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Topic: No Free Speech in Mike's FB Group, Banned for polite discourse?< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
StrumDynasty Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 21
Joined: Aug. 2015
Posted: Nov. 27 2015, 22:35

I recently joined Mike Oldfield's official Facebook group (link below). It was great in the beginning. Then I posted a poll:
"Do you think Mike should re-release his copy-protected albums without the copy protection?"
[] Yes
[] No
We were having a good conversation in the comments section with no profanity, no rude statements, not any sort of hate content. The only problem was that I was respectfully stating why I didn't like the copy protection. Next thing I know, I am removed and blocked from the group. I hoped this was an oversight, but sadly I was mistaken. I had a fellow friend in the group ask why I was banned, stating that I had not said anything rude, and lo and behold, he was also removed.

Let me say that I have been a Mike supporter for years now. I didn't know that simply requesting CDs with no outdated technology could get me banned. So much for an open community. I tried to contact an admin but I have seen no reply. Let me know if you have any thoughts on this.

Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1478500012452815/?fref=ts
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Chrissy Offline




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Posted: Nov. 28 2015, 13:27

That's awful that you got banned.

Never used Facebook, another reason for using this forum.

Wonder what Mike would think if he knew what was happening. Who runs the site?

Sounds like a needs a new PR person
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StrumDynasty Offline




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Posts: 21
Joined: Aug. 2015
Posted: Nov. 28 2015, 14:05

Quote (Chrissy @ Nov. 28 2015, 13:27)
That's awful that you got banned.

Never used Facebook, another reason for using this forum.

Wonder what Mike would think if he knew what was happening. Who runs the site?

Sounds like a needs a new PR person

I think there is an admin with a name I can't remember, then there is another admin called "Gordon Mikefield," which based on the posts in the group, I think is Mike (but I could be wrong). Not entirely sure. At first I thought maybe my removal was automated but I highly doubt it now. I would hope Mike himself didn't remove me. That would be really weird...
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dkaycom Offline




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Posts: 443
Joined: Jan. 2002
Posted: Nov. 28 2015, 16:18

Ahmmm what did u expect at the "praise him"-temple? Where even a fart in stereo which is said to be recorded directly from Mike's toilet would cause a "ohhh, now that is real art" storm of even non paid claquers? ;)

--------------
Bootlegs should be shared not sold.
(BlackCottonMafia)

Find more tubular sounds at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Incantations/
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First_Excursion Offline




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Posts: 279
Joined: Aug. 2012
Posted: Nov. 30 2015, 01:36

Teehee  :D
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Chrissy Offline




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Joined: Sep. 2013
Posted: Nov. 30 2015, 11:07

To be real art, I think its needs to be in Quadraphonic!  :)
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crises1980 Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 63
Joined: Feb. 2008
Posted: Dec. 01 2015, 10:17

Nope, there's no freedom of speech in there. Posts are deleted and people are banned without any warning. I can think of several reasons like spamming or sheer trolling. But most of the banned posts are simply critical or remotely controversial. It seems there's only room for praising.
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Thea Cochrane Offline




Group: Musicians
Posts: 445
Joined: Nov. 1999
Posted: Dec. 01 2015, 18:39

I completely support you saying what you want to say whatever you want, but there's no need for Mike or his admin/s to keep it on their page if they don't want to.

This is an argument I had with someone on my own blog a while ago - a commenter posting what-I-thought-was-hateful stuff (about religion, not about me) in the comments and I removed them because I wanted no association with them. They said I was infringing their freedom of speech, but actually they could have posted whatever they wanted on their own blog without me interfering at all.
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Dr Bogenbroom Offline




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Posted: Dec. 03 2015, 09:27

I wonder where the Gordon Mikefield idea came from? Rather odd.

--------------
Dancing the Entropy Tango
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StrumDynasty Offline




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Joined: Aug. 2015
Posted: Dec. 03 2015, 14:15

Quote (Mat Cochrane @ Dec. 01 2015, 18:39)
I completely support you saying what you want to say whatever you want, but there's no need for Mike or his admin/s to keep it on their page if they don't want to.

This is an argument I had with someone on my own blog a while ago - a commenter posting what-I-thought-was-hateful stuff (about religion, not about me) in the comments and I removed them because I wanted no association with them. They said I was infringing their freedom of speech, but actually they could have posted whatever they wanted on their own blog without me interfering at all.

I believe in the rights of people to control what's on their web pages too. However, my gripe was that 1) what I said was respectful, and 2) if the admin just would have sent me a message and politely explained why he wanted it taken down, I would have done it. I wouldn't have been happy about it, but I would have done it. But instead, he removes the post with no warning, causing me to post again wondering why. Then, in the midst of my confusion, he just bans me altogether, as if to say "You're not a person who can be reasoned with. You're obviously just an enemy." As if it doesn't matter how much respect I have for Mike's music. They just want to silence anyone who dares ask for anything to be different. They just want to completely ban them from the community with no warning and no discourse, before the person who created the post even realizes he's done something "wrong." That's what got under my skin. They could have avoided the whole thing by talking to me instead of just arbitrarily banning.
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Thea Cochrane Offline




Group: Musicians
Posts: 445
Joined: Nov. 1999
Posted: Dec. 04 2015, 15:16

Quote (StrumDynasty @ Dec. 03 2015, 19:15)
That's what got under my skin. They could have avoided the whole thing by talking to me instead of just arbitrarily banning.

Now that I can definitely understand. I think maybe lots of people are running groups on Facebook now who aren't used to the niceties of online communities.
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ian Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 473
Joined: Nov. 1999
Posted: Dec. 18 2015, 12:45

Quote (Chrissy @ Nov. 28 2015, 13:27)
That's awful that you got banned.

Never used Facebook, another reason for using this forum.

Wonder what Mike would think if he knew what was happening. Who runs the site?

Sounds like a needs a new PR person

Caroline Monk is his PR, you need to contact her. That is if she is sober.

I get tired of the constant "praise Mike" clique too. The same old folk trying to be Mike posting videos doing covers of his music (not mentioning names) It has it's place on Youtube or shared with friends but not on the MO FB page. Mike posts something and he gets a barrage of "look at me trying to be you" videos. It gets on my wires.
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TOBY Offline




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Posted: Dec. 19 2015, 07:47

Caroline Monk is no longer Mike's PA. They parted ways earlier in the year according to what was posted on Facebook.

As far as getting banned from Mike's Facebook page for posting your poll is concerned, its a bit harsh I agree but you did hit a sore point. The copy protection debacle surrounding TB2003 caused a big rift between Mike and his fanbase. He and the record company got a lot of flak for it on this forum and on others. It did get a bit nasty so they obviously thought you were trolling on Facebook or certainly creating something that was going to cause a lot of heated debate in the discussion. I can see why it was deleted.

With Facebook I can totally understand why Mike and the other guy running it want to keep it all friendly. Facebook isn't the place for long, and more often than not, quite heated discussion. Its a shame its killed off this forum and many other forums and websites like it, but there it is. Thats the state of the internet these days. Facebook is an all consuming monster but it does have its benefits. The fact that Mike is engaging at all on it is obviously a great thing and long may it continue. Yeah there's a lot of 'fan praise' and some pretty bad cover versions of his music but to be fair there's also some truly amazing ones. By and large I like it all but I don't really read the comments too much. It certainly gives Mike a much more immediate and easy way of being in contact with everyone. I'm enjoying finding out about all the new instruments he's bought and the progress of his new  album.  

I actually feel quite sorry for Mike on it sometimes because I kind of get the impression he would engage and chat on it even more if people didn't jump on everything he did.

But yeah keep it light hearted and fun I think.
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StrumDynasty Offline




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Posted: Dec. 19 2015, 13:10

Quote (TOBY @ Dec. 19 2015, 07:47)
Caroline Monk is no longer Mike's PA. They parted ways earlier in the year according to what was posted on Facebook.

As far as getting banned from Mike's Facebook page for posting your poll is concerned, its a bit harsh I agree but you did hit a sore point. The copy protection debacle surrounding TB2003 caused a big rift between Mike and his fanbase. He and the record company got a lot of flak for it on this forum and on others. It did get a bit nasty so they obviously thought you were trolling on Facebook or certainly creating something that was going to cause a lot of heated debate in the discussion. I can see why it was deleted.

With Facebook I can totally understand why Mike and the other guy running it want to keep it all friendly. Facebook isn't the place for long, and more often than not, quite heated discussion. Its a shame its killed off this forum and many other forums and websites like it, but there it is. Thats the state of the internet these days. Facebook is an all consuming monster but it does have its benefits. The fact that Mike is engaging at all on it is obviously a great thing and long may it continue. Yeah there's a lot of 'fan praise' and some pretty bad cover versions of his music but to be fair there's also some truly amazing ones. By and large I like it all but I don't really read the comments too much. It certainly gives Mike a much more immediate and easy way of being in contact with everyone. I'm enjoying finding out about all the new instruments he's bought and the progress of his new  album.  

I actually feel quite sorry for Mike on it sometimes because I kind of get the impression he would engage and chat on it even more if people didn't jump on everything he did.

But yeah keep it light hearted and fun I think.

I could see why they would want it removed if I had just said "I don't like Ommadawn," or "I don't like the way Mike dresses on stage," but that wasn't the issue. I LIKE Mike's music, I LIKE his live presence, and I was just weighing in on the fact that I can't even listen to the Music I bought...which I bought because I like it. I'm sorry, but I don't agree with the whole "fan page only for praise and fun" thing. Constructive criticism should also be allowed. Trolling? No. Picking fights? No. But we were just having a respectful and interesting conversation about something directly involving Mike and his music. If all it takes is a mere constructive criticism about packaging to not only offset a post removal, but a BLOCK from the group, I'm sorry, but that level of sensitivity is just silly. That's why I still disagree with what they did.
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ian Offline




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Joined: Nov. 1999
Posted: Dec. 21 2015, 03:32

Quote (TOBY @ Dec. 19 2015, 07:47)
Caroline Monk is no longer Mike's PA. They parted ways earlier in the year according to what was posted on Facebook.

As far as getting banned from Mike's Facebook page for posting your poll is concerned, its a bit harsh I agree but you did hit a sore point. The copy protection debacle surrounding TB2003 caused a big rift between Mike and his fanbase. He and the record company got a lot of flak for it on this forum and on others. It did get a bit nasty so they obviously thought you were trolling on Facebook or certainly creating something that was going to cause a lot of heated debate in the discussion. I can see why it was deleted.

With Facebook I can totally understand why Mike and the other guy running it want to keep it all friendly. Facebook isn't the place for long, and more often than not, quite heated discussion. Its a shame its killed off this forum and many other forums and websites like it, but there it is. Thats the state of the internet these days. Facebook is an all consuming monster but it does have its benefits. The fact that Mike is engaging at all on it is obviously a great thing and long may it continue. Yeah there's a lot of 'fan praise' and some pretty bad cover versions of his music but to be fair there's also some truly amazing ones. By and large I like it all but I don't really read the comments too much. It certainly gives Mike a much more immediate and easy way of being in contact with everyone. I'm enjoying finding out about all the new instruments he's bought and the progress of his new  album.  

I actually feel quite sorry for Mike on it sometimes because I kind of get the impression he would engage and chat on it even more if people didn't jump on everything he did.

But yeah keep it light hearted and fun I think.

But I thought he only recently recruited her as his PA. Why would they part company, they seemed such close friends ?
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TOBY Offline




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Posted: Dec. 24 2015, 05:39

I guess Caroline Monk wasn't needed any more. People forget that PA's like her do actually charge a fair amount of money for doing what they do and with no album to promote on the immediate horizon ( excluding the re-releases of course) all Mike would have been paying her for was to update his Facebook page, something he can clearly do himself.

We may find she returns once there's a new album coming out.
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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: Dec. 27 2015, 18:23

Without being Mike, it's hard to say exactly what Mike objected to there, but like Toby said, it was a touchy subject at the time. I'd like to hope that Mike would understand the issues a bit better now - I seem to remember him making a comment in an interview which suggested his position might have softened - but perhaps he's not let go of his old position...or perhaps it's something else.

Either way, I'd definitely agree with Mat when he says that "maybe lots of people are running groups on Facebook now who aren't used to the niceties of online communities." Running online communities - any communities really - can be really challenging! We've learned a whole load of things over the years of running this place - sometimes by getting things right first time, but often by not getting things quite right, or even quite wrong, and having to adapt. Sometimes you can pick up the pieces from an incident, maybe at others, you end up sweeping them under the carpet and moving on, but I think if you never ask what you might have done wrong yourself as an admin in a particular situation, the chances are that you're just going to get the same problem cropping up again and again...and often the result is both sides getting frustrated.

Of course it's their right to run the group however they see fit, as long as it's within Facebook's rules, but it does seem like in a lot of these cases, it wouldn't have hurt to ask people nicely not to do something (and preferably explain why) before reaching for the ban button. They may, for all I know, face all kinds of pressures which make that impractical, but it does seem like there are a fair few people out there who'd appreciate some clarity on matters like this one...
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Philippe Tavares Offline




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Posted: Dec. 28 2015, 16:33

:/  :/  

....... something weird , bizarre on his two FB groups these last days ! Everybody here know me i'm an old fan and loyal , i follow Mike and his music since i'm 12 so 36 years i'm following him and for Christmas eve he gave me a nice gift !!!!!! i was banned with no reasons or explanations .....now i suspect it was about the fact i shared a video but it was the video of a musician ( a spanish fan ) that Mike had liked his music before so i thought it was possible to share in his group ! ..and then why not to refuse my request ; it has been finished and i would have accepted his decision but no he banned me immediately ...again with no reasons , no explanations i was GUILTY !!! ..and TREAT(ed) LIKE A CRIMINAL !!!  and he even put me out of his friend list . i know he doesn't like why questions  lol but why ???? I think it's a bit strong anyway !!!!!

...and i can't understand how he runs his FB because i asked him immediately to be friend again and maybe one hour after that i was again in his list !   :O  :O  :O
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First_Excursion Offline




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Posted: Dec. 29 2015, 00:35

Quote (Tubular Tos @ Dec. 28 2015, 16:33)
GUILTY !!! ..and TREAT(ed) LIKE A CRIMINAL !!!

LOL Damn.  Treated like you're evil! Just a shadow on his wall.
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Philippe Tavares Offline




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Posted: Dec. 29 2015, 03:08

:( Yes precisely !!!!
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