I don't want to look like I am tagging on to someone else's thread but I think its reasonable to post here having had the same message from the Mods in relation to the newer but equally white hot (with activity) MH17 thread. The Pprune Mesage (not a Private Message as it is just a static page and cannot be responded to) I received from the mods is as follows:-
"You have been been given some time away from this discussion. This is not a ban - feel free to browse other forum threads."
The crazy thing is I am still subscribed to the thread and still getting update post emails for it.
Coming back to the being "given time away" I find it unacceptable that the amount of time away is not specified and also that the temporary ban involves a prevention on me even being able to read the thread if I do not have enough computer knowledge to know that clearing either all my cookies (easier) or just cookies for this site (harder) will cure that problem as long as I don't log in again or click on links in post update emails for this thread.
It appears that the mistake I have made was to make more than one post in the thread either at all or in a short space of time and that one of the posts (now removed) was political rather than technical by responding to another member's comments saying that we would undoubtedly all be watching the World Cup in Russia in four year's time and nobody would even remember this event. I said that if FIFA and the world community wanted to look vaguely credibly that the changing of the venue to another one was more than likely.
Then a few minutes later I made another post querying if the missile fired could not be tracked by local ATC radar so that its approximate place and time of firing could be ascertained. This then generated responses from at least two long term members one of whom said that radar and ATC systems in that area were actually highly advanced.
Now I am told that I have some "time away" from the thread but now how long away, which I think is an unacceptable lack of courtesy, and I am also prevented from even reading the thread as opposed to posting in it. I can see the point of a member being given some time away from posting in a thread that is too active but I cannot see why the member in question should be prevented from reading it. To me that smacks of an oppressive and authoritarian style of forum management where rather than just wanting to keep posts in the thread under control there is a wish to punish people like an old fashioned school teacher would with a naughty school child.
As the forum's management clearly has such a big thing about non pilots not posting in threads on very newsworthy topics I really don't see why they don't create two kinds of forum membership. Namely members who are qualified pilots (perhaps only qualified commercial airline pilots) who can post in all threads and ordinary members who cannot post in threads on very newsworthy topics that will attract too many gawpers or spectators.
It appears the reason this doesn't happen is because the forum management does not want to go through the "faff" (old boy) of the qualified airline pilots all providing information about who they are, when they qualified etc. Of course I expect die hard non pilots could still lie about all this (their having a pilot qualification) but I doubt very many people would and for any who did (which can usually be spotted by the mods from the style of posting demonstrating the poster does not have the relevant technical experience and training) the moderators could then deal with them harshly.
The bottom line is that if making more than one post in a day or an hour in a buzzing thread on a major news events (usually plane crash) will nearly always get you in to trouble if you are a non pilot then this ought to be stated up front.
Secondly that if people are given time away from a thread to stop it overheating it should, in my humble opinion, and I expect the opinion of most other forum members, only be time away from being able to post in and not just read that thread.
Thirdly the time away from the thread (whether from even viewing or only from the right to post) you have been given and the end time of that "time away" needs to be explicity stated to the member affected.
Unfortunately some forum moderators seem to behave far more harshly towards non pilot members than others but the way the forum is run (i.e. Captain Always Knows Best and challenge the captain and you will be put under restraint by the Crew) there is little or indeed no right of appeal.
I am somewhat fearful that by even trying to discuss this quite reasonable point about not being able to even any longer read the thread or told how long the time away from the thread is that I may be singled out for harsh or retributive action by the forum moderation team (since the more reactionary forum moderators seem to favour the "Please explain - by PM only" approach and I then strongly suspect simply ignore those PMs querying any forum moderation decisions they have made). Unfortunately the style of some moderation activity in the forum can often best be described as militaristic rather than collegiate in its style and approach.
