HNA1
07-05-2023, 02:40 PM
It is regrettable that this is having to be posted but this is notice that in the coming hours access to the Holy Ground will be limited to private members only for a period of 2 weeks. Despite repeated public requests, warnings and appeals to the better nature of some posters the content has continued down a path of toxicity, harassment and aggression. Warnings, infractions and bans issued privately have worked to some extent but this is often short lived.
We are primarily a football forum and boards such as the Holy Ground were additional extras to broaden discussion on the site. There are a number of posters who are now rarely or never seen on any areas of the site beyond the Holy Ground and for them this is evidently primarily a political forum with football an afterthought. Posts on the Holy Ground make up far too significant a percentage of those reported and it takes up a disproportionate amount of our time. We are a small team of volunteers and we simply aren't willing to to take the abuse, publicly and privately, that we have been subjected to largely because of this forum any longer. We didn't sign up to be subjected to repeated abusive emails or threats of legal action because of content posted on here. We are also unwilling to be a platform for people to air their own bigotry and prejudice with little nuance or respect for the viewpoints of others.
We would urge everyone to take this time to reflect on the direction of travel of discussion on the Holy Ground in recent months and years and reflect on whether it is really what you want it to be. Hopefully when the forum reopens fully there is a willingness to temper language and rhetoric and show a bit of respect to all users of the site and those of us who give up our time to moderate it. This isn't a decision taken lightly and really is a last resort, if this fails to resolve the ongoing issues then the Holy Ground will close altogether for an indefinite period
We are primarily a football forum and boards such as the Holy Ground were additional extras to broaden discussion on the site. There are a number of posters who are now rarely or never seen on any areas of the site beyond the Holy Ground and for them this is evidently primarily a political forum with football an afterthought. Posts on the Holy Ground make up far too significant a percentage of those reported and it takes up a disproportionate amount of our time. We are a small team of volunteers and we simply aren't willing to to take the abuse, publicly and privately, that we have been subjected to largely because of this forum any longer. We didn't sign up to be subjected to repeated abusive emails or threats of legal action because of content posted on here. We are also unwilling to be a platform for people to air their own bigotry and prejudice with little nuance or respect for the viewpoints of others.
We would urge everyone to take this time to reflect on the direction of travel of discussion on the Holy Ground in recent months and years and reflect on whether it is really what you want it to be. Hopefully when the forum reopens fully there is a willingness to temper language and rhetoric and show a bit of respect to all users of the site and those of us who give up our time to moderate it. This isn't a decision taken lightly and really is a last resort, if this fails to resolve the ongoing issues then the Holy Ground will close altogether for an indefinite period