Nah, what I’m saying is that I think a troll is someone who does it purely for the amusement value of getting everyone all riled up, not someone who merely has an argumentative, abrasive, or otherwise difficult personality.
Aah. So . . . people who are just naturally rude should get a pass, rather than be required to reign it in while playing with others?
Well, you’re still here. 
I just don’t get why being “naturally rude” is grounds for banning. For the counter argument I present a quote from that font of earthy wisdom we call Ghost Busters II:
Some people just can’t handle the awful words being typed by the scary obnoxious person. That’s why mommy moderator has to come ban the rude person, and give the poor traumatized crying child a nice kiss on the forehead and pray those awful words they were subjected to don’t cause nightmares.
Well here at least. In real life peoples rude behavior has a way of sorting itself out, if you get my drift.
I agree with this. I think you’ve summed up how I think about him - he was jerky at times naturally, but not a troll. I also agree that if we got rid of every person who is ever a jerk at times here, this would be a ghost town.
Sarcasm aside, you can hardly suggest that I’ve ever been given a pass. I was thinking of myself specifically, and the standard I am held to, when I posted above.
Here’s an example you humorless ass: nobody said anything about your misuse of the word rein.
Tonight I burned a candle and by candle I mean last year’s kochia. So like here’s a fiery tumbleweed dedicated to VCO3.
I will not miss this character, but as it relates to audio, VCO3 will be with me forever. Take care buddy, wherever in Chicago you might be. FYI Chris Farley haunts the Hancock to this day. Peace out.
If 99% of people are reasonable, which happens to be the case here, why should anyone be put off by the 1% who are assholes? There’s no place on the internet entirely free of people who rub you the wrong way, so I can’t see why you ask this question.
I asked because of this “am honestly curious why anyone would put up with something they feel is so far off.” If I felt the way your post seemed to come across, I don’t know if I could stand it. Actually, I have been on a message board like that and, as an end result of things not improving, I left. However, that was just me and, as I’d already stated, I only wondered.
Thank you for answering so thoroughly. I’m sorry for the hijack.
By no means do I presume to answer for elfkin477 or VCO3, but I have a take.
When I started here I was going through a rough patch, about to relocate to Los Angeles, in charge of a big-time family business and other than my wife, pets and plants very much alone. This was my first MB since the BB days and some of the early things I said on the Dope seeded disputes and angry behavior that to me made the rules and parameters of this place quite clear. Rather than rebel and be eventually booted I chose to conform and stay. It has been worth the compromise.
My impression is that it’s quite easy to self-immolate like VCO3.
YMMV. Does any of this help?
That helps tremendously El Cid. Thank you so much for your answer. I always enjoy seeing the different ways that people handle similar situations and I understand what wouldn’t work for me (IE: staying put versus walking away), are exactly what’s needed for them.
I appreciate it. 
And God masturbates.
It really comes down to what people do, rather than who they are. You can be a chess grand master and still be a thief - one doesn’t exclude or excuse the other. We’ve had a number of posters over the years who were good contributors but just could not get themselves together enough to follow the rules. They eventually get banned if they can’t learn. Likewise, we have a bunch of people who are worthless but don’t break the rules, or don’t break them enough, to get banned. Fortunately for everyone, there are plenty of contributors who can also follow our rules, so the community persists.
Banning isn’t intended to be a judgment of a person, but it’s a phase of punishment that we use to control the community (hopefully for the good). There are plenty of unmoderated communities out there - many of us are here because of the moderation and the level of discourse we have here. You can have 10, 100, 1000 or more wonderful posts, but that doesn’t mean that the rules don’t apply to you.
I tend to think a lot of people who frequented only one or two forums saw a much nicer side of VCO3, so I can understand the confusion in this case. But, the dude did get plenty of warnings.
With respect you don’t go far enough. There are individuals who actively pursue identities here for the sole purpose of manipulating this community. This behavior should not be tolerated. A printed thing, a website or a column may be based in logic but we each still deal in feelings. People shouldn’t be allowed to fuck with that.
Have you been to a Dopefest? I’ve met probably 25 people who post here and only 2 of them match their online personality (And one of them isn’t even allowed to post here!). That doesn’t mean that the rest of them are disingenuous, just different, and fantastic people.
I’ll be frank - I tend to agree. We give people the benefit of the doubt that I probably wouldn’t if it was my personal forum to run. However (and this thread is a good example) there are a lot of people on the opposite side of the coin. No matter how egregious the example, a long-term member banning is controversial and disruptive, and best used only when absolutely necessary.
Being in the Pit a lot, I think, tends to give one a view of the board that many others don’t share, since a lot of the shenanigans tend to end up here.
It’s a balance. We give people a lot of benefit of the doubt. We do have many reformed posters. But, there are a lot of people who get on the radar right away and turn out to be just who we believe them to be.
However, I do think it’s best for a community to have a few socks here and there stay a little longer than they deserve than to deal with the opposite - people being thrown out or hit with punitive action for simple mistakes. There are all too many examples of the latter, especially in large, established communities like ours. I enjoy the fact that it’s not a “police state” around here.
I agree. Thanks for this. (By this I mean the dialog.)