Earlier today, howdydave posted a thread entitled “ISTA has finally taken root!” For those that were able to read it, congratulations. For the rest of you, the thread has been removed from this forum. The thread simply pointed out the new Facebook presence of the International Snuff Takers Association - ISTA at http://www.facebook.com/snufftakers Now, after reviewing the Snuffhouse Terms of Service page, I am baffled as to the reason for this thread being removed. The only explanation is a gratuitous attempt to limit freedom of speech on this forum. The thread certainly did not violate any of the conditions below as set forth by the TOS: “Snuffhouse membership is limited to registrants aged 18 years and older. While Snuffhouse attempts to create an environment free of restrictions on speech, there are certain subjects that Snuffhouse has deemed inappropriate to discuss on the Snuffhouse forum. These discussions include anything pertaining to religion or politics. Furthermore, no comments with any type of hate speech, racial epithets, sexist undertones, violent speech, threatening, or discriminatory based on someone’s gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or other defining characteristic are allowed. Please aim to keep discussions civil and within social norms.” - See more at: http://snuffhouse.org/discussion/6499/snuffhouse-terms-of-service#latest Could an admin or mod please explain what aspect of the TOS was violated with the aforementioned thread? Also, please clarify if this board is meant to be a forum for sharing snuff resources, such as the ISTA Facebook page, or if it is only meant to contain threads that personally please the staff?
Didn’t you and Xander have a private discussion about this already? Any particular reason you don’t just continue THAT conversation, instead of starting a new thread about the subject?
No we did not. As a mod miamimark, can you explain this clearly so that the rest of the members will know which threads they create will be deleted and which ones will be allowed to remain (apart from those expressly prohibited by the TOS)?
Unfortunately, there’s no 10,00 page manual that explains every single possible scenario that we, as mods, may come across. We just use our own judgement and hope for the best. I’ve read and reread the conversation between you and Xander concerning this issue. I think Xander explained it quite well and that’s the end of it. I can only think of one reason why you would keep bringing it up… and publicly at that… When the “rest of the members” ask why their thread was deleted, we’ll deal with it at that time. In my opinion, it’s already been explained to you.
could we have info on this here, as i am aware of the ISTA, and am curious as to why you disapprove. take your time if you need to, but as a forum i believed was open to sharing snuff-related information when i joined (though this belief has been shaken here and in a previous situation i wont bother going into specifics on) it made me wonder where the original thread mentioned here went too.
Thank you, Mark. @Lincolnsnuff as explained to you via whisper, which you now choose to deny took place, you do not have the rights to use the ISTA name. In said whisper, you try to tell me some cock and bull story about registering with the Secretary of State (as if that even meant anything). The ISTA was created by the creator of this website and has passed as intellectual property along with the website to his successors. If and when it comes into its own its future will be determined by those individuals who are already members of the ISTA. At that time the membership may expand. If and when the ISTA happens, it will be announced first here. It is and shall remain the property of Snuffhouse.org. If you want to create a snuff group on your Facebook page, go right ahead. Call it something else. The ISTA may not be comfortable with the use of Facebook… or it may be, in either case its not yours to decide. I deleted HowdyDave’s thread since it was superfluous. It stated the exact thing that you had declared in your own thread. You will note I have not deleted your thread, so again stop with the cock and bull nonsense about freedom of speech. Its routine here to keep threads tidy when multiple threads about the same exact subject are running concurrently.
@xander miamimark asked if a whisper conversation took place regarding the removal of howdydave’s thread. It didn’t. I see that you feel the need to take this conversation public. I will not engage you here. I only wanted to know why a thread was removed. A simple, “it was a duplicate thread” would have sufficed. It does beg the question, why all of the “what is the best way to take snuff” threads aren’t immediately deleted though…?
@xander miamimark asked if a whisper conversation took place regarding the removal of howdydave’s thread. It didn’t. I see that you feel the need to take this conversation public. I will not engage you here. I only wanted to know why a thread was removed. A simple, “it was a duplicate thread” would have sufficed. It does beg the question, why all of the “what is the best way to take snuff” threads aren’t immediately deleted though…?
perhaps his ‘need’ to take it public, was in fact your need to take it public, and my curiosity. I will assume ISTA on facebook is different to the ISTA Xander refers to as the property of Snuffhouse.
perhaps his ‘need’ to take it public, was in fact your need to take it public, and my curiosity.
That’s exactly it. I was inclined to handle it privately and with counsel from the moderation team. I didn’t start this thread, which is clearly an antagonistic one.
The ISTA was created by the creator of this website and has passed as intellectual property along with the website to his successors.
If ISTA is not a registered trademark then it’s fair game for anyone to use. I did a trademark search for it, and no trademark exists. You can’t bitch about protecting intellectual property if it hasn’t been protected in the first place.
To delete or not delete… I have deleted tons of duplicate threads, chances are you don’t notice because they are… duplicates. The mods need to talk about the ISTA, personally I’m not attached to it but there are others that have created merchandise with the name and logo. The proper thing to do would be to contact them, not the mods. There is no need to be confrontational about it, there is also no need for others to jump in the fray and stir the pot, I know this comes natural to some. @LincolnSnuff: PM me about the ISTA and I’ll talk to Dave about it. Maybe you two can get something worked out.
don’t confuse registered trademark with trademark. Legaly once you come up with something you own the trademark. Once you register a trademark you’ve documented the trademark with the government making it easier to proof you own the trademark. The point of registering is to document and proof, technically coming up with an idea gives you the trademark. The trick is proving that you came up with it first. If this issue went to court this site could be used to document who owns the trademark.
We have categories that are hidden from view that date back to 2007 concerning the ISTA. Only mods and admins can see them.
And here I thought that it was all about a direct link to a snuffhouse thread from Facebook…
You know… “Accessing through inappropriate channels” or something along that line.