Lee Davy continues his confessions series by talking about his experience with poker forums, and his views on his ban from 2+2.
Spam.
A great word.
To the PlayStation posers of today, it means posting/sending a lot of junk marketing material that nobody wants to read. To the Pong prefects it’s a tin of chopped meat that your mother used to fry in lard and serve to you with chips – every night of the week.
The only form of poker spam that seems to come my way, does so when I am doing something that I shouldn’t be doing. There are a lot of online poker rooms that have cottoned on to the vast attraction of the TV and movie download/streaming services. The ones that you don’t pay for. The ones that you get to watch what you want to watch, when you want to watch it.
The ads pop up like a Saturday morning visit from the grandparents as you try to find your way through the ‘click here’ traps on your way to the next episode of Better Call Saul. It’s annoying. A simple click on the green button dispels any issues though.
There was a time when my main hobby would be a spot of Tommy Tanking. YouPorn was my website of choice. It was always a shock to see the face of Kara Scott and Giovanni Rizzo staring back at me during my moment of ecstasy. Online poker rooms used to spam those sites also. And to think. They would be married a few years later. I always knew that YouPorn could see into the future.
Now that’s what I call spam. I am trying to watch Better Call Saul and an advert pops up in front of my face. I am trying to jack off and a professional poker player interrupts my flow. I don’t want it. It’s not what I logged on for. It’s invading my privacy.
I’ve been fortunate enough to interview the world’s greatest poker players. When I ask them for the easy guide to becoming a great poker player, one of the lessons they always dole out is to use poker forums to discuss strategy with other poker players.
The first poker forum that I frequented was The Hendon Mob. I approached them to see if I could write for them in the early days. They came back with the nod. They wouldn’t pay me though. To get around this inconvenience I would cut and paste the magazine articles that I wrote for Bluff and Poker Pro Europe.
The feedback was always positive. The negative feedback was always constructive. I always felt at home using the Hendon Mob forum. I always felt like I could post anything and it would be received with respect. I am the master at asking the stupid question. The one that nobody wants to ask. Those questions were always met with respect.
A few years back, I started to leave links on 2+2 to articles that I had written for other poker companies. I can’t remember how many I left. It was only a few. They banned me. There was no discussion. There was no real explanation.
I was linking to my articles because I thought that was part of the whole premise behind poker forums. I thought they would want to read articles about poker. I was also in it for selfish gain. It helped my profile if more people read my work, and shared my work.
A few years later and I went back. It seemed my ban had been lifted. I started to frequent the ‘News and Gossip’ section. It was a breeding ground for great news stories. A thousand eyeballs is always better than two. Especially when it comes to examining the lives of the poker community. I picked up a lot of great stories from that site.
A few weeks ago I started to leave links again.
I write between 6 and 10 articles per day. I was selective with the links that I posted. I didn’t want to be ripped apart. I didn’t want to be called names. Sticks and stones do break my bones. I also didn’t want to be accused of spamming. I didn’t want to be banned.
I decided to post only interviews. I may have posted the odd op-ed, but in the main I shit out. I couldn’t be bothered dealing with the feedback. Constructive criticism I can handle. Being called a twat for offering an opinion makes me want to piss down that person’s throat. Drown them in yesterday’s juice.
I interviewed Danielle Moon Anderson. Over 3,000 people viewed the interview. That tells me that they are interested in what Danielle has to say. I posted a link to the interview on 2+2. I interviewed Sam Trickett. Nobody in Europe has won more money playing poker than this man – alive or dead. He’s an interesting man. It was a great interview. I posted it on 2+2. I also interviewed Adriano Mannino – a co-founder of Raising for Effective Giving (REG) – what a great interview that was. I posted it on 2+2.
This week they banned me for a second time.
This time it’s for good.
“Bulletin Message: You have been banned for the following reason: Spam, spam, nothing but spam. Date the ban will be lifted: Never.”
It’s a poker forum!
How is it fair for someone to be on the receiving end of a stream of 2+2 comment’s, consisting of sarcastic and vile abuse – and be deemed acceptable – and when I post a link to a Sam Trickett interview – on a poker forum – I get banned?
What does that tell you about the way the site is run?
What does the way the ban notice has been written tell you about the way the site is run? It’s dripping with sarcasm and arrogance. A theme throughout so many comments to so many well meaning threads.
I keep thinking about those interviews. All those stars telling me that the right thing to do is to post some hands on 2+2. That I will learn from the feedback.
Not today, mate.
Today is not the day to learn that I am an idiot.
I am feeling like that anyway.
I don’t need a dozen 2+2 posts to tell me that.
I don’t need to be banned for life for posting in the wrong section, or God forbid leaving a link that takes someone somewhere else.
This article will be no doubt end up on the site. Someone will post it. Haters will hate it. They will not be banned. It will not be deemed as spam. There is one thing I can tell you though. People will call me a prick. They will go onto Hendon Mob and somehow link my paltry scores to the reason why I write. My grammar and spelling will be pounced on and ripped apart like vultures on dead meat.
“What a wanker this guy is.”
“What is his problem?”
“I hope he dies of cancer.”
I would love to return the compliment fella’s. I really would. But I can’t. I have been banned for life. Banned for trying to provide your community with access to some of the most interesting poker interviews of modern times.
Apparently, people like Danielle Moon Anderson, Sam Trickett and Adriano Mannino are nothing but spam, spam and spam.
