Xamatix was banned, and I guess I am pretty surprised by that.
It was by reading her posts today that I learned Alde had left us, as well. And while I have an opinion about that, I can’t reason out why Xemantix was tossed. I read trhough some of her other posts (because she wasn’t banned this afternoon when i was reading the thread) and I didn’t see a bannable offense. I fully acknowledge that I am a relative newbie by my joindate, but I honestly lurked for a year before I felt I had the lie of the land before I tested my feet upon the sandsof the arena here. I wanted to learn all I could about people who posted, and in watching for the year, I saw Alde get shnarshed a few times - sometimes truly justifuably, sometimes as a result of cultural differences.
I am on a music member board with folks all around the world, and it took me a long time to stop responding to their ire toward America as a personal affront. It took me a while to see the situation from their point of view, which I would ask them for over and over, just to get a handle on the cultural differences.
Granted, Alde blew himself out, but I think he may have been “helped” down that road once or twice or twelve times. Vitriol and diatribe aren’t easy to stomach but once things calm down, try to see the point behind the sarcasm, rage, and disbelief that are sliming off the original fact that shold have been conveyed.
But, Point taken, Alde’s gone. So X comes in and defends him, as a friend would, and we would hope any of our true friends would as well. I am not sure how this offends or gets her banned.
Did I miss out on something during dinner and a movie?
Ink
*who gets scared that there are “other rules” she doesn’t know about and may offend with innocently.
I’m not absolutely positive, since I’m not a moderator or administrator. But in my experience here, when someone gets banned that quickly with such a few amount of posts, they are a sock.
Plus, there might have been a fair amount of evidence that ‘linked’ the two. Just from what I’d read. The newbie even suggested that their IP/proxie might be the same. The style seemed similar, right down to the parting shot. So again, I’m not 100% sure, but that would be my guess.
Just hang in there though, I’m sure someone official will come along as soon as they can to let you know.
Ah, sorry then everyone. I had hoped I used enough disclaimers to be clear it was just a guess. I was just trying to help, maybe shine a little light for someone who’s still kinda new around. And I know that the mods aren’t on here 24 hours a day. Because I remember thinking when I started, that if no one had responded to my post within about an hour, I was my own thread killer. I didn’t want that for someone with such an adorable username.
My bad.
::: slinks off to wait for an authority figure to clean up her mess :::
In my experience, the Admins. are not quick to ban people simply for hunch reasons – they check IPs and posting style to assure themselves that Poster A is in fact a sock puppet. Several of us spoke up about the reinstatement of a longtime and valuable member who allowed his temper to take him across the line one too many times and was banned, with no repercussions for being his friend and advocating strongly for reinstatement. (In fact, I got a very nice e-mail from one mod. complimenting me for standing up, within the rules, for my friend.)
On the other hand, one of the classic tricks of socks is to pretend to be the friend of a banned member, which enables him to defend himself by appearing to speak up for a friend. And they no doubt have methodology to tell which is which.
And also remember that Poster A, friend of banned Poster B, is also obliged to remain within the rules and be a contributing member. If the sole reason for Poster A to be here is to protest the banning of Poster B, he or she is not being much value to the board as a whole, right? And therefore, if he or she decides to break the rules…
Ah, I see. And I imagine you’re right. Although, as Judge Dredd says…
I think you’re most likely correct, though I feel badly for the person if it WAS a separate person.
And faithfool - no, really - I appreciated you getting in here. You’re quite right, I was beginning to feel like a pariah. I was grateful for your input. Now git back in here.
And Poly, I’m glad to hear you did stand up for what you felt was right. There is a lot of that here on this board that is sadly lacking elsewhere in this world and in our communities. I was heartened to hear that it was appreciated by the mods, though.
Oh, faithfool? Thanks for the nod on the username. I’ve been lurking for so long and so admired the usernames and their cleverness 'round here that when I signed up I felt rather intimidated. Again, thank you.
The question is being debated amongst the mods. Sock-puppetry is suspected, but there is some room for a different interpretation.
Of note: Xamatix has posted about nine times since his/her registration, and seven of those were in defense of Aldebaran after his banning. Even if Xamatix is not a literal “sock-puppet” in the sense of being the same person under different names, it does appear to be virtual “sock-puppetry” as a name that exists only to support another (now banned) name.
Ink, under our new policy of disclosure (at least for long-time members), you could have read about Aldebaran’s banning in the ATMB thread.
We haven’t posted on Xamatix because, in part, this isn’t a long-term member; and, in part, we’re still discussing amongst ourselves the whys and wherefores.
Thanks, C K Dexter Haven, and I love your name too. My favorite scene in that movie is the drunken call-out…
At any rate, I found the banning message for the other on this board and read that; thanks for pointing me out on that one. I hadn’t quite caught up with that policy yet.
I appreciate you taking the time to respond about X though. I apologize if it seemed like I was whinging, just honestly curious and afraid to break any rules I have yet to discover. I’m enjoying the “paid” status here too much.
I should also have noted that you could always email a Mod for explanations. There are times that we don’t want to make public statements – for instance, if we’re still investigating or discussing amongst the Mods – but we might give you some info by email, if you’re just dying of curiosity (or have some legitimate right to know.)
Dex, (I feel free to call you that since I have a Kate Hepburn complex), one thing that has been frustrating to me has been the seeming inability to address two points that Aldebaran either directly or indirectly brought up:
What constitutes “wishing death on someone”?
Why the seemingly inconsistent enforcement of rules against jerkish or trollish behavior?
Threads that might have lead to an understanding between mods and participants on these subjects have either been closed or have lacked satisfactory (to me) participation from mods.
I get mixed signals about what is allowable and what is not. I don’t think I’m pushing the boundaries of the rules myself, but a sense of fairness leaves me a little concerned and bewildered.
Maybe these are some of the things that will be clarified eventually.
Meanwhile, I’m pouting because Polycarp got an email and I didn’t. Well…trying to work up a good snit, anyway.
Both questions have basically the same answer. We (the Mods) are not trying to draft a law code. Trying to define what’s allowed and what’s not would take volumes, and even then, we’d find someone would deliberately find some technical exception to our rules. For the rule about not wishing death on someone, like the rule about not being a jerk, we prefer NOT to assert a strict legalistic definition. Most of the time, we know bad behaviour when we see it. However, there are some cases that we wind up debating and discussing before reaching a decision.
That means, inherently, that there may be some perception of inconsistency. There are some obvious examples of what would be a death wish. There are obvious examples of what wouldn’t. The border-line cases depend on individual circumstances, context, history, etc. There’s a bit of grey area between “joke” and “death wish” sometime. “May you drop dead after a long and lingering illness from eating a bad oyster, so that I can dance on your grave,” would probably be taken as a joke (hence permitted.) “I’d like to bat your head in with a hammer” probably wouldn’t be.
Threads discussing perceived inconsistency are closed when they are raised by the banned, trying to sneak back under a new identity, for instance.
Look, take a gander at the U.S. legal code sometime, on any particular issue, and then examine the actual legal cases, and you’ll find “inconsistencies” even then. Circumstances of one case are different from those in another case.
I understand the closing of a thread begun by someone who has been determined to be a sock puppet. I think the other thread that was closed that had touched on the subject was the one explaining Aldebaran’s banning.
I may have wrongly inferred that the subject was unwelcome because it related to Aldebaran’s recent posts.
With the newer policy of posting explanations when banning longtime posters, we expect a certain amount of reaction. We post those messages in ATMB because we do not want to encourage bashing the departed (or bashing the staff) and bashing is not allowed in ATMB. Technical questions about the banning and some personal reactions will be permitted, here. When a banning statement thread appears to be about to turn into a thread more appropriate to the BBQ Pit, it will generally be closed, here.
Then, if someone wishes to open a Pit thread for the purpose of discussing Board policy (or venting about what they feel was a bad decision), they are welcome to do so. Of course, if someone opens a Pit thread for the sole purpose of heaping scorn on the banned poster who can no longer defend himself or herself, that thread will probably be closed, even in the Pit.
If you have further questions once a thread has been closed, you can always e-mail one of the staff. You can also open a new thread–with the understanding that if the material has already been thoroughly raked up or if it appears that the thread will turn into a “hate the departed” party, it may be quickly closed, again.
While I have not posted in SDMB for some time now, I recently heard of xamatix’s banning. When SDMB went pay last April, I was one of those who offered to pay for memberships for those without access to PayPal. I was e-mailed by xamatix and used my PayPal account to purchase a membership on April 10. Since I have the bad habit of never cleaning out my inbox, I still have the e-mails we exchanged and the PayPal e-mail confirming the purchase. I also should have the envelope which was used to send me a set of German Euros as “payment” for doing so, which IIRC had a return address in Belgium.
Dex, if any of this can be of help in this matter please feel free to e-mail me.
tomndebb, you have often been a voice in the wilderness for me. You are very good at explaining things in a way that I understand. I’ve been pleased to see that you have agreed to be a moderator.
Thanks for doing this LurkMeister. That was very kind of you. I’ll be the plague of the tourists to get Euros from all countries for you.
Moderators thank you for investigating this further. I appreciate to have my membership back and my name cleared of this.
(I think it’s allowed to say this) This means much to Aldebaran too. He’s banned. He respects you in your decision. Couldn’t defend himself against this suspicion that he didn’t respect you in this. Much thanks also from him for reinstating me.
Things I said in my thread caused this. Sorry for the work you had with this. My fault. Thanks again all of you.
You’re welcome xamatix. I do feel obliged to let you know that I was never contacted by any of the SDMB mods, so their decision was made without any my assistance. But I’m glad they reinstated you.
I was just trying to help, maybe shine a little light for someone who’s still kinda new around. And I know that the mods aren’t on here 24 hours a day. Because I remember thinking when I started, that if no one had responded to my post within about an hour, I was my own thread killer. I didn’t want that for someone with such an adorable username.