I notice that Starguard has been banned. Just looked through his last 10 or so posts and didn’t see anything very jerky, or any mod warnings. Anyone know what the go is?
News to me.
Yeah… I’ve been searching through old threads for a while now, and found nothing. Weird.
He started a thread in GQ titled “Why do you come to the SDMB and what do you hope to gain?”. (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=259181 ) The thread was subsequently moved to IMHO. It now appears to have actually been deleted or at least I can’t open it due to “Insufficient privlieges”. Doesn’t take a genius to figure that the reason lies therein.
His opening post in that thread contained an admission that he posted inflamatory comments that he didn’t believe himself for the sole reason of provoking a reaction from others. IOW he admitted to trolling. That almost certianly contributed.
I can’t even imagine what else he did to get the thread deleted and not just locked as is usual procedure for threads that cross The Line.
In the thread mentioned by Blake, Starguard mentioned that he sometimes trolled but he “knew it was wrong.”
That’s my guess.
I think that’s a dumb rule. I never run afoul of it – I generally wait to see a thread about someone being banned instead of asking myself – but I think that’s a dumb rule nonetheless.
Pfffft! More like “disappeared…”
Yea, I think that it’s kind of an annoying rule. I wish there was a “banned thread” or something where the moderators could make a list the people who were banned, and the reasons, but where regular members weren’t allowed to post. It seems like that would be more convienent than getting a lot of individual emails on the same subject.
I would suspect that since a great many of the banned users are returning trolls, the staff would rather not give them the attention.
My opinion only, of course.
The way it’s worded, it isn’t a rule at all, just a preference. It says “the staff prefer that you e-mail a staff member…” OTOH, if they wanted to change the wording and make it a rule, I wouldn’t object, because of the reason Berkut suggests.
Well, what about threads complaining about bannings? Are they allowed?
(I’m not being a smartass, or complaining about the banning of Starguard, I’m just asking)
My bad, forgot the guideline. But I believe smitings, and the reasons for them, should be public.
I am not a moderator, of course, but in my experience they’ve always been permitted when the reason for the banning had been explained by a mod in the thread that prompted it. On the other hand, threads just asking “Why was so and so banned” are strongly discouraged. If there is any doubt in your mind, e-mail a moderator to find out the actual reason, rather than speculating. If you still disagree with the decision, in my experience complaints are permitted.
Returning trolls and socks are frequently banned without public explanation, and in these cases its obviously better not to give them more publicity by starting a thread about it.
They seem to be. The last one when what’s-his-face, county, was banned went to several pages.
I have no problems with bannings when warranted.
However, regarding the deleting of threads: what are the rules here? When is a thread started by a troll/sock/whatever deleted? What are the guidelines?
I’d like to be able to see the thread in question so that I might form my own opinion.
(Sorry if I missed an earlier ruling on this; I don’t recall seeing one… Mods?)
I agree with Colibri.
You couldn’t even mention I started that thread? I’m so hurt. You made me feel bad, now Og has you on his list! :smack:
OK, self :wally
I forgot to mention I wasn’t complaining about the banning, I was just curious why as searching didn’t give me any answers.
I retract the :smack:
Quick answers (gotta leave in 5):
Blake answers the reasons why.
Omega Glory, we document every banning for reference.
What Colibri said. The “prefer email” rule helps us keep this a cleaner place.
Astroboy14, the guideline is to remove such posts/threads.