The Case of the Mysteriously Disappearing Growers

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420

Founder
There seems to be a lot of confusion and paranoia circulating in regards to people disappearing, so we thought we'd shed a little light on the subject to ease everyone's minds.

There are probably 420 different reasons why someone disappears, however these are the most common.
  • Lost interest and stopped posting.
  • Lost internet access.
  • Got locked up.
  • Got too sick to post or passed away.
  • Got the data they came for and no longer have use for us anymore.
  • Security became compromised so they decided to disassociate.
  • Became too busy with life, job, etc. and now has no time to post.
  • Repeatedly or intentionally violated our guidelines and got banned.
  • Got recruited by a competitor or hate group of banned members.
  • Got offended and upset after receiving an advisory.
There is no secret story about why people disappear and there is no reason for anyone to get paranoid. In almost 30 years of running this website/company/mission, we've never had a knock on the door, phone call or letter from any law enforcement. This is because we follow all laws to the letter. There are no shady antics going on behind the scenes, other than dealing with the constant daily drama from spammers, recruiters and trouble makers wasting our valuable time and energy. If you check our donations page, you'll see the most people who donate are actually staff. This is because they are the only ones who get to see how much work really does go on behind the scenes, so that you can have a positive and fun, learning experience here.

Some claim we have issues with people posting journals on other sites, which is simply not true, just another tactic to make you paranoid enough to trust whoever is trying to recruit you for another website. We just don't want the promoting, cross linking and recruiting that usually goes along with it and when that occurs, we follow protocol by removing the violations and banning the recruiter. It's never personal for us, it's just procedure.

We are a private company, this is our website and posting here is a privilege, not a requirement. Therefore we ask that you respect our guidelines and we will get along just fine.

Recruiters usually operate by sending you tons of love in your journals and PMs, then they get personal with you, then they ask for an email address, phone number or alternative way to contact you. Then the recruiting process begins off site. They are determined to do whatever they can to turn all of our staff and good members against us, all in hopes of hurting us and our mission, while building theirs from our resources.

Be careful and think. Sometimes these people are sincere, sometimes they could be a cop, sometimes they could be a recruiter trying to take advantage of you. If you were under cover, how would you make your new contacts? Think about it. People get all chummy on here sending things to each other and exchanging personal information, then someone gets robbed or busted and nobody has any idea what happened. Just be careful guys, we do so much to protect you, which is why our guidelines are so specific. Everything we do here is for you, the members, readers and sponsors of 420 Magazine.

It's not easy to please everyone, especially when your job is telling rebels what they can and can't do. We ask that everyone please try to remember the love and respect you felt upon joining our mission, and remember that we must enforce our guidelines equally to everyone, otherwise they are meaningless.

Before you view something in a pessimistic fashion and allow yourself to become offended by one of our advisories, please remember that you are a guest in our house. We don't have to give you the respect of pulling you aside to explain why your post violated our guidelines, but we do. Other sites will either just advise you in public in front of everyone, or just edit/delete and send a template message, never to reply to your rebuttals, etc. We on the other hand will engage with you and help you understand what we did and why, giving you many examples and analogies to help get you on the same page before giving up on you. It's only those who continue arguing, getting aggressive and committing even more violations, that we escort to the door.

Sometimes sponsors decide not to renew, therefore we may choose to censor their url in certain cases. Take for instance a seed company that advertises for one year, we promote them so heavily that the entire community begins promoting them as well. Then the sponsor decides to stop advertising with us, yet the entire community is still plugging them. Then we try to get other sponsors to come in and take their place, so we have to minimize the promotion of the ex-sponsor, in order for proper promotion of the new sponsor to take effect. This has nothing to do with anything other than making our sponsors happy, so they continue paying our bills. Without them, there is no website and/or mission.

Bottom line here guys is we've worked our asses off for almost 30 years, providing you with the best possible Cannabis education and entertainment for FREE. All we ask is you give us the respect and courtesy not to violate our guidelines and/or promote other competing websites.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our policies in these areas, so we can put these mysteries to rest, once and for all.

Forum Guidelines & 420 Guidelines - Frequently Asked Questions

Questions and Answers - Membership on other Forums
420 Magazine respects the fact that some of our Members and Sponsors may wish to participate in other Cannabis based communities in addition to our own.

The goal of this post is to clarify our policy in this area and to ensure that 420 Magazine, our Sponsors, and Members all make informed decisions.
  • 420 Magazine has the right to decide who may become and remain a member (all who follow our guidelines are welcome)
  • Every Sponsor and member has the right to decide whether to participate in our community (provided our guidelines are followed, as agreed to in the terms of service).

We don't encourage the practice of joining multiple site because in our experience, this inevitably leads to guideline violations. That said, we do allow the practice given the following constraints;
  • No recruiting for a competitor
  • No promoting a competitive site
  • No hyper-linking to a competitive site
  • No referencing competitive sites by name.
Additionally, there are a few other Cannabis forums that are actively hostile to 420 Magazine, and we reserve the right to revoke membership status should any sponsor, staff, or member choose to join one of these sites and we become aware of it. Since we are specifically not mentioning these sites by name, we will discuss the issue on a case-by-case basis to ensure the member/sponsor is making an informed decision.

Our moderators are aware that not all guideline violations are equal. Mistakes, such as an inadvertent reference, will be treated with kindness and understanding. Active recruiting will result in a ban.

To those friends, acquaintances, and members that choose to move on to other forums, we wish you health, happiness, and a aromatically green future.

Questions and Answers - Previously Banned Members and Banned Websites

Why am I not allowed to talk about someone who has been banned?


This plays into to our task of focusing on the positive instead of the negative. The reasons for someone getting banned are various, whether it’s from repeatedly violating the guidelines even after being advised not to, to name calling or just coming here to cause problems and create negative energy. We are trying to focus on the mission of changing these unjust laws against Cannabis and Hemp and discussing people and/or companies who have been banned from this website takes the focus off of that mission. It also creates the potential for drama and arguments being started which in essence causes more work for our already overloaded moderators. If you are curious about what happened to a certain member or company, you are more than welcome to ask any of the moderators or admins about them via pm, but we must ask you not to post public threads about it.

Why am I not able to post the name of certain websites?

Certain sites pose a problem from the standpoint of competition. 420 Magazine, like most other Cannabis sites, are private companies, and as such operate based on income. So, in reality, the various Cannabis sites are all competing for sponsorship and sponsors base their decisions on website hits. Because of this, we ask our members to refrain from posting or linking to other Cannabis related sites.

Some might insist, “It’s a freedom of speech issue.” Again, remember we are a private company, so freedom of speech does not apply. Also, consider this - what if you owned a business, someone comes in and starts telling everyone how much better your competitor next door is compared to you? Would you let him stand there and run off your customers? Or would you show him the door?

You'd show him the door because he is NOT entitled to complete free speech while in your business - only outside the door can he speak freely without violating your right to control your own property. In the same way, this site is 420 Magazine's property, and 420 Magazine has the right to control what happens here. We can't stop people from saying whatever they like outside the door, but while in here, our rules rule.

What about other banned sites?
We no longer promote nor allow promotion or discussion of certain sites due to expired advertising and unethical business decisions/practices.

:Namaste:
 
As a poster, I didn't suspect anything sinister with the few guys I've seen let threads peter out and die, I just assumed that their interest in posting waned for whatever reason (not many replies, not as excited about sharing the experience as I was at first, the grow got screwed up and didn't feel like explaining what happened, etc...). Now I've been off a year (still smoking from the last 2 grows), I'm about to start a new one, but now I don't really need the feedback I did on my first 2 grows so I probably won't start a new thread (but might if I think things are going great for once!).

To be honest, in the year that I haven't been growing I haven't been all that interested in reading about it... ;) Maybe the missing posters were just too good at what they were doing...
 
Some of us actually do know boss and I for one support 420 Mag forum exclusively... I like it here!

Happens all the time... it's the same old shit on a different type of forum... I'm glad I don't have to deal with it!
 
Just want to say that I respect and agreed with everything you said there 420. I've gotten a few PM's from you, sonic and 420 girl reminding me-very friendly and respectfully I might add, how I violated the rules and what to do in the future to not repeat the issue. I love this website, its has the most active community, and who else gives you FREE PRIZES IF YOU WIN THEIR CONTESTS!!!! NO ONE!!! I MEAN THATS SO FREAKING COOL!!!!!!!

As soon as I get some extra cash after a harvest or two i'll definetly be making a donation. I really apreciate all the work you guys do, and if you ever ever EVER need any help please hit me up!!! I'd love to find out how to work towards becoming an admin on here!

Take it easy 420,
I got your back.

((((HYDROLOGIST))))
 
Ok now you've got me wondering if I've done something wrong that I'm not aware of. I would never disrespect any 420Magazine's members or ignore the Guidelines nor would I ever do anything to get banned. Not only do I respect the members here but I am humbled by the wealth of information and the willingness of the members to give help thru the multitudes of posts. 420Magazine is a blessing. Thx for allowing me to be a member.
 
:nicethread:

This is a great thread to rid us of the mystery and potential paranoia of why some growers just up and leave (either by there own desire or by request of 420 Magazine).

It really just comes down to following the rules. Comply with the rules and you enjoy the privilege of being a member of a great community that is full of detailed information and reference sources. Decide not to follow some basic, and well established rules/policies and you'll eventually be shown the door.

I know I looked at and joined a bunch of the Cannabis sites when I first decided to check out the online communities/forums and it was pretty clear where I was to stay/surf most of the time. Due to the information available and mature nature of the posts/discussions (no flame wars or childish crap), I made 420 Magazine my main Cannabis site. Then when asked to help on the site and eventually Mod/Admin - I was elated to be part of such a wonderful site (and team of staff members), and also humbled by the request.

Much like any other set of rules - they are there to protect you as the member/grower and 420 Magazine (and it's staff).

Looks to me like this "Case" has been solved. ;)

:peace: and :Namaste:
 
I think alot of members have similiar mindsets and come back and forth for the same reasons. I can only speak definate for myself.

Sometimes there's just alot of things that take up your time and you aren't able to do what you prefer doing. That's me right now. The main reason I am more active here on 420Magazine some times more than others, is simply that there are times during the year that I NEED the expertise of my friends.:yahoo:

This place is the best source of any kind of information you could be looking for. Not only that but the people on here are fantantic:adore:

Keep doing what you're doing :420:

:thanks::goodjob::high-five:
 
Well sheeit where do I start?

:420: forums and people seem to be the most knowledgeable of any mmj forum I've found. I have gained so much from so many contributors it will take a long time for me to repay them. My hope is that from this experience I will one day be able to help some newbies and help carry on the message.

I'm soon to start my new journal here. Where else can I get the type of support I have received on these pages? Nowhere!

:420: Rocks! Thanks for the info.

PS When I tell my friends about 420 I NEVER give my moniker/user name. Why blow the security that you work so hard to keep for us?
:peace:
 
I too have been kindly warned on a number of occasions abt violations I have made but thats pretty much on par with most things in my life, lol.

I just like to be able to share my stories because for so many years I couldnt. I havent posted nearly as much as I had in the past simply because Ive been busy growing:)

I love this place and honestly have too much of my DIY journals and things like that to go anywhere else. Devoted too many hours to 420mag already....and I love it here!

Stay high everyone! GI

:420:
 
I've been here since 2007, tried to pay attention to the guidelines, and have never been spoken to...i have not made that many posts, but i sure have read a lot of them :) thanks 420 and everyone else here for making it such a nice place to hang out and learn
Kind regards
 
I should have spoken to you first... even after I read the guidelines, I worked the poor bastards to death covering my tracks... :Namaste:

I've been here since 2007, tried to pay attention to the guidelines, and have never been spoken to...i have not made that many posts, but i sure have read a lot of them :) thanks 420 and everyone else here for making it such a nice place to hang out and learn
Kind regards
 
Okay, I'm not sure why, but I think I'm actually more paranoid after reading this. I guess before I was kind of oblivious as to wether or not someone disappeared. After reading this, I'm convinced I know at least a couple of people that were just banned.

I totally understand banning someone for the reasons stated, but now I'm paranoid as hell that I could get banned for something that I did unintentionally.
 
Read the guidelines. If you feel you did something wrong, without knowing, send one of our staff a message and talk to us about it. We're human, just like you bro. ;)

I don't see any reports on you, you're fine. Just don't try to recruit our members for another site, and don't promote other forums here. Those are the two biggest issues we have, resulting in people getting banned. Sometimes they just fight back after being advised on something simple, the rebel in some of us I guess. There are 420 different ways it goes down, however we always give them at least 3 chances, some people get 15 chances, it all depends on what it is, case by case. Joining or recruiting for a 420 Magazine hate group gets no chances whatsoever.

Does that make sense?
:Namaste:
 
Yes, it makes sense. Just for the record, I could never see myself trying to take members away from 420magazine...I'm here because I love it here. As far as promoting other sites...well...I'm here because I love it here.

Just got me worried because although I've not been here long, I've been spoken to on a couple of occasions. :oops: Both times were completely unintentional, let's be honest, sometimes we post when we're...ur...well medicated! Both moderators were completely professional and understanding, and I felt really bad that I had violated the guidelines. :sorry: I just hope I wasn't using up two out of my three strikes!

On the issue of rebellion, I think it in us all...can you tell me there's a single person on this site that doesn't have authority issues! :tokin:
 
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