An absolute fiasco

Hello all,
You might have noticed that we've removed a recent thread called An Absolute Fiasco from the forum.

We have also asked two forum members to take a break from the community for the weekend to allow the air to clear.

We'd just like to remind forum members that what you post here is important. Your words may be the first that a new forum member or a person looking for a community of others with Parkinson's for the first time might see.

Because of this, the common instruction to "think before you post" is so much more important here.

Please continue to keep this is mind when you write something to the community.
If Alfie Boe sang out of both sides of his mouth at the same time he wouldn't have got the sack from Les Miserables.

I've seen it before, and it is miserable. Next time round make it a Ray Cooney farce, do it through ebay and make the donation yourself. This site is being updated for use as a forum, trying to turn it into ebay was a stretch too far.

However it should be seen for what it was, a really nice charitable gesture.

To quote Heather Small/Miranda : "#What have you done today to make you feel proud!#"
.
On Thursday of last week, due to ill health, I had a spare pair of tickets for Les Miserables in London, on Saturday night. This was sold out, as it was Alfie Boe’s last performance. The face value of the tickets, which is what I’d paid, was £142.75, and I was optimistic they could fetch £100 or more for PUK.

Due to the short timescale I decided to sell the tickets via an auction on this forum. Having set it up I checked this was acceptable to the Moderators. Ezinda’ emailed reply not only approved of the proposed auction, but also thanked me for my efforts, and for thinking of PUK when I had funds to donate. And indeed for an idea which could potentially be used again in the future. Ezinda in turn ran the idea past Marian Torres in Events, who also wrote to me to thank me, and provided details as to how to process online donations quickly, and get a confirmatory receipt. Both ladies were very enthusiastic.

But then the silliness began. ONE person – with no interest in the sale raising the highest price for PUK – completely took over the whole show, querying my motives and scaring away many potential bidders. He cleverly manoeuvred the situation such that only he was left in the running, with his £25 bid. He also used the opportunity to continue to regularly hassle me, his normal obsession.

I informed the thread several times that the auction had been declared null and void (as was my prerogative), but as soon as the deadline arrived he claimed the win at £25 (plus £15 from me for special delivery) and insisted he had emailed me a copy of the donation receipt. This has never arrived.

However when he realised that he’d have to provide his home address in order to take delivery of the tickets, he quickly changed tack, and – making up new rules as he went along (without authority) – he offered to give them to the Moderators’ team (but no-one else) to select one of their number to be the lucky winner. And since I never received ANY delivery address anyway, it all then fell apart. Thus the tickets went unused, those seats remained empty, and the PUK lost a lot of money.

Then, amazingly, as a result of this saboteur’s auction-fiddling and continuous goading, he and I were BOTH, yes BOTH, suspended for three days to “cool down”! But all I was guilty of was donating two tickets to raise funds for PUK, and trying to allay the fears of potential bidders so as to facilitate the running of a fair auction!

Many of you will remember the farce last month when I returned from fully serving a legitimate short suspension, then spent the following three weeks behaving perfectly and breaking no guidelines, terms or conditions, only to then be banned FOR LIFE for some crime or crimes never disclosed. After much protest this was commuted to a 2-week suspension (but still without any crime or crimes being disclosed), and I was eventually let back in after agreeing in writing to be a “good boy” from now on.

The Moderator announced to the world that after much internal debate his team had concluded that the forum is so important to the lives of many of its members that it would never be appropriate to ban ANYONE for life, and as such they were now lifting all previous life bans, and giving those “lifers” permission to return, whatever their crimes. The announcement implied that I myself was aware of the intention to un-ban others, and indeed had been involved in negotiations to achieve this. Nothing can be further from the truth, I was blissfully unaware and naively trusting.

Coincidentally their return was perfectly timed to occur at the same time that my own commuted sentence ended. This gave the impression that:

1. I had been as guilty of some unknown heinous crime(s) as all other lifers;
2. The others’ return and my own were all part of the same agreed process;
3. Had it not been thanks to the moderators’ magnanimity I’d still be banned for life now, even though (still) no crime has yet emerged.

And isn’t it surprising that one of those returnees who had previously been banished for life is the self same saboteur who, within days of reappearing, has now wrecked a charity auction and returned to attacking me?

Or that I have had three consecutive bans – one for life, one for two weeks and one for three days – all without any crime being mentioned, or any breach of terms, conditions or guidelines?

And don’t you just love Ezinda’s phrasing when she informed me of this latest 3-day ban: “We are ASKING you to take a break from the forum for the weekend”, then almost immediately followed by “Your account will be UNSUSPENDED on Monday at 9am”? Doesn’t sound very optional to me!

Another memorable saga.
.
yet a nother boo boo has been made im afraid,moderaters get a grip of your selfs,ur forum is goin down the pan at this rate,i feel for ray ,cus he is rite ,both times he had done nothing,and no reason was able to be givern to him either ,it sickerns me,its like he is targeted all round?:rolling_eyes:
Ray of Sunshine,

I was under the impression you are practically bedridden. How could you have managed to go to the theatre in London if that is the case?
"I was under the impression you are practically bedridden. How could you have managed to go to the theatre in London if that is the case?"

And there lays the problem, at least for myself it is and it would seem for others too. So many contradictory statements from him over a long period of time which do not make it easy to work out when he's telling the truth and when he's not.

Very sad situation especialy when one asks oneself how do you support someone who behaves like this :question:
You've not heard of wheelchairs and walking aids where you come from, then? Where did you say you lived, Timbuktu? And if you recall I offered to email scanned receipts and tickets to anyone who asked for them. Nobody did. I'd be interested to know what kind of scam you thought I was running, given that the winner was to pay money direct into PUK's account. The only money to be passing through my hands would be the £15 delivery charge I was paying out of my own pocket. If you can find a way for this method (approved in advance by PUK) to be to my financial advantage do let us all know.

Really grasping at straws now.....!
.
By the way the direct train from Hull to Kings Cross (Hull Trains) only takes 2.5 hours, with no changes. Disabled-friendly taxis are regularly available from there.

Next mud-slinger, please?
.
And to save anyone asking, I've already mentioned that the seat numbers were P1 and P2 - at the end of the row, for easy access.

If we can be serious for a moment. I can handle the Anti-Ray brigade myself, but in your desperation to attack me you've actually cost PUK around £100 in lost income. I hope you're proud of that.

Is that why you joined?
.
As we mentioned on a number of occasions previously, the lesson that we learned from the community recently is that this service is too important to exclude anyone on a permanent basis. For this reason, we decided that until we could discuss it thoroughly with the community, we would no longer allow lifetime bans.

By allowing forum members through discussions with the moderation team to return to the community, we hoped to work with the difficulties that people sometimes have on the forum and turn over a new leaf so that everyone can feel like a part.

By using means such as asking users to leave the community over the weekend to cool off for example, we hoped that we could remind everyone of the ultimate aim of the forum—to offer support for people affected by Parkinson’s despite the challenges that they face.

We’d just like to take this opportunity to remind people that the forum should never be used as a public platform to put down or question the motives of others.

This community will only be as strong as the members who participate in it and the content will only be as good as the posts that members decide to share.
I paid the £25 bid price and sent both RoS and Ezinda the confirmation e-mail.

I ofered the 2 x £65 seats to the mod team as a gift.

Its easy to find the P UK address.

i couldn't understand why the tickets weren't sent?

I'm sorry that no-one else bidded but thats what sometimes happens at auctions.

The bid I made was the most that I couuld afford.

I wish that I COULD have bid more!

Poker :rolling_eyes:
Am I missing something here? Is there a good reason why ROS has become the form punchbag? I take great exception to people questioning his physical ability. I am quite literate and I find no inconsistency in his postings least of all to do with his physical condition. I am completely aghast that someone should imply him to be anything but what we have evidence of. He expresses himself well and sometimes is a bit abrupt and occasionally gets the tone a bit wrong. Excuse me, who is perfect? Certainly none of us.

I fully condone a soap opera type posting, however, to keep banging on at one individual smacks to me, call me naive, of bullying.