As a fetish site, It was a reasonable expectation of users to be able to have discussion, debates and difference of opinion.
Instead there was a turf war between so called 'fetlife vets' and former members of Bondage.com who had gone there hoping for a better site. B.com users were either given the cold sholder, ignored or accused of 'flaming' for offering differences of opinion. This culminated in numerous debates, out right attacks between people, and the end result... the site wide ban of almost every user from B.com that had voiced an opinion about what was happening.
At last count, between 30-40 users had been banned and without any warning.
After the ban was issued, the following mass e-mail was sent out to those who were banned:
Dear User:
It has come to our attention that you have directly and on numerous occasions violated the terms of use and community guidelines of the site. We cannot allow this to continue. Therefore, your account is being suspended, effective immediately. This is part of an effort on our part to improve the user experience of FetLife.com for as many as possible, and continued violation of the rules does nothing but degrade that experience for all.
This is not a sudden decision, nor is it for a first offense. You have been watched for some time, and your behavior found wanting. We're sorry to have to delete users, but it is the only way to ensure that FetLife.com can continue to be the fun, community-based experience that it is meant to be.
We take banning users seriously and if you are found to come back onto FetLife we will contact your ISP, authorities in your area and work with our lawyers to do whatever it takes to protect the community.
Unless we tell you otherwise this is a life-time ban.
Sincerely,
JohnBaku and the FetLife Moderators
No warnings given to anyone. No real reason given to anyone and just the vague reference to being 'watched' and 'wanting' behavior.
This site has resorted to not only trying to silence an entire community, but alienating it as well.
Many of the people who were banned had also made monetary donations to the site that the owner, John Baku sought. These people not only lost a voice, they lost money also.
Join at your own risk, but think twice before giving them you money. They are Ban Happy and will do it for something as simple as not agreeing with the fetlife 'vet' posters.
A fetish site built on censorship can't last to long.
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