# Banned people **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 3, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279 "2011-01-03T23:03:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/1 "2011-01-03T23:03:51Z")
I’ve seen a couple of people with the “BANNED” under their name Just for my own curiosity, all persons with that under their names are actually banned, right? I mean, no one has that as a joke title, correct? I ask because I’ve seen a couple of posters that posted just recently that I can’t believe was banned, and when I look through their post histories, it doesn’t look like they posted anything worth banning them for. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/2 "2011-01-03T23:06:05Z")
I don’t remember seeing anybody who has “BANNED” as a custom title, but we don’t keep track of who has what title. Can you remember anybody who had that title or status? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/3 "2011-01-03T23:07:25Z")
That sounds awesome and I’m totally calling dibs on it. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/4 "2011-01-03T23:08:52Z")
I’ve seen it a couple of times too, but alas, my memory is for crap. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/5 "2011-01-03T23:11:34Z")
Recently there have been a lot of zombie threads and I’ve seen a bunch of banned posters in them, many of which I don’t even remember. Is that what you have been seeing? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/6 "2011-01-03T23:16:10Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t remember seeing anybody who has “BANNED” as a custom title, but we don’t keep track of who has what title. Can you remember anybody who had that title or status? > [@xash](#): > > BANNED is automatically flagged by the system, and it won’t allow it. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12126979&postcount=18](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12126979&postcount=18) ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/7 "2011-01-03T23:22:14Z")
Awww shucks. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/8 "2011-01-03T23:23:21Z")
I have seen someone with BAND as their custom title though… ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/9 "2011-01-03T23:24:08Z")
I’ve noticed a number of ‘BANNED’ titles in zombie threads, like **Loach** , so I suspect that may be a large part of the problem: the number of zombie threads shambling back onto the first page of forum lists. To answer **YogSosoth** ’s quetion: \*all persons with that under their names are actually banned, right? \* – the answer is technically no, substantively yes. Lowering the “ban hammer” invokes the ‘BANNED’ tag as a software function. However, the way staff suspend posting privileges for seven or 30 days or whatever is to ban the member, then unban them after the suspension period. Customarily they will alter the software-generated ‘BANNED’ to ‘Suspended’, but they are of course only human, and for the suspended either (a) you’re seeing the tag after the banning and before the alteration, or (b) someone forgot to do the recoding of the title – both have happened and been mentioned in ATMB threads. However, 99.99% of the time someone displaying the ‘BANNED’ tag is in fact banned. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/10 "2011-01-03T23:24:28Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > That sounds awesome and I’m totally calling dibs on it. You’d be calling dibs on something that has been going on for years on many other forums. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/11 "2011-01-04T00:38:43Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t remember seeing anybody who has “BANNED” as a custom title, but we don’t keep track of who has what title. Can you remember anybody who had that title or status? I think the last person I saw it was Captain Midnight who had activity last on 12/30/10 (according to his profile). Noticed this in the Pit thread about Ugandan newspapers outing gays, post #20. Maybe I’m confusing him with a different captain (there are a lot of them!) who posted just recently ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/12 "2011-01-04T00:56:13Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I ask because I’ve seen a couple of posters that posted just recently that I can’t believe was banned, and when I look through their post histories, it doesn’t look like they posted anything worth banning them for. They may be banned not because of anything they posted that was bannable, but because they were sock accounts. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/13 "2011-01-04T00:59:18Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I think the last person I saw it was Captain Midnight who had activity last on 12/30/10 (according to his profile). Noticed this in the Pit thread about Ugandan newspapers outing gays, post #20. Maybe I’m confusing him with a different captain (there are a lot of them!) who posted just recently Ah, yes. THAT Captain. He was indeed banned back in early November of last year. You could search ATMB for an explanation. While he has promoted himself(in his own mind) to Major Midnight(thus the activity you saw in the last few days), his half-life is rather short. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/14 "2011-01-04T03:27:23Z")
> [@](#): > > I ask because I’ve seen a couple of posters that posted just recently that I can’t believe was banned, and when I look through their post histories, it doesn’t look like they posted anything worth banning them for. Sometimes we remove the threads/posts that they are banned for, and you won’t see those posts or threads. Neither will I, if I’m not signed in. Only staff can see them. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/15 "2011-01-04T03:52:37Z")
Just out of curiosity, how many posts were there in the Vick thread? After a certain point it seems a waste to lose all those posts for a troll, especially one who isn’t advocating extreme positions. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/16 "2011-01-04T03:55:00Z")
There were 48 replies. However, I would have removed the thread anyway, because it was a troll thread. Keeping it in view would only reward trolling. ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/17 "2011-01-04T15:49:05Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > There were 48 replies. > > However, I would have removed the thread anyway, because it was a troll thread. Keeping it in view would only reward trolling. That’s too bad - it was shaping into something interesting. I know the official answer is to just start a new thread on the same topic, but I highly doubt it would get much traction, since the participants probably wouldn’t re-post their prior thoughts, so the discussion would die rather quickly. Is there any thought, on a thread that’s turning interesting, to just banning the troll, and letting the thread continue? If it’s just something like “All Jews should melt” then who cares, but that thread had real discussion in it, and I was looking forward to getting back to it the next morning. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/18 "2011-01-04T16:14:37Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > There were 48 replies. > > However, I would have removed the thread anyway, because it was a troll thread. Keeping it in view would only reward trolling. On occasion, I’ve seen some zombie threads(tend to be very old threads) where there are usernames missing. Would it be possible to remove the troll’s username and let the thread continue? ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/19 "2011-01-04T16:18:22Z")
The threads that display without user names are from our earliest days. Some glitch in the system truncated the posting, removing the name. We’ve never been able to figure out why. It has’t happened again (so far). It was not anything we deliberately did to the thread but rather a malfunction in the system. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279/20 "2011-01-04T16:20:36Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > The threads that display without user names are from our earliest days. Some glitch in the system truncated the posting, removing the name. We’ve never been able to figure out why. It has’t happened again (so far). It was not anything we deliberately did to the thread but rather a malfunction in the system. I figured that, I thought it might be a way to do it deliberately. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-people/566279.md?page=2)