# Absolute stupidity \[about Baldwin's suspension\] **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 3, 2009, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134 "2009-03-03T12:51:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/1 "2009-03-03T12:51:22Z")
In the [Baldwin Supended for One Month](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508932) thread, **Marley** offers some sort of reasoning: > [@Marley23](#): > > **Baldwin** has been suspended for one month after receiving four warnings for personal insults, linking to other boards and ignoring mod instructions. > > [Warning here for insults in ATMB.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10893291#post10893291) > > [Mod Note: SkipMagic here told **Baldwin** to stop posting these links.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10894021#post10894021) [But he did it again here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10894040#post10894040) > > [A third time here, in MPSIMS.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10894722#post10894722) [And after being advised to drop this hijack,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10894975#post10894975) [he insisted on keeping it going.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10895805#post10895805) > Quoting from the board rules: “Do not post spam, including but not limited to advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, solicitations, offers to trade or barter, charitable appeals, or other messages primarily intended to promote a cause, venture, organization, event (except Straight Dope-related events), website, or other entity or activity, whether or not money is involved.” Separately, “You agree to abide by the wishes of the board moderators in interpreting and enforcing these rules. Refusal to cooperate with board moderators or to abide by these rules is grounds for revocation of your posting privileges.” > > I’d like to make it clear there that it is NOT generally against SDMB rules to mention other boards, by name or otherwise. However if we ask you to stop linking to another site, you’re expected to do so. (Posters are free to dispute our decisions but ignoring them repeatedly will usually result in warnings or a suspension.) Addressing only the personal insults mentioned in the first of **Marley** ’s links, if you’re using _that_ to help justify a suspension, you are seriously grasping at straws. You don’t seriously think, do you, that the Members of one of the smartest general-purpose messageboards will buy that nonsense? As to the rest, what IS the rule on posting links to other boards? They’re fine except for the ones **Skip** doesn’t like? If so, that sounds a little too much like the Keep **Lynn** Smilin’ “rule”, which is stupidity in its own right. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/2 "2009-03-03T13:01:44Z")
When a mod tells you to comply, you should comply. Failure to comply after three reminders/warnings/whatever is the violation that’s happening here. If a mod tells you comply and you think the decision was wrong, discuss it in email. Mods can certainly reverse their decisions when you discuss politely in email. But to continue to do what you were told to stop doing is just asking for it. The rule on links to other boards is what it always has been, and it’s the same as the rule on links to personal creative stuff (“I’m a member of a hot new band, you can hear us and buy our CDs at this site” or whatever). The rule has always been: if you ask permission in advance, you may post ONCE to let people know about some other board. You may bump that thread ONCE if there are no responses. The other rules about posting links to other boards (not relevant here) are also pretty clear and have always been: No direct links to porn, no links to spam, etc. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/3 "2009-03-03T13:05:44Z")
Thanks. Would you care to address my first point? Since the LBMB fiasco, I’ve thought that any linking to other boards was, if not forbidden, at least viewed unfavorably. Ignorance fought, thanks. I’m glad that’s cleared up now. ---
**Author:** ![FarmerChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@FarmerChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarmerChick)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/4 "2009-03-03T13:12:18Z")
IMHO, he was baiting the Mods. Baldwin was told repeatedly to knock it off. He chose not to. Regarding the insulting of Ed. The admin obviously decide to let us the teeming horde vent and spew for a few days. (I haven’t said much, but no, I don’t like the changes) Baldwin’s excuse that it was a typo is irrelevant. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. He had more then enough rope and he hung himself. He’s suspended, not banned, I can live with that. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/5 "2009-03-03T13:17:49Z")
That he was baiting is not the point. It was an obvious and common typo, and using it to support any sort of Staff action reeks of an out-to-get-him agenda. You’d think our Staff would be above such pettiness. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/6 "2009-03-03T13:23:22Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > You’d think our Staff would be above such pettiness. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/7 "2009-03-03T13:51:35Z")
Comedy gold **SoulFrost**. Baldwin was in the sights of the PTB and it was just a matter or time before they found something to justify shutting him up. Lame, guys. Posting links to another board? And if you call that an insult… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/8 "2009-03-03T14:01:42Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > Addressing only the personal insults mentioned in the first of **Marley** ’s links, if you’re using _that_ to help justify a suspension, you are seriously grasping at straws. You seem to be missing the point by a very wide margin. The cause of the suspension was that Baldwin garnered four warnings in a day. Three were for spamming for another board after being told to stop, another was for personal insults. > [@](#): > > As to the rest, what IS the rule on posting links to other boards? If posters want to promote another venture, message board or otherwise, we prefer they ask our permission first before linking to it. If we feel they’re spamming, well ask them to stop. If they keep doing it after being asked to stop, we’ll issue a warning, and that pretty much sums up Baldwin yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/9 "2009-03-03T14:07:35Z")
Suicide by mod. Meh. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/10 "2009-03-03T14:09:52Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You seem to be missing the point by a very wide margin. The cause of the suspension was that Baldwin garnered four warnings in a day. Three were for spamming for another board after being told to stop, another was for personal insults. You’re the one missing the point, **Marley**. I never challenged the suspension. I only pointed out that your first stated reason for doing so is unsupportable, petty, and ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/11 "2009-03-03T14:14:28Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > Thanks. Would you care to address my first point? > > Since the LBMB fiasco, I’ve thought that any linking to other boards was, if not forbidden, at least viewed unfavorably. Ignorance fought, thanks. I’m glad that’s cleared up now. Board wars are forbidden. If someone were to try to round up a bunch of posters to try to take over or harass or troll another message board, then the person would be warned pretty strongly and the thread shut down. Quite possibly the thread would be wished into the cornfield. If someone wants to post a link to announce another board (for example, Giraffe’s new board), then the proper thing to do is to email one or more of the admin staff, with a link to the board. We’ll check out the board, and if it’s not something truly objectionable (a white supremacy board, for instance), we’ll usually allow an announcement thread, which can be bumped once if it needs it. That’s also our rule on self-promotion. As a general rule, if someone asks for permission to promote something, we’ll allow ONE thread/announcement. Note two things: permission has to be obtained FIRST. You know the saying that it’s easier to get forgiveness than permission? That doesn’t apply here. And the second thing is that you can only make ONE announcement, and ONE bump. ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/12 "2009-03-03T14:18:08Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > {snip]unsupportable, petty, and ridiculous. Lot of that going around here these days. I’m taking a break before I wind up in the cornfield with **Baldwin**. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/13 "2009-03-03T14:18:22Z")
So, if Baldwin had called Ed a “tampon wearing interfering git”, instead of Ms Zotti, would he have avoided the insult warning, under the new “non sweary and amusing to the mods” policy, or would he have had to add some girly underwear descriptors? And as for the \*\*domebo \*\* link being advertising, in the first instance he was warned, he was simply using it as an example of a forum that seems efficient. I can see how that might piss you off, but it’s not a reason to put your mod hat on. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/14 "2009-03-03T14:20:49Z")
Thanks for that, **Lynn**. That clarifies things greatly. Would using a post (by someone else) from another board as a cite or to frame a question be treated similarly? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/15 "2009-03-03T14:32:16Z")
Admins Mods, your hysterical overreaction to the meltdown of this board is becoming comical. Your interests would be better served by not participating in the gestalt, but your reactions are fueling it. Ed Zotti is becoming the Rush Limbaugh of the boards while all the offshoot boards get several new posters every time you act heavy handedly. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/16 "2009-03-03T14:44:47Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > If someone wants to post a link to announce another board (for example, Giraffe’s new board), then the proper thing to do is to email one or more of the admin staff, with a link to the board. We’ll check out the board, and if it’s not something truly objectionable (a white supremacy board, for instance), we’ll usually allow an announcement thread, which can be bumped once if it needs it. That’s also our rule on self-promotion. As a general rule, if someone asks for permission to promote something, we’ll allow ONE thread/announcement. This makes quite a lot of sense. Could it be added to, let’s see, the “What links are permitted?: No advertising links” section on the “Rules for Posting” sticky? As a separate point: It would never have occurred to me that **Baldwin** ’s [first link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10893992&postcount=2) to that other board could be construed as advertising, or an announcement, or an invite to a board war. That’s not to say he shouldn’t have stopped linking there when warned the first time, but that initial warning confused me. He seemed to be asking a legitimate question in an appropriate thread. Is it because of his prior posting history that mods assumed it was an ad in disguise? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/17 "2009-03-03T14:54:08Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] Admins Mods, your hysterical overreaction to the meltdown of this board is becoming comical. [/quote] Giving somebody that many chances (after asking for them politely to stop doing something) hardly seems like an overreaction, but you’re welcome to your opinion. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/18 "2009-03-03T14:58:07Z")
Oh, I agree. He was trolling for a suspension. IMO, at least. There’s still this, though: > [@SoulFrost](#): > > Addressing only the personal insults mentioned in the first of **Marley** ’s links, if you’re using _that_ to help justify a suspension, you are seriously grasping at straws. You don’t seriously think, do you, that the Members of one of the smartest general-purpose messageboards will buy that nonsense?. Looking forward to your response. You guys let me get away with using “seriously” twice in one paragraph? _sigh_ That never would have happened on the _old_ board. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/19 "2009-03-03T14:59:10Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > Looking forward to your response. What’s your argument, **SoulFrost** - that that shouldn’t be included in a list of Baldwin’s warnings (for whatever reason), or that it’s not intended as an insult? ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134/20 "2009-03-03T15:01:49Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > What’s your argument, **SoulFrost** - that that shouldn’t be included in a list of Baldwin’s warnings (for whatever reason), or that it’s not intended as an insult? Both. Again, the case for it being an insult is unsupportable, petty, and ridiculous. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-stupidity-about-baldwins-suspension/488134.md?page=2)