A lot of things have changed in this one year. Sometimes, I do pop by to check out what going on there. Things are no longer the same anymore. Kinda missed the old community.

It’s heart breaking to see the community that I spend so much time in split into 2 camps. It’s even more depressing that I was being banned from a site that I’ve been actively involved in. By a friend whom I’ve been supporting over the years without asking for any returns.

Whatever I’ve done in my initial blog entry, even if I was really breaking up the community like what they accused me of doing, I shouldn’t be banned without a warning. Even if I should be banned, there should be an email informing me of the banning and the reasons behind. I didn’t receive any email to tell me the reason behind my banning. That why I came up with my own conclusion out of anger. It was until after lots of complains by other pingsters did Uzyn wrote an official statement on my banning. It was posted on the forum, which I was banned from. I still didn’t receive any email from ping.sg regarding my banning.

This made me very angry and disappointed. That’s why I wrote a series of blog entries last night out of anger. I only slept at 9am today.

I admit I crossed the line several times today. Some punches were thrown below the belt. But all along I never resort into calling names online. I know some of them from the other side have been calling me names on their blogs, comments, twitter and pluck. But I will not scoop to that level and return any fancy names.

I was reading back and I admit that I shouldn’t have said some stuff. Being angry is no excuse for those childish post. I keep saying about others in the past, but when I land myself in the same situation, I couldn’t control myself and practice self restrain. Now I fully understand their reaction when they were being banned.

But I still stand by the things that I’ve said in the beginning. I still believe that the whole “In Group” comment is not good for the community. I still feel that it will split the community into 2. That why I voiced out my views, hoping that ping.sg will do something about it to prevent an elite group from forming. Some of you said that the method I use is wrong. I admit it might not be the best method, but end of the day, I still have the community at heart. I’m doing it to prevent the community from breaking apart.

At one point of time, I was asking myself, why am I doing all these? Why risk damaging my reputation? Why land yourself in their blacklist book? After all, I’m running a business related to blogs. I’m running for Omy blog awards now. I’m negotiating a blogging assignment with a company. Why put myself into such risk?

Why risk my company being backslashed by the community? Why risk being drop from the Omy Blog award? Why risk being rejected by the company?

Cause I don’t wish to see this community split into 2 camps. Many of you might disagree with me that a simple personal blog entry by Daphne will do so much damage. But I’m seeing the whole issue from the other side of the fence. I saw the cracks forming with my very own eyes. With regulars telling me that they have given up on the community. I can’t sit there and let everything collapse.

My approach may not be the best. I could have handled this issue better. I should have practice more self restrain. I’m sorry that I didn’t. The emotions was too great for me to control. I admit I really lost it. I’m sorry to the people I’ve hurt. I know some of you might not accept my apologies. I respect your decision.

End of the day, I still wish the community will return to it’s former glory.

You may or may not believe what I’ve said. I’ve already put forward my personal views on everything in this blog. You have every rights to form your own judgement. If you don’t agree with me, then please at least allow us to agree to disagree.

That’s all I want to say about this issue. I’ve already said a lot today. I’ll stop blogging about this issue from now on as promise earlier today. I will be reading your comments and blog entries. I’ll reply if there is a need to clarify anything. Else, I’ll rest my case.

As for the banning issue, if Uzyn unbans me, I’ll return back to the community and continue to give him the full support that I’ve given him in the past. If he feels that I should remain banned because of the things that I’ve done, then I wish him and his team all the best for their future endeavors.

Written on 6 July 2008, 6:45pm.

It was a few days after the ping.sg first anniversary party. There was a huge argument between some members. There was huge tension within the community. So some members decided to meet up over dinner to chill out and relax. We had some dinner and proceed to Blue Jazz Cafe for a drink.

I can’t remember exactly all the attendees. All I can remember was Nicole, Hendri, Sylv, UFC, Arzhou and Daph. Rinaz was there for dinner but left early. (Pls forgive me if I missed out your name for that gathering)

During the beer session, we chatted about the recent happening in ping.sg and how it can be prevented. I mentioned that we need a moderator system where selected ping.sg members can help remove offending entries. I said that I told Uzyn about this and he agreed that we need to have a moderator module, but it was delayed because Uzyn was busy.

Someone suggested that pingsters can help develop the module since we have quite a few programmers. I said that it might not be possible because I feel that Uzyn, like most programmers, will be protective on his codes and might not be so comfortable to open it up for others to help code.

It was a good discussion with several other interesting point being discussed. But I didn’t expect it to cause the first major argument between Uzyn and me.

That night, for no reason, Uzyn MSN me and said that he is very disappointed with me. That he always trusted me and even wanted me to be the moderator for ping.sg in the future. He said he is disappointed with the things that I did and I’m destroying the whole site.

I was confused. Everything happen out of nowhere. I don’t even know what is he talking about. What did I do to disappoint him. And he was going on and on about how disappointed he is without telling me the cause. I asked him what happen and all he said was “You know what you did”. But seriously, I don’t know.

It was only after countless of questioning and a heated argument when I finally discovered that it was because the things I said over beer was mis-quoted by Daphne.

Daphne told Uzyn that I said he was purposely delaying the moderation module. And that I wanted to keep Ping.sg to himself and refuse to let go.

I was shocked when I hear that. How did my words get misquoted so badly? My only explanation was that Daphne was very new to the community at that time and doesn’t know what is going on. In fact, if I remember correctly, she joined less than 1 month only.

But I was very pissed off with Uzyn that time. When Daphne told him something that was so unlike my character, instead of checking out the facts first, he came over and confronted me straight. He believes everything she said. Despite all the things that I’ve done for the community during that time. He rather listen to someone who is in the community for less than 1 month than open his eyes to see what I’ve been doing.

I was so pissed off that night that I wanted to quit ping.sg. It was a very tense period with flame war between 2 other pingsters. And Daphne’s comment didn’t help at all. I posted a blog entry titled “Backstabbed” and said that I’ll stop blogging for a while. Deep inside, I wanted to quit for good.

Then Sekling spoke to me convinced me to stay on. I removed that entry from my blog and asked Uzyn to delete it from ping.sg. I later replaced it with another blog entry to down play the issue.

What does this whole incident tell us?
Uzyn trust Daphne a lot. So much that he was guided toward the wrong direction without knowning.
Daphne is hyper sensitive and misquote people.
No matter what you have done to the community, you still might be wrongly accused of trying to destroy the whole site.

It’s been almost a year already. Some things doesn’t change.

Special Edition: DK vs Ping.sg “In Group”

I relook at that post and agreed with my friend and everyone that commeted there that I indeed crossed the line in that post. I was really very very angry last night regarding the ban. That why I wrote several blog entries to voice my happiness.

But I do agree with everyone that my post on “DK not insightful enough for ping.sg awards” was too much and crossed the line. Being angry is no excuse to post such defaming entry. I’m sorry for that entry. Sorry to Uzyn, Daphne and everyone in ping.sg for that entry. I’m ashame that I wrote that entry last night when I was angry.

I’m really sorry for that childish post. Please accept my apologies.

But I still stand by the remaining article that I wrote. And yes, as promised, I will stop blogging about this issue after today. You have my words.

Last but not least, I want to say again that I’m sorry for that entry. Sorry.

Daphne even openly declared that everyone’s in.

Anyway, it was a big hullabaloo about just ONE word. I hope it’s clear now.
uzyn daphnemaia sheylara hendribudi uraywong wishbone brokenshardz sylvdoanx twistedian jerricklim krisandro claudia10 litford
Everyone’s in. Are you?

But I find it strange. Is everyone supporting the “In group”? I private twitter one of them asking why she twittered that message. A few hours later, I got this reply from her.

dunno man, Daphne IMed me asking me to tweet it, so i did. that’s it. anyway, nad pinged me about your blog post, so i sorta know now..

Due to my safety reasons, I will not reveal who is she. In case she ganna backslashed by the “In group”. Or worse, banned from ping.sg.

I read the reply with disbelief. You mean Daphne ask you to twitter without telling you what’s the reason behind it. It’s like tricking you to say you support her “In group” without knowing you did. That’s hitting under the belt!!

I know some of them know the full story before they twitter. But how many of them didn’t know the full story behind it before twittering? How many were con into doing it? Did they know what are they in for? They have openly supported the elite “In Group”.

And Daphne claims that everyone’s in. But she didn not mention that Nadnut and foxtwo said that they are out. Cobalt Paladin also said he is out on Daphne’s blog. And a lot of pingsters sat on the fence. Is that “everyone”?

Special Edition: DK vs Ping.sg “In Group”

I will not cover up my mistake. This is really a childish post. I will leave it here for everyone to read to see my foolishness when I was angry. I am only human. I make mistakes too. I’m sorry. If you are angry with this entry, you have every rights to flame me.

Sorry.

———————————————–

The finalist for the ping.sg awards was released before I was banned from the community.

I don’t know about everyone, but it wasn’t a surprise to me when I didn’t see my blog in finalist list. Perhaps I wasn’t good enough to be in the finalist for ping.sg awards.

But I was in the top 10 finalist for Omy Singapore Blog Award 2008 – Most insightful blog category. A panel of judges from omy’s editorial team selected my blog out of the 122 nominees.

I was the winner of ping.sg award 2007 Most Insightful Post award and Best Citizen Journalism Post award.

I was also nominated in 5 out of 9 category in the ping.sg award 2007.

But looks like I wasn’t good enough for the ping.sg awards 2008. Or was I?

The initial list of nomination is handled by the community manager, whom I have arguments with. From what I understand (correct me if I’m wrong), only the post category is open for the organising committee to vote. The blog category wasn’t. How was it selected then?

So is my blog really not insightful enough for ping.sg awards? Or is it because I didn’t apple polish the community manager? You be the judge.

We will never find out the real truth……

Special Edition: DK vs Ping.sg “In Group”

But unknown to some, the 1st advertisement that TYB did was using my face on table avatar. He showed me the advertisement and ask if I’m ok with him using my avatar. I rejected him. Not because I don’t want to contribute my avatar for the advertisement. But I was afraid that people might feel there is an elitism going on here. But I did counter suggest to him that he can actually use his on photo for the advertisement and get other pingsters to do something similar. The result was great.

Come to think of it, I should have agreed to let TYB to use my face on table avatar back then. Then I’ll create my own “In Group” and be the leader of the gang. But I didn’t because I don’t believe in forming the elite group.

Well, since I’m banned, perhaps I should update the advertisement.

You can find my original advertisement here.

Nice right? The photo fits the tagline nicely.

Meet DK.
He just got Banned.
Have you?

Special Edition: DK vs Ping.sg “In Group”

Why did I stop organising gathering? Is it because I’m lazy to organise gathering? Or was I too busy?

Nope. I stop organising gathering because I was hurt by the words written by Daphne in the Ping.sg newsletter.

It’s time to rejoice, for the joyous festive season is here again! With the various and numerous celebrations with family and friends, let’s not forget our very own Ping.sg community’s official and not-so-official gatherings!

The official gathering was referring to the ping.sg T-shirt launch event. The not-so-official gathering is the christmas gathering that I was organising for the community.

I was so pissed by the statement. What does she means by “not-so-official”. Why is there a need to classify gathering in this manner? Both gathering is for the community.

I confronted Daphne and demand an explanation. Her explanation was that gathering organised by Ping.sg company is considered official gathering. Gathering organised by members themselves is considered not official. I had a huge argument with her over this classifications. I’m also doing my part for the community. Why is there a need to differentiate the two gathering so clearly? Is she trying to show that she is the official person to organise gathering?

The argument was so bad that she have to drag Uzyn in to help settle the whole issue. But the damage was already done.

I never bring this issue up on my blog because I don’t want the community to break into 2 camps, Ping.sg company and members. I kept quiet. But I slowly stop organising my “not-so-official” gathering.

But I guess it would be nice to let everyone knows what happen in the background. Just in case anyone wants to organise a “not-so-official” gathering.

Special Edition: DK vs Ping.sg “In Group”

Here are the list of last year’s sponsors and a sneak peek at where are they now.

Advertlets – Main sponsor for the event. Their company blog, which was in ping.sg before the party, was banned recently. Reason: Commercial blog.

Bak2u – Co-sponsor for the event. BAK2u also sponsored some products for door gift and managed to convince their partners to sponsor some products as door gift. Their company blog, which was in ping.sg when it first started, was banned recently too. Reason: Commercial blog.

Chain of Beads – Sponsored some products for door gift. Their company blog, which was in ping.sg since it first started, was banned couple of weeks after the anniversary party. Reason: Commercial blog.

Eastcoastlife – Sponsored Birthday cake for the party. Her blog, which was in ping.sg for quite some time, was banned a few days after the party. Reason: Flaming the owner of ping.sg.

I guess that is all the sponsors for the first ping.sg anniversary party. Did I miss out anyone?

If you notice, all of them have been banned from ping.sg now. Is there a jinx or something with sponsorship? The sponsors are mainly companies (Except Eastcoastlife which is a different case). They sponsored the event because their business is in sync with ping.sg and also they support the community. Since the beginning, Uzyn already know their blog is in ping.sg. If there is a restriction on commercial blog, then why aren’t they banned before the party? Why are they only banned after the sponsorship?

过河拆桥

Speaking of 过河拆桥, Aplink help ping.sg secured several advertising deals. One of Ping.sg’s first few advertiser, Recruit.net was brought in by Aplink.

Where is Aplink now? You guessed it correctly. Banned from ping.sg recently. Reason: Flaming the owner of ping.sg.

Scary huh? All banned from ping.sg.
After all these, I wonder if any company would still dare to work with ping.sg. No wonder ping.sg still in the red financially.

Special Edition: DK vs Ping.sg “In Group”

Before I do that, perhaps Uzyn should learn a lesson that the Malaysian government learnt during their last election. Censorship doesn’t work in the internet age. You can’t censor my personal views.

———————-

dk99 was banned earlier this morning.
What is ping.sg’s procedure when banning people? Is there any warning given? Is there any email to inform the user that he/she has been banned? I’ve told Uzyn several times before that he need to give warning before banning people/reseting pongs. Sabrina’s case was a classic example when he reset her pong without warning, only to find that it was a misunderstanding. I guess he just doesn’t learn from mistake.

The user was banned due to his recent actions of attempting to split up the Ping.sg community by his repeated posting of blogs and forum comments to try to sensationalize a small and settling issue to the extend of attacking the people of of the community, specifically and non-specifically, and the site as a whole.
Was my action trying to split up the community? Or was I trying to stop the community manager from splitting up the community?
Did I sensationalize the whole issue? Somebody change the ping.sg tagline to “Ping.sg – The Community Meta Blog for In-People in Singapore”. Is that considering sensationalizing too? Should that person be banned? Wait… that is Uzyn. Can we ban Uzyn too?

The admins of Ping.sg have always been agnostic and respectful about the personal views and the different opinions of bloggers. However, posting of unconstructive comments with the motive of destroying the site or community is strictly not tolerated.
Does Ping.sg really respect personal view? So why wasn’t my person views respected? Double standards?
Are my comments unconstructive? I’m telling Paced to take a step back as it is useless to talk further. Was that considered unconstructive? You mean “i’m going to watch my DVDs” is constructive? Again, another double standards.
Motive of destroying the community? Why would I destroy something that I spend so much time and effort in? I’m preventing it from being destroyed by your community manager who is trying to build a elite group in Ping.sg. Open your eyes and look.

Moreover, the user was just shown the door for he has self-declared to have given up on the community.
Given up on the community mean must ban? Wow. What kind of logic is that?

I would like to further stress that the decision to ban was nothing personal and not due to what the user claimed to be – disagreeing with the community manager nor for difference of opinions.
Oh really? Who believes you?
I think the Ping.sg community are old enough to decide for themselves if I’m lying. If I’m not stating the fact, would anyone listen to me? If I’m not stating the fact, then why didn’t anyone rebut the things I’ve said? If I’m not stating the fact, would I be a threat to your community manager?

Everyone knows my contribution to the ping.sg community. Why do I want to split the whole community into 2? Why do I want to destroy something that we build together? Have you ever asked yourself that question?

The ban came to me as a surprise. I never expect Uzyn to scoop to this low. Ask me a question on forum, then ban me without giving me a chance to reply.
When I posted my last entry, it was intended to be my last entry on this issue. But since you banned me, I’ll be writing more entries today. Check out the schedule for the remaining entries planned for today. I stayed up whole night just to blog all these.

你不仁，我不义。

Special Edition: DK vs Ping.sg “In Group”