In case you needed another reason to abandon Investors Hub, here is an exchange I just had with an admin at that website via private messages. I initially wrote to report a private message I received from "Peggy," a user there with whom some of you may be familiar. "Peggy" wrote me a private message saying, "Bite me dumb ass." Here is my exchange with the admin:
This is a formal report of a terms of service violation. I received it via a private message, therefore I did not send it with the "Report TOS violation" link.
I am reporting a violation of the terms of service. On Wednesday, March 21, 2018, The User with the screen name "Peggy" sent me a private message at 4:02:09 PM, which stated in its entirety, "Bite me dumb ass." This is a clear violation of the Investors Hub terms of service, as highlighted below, and I expect to be informed of the steps taken to resolve this violation:
Further, you are solely responsible for the content of your posts and communications through the Site. By posting information in or otherwise using any communications service, chat room, message board, newsgroup, software library, image or document repository, or other interactive service that may be available to you on or through this Site, you agree that you will not upload, share, post, or otherwise distribute or facilitate distribution of any content -- including text, communications, software, images, sounds, data, or other information -- that:
A. Is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, vulgar, hateful, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of another's privacy, tortious, contains explicit or graphic descriptions or accounts of sexual acts (including but not limited to sexual language of a violent or threatening nature directed at another individual or group of individuals), or otherwise violates our rules or policies;
B. Attacks, verbally or otherwise, any other user, the website, any non-public figure, or any agents or employees of iHub;
I look forward to hearing how this violation was addressed.
Regards.
This is the response I received:
Site Admins generally get involved in private messages only when they contain threats of physical violence, spam or extreme vulgarity.
If you are getting unwelcome Private Messages, click on the link at the bottom of the PM that says "Block User's Private Messages". If you are using the iHub mobile app, you can go to the sender's profile and click on Ignore at the bottom of the screen. That can also be done on the iHub website.
FAQ - Private Messages
To which I replied:
That policy is in direct conflict with the black letter of the terms of service, namely, the portion restricting "abusive, harassing, vulgar, and hateful" text. This "Peggy" is a chronic abuser of the terms of service and this private message is merely a single instance of such abuse. I recommend investigating the post history of this particular user and an objective review of his/her plentiful violations. What is the point of having terms of service if your company does not utilize them in the case of clear violations? Rules without consequences are no rules at all.
The admin replied:
Private messages are just that. There was nothing egregiously vulgar in the message you copied into the message to Admin. If you would prefer to not receive messages like that from that user in the future, I would suggest you block their PMs.
My last response was:
Your response is utterly disappointing. Private or not, the message I received was objectively abusive, harassing, vulgar, and hateful. Those are YOUR company's TOS; not mine. Rest assured, I have blocked that particular user, but other users should not be subjected to "Peggy's" abuse and vulgarity. Your website has gained a reputation in the penny stock environment for harboring users like this person, who choose to use this platform for vitriolic textual attacks. I hope you are pleased with the base and crass level of discourse you apparently find acceptable in your online community. Sleep well knowing you are condoning this type of behavior, and enjoy the reputation your company has obtained by being complicit in it.
This post will likely get deleted, but I hope some of you read this and realize what kind of people are running the show over at I-Hub, if you didn't already know.
Have a great Independence Day weekend!
This is a formal report of a terms of service violation. I received it via a private message, therefore I did not send it with the "Report TOS violation" link.
I am reporting a violation of the terms of service. On Wednesday, March 21, 2018, The User with the screen name "Peggy" sent me a private message at 4:02:09 PM, which stated in its entirety, "Bite me dumb ass." This is a clear violation of the Investors Hub terms of service, as highlighted below, and I expect to be informed of the steps taken to resolve this violation:
Further, you are solely responsible for the content of your posts and communications through the Site. By posting information in or otherwise using any communications service, chat room, message board, newsgroup, software library, image or document repository, or other interactive service that may be available to you on or through this Site, you agree that you will not upload, share, post, or otherwise distribute or facilitate distribution of any content -- including text, communications, software, images, sounds, data, or other information -- that:
A. Is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, vulgar, hateful, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of another's privacy, tortious, contains explicit or graphic descriptions or accounts of sexual acts (including but not limited to sexual language of a violent or threatening nature directed at another individual or group of individuals), or otherwise violates our rules or policies;
B. Attacks, verbally or otherwise, any other user, the website, any non-public figure, or any agents or employees of iHub;
I look forward to hearing how this violation was addressed.
Regards.
This is the response I received:
Site Admins generally get involved in private messages only when they contain threats of physical violence, spam or extreme vulgarity.
If you are getting unwelcome Private Messages, click on the link at the bottom of the PM that says "Block User's Private Messages". If you are using the iHub mobile app, you can go to the sender's profile and click on Ignore at the bottom of the screen. That can also be done on the iHub website.
FAQ - Private Messages
To which I replied:
That policy is in direct conflict with the black letter of the terms of service, namely, the portion restricting "abusive, harassing, vulgar, and hateful" text. This "Peggy" is a chronic abuser of the terms of service and this private message is merely a single instance of such abuse. I recommend investigating the post history of this particular user and an objective review of his/her plentiful violations. What is the point of having terms of service if your company does not utilize them in the case of clear violations? Rules without consequences are no rules at all.
The admin replied:
Private messages are just that. There was nothing egregiously vulgar in the message you copied into the message to Admin. If you would prefer to not receive messages like that from that user in the future, I would suggest you block their PMs.
My last response was:
Your response is utterly disappointing. Private or not, the message I received was objectively abusive, harassing, vulgar, and hateful. Those are YOUR company's TOS; not mine. Rest assured, I have blocked that particular user, but other users should not be subjected to "Peggy's" abuse and vulgarity. Your website has gained a reputation in the penny stock environment for harboring users like this person, who choose to use this platform for vitriolic textual attacks. I hope you are pleased with the base and crass level of discourse you apparently find acceptable in your online community. Sleep well knowing you are condoning this type of behavior, and enjoy the reputation your company has obtained by being complicit in it.
This post will likely get deleted, but I hope some of you read this and realize what kind of people are running the show over at I-Hub, if you didn't already know.
Have a great Independence Day weekend!
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