledrum to keep attacking the forum and myself untill he realizes that his behaviour will only discredit himself and his site.
Openly publishsing chat logs including the location of the hosting account for the forum as well as my own location is blatant attack on this forum as well as myself.
I will not respond to these attacks and hope we can all keep our cool and continue to uphold the saftey of the wikileaks forum.
…See More
Twitter / Cabledrum: In response to my last twe …
twitter.com
In response to my last tweet @wikileaks_forum has BANNED me http://t.co/PxzPf7jT #wikileaks
Like · · Unfollow Post · Share · May 18 at 3:21pm
Ma Rk
Hi all…just to update you on the ” Cabledrum Saga ” ( sigh ).
Its seems he is now involving different groups including WLPress which include ex admins ***** and *****. *****left the admin team when I refused to publish his own 9/11 theory and ***** left after she was caught giving interviews to a Canadian TV station after intercepting an e-mail meant for support-julian-assange.com. The Canadian TV presented her as owner and admin of the site as well an a Wikileaks ” intern “. After I asked her why she did this she told me she had no more time and asked me if it was oaky to leave the admin which I accepted without any further discussion.
Anyway…just so you know who is involved in WLPress….
…Continue Reading
Like · · Follow Post · May 21 at 11:12am
Ma Rk
just to keep everyone informed about the intentions of ( you know who )
https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/Cabledrummer
https://twitter.com/?_escaped_fragment_=%2Fsearch%2Frealtime%2FCabledrummer
twitter.com
Like · · Unfollow Post · Share · May 24 at 12:42pm near
Greek Emmy Thank you Mark & E ! 🙂 – I finished checking 433 GIF posts from Cabledrum’s database and he actually had posted 29 of them in the forum. I have the URL’s and I intend to post them tomorrow.
May 24 at 11:58pm · Like · 1
Ma Rk great stuff….please remember that Cabledum isnt priority
May 25 at 12:10am ·
Ma Rk Im sorry if somed of you think Im being too hard on this ” wikileaks supporter ” but I dont want to see Cabledrum on this forum ever again. …..Amen
May 29 at 10:50pm
Ma Rk
Oh dear Lord…this just reach me as well from cabledrumm
“https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/206556802408656896
I’m still willing to cease that bullshit. What about you?”
…See More
Twitter / wikileaks: Supporters: Please befrien
twitter.com
Instantly connect to what’s most important to you. Follow your friends, experts, favorite celebrities, and breaking news.
Like · · Follow Post · Share · May 29 at 3:58pm
Related Personal Messages I received at the forum:
The Following messages were sent to me through the forums Personal message system.
09/05/2012
You have just been sent a personal message by cabledrum on The Official WikiLeaks Forum.
IMPORTANT: Remember, this is just a notification. Please do not reply to this email.
The message they sent you was:
Dear WLF team,
As you probably know, my moderator permissions got revoked and the “cabledrum” board was taken offline without prior notice. Why?
On April 25, I posted a highly controversial article from the Lebanese media organization Al-Manar, regarding the Nasrallah interview on “World Tomorrow”. Al-Manar, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, is banned in several countries, including Germany (where WLF is operating from) and the US (where WLF server is hosted). I’ve also posted an opposing article from Jerusalem Post.
As a result, I have been accused for posting illegal content “in spite of Z’s warnings about it’s anti-constitutional character”. I’m accused to have “grossly violated” the board rules and to have endangered both WLF and Z this way.
But: This posting was made with Z’s approval. I informed him in advance and asked for his permission to post this article. We’ve discussed the posting details for over an hour, particularly the legislative situation (which wasn’t mentioned by Z but by me). Finally, Z explicitly permitted me to post the Al-Manar article.
Shortly after it was posted, I asked Z again, if the posting is ok this way. He told me that he worries about it and wants to discuss the issue with the other admins. During this chat, the posting was removed by C. On this point, I’ve stated again that I accept this decision.
Over the next three days, we dicussed the legal situation and possible alternatives. Finally, on April 28, Z posted a copy of the Al-Manar article from another website on his own and without my knowledge. This posting was removed 3 hours later.
Assuming that I did post that article “in spite of Z’s warnings” (which in fact isn’t the case): Why did Z post a copy of it afterwards?
In response to this issue, the “cabledrum” board was taken offline. This board contains a number of valuable postings, all mentioned by WikiLeaks on FB/Twitter, and got more than 10,000 page views. There was never any problem with this board. Even if any of the above accusations against me were true (which isn’t the case): Would it justify this degree of censorship? Even the postings of banned users remain online.
I am punished for something I haven’t done. And even if I had done it (which isn’t the case) it would not justify the sentence.
Since I have been accused and sentenced without any opportunity to defend myself, this internal PM should be an acceptable remedy and should not be understood as offensive intervention.
I still try to hope on some strange misunderstanding.
Cabledrummer
[Reducted e-mail address]
Quote from: cabledrum on May 03, 2012, 03:24:25 AM
Hallo Mark,
diese Darstellung der Ereignisse und meines Verhaltens ist falsch und beleidigend. Keine der darin erhobenen Anschuldigungen entspricht den Tatsachen. Ich habe weder eine Forumsregel mißachtet noch irgendeinen problematischen Inhalt ohne dein Wissen und deine ausdrückliche Zustimmung gepostet.
Quote
Erstens:
Bei Deiner Registration hast Du den Forumregeln zugestimmt, die Du trotz ausführlicher Gespräche mit Mark und seiner Hinweise auf die Verfassungsfeindlichkeit der von Dir im Forum verlinkten Seite bewusst grob mißachtet und dadurch nicht nur das Forum, sondern ihn persönlich großer Gefahr ausgesetzt hast.
Nicht Du hast mich auf die Verfassungsfeindlichkeit von Al-Manar hingewiesen, sondern ich dich, und zwar vorab.
Ich habe dich vorab gefragt, ob ich diesen Artikel posten kann, auf die juristischen und inhaltlichen Probleme deutlich hingewiesen und um deine Entscheidung gebeten. Erst mit deiner ausdrücklichen Zustimmung habe ich den Al-Manar-Artikel gepostet. Was an diesem Verhalten “grobe Missachtung” sein sollte, vermag ich nicht zu erkennen.
Quote
Zweitens:
Als das Board Poison Cabinet auf Deine Bitte hin eingerichtet wurde, um – wie sich kurz danach herausgestellt hat – solche illegalen Inhalte dort zu veröffentlichen – hat Mark dir angeboten, als Moderator für dieses Board tätig zu sein, damit Du ein Stück Verantwortung für Deine eigenen Ideen übernimmst.
Welche Inhalte in diesem Board erscheinen sollten, hat sich nicht “kurz danach herausgestellt”. Ich habe vier Artikel gepostet, die dir vor Einrichtung des Boards bekannt waren und deren Veröffentlichung du vorab explizit zugestimmt hast.
Quote
Im Beisein eines weiteren Administrators hast du im Jabber-Chat jedoch dieses Angebot abgelehnt mit der „Begründung“, you „don’t want to be affiliated with WikiLeaks“ und you „don’t want to be an outlet of WL“. Angesichts Deines Engagements für WikiLeaks ist diese Haltung sehr seltsam. Da Deine Absichten nur schwer nachzuvollziehen waren, wurde das Vertrauensverhältnis zu Dir schwer beschädigt.
Das Zitat ist nicht korrekt und sinnentstellend.
04/25/2012 00:05:49 cabledrummer: I do not want cabledrum to be seen as “just another WL outlet” but as an independent source
Ich schrieb deutlich nicht von mir als Person, sondern von meinem Projekt cabledrum. Da ich im WLF mit dem gleichen Nickname auftrete, entsteht ein Interessenkonflikt, wenn “cabledrum” als Moderator in Erscheinung tritt. Eine einfache Lösung bestünde darin, unter anderem Nickname zu moderieren, wie viele andere Mods auch.
Im Klartext: Ich habe kein Problem damit, als Moderator im WLF Verantwortung zu übernehmen, sondern lediglich ein Problem damit, dies unter dem Nickname “cabledrum” zu tun.
Im Detail:
1. Da ich mir bewusst war, dass das “Poison Cabinet” und insbesondere der Al-Manar-Artikel mindestens problematisch ist, habe ich dich vorab konsultiert, die Absicht ausführlich erläutert und um deine Entscheidung gebeten. Ich habe keinen Zweifel daran gelassen, dass ich deine Entscheidung hierzu unbedingt akzeptieren werde.
04/25/2012 00:26:53 cabledrummer: seriously: imho everybody should read the views of Hezbollah and Jerusalem Post, because the contrast gives a good understanding of the complexity of the issue
04/25/2012 00:27:21 cabledrummer: but, no doubt, it’s hard stuff, full of lies and misinterpretations
04/25/2012 00:27:53 cabledrummer: so, it might be problematic to handle it on the Forum
04/25/2012 00:29:05 cabledrummer: (I do not understand it as “censorship” if you complain)
2. Du hast mich nicht auf die Verfassungsfeindlichkeit von Al-Manar hingewiesen, sondern ich dich:
04/25/2012 00:29:45 cabledrummer: btw: Al-Manar is banned in several countries
04/25/2012 00:31:23 soul_assassin: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Manar
04/25/2012 00:31:27 soul_assassin: Germany too
04/25/2012 00:32:50 cabledrummer: afaik only the TV is banned but not the newspaper
04/25/2012 00:32:58 cabledrummer: …in Germany
3. Du hast mir die ausdrückliche Zustimmung gegeben, das Subboard einzurichten und die Artikel (Al-Manar, JPost, Guardian, NYT) zu posten.
04/25/2012 13:29:41 soul_assassin: you gonna post it or not ?
04/25/2012 13:29:57 cabledrummer: if you give me green light
04/25/2012 13:30:39 soul_assassin: GREEN
4. Der Al-Manar-Artikel ist nach wenigen Stunden entfernt worden. Daraufhin habe ich noch einmal ausdrücklich erklärt, dass ich die Entscheidung akzeptiere.
04/25/2012 00:10:18 cabledrummer: but: it’s your forum. If you decide to take it down, I’ll accept. and, as I said: in this case, the entire “poison cabinet” should be removed
04/26/2012 14:38:55 soul_assassin: the decision to keep the post off was made as admin level between 4 admins
04/26/2012 14:38:58 soul_assassin: not just me
04/26/2012 14:39:23 cabledrummer: yes, it’s ok
04/26/2012 14:40:40 cabledrummer: but without this article the poison cabinet lost it’s sense. So, let’s remove it
5. Zwei Tage später hast du selbst ohne mein Zutun eine Kopie des Al-Manar-Artikels gepostet.
04/28/2012 01:14:33 cabledrummer: you posted it around 9 pm
04/28/2012 01:14:44 cabledrummer: but it disapeared meanwhile
04/28/2012 01:15:14 soul_assassin: yes,…and it was removed 3 hours after I received a phone call advising me to take it down
Da keine der erhobenen Anschuldigungen zutrifft, ist das Urteil in keiner Weise gerechtfertigt. Ich bitte um Revision.
Leon
Quote from: Z on May 02, 2012, 07:30:59 PM
Hallo Leon,
obwohl wir Dir keine Rechtfertigung schuldig sind, da du unter anderem wissentlich gegen die Forumregeln verstoßen hast, haben wir uns wegen Deines Beitrags zu diesem Forum entschlossen, auf Deine Einwendungen einzugehen.
Erstens:
Bei Deiner Registration hast Du den Forumregeln zugestimmt, die Du trotz ausführlicher Gespräche mit Mark und seiner Hinweise auf die Verfassungsfeindlichkeit der von Dir im Forum verlinkten Seite bewusst grob mißachtet und dadurch nicht nur das Forum, sondern ihn persönlich großer Gefahr ausgesetzt hast.
Es wundert sehr und macht uns nachdenklich, wieso Du mit so einem Nachdruck den Artikel über Assange’s Interview mit Nasrallah aus der islamischen Sicht, der auf mehreren Portalen/Seiten erschienen ist, nur unter der Bedingung posten wolltest, wenn er mit einer der verbotenen bzw. radikalen Seiten (in der EU und den USA verfassungswidrige al-Manar sowie ähnliche Seiten vollgestopft mit blinkenden Hakenkreuzen, Leichen, Judensternen und ähnlichen Bildern/Gifs) verlinkt ist, obwohl es völlig unproblematische Alternativen dazu gab und diese Dir auch genannt wurden.
Zweitens:
Als das Board Poison Cabinet auf Deine Bitte hin eingerichtet wurde, um – wie sich kurz danach herausgestellt hat – solche illegalen Inhalte dort zu veröffentlichen – hat Mark dir angeboten, als Moderator für dieses Board tätig zu sein, damit Du ein Stück Verantwortung für Deine eigenen Ideen übernimmst.
Im Beisein eines weiteren Administrators hast du im Jabber-Chat jedoch dieses Angebot abgelehnt mit der „Begründung“, you „don’t want to be affiliated with WikiLeaks“ und you „don’t want to be an outlet of WL“. Angesichts Deines Engagements für WikiLeaks ist diese Haltung sehr seltsam. Da Deine Absichten nur schwer nachzuvollziehen waren, wurde das Vertrauensverhältnis zu Dir schwer beschädigt.
Drittens:
Du hattest, ohne ein Admin zu konsultieren, ein Board erstellt und sogar ein Moderator für dieses Board ernannt. Da diese Handlung ausserhalb Deines Zuständigkeitsbereichs liegt, hast Du Deine Rechte als Moderator für das Cabledrum-Board bei weitem überschritten.
Wie Du siehst, ist die Entscheidung, Dir die erteilten „Permissions“ zu entziehen, keineswegs „unberechenbar“ oder „willkürlich“. Vielmehr erscheint gerade Dein Verhalten unberechenbar und gefährlich, vor allem wenn man bedenkt, dass Du die eventuellen Schwierigkeiten, mit denen Mark wegen der Verlinkung zu obengenannten Seiten hätte erfahren können, in Kauf genommen hast.
Da wir Deinen Beitrag zum Forum sehr schätzen, haben wir uns gegen ein Entfernen aus dem Forum entschieden, natürlich unter der Bedingung, dass illegale Seiten nicht mehr verlinkt werden. Leider sahen wir uns aber gezwungen, Dir die Moderationsrechte zu entziehen, weil unser Vertrauen durch die obengenannten Vorfälle sowet zerrütet ist, das ein Wiederaufnahmen Deiner Tätigkeit als Board- Moderator nicht mehr möglich ist.
Diese Entscheidung ist endgültig. Weitere Diskussionen, Erklärungen, etc. werden daher nicht mehr stattfinden.
Wir hoffen, Du bleibst uns als Mitgleid erhalten. Selbstverständlich darfst Du weiterhin das Forum benutzen, um cabledrum.net zu promoten. Solltest Du Hilfe diesbezüglich benötigen, stehen wir alle Dir gerne jederzeit zur Verfügung.
Gruss
Admin Team
Reply to this Personal Message here: https://www.wikileaks-forum.com/index.php?action=pm;sa=send;f=inbox;pmsg=9872;quote;u=4389
2
New Personal Message: Re: The Al-Manar case
09/05/2012
You have just been sent a personal message by Z on The Official WikiLeaks Forum.
The message they sent you was:
the cabledrum board will remain closed.
greetz
Z
3
New Personal Message: Re: The Al-Manar case
09/05/2012
You have just been sent a personal message by isis on The Official WikiLeaks Forum.
IMPORTANT: Remember, this is just a notification. Please do not reply to this email.
The message they sent you was:
Quote from: Green on Today at 05:46:50 PM
😥
4 every decision there are reasons… and i wasn’t there to value.
i trust and respect the decisions of the forum.
eventual discussions to clear the “why”, concern the involved ppl ONLY and it’s not an issue of “accusing” or being wrong or right.
hope things can improove only, and we can cohoperate To Support Wikileaks that is what we are all here for.
Reply to this Personal Message here: https://www.wikileaks-forum.com/index.php?action=pm;sa=send;f=inbox;pmsg=9876;quote;u=1023
New Personal Message: Re: The Al-Manar case
10/05/2012
You have just been sent a personal message by suspect on The Official WikiLeaks Forum.
IMPORTANT: Remember, this is just a notification. Please do not reply to this email.
The message they sent you was:
This is Cabledrummer. I have to write from another account since the cabledrum account got banned from sending messages, in response to my attempt to contradict.
Quote from WLF Mission Statement:Quote from: Z on May 24, 2011, 11:08:07 AM
The forum stands for the values Wikileaks has defended since its creation, such as freedom of speech and information.
[..]
We encourage constructive dialogues.
Unfortunately, WikiLeaks Forum fails to comply with its own standards. Decision-making lacks any transparency, dialogue is unwanted, criticism is forbidden, complaints are silenced. This is not what WikiLeaks stands for. And this is not the spirit of a free open community I’m dreaming of.
I strongly support the idea of WikiLeaks in the best possible way, I did before WLF and I will continue. Sadly, I’m prevented from sharing my work on WLF now and I’m not even allowed to ask for a reason.
At this point, I stop wasting my time with begging for fair treatment.
Cabledrummer
email: [redacted e-mail address]
jabber: [redacted address]
Reply to this Personal Message here: https://www.wikileaks-forum.com/index.php?action=pm;sa=send;f=inbox;pmsg=9914;quote;u=1837
My e-mails to Mark:
Hi Mark!
Thanks for the chat today 🙂 here is draft number 1,
Could we please discuss tomorrow any improvements/changes. It might get me a few goes to get it right. I hope you find it useful in defusing the tension and helping things move out of the current tension. I
” Dear Members,
It has come to our attention that due to an internal error a large number of posts have accidently been deleted and we are unable to recover them automatically.
We would like to thank the staff of WLPress Board, and also Cabledrummer as both have brought this to our attention.
The posts mostly relate to the Cabledrum Board which has been discontinued as a separate entity and its contents were to be distributed among the other relevant Boards.
We deeply regret the loss of these posts and shall endeavour to re-post as many as we can (they mostly came from a single database here http://www.cabledrum.net/gifiles/). As any effort to re-post will be done manually, it will take us a couple of weeks to restore as many as we can.
We recognise that process improvement in data retention is extremely important and we will therefore be reviewing our internal procedures. There are limitations set by the environment we operate as well as the resources we have available. We hope for your co-operation in identifying them, your understanding and your participation in finding solutions. We count on your goodwill.
Last but not least this Forum’s whole existence and the voluntary work of all its staff are in the service of Free Speech and does not engage in censorship. We stand as the meeting place of people who come to share their thoughts and wishes about WikiLeaks, to read the latest news, leave a comment, discuss a topic or just come for a chat. We welcome all. In return we expect that members adhere to our general rules as laid out in the Terms of Agreement upon joining the Forum, and that members treat each other and the staff with respect
Thanks for your continuous support in our efforts”
Also Mark if there are questions like:
Why has the board being discontinued? we can explain that the Board moderator and owner of the database was no longer a member and Forum staff could not sustain the Board so we thought it was best the posts were dispersed to their relevant topic Boards like Cablegate/GIF etc.
If the question comes up, Why he is no longer a member? then we can say that the staff is not parting with information on such matters and if they want more information they should contact him directly.
Take care and speak to you soon
Emmy ❤
2.
chat with WLPress
HI Mark,
Apologies to send you such a long e-mail but I think you need to read this. I visited the IRC chat this evening (if you remember in our conversation I had mentinoed that ***** had said to return around 9 to speak to *****) anyway I went without much hope for a positive development considering my earlier efforts for direct communication had been politely bur firmly re-buffed. You can imagine therefore my surprise when I found ******’s approach, pragmatic, genuine with clear intention of resolving the issue and raising two points from WL press which frankly are very valid:
a. how could the deletion ever be allowed to happen from a technical perspective and how could the posts simply vanish without a back up. ( he suggests that someone writes a back up script to overcome this)
b. The error was not picked up/flagged up by the forum staff and therefore no one reached out to tell them. (he suggest that forum staff explain what has happened and send apologies for the error)
I would be very grateful if you were able to read the following conversation because it reverses my original impression (I will tell you more of my thoughts when we talk):
Haste makes Waste, so let’s digest this and then act. Have a lovely rest
Take care
Emmy
3.
Reply to taro’s post
Emmy B [Redacted name and e-mail address] 22/05/2012
Hi Mark
finally there… please point out the changes that should be made… you may notice that this is a personal reply in the style of a personal reply, this is the best approach I think as it more or less isolates the issue between taro and me, which is more appropriate.
Dear taro
Thank you for replying to my post and for sharing your valued opinion.
I was delighted to read that Cabledrum had kept a complete back-up of his posts and therefore he has not actually suffered the loss of any of his work. If I understood correctly, this is wonderful news!
Sadly I do not have one, I recall 120 of them as they related to the top 100 (Cablegate) and top 20 (GIF) projects. Also since several members of staff here helped him upload 141 posts earlier in year in various GIF Boards all coming from and eventualy linking back to his database, I have kept a list of the URL’s and I will be able to re-post about 40 that I estimate he uploaded himself at the time. So about 150 of them will be restored manually by myself in the course of the next few weeks. You seem to know more than me on this matter, so if you have any more information to pass on please do not hesitate to send me a PM with a list and I will get posting 🙂 I trust that the 433 links from his GIF database back to the forum are in good order.
I fully understand and are moved by the interest you take in this issue but I have said all that can be said in the public sphere on the matter. Both my previous post as well as this one is meant for public view and can be equally viewed and shared by Members and Guests alike.
I wish you and Cabledrum all the best in your valued work.
Kind regards
Green
Re: Reply to taro’s post
23/05/2012
I regret to say that I had a surprise visit from cabledrum in jabber I will tell you about it tomorrow which I could not avoid. You are right
about him of course.Speak to you tomorrow!Bye for now.
Sent from my iPhone
5.
Feedback and wrapping up our discussion.
24/05/2012
to [WLPress], bcc: Mark
Dear [WLPress] I visited your IRC chat room earlier this evening to give you an update on what we discussed and wrap up but my hellos went unanswered, so here I am sending you an e-mail 🙂
Further to the WLPress letter to the Forum and our discussion in your IRC the other day and I quote:
[Redacted chat with WLPress]
I would like to wrap up and summarise. 🙂
With regards to your first request I have made enquiries and can advise that although we would have liked to be able to accommodate a back up script, this is not currently being considered due to the pressure it would put on the Forum’s server. There are already a great number of scripts on the Forum for security reasons as well as functionality and each time we add a script we slow the whole system down. We have about 1.7 million hits a day (often up to 2 million) and as you can appreciate such levels of traffic put a big pressure on the server. As far as back up is concerned we are satisfied that the current practice of 3 day back up interval that we have in place is sufficient.
With regards to your second point, there is now a public post in the Important Forum Announcements Board, at the Forum, explaining to the world that there has been an error, how it happened, expressing our deepest regret and stating what we are trying to do to correct it. I hope you have found it to your satisfaction.
There has also been a new post put up in the WLPress Board similar to the one your letter has mentioned as lost.
I hope that these steps, actions and explanations have re-assured you.
All of the above as well as our Admins communications with WLPress on the subject, I hope, have addressed the issue and we can now get on with our main tasks each in their own way supporting our joint cause.
Taking the initiative to approach you and acting as I have in the above mentioned manner, offering one more layer of communication and co-operation between the Forum and WLPress I am satisfied I have done what I could and my role now ends here with this e-mail. I hope my effort has been of use.
I would at this point like to explain that it has not been my intention to involve or use WLPress or any of its members as an intermediary between the Forum and Cabledrummer. I can understand that listening loud and clear only one side of the story may not give one the opportunity to form a balanced view. But on the other hand, I firmly believe that to be discussing in public the reasons that a Forum member has been banned twice or the way it was done or any private discussions that have or are taking place, or any comments, or opinions is unprofessional and can be further divisive and inflammatory. If someone wishes to pursue such course, I am afraid I will not follow them down the same route for the reasons I just mentioned.
With the deepest respect for your work, and many thanks for your co-operation.
Kind regards
greekemmy
Mark’s E-Mails to me:
1.
22/05/2012
brilliant post emmy…..dont wory about the questions aboue why cable was taken down as this is something we wont discuss in the open. When posted please lock tghe thread as we don’t need to discuss this isse any further in the open
Greta work,,,thank you ….I couldnt have done this 🙂
MArk
2012/5/22 Emmy B
Hi Mark!
Thanks for the chat today 🙂 here is draft number 1,
Could we please discuss tomorrow any improvements/changes. It might get me a few goes to get it right. I hope you find it useful in defusing the tension and helping things move out of the current tension. I
” Dear Members,
It has come to our attention that due to an internal error a large number of posts have accidently been deleted and we are unable to recover them automatically.
We would like to thank the staff of WLPress Board, and also Cabledrummer as both have brought this to our attention.
The posts mostly relate to the Cabledrum Board which has been discontinued as a separate entity and its contents were to be distributed among the other relevant Boards.
We deeply regret the loss of these posts and shall endeavour to re-post as many as we can (they mostly came from a single database here http://www.cabledrum.net/gifiles/). As any effort to re-post will be done manually, it will take us a couple of weeks to restore as many as we can.
We recognise that process improvement in data retention is extremely important and we will therefore be reviewing our internal procedures. There are limitations set by the environment we operate as well as the resources we have available. We hope for your co-operation in identifying them, your understanding and your participation in finding solutions. We count on your goodwill.
Last but not least this Forum’s whole existence and the voluntary work of all its staff are in the service of Free Speech and does not engage in censorship. We stand as the meeting place of people who come to share their thoughts and wishes about WikiLeaks, to read the latest news, leave a comment, discuss a topic or just come for a chat. We welcome all. In return we expect that members adhere to our general rules as laid out in the Terms of Agreement upon joining the Forum, and that members treat each other and the staff with respect
Thanks for your continuous support in our efforts”
Also Mark if there are questions like:
Why has the board being discontinued? we can explain that the Board moderator and owner of the database was no longer a member and Forum staff could not sustain the Board so we thought it was best the posts were dispersed to their relevant topic Boards like Cablegate/GIF etc.
If the question comes up, Why he is no longer a member? then we can say that the staff is not parting with information on such matters and if they want more information they should contact him directly.
Take care and speak to you soon
Emmy
2.
Re: chat with WLPress
Mark [Redacted name and e-mail address]22/05/2012
Hi Emmy..
I just read the chat and not not entirely convinced they are aware that the forum isnt run by wlpress but by my and the staff. I don’t feel I have to discuss every decision that gets made on the forum with wlpress. I also resent being labelled someone who censors posts and i certainly cant get behind them supporting cabledrums actions of publishing such slander in public, something I would never stoop down to. Having said this I do welcome the change in tone and hope this issue will cool off soon.
3 things I will note though regarding back ups..
1. Backups ar made twice a week I think…wednesdays and saturday evenings. Cabledrumms posts were deleted on saturday morning as far as I know which means they are gone as the back ups are overwritten.
2. There are no plans in create a backup script to back up the forum data base. Once every 3 days is sufficientand has been working perfectly fine since the forum was launched in jan 2011
3. Your idea of changing the structure of the ” plattform board ” has raised some eyebrows and I am seriously considering dissolving the who ” Other Wikileaks Plattform ” Board and leave the moderation to WLF staff members ”If WLPress wold like to post the lost content again they are more than welcome to but I will state that there will be no cabledrum board on the forum, ….neother on the main forum OR as a sub forum of wlpress which is what I am afriad of at the moment. I have a strong suspicion that cabledrum will be posting on his own board within the wlpress.orgboard.
As you can see I am still quite saddened, shocked and hurt and although I am optimistic this issue can be resolved, I am still very unsure of their intentions and would suggest reshuffling platform board and offer wlpress, bradley manning etc etc the possibility to use the board as normal members and leave the administration up to us. These measures would be implemented to safeguard the forum in the future
This is just a thought at the moment and would like to hear your views an/or read your input.
Thanx for being so diplomatic 🙂 normally I am diplomatic myself, but find it hard to get out of the ” self defence mode ” at the moment but I will place this in your hands and let you decide on whats best and keep a low profile.
Just please make sure thast cabledrumm does not have access to the forum. He has been banned outrightly by a democrtatic vote and there is no way back for him……this isnt something that i will debate with anyone.
All the best
xxxx
Mark3.
Mark [redacted name and e-mail address]
22/05/2012
Hi Taro.
Thank you for taking the time to voice your opinion which we highly regard and hope to answer some of your questions.
First and foremost I will remark that it isn’t forum policy to discuss members bans, warning etc in public.
At the moment one of our staff members is busy manually reposting the lost data and expect these posts to be online soon. These posts will be published in the correct boards / sub boards.
” I find it ironic that this post is addressed to members of the forum ” – Actually it isn’t as this post is accessible to EVERYONE including members who are banned, on summer holidays or in the pub on their mobile phones. Also, as the posts were made on the forum it is only fitting that we address the forum as to what is occurring.
4.
Re: Reply to taro’s post
Mark [Redacted name and e-mail address]
23/05/2012ok….will wait for u to tell me. Off the top of my head, I would to what he did to me and jasminka……just block, then delete him out of your contact list……this will simply give you peacegreetziesmarkVon meinem iPad gesendet
5.
22/05/2012
Hi emmy..Yes….. This is okay…..very well written 🙂 please post this asap and consider this issue close.I will be in jabber in approx 20 minsThanx lotz and lotzZvia iPhone5.Re: Reply to taro’s postInbox
Mark [Redacted name and e-mail address]6.
Re: Reply to taro’s post
Inbox
Mark [redacted name and e-mail address]
23/05/2012its me again…..I think we will forget cabledrum as from today as he is keeping the whole forum busy and we need to get cracking.
First off….reinstating his posts is not our highes priority at the moment. We will reinstate them but at OUR time only and that doesnt mean we will start today as we need to tend to our translators regarding the upcoming decision from the supreme court.
Secondly….we have to accept that a forum has to deal with ppl like cabledrum.
His isnt the first person to be banned and he certainly wont be the last and we have to take all this in our stride.
Cable is just one other puddle we have to walk around and forget.
The obly thing that concerns me is that his actions will start to hurt yuo and under no circumstances will i allow that to happen….be sure of that and I dont want to loose u because of this….if this was ot happen then cable wins and we all loose and i dont want that to happen either.
We have to keep Julians spirit alive and fight WITH him against the elements 🙂
Keep in touch..I hacve a customer here now and this may need an hour or 2
❤ ❤ <3Mark
greekemmy 