Have you ever been “Banned for Life” from doing something – without knowing the reason why?

I have!

Some background

Earlier this month, during the riots taking place in London and other major cities in the U.K.  I sent a few comments to the talkback forum in the Daily Mail Newspaper. As you can imagine the site was overwhelmed with thousands of posts expressing a variety of opinions – some very extreme!

Of course the TV channels were full of pundits – including one Professor of  History –  who expounded some un- popularly received reviews due to his particular assessment of the reasons for the general culture of anti-social behaviour among many of the youth in the U.K.

I sent a post generally supporting his viewpoint and a few other posts  about the looting and arson that had taken place.

On August 8th I received the following e-mail:

Hello,

Your account has been permanently de- activated for going against the Community Guidelines.

You are no longer allowed to post on the Daily Mail or other Associated Newspapers Ltd sites using this or any other user. Please be advised that should you post again we reserve the right to contact your ISP/employer and seek that action is taken against you.  (My emphasis)

Regards,
Senior Community Editor
Daily Mail

This is an automated message from MailOnline.

I didn’t see this mail until a few days later and then immediately replied:

Andyboy – Telling it as it is   (or, as in this example, trying to!)