What Happened At OLA Tonight 09-10-08

[MetzyMom]

In case you didn't see the explanation in the New Forum of OLA:

Chat Temporarily Offline
Date/Time:09/10/08 12:00 AM
The chat has been temporarily taken down due to abusive type behavior
to OLA users and OnlineAuction.com Policy Violations.

We will be reviewing all the contents of the Forums and cleaning them
up accordingly.

We will have the forum open again to our users as soon as possible.

We're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
We thank you for your patience.

[MetzyMom]

I'm guessing OLA must have had all the phone calls and emails they
could take from members complaining about the trolls who were abusing
members. I know that I personally made one phone call this
afternoon... right about the time one of the trolls started following
me around in chat...

[CornerConcepts]

Who? What? Where? I missed the whole thing.

[MetzyMom]

About 3 hours ago, the chats went down... during the WW Game no les..
the notice is on the News Forum... it was getting very nasty and mean
spirited... OLA members were starting to be attacked viciously... so
they shut them down and are going to be investigating... my guess
(ok... my hope) is that a few people are going to be booted...

> > > We thank you for your patience.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[CornerConcepts]

Who was attacking? I know there are a few chronic complainers. Some
just complain. Others offer some great info along with complaints.
There's a few I can't stand. More details please. You been over at PSU
again? Hmmm :)

[cvmso021]

Yeah, what's going on? I got home from work and went to play the wave
and couldn't get on :(

I was very excited to play because I have been listing some auctions
at only 99 cents to help clear inventory. It's such a shame there has
to be some malicious people.

OLA is NOT a part of the other place. Is there that much competition,
people get jealous over sales they have to be malicious? Or just be
plain mean to others out of jealousy of more sales? I know I didn't
see or hear of everything that happened, hence the questions of
uncertainty. I'm in total shock and disbelief that members of OLA
would act in such a way as though they are over in you know where.

I have a great time selling on OLA, and love the people. You get a few
beggers, but they don't beg for sales often. At least not that I've
seen, and it's not as often as I've seen over in the other place.

I have bills to pay as well, but I'm not going to beg and attack
people to get sales LOL. Again I still have no idea what was going on
this evening. It is such a shame.

> > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[TheTreasureShelf]

Thank you Metzy for posting this. I was wondering what had happened to
the chats. I saw the negative postings by people who dont frequent the
chats and knew trouble was coming.

Hopefully OLA can get it all sorted out.

Thanks again!

[MetzyMom]

The complaining was no longer just 'complaining'. There were people
'following' others to other threads just to cause trouble, like in the
case where one member posted 8 different threads about exactly the
same thing. When people were asked to stop posting there, and weren't
posting in those threads anymore, the person started going to the more
positive threads and posting there, thereby 'baiting' members trying
to escape the negativity.

More and more 'trolls' were signing up and starting their complaints
the day of or the day following their sign-ups. For example: A brand
new member signed up on the 7th, and by the 10th, they had 3 different
threads up (and were posting in other threads) full of nothing but
complaints, including information that was simply untrue, but that new
visitors wouldn't know was untrue (like 17 minute hold time before
someone took their call at OLA; saying that when someone did come on,
they belched into the phone; saying that the OLA employee didn't know
their business; that they had called the BBB and followed that up
with a bunch of lies (which several members refuted with facts).

This was becoming more than even complaining. This was becoming an
all out war. I did do some research at PSU, because I started to see
similarities between posts at OLA with posts at PSU. I was able to
identify that several members who were chronic troublemakers at OLA
were the same troublemakers at PSU under different ID's. One I caught
red-handed, which prompted me to post the "This Has To Stop Thread"
where I eventually quoted one of the PSU members, who basically said
that OLA members don't know who I am... they don't know if they've
sold to me... and that we were just providing entertainment for them.

I know that I personally received 170 pieces of spam this morning
where I have been signed up as Elizabeth MetzyMom (which is the
information most people have on me). I didn't sign up for penis
enlargement stuff myself... lol... until it started getting really
ugly in our chats, I had never received anything like the spam I now
get... and the more heated it got at OLA, the more (and worse) spam I
receive...

It irks me to see that our chats had to be shut down, but I'm glad
that OLA took action as it wasn't just complaining, it was becoming an
all out free-for-all-war.

[MetzyMom]

Everyone be sure to tune into OLA Radio tonight to get updates!!!
www.OLA-Radio.com

[mystymountain]

Not that I've been posting much on the OLA boards lately, but I have
been lurking through and keeping up on the threads and I was shocked &
saddened at how horribly ugly things were getting. I just can't
understand the point of it all, except that it is some form of morbid
entertainment for these people. There were several that I suspected
of being trolls & troublemakers...and I just find it incredibly
interesting that this explosion happened just a week or so after the
"internet attack" on OLA's servers. Connection? I dunno...

I was really surprised last night when I came back from town, and I
got the "board not available" message. I'm also glad OLA took action;
it's too bad that this was the only course of action they could take
in light of all the personal attacks. It's just so sad and disturbing
that it's come to this...OLA has to take the toys away from the
naughty children (and the good children as well!) and banish them from
the playground.

At least no more prospective members can see all that...I can't
imagine how many might have, and turned tail immediately.

/rambling rant :)

Sorry about all your spam, Metzy!! What a mess that must be :(

Yes, everyone join in at ola-radio tonight whether on the phone or in
the chat room, or just listen in. It should be a very interesting
show.

[kaysatticspace]

Sorry to hear that all the craziness came back to the chats. I don't
know about anyone else but, I'm sick of all the fighting that has
been
going on at the chats since I joined OLA. We are all adults, I don't
understand why this has to go on all the time. I wasn't lurking last
night but I can't think of any reason why a bunch of adults that
are relatively strangers have to fight with each other all the time.
Metzy, I'm sorry to hear that you were spammed last night. People
just have some growing up to do. All that said, I have a problem.

I have not been able to get onto OLA all day today. I have been
trying since early this morning. I've cleared and cleaned my cookies
and cache. I've restarted my computer. I've tried numerous different
areas to try to get on OLA. I don't know what else to do. The error
I get says the server is unreachable. Thanks for any help. Kay

[Dave McButtons]

The only feature that has been non functioning today is the Chat
Forum. I have been able to get onto the site all day.