What if the sock were chocolate-flavored?
Curious Fenris
Then why not e-Mail Tuba, or Lynn, or Unca Beer? It would have come across as far less confrontational and you’d have probably gotten a much more detailed answer.
Fenris
The Admins, while they don’t openly declare when “So-and-so person has been banned” (except in very, very rare instances), it’s not like they actively go about destroying all the evidence that banned posters ever existed.
It’s been stated that threads are rarely deleted so as to keep the evidence of a certain poster’s transgressions. While it’s always bad form to start up a hunt for the latest dirt on someone, I have no doubt that SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE knows why a certain person got banned.
You just gotta ask nicely. Something along the lines of “I know it’s none of my business, and I know you’re under no obligation to answer, but why was so-and-so banned? I’m wondering so I can know what behavior is acceptable and what isn’t.”
It’s also best to take this exchange to E-mail.
Praise the Lord, someone who (might be) older than me!
The old dude’s* right. There are some definite downsides to being in management.
-
- Sorry, but my daughter calls me “dude,” my bosses, a dozen years my junior, call me “dude.” It’s just rubbed off.
Admiral Corrado, here.
Tristan- Spoofe’s right. Generally, we don’t like people asking “why was such-and-such banned” in posts because such posts seem to be a sock-puppet/troll/asshole magnet, especially when the person who was banned is one of our regular sock-puppet/troll/assholes. So, in the end, public discussion of why someone was banned generally leads to more annoyance by trolls.
The problem is, a lot of our recurring trolls get off on the publicity. So by discussing them, even after their latest incarnation has been banned, we feed their ego, which just encourages them to come back and perster us further.
However, if you drop me an e-mail, I’ll probably be happy to privately explain why someone was booted, assuming I know.
John
P.S.- Thanks, Redboss. Great post.
Fenris (and John Corrado)
-
Why assume that anyone who asks about a mod’s decision is an “anti-mod”? I would think there is a difference between discussion of the reasons for a banning, and general opposition to the moderators that the term “anti-mod” implies.
-
The discussion in that particular thread was set off by remarks that Lynn Bodoni chose of her own free will to make
This, along with similar sentiments expressed by Coldfire, seemed to suggest that WGB was banned for having attempted to pull off a sock-puppet stunt, albeit unsuccessfully. This is certainly how WGB himself understood the banning. (Oddly, this is not one of the two choices given in the OP to this thread). This set off what I see as legitimate discussion of whether this rationale was justified.
One of the puzzling habits that the moderators seem to have is to make remarks in the course of administering some disciplinary action that indicate the reason for that action, and later, when being challenged on this, to claim that there were other, behind-the-scenes reasons, for the banning. If I might respectfully make a suggestion, it might be a good idea - if publicly citing a reason at all - to cite one that you are prepared to back up. It may be that it is not necessary to discuss the specific reason at all, as John Corrado is suggesting, but once one is cited, it would seem to open it up for discussion.
** " No,No, Ceecil-Pee-Oh, I said OPEN ALL THE TROLL COMPACTORS ON THE RETENTION LEVEL ! THE RETENTION LEVEL !!**. (Sound of screaming servers and crushing bandwidth).
[minor hijack]
Redboss? Beautifully articulated. (Wiping shit off nose here). I mean it. I’m not Management, VERY far from it. However, my career sets me 5 feet away from the biggies in Corporate, Entertainment and Political America. *ALMOST * all of them loathe the toadies that surround them. Me, I’ve got a lot of contempt for the power plays. I don’t suck up. I might crack a lot of jokes, and be a shade more polite than normal- but then usually these people DESERVE the respect ( i.e., President Clinton, the CEO of Philip Morris, Tina Turner or BB King, etc.).
It sounds like you’ve got a rueful yet humorous approach to the problems. Welcome to the SDMB !! [/minor hijack]
Cartooniverse
Very nice post, Redboss. It made me think about some of my personal relationships.
“Who is the greater fool? The fool, or the fool who follows him?”
Only if you’re good. Although that metal does chafe a bit…
Now, would you get this walking sock out of my way!
enters
I left because I became sick of the board and I hate people.
exits
[return to Star Wars hijack]
Net People did not do this, although we are meant to think they did. Look at these ban-marks.
Only Cecilian Stormtroopers are so precise.
[/end Star Wars hijack]
(oh please, don’t end the Star Wars hijack - it has so much potential! Too bad Princess is taken already - I wanted to be Princess Featherleia.)
I have no idea what Admins and Mods have to deal with, so I don’t feel I have any right to call them out on their actions. And like Fenris said, if I really felt they had treated me badly (which they haven’t), I would take my business somewhere else. No one’s forcing anyone to stay around if they hate it here so much.
I’m both glad and sorry to see this thread sinking.
Glad because of the constant dread of being cast as the Wookie: too tall, amiable but given to rare bursts of incoherent roaring, happily shooting airlocks while everybody else is off fighting the Dark Side…
Sorry because there’s no version of Redboss Wan Kenobi that doesn’t sound frankly pitiful and I can’t come up with anything better. Eerie how experience translates; he nailed it first time out. And Fenris; he’s Yoda. I’m sorry; he could be a hunky, yowlin’ Tom Cat of a guy but the mental image is set. Mischievious, wise, savvy about Inner Circle secrets (splort!) but I’ll always picture him as small, wizened, gray/green and brushing snakes outta the food.
What the hell. This place is an education one way or another.
Shootin’ out an airlock just to enjoy the sparks,
Veb
To tell the truth, 99.99% of you don’t even get us slightly upset. Most of the time your posts are entertaining and enlightening, and if you’re ever in Portland look me up and I’ll gladly buy you a brewski.
You might even say we think of you fondly as The Teeming Ewoks. 
:Imperial March Music:
AnyGivenMod: “Welcome to the BoardStar, Lord Zotti!”
Lord Zotti: “We may dispense with the pleasantries, Moderator. I’m here to put back On Topic.”
A.G.M.: “I assure you, Lord Zotti, we’ll be back On Topic, on schedule.”
Lord Zotti: “Cecil does not share your optimistic appraisal of the situation.”
A.G.M.: “Cecil asks the impossible. We need more Moderators!”
Lord Zotti: “Then perhaps you can tell him that yourself, Moderator.”
A.G.M.: “Cecil is coming here? To the BoardStar!?”
Lord Zotti: “That is correct, Moderator. And he is most displeased with your apparent lack of control in your forum.”
A.G.M.: “Then we shall redouble our efforts, Lord Zotti!”
Lord Zotti: "I should hope so, for your sake, Moderator. Cecil is not as forgiving as I am.
ExTank
“Mostly Harmless” 
:ARGH:
:GASP:
:THUNK:
“Apology accepted, Registered Member.”
Soon they’ll be breeding us like cattle! You’ve got to warn everyone and tell them! The Straight Dope is made of people! You’ve got to tell them! The Straight Dope is people!
I thought that soylent green is people.
**Soylent green and the Straightdope is people! It’s people! We’re dealing and eating people! **
:: Tristans head explodes ::