# banning / acquittal? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 11, 2001, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-acquittal/92803 "2001-11-11T21:27:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-acquittal/92803/1 "2001-11-11T21:27:23Z")
I know this doesn’t apply to him, but SqrlCub’s banning led me to ponder: [li]Has a poster ever been _wrongfully_ banned then later acquitted?[/li] For example: in an instance where the individual got socked, trolled, hacked, or whatever. I completely understand the mods would rather error on the side of caution. I don’t have any problem with that. I was just curious if such a thing, as I’ve questioned, has ever happened. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-acquittal/92803/2 "2001-11-11T23:32:53Z")
Not only have posters been wrongfully banned and then reinstated, there are very few (older than a certain point-- You qualify, for instance) who _haven’t_. There was one time when a glitch in the IP ban feature accidentally banned _everyone_. Needless to say, that was fixed rather quickly. There’ve also been a number of more personal examples. **waterj2** , for example, was banned for a short period after he registered, due to a mixup with e-mail addresses. I think that **Osip** , the first victim of the Cloner Troll, was also banned temporarily until the administration figured out what had happened. In addition, there have been a handful of cases where a person was rightfully banned, but apologized, and was allowed back in… but I don’t know if there’s any examples still around. ---
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-acquittal/92803/3 "2001-11-12T01:40:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > In addition, there have been a handful of cases where a person was rightfully banned, but apologized, and was allowed back in… but I don’t know if there’s any examples still around. Actually there were two quite recently. I think the OP’s question was whether the admins have ever simply reconsidered the wisdom of their decision and rescinded it on their own. ---
**Author:** ![darkcool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@darkcool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/darkcool)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-acquittal/92803/4 "2001-11-12T01:41:08Z")
Maybe I’m not understanding the OP, or the last part of **Chronos** ’ reply… …BFWIW, there is [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=95051) thread (specifically [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=1750236#post1750236), presumably) in which **warmgun** was banned (which started [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=95343) and [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=95343)) and then subsequintly re-instated. Can’t say if it was “wrongfully” for sure though - AFAIK, there was never an official explaination, and those in-the-know ain’t talkin’. ---
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-acquittal/92803/5 "2001-11-12T01:47:19Z")
:eek: ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-acquittal/92803/6 "2001-11-12T02:17:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > There’ve also been a number of more personal examples. **waterj2** , for example, was banned for a short period after he registered, due to a mixup with e-mail addresses I was framed. Some random troll ( **FlatULance** , in case you were wondering) put the email address waterj@rpi.edu in his profile, while mine was waterj2@rpi.edu, causing the administration to think that it was a sockpuppet of mine. At the time, we had only recently changed over to vBulletin from UBB, which verified that an email address was valid when one changed it. And I had over 400 posts by then. That day was the day after classes ended for the semester (also Cinco de Mayo), and I slept in well past noon, causing me to actually be banned for a few hours without knowing it. From when I emailed **TubaDiva** , the situation took a whopping ten minutes to sort out. Some others banned in error or banned then reinstated were: **GaWd** (software glitch made it look like he was a sockpuppet for **jrogers** ) **annalamerino** **tshirts** **Anthracite** (although that was done with her consent for reasons that have never been made public) ---
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-acquittal/92803/7 "2001-11-12T02:45:02Z")
**Has an SDMB Moderator ever been banned?** ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-acquittal/92803/8 "2001-11-12T04:48:19Z")
Yes. **Melin** was a moderator in MPSIMS for a while, and was fired from that position for continuing an argument with **JillGat** after Ed told them to stop. Later, a situation arose on another forum (I think it was a board on **OpalCat** ’s Teeming Millions page that preceded Fathom) where **Melin** posted something that could be construed to imply that she was acting in an official capacity, and **TubaDiva** clarified that she wasn’t. Due to the nature of the comments made there, and some rather pointed remarks by some random poster, **Melin** felt that her professional reputation (she’s a lawyer) was being maligned. She threatened to sue for libel before the situation got peacefully resolved. Later, Ed had the registration agreement changed to allow the Chicago Reader more latitude in banning people. After a number of petty disagreements and misunderstandings between the staff of the SDMB and **Melin** , Ed decided that it was not worthwhile to have her as a member here. There were several threads and a lot of controversy at the time (last March), and several people left the Board permanently or temporarily. [sub]Hopefully I have presented a fair and objective summary of the events, and have not opened the subject up for further argument\*\* ---
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-acquittal/92803/9 "2001-11-12T04:53:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by waterj2 \* > \*\*Yes. **Melin** was a moderator in MPSIMS for a while, and was fired from that position for continuing an argument with **JillGat** after Ed told them to stop. Later, a situation arose on another forum (I think it was a board on **OpalCat** ’s Teeming Millions page that preceded Fathom) where **Melin** posted something that could be construed to imply that she was acting in an official capacity, and **TubaDiva** clarified that she wasn’t. Due to the nature of the comments made there, and some rather pointed remarks by some random poster, **Melin** felt that her professional reputation (she’s a lawyer) was being maligned. She threatened to sue for libel before the situation got peacefully resolved. > > Later, Ed had the registration agreement changed to allow the Chicago Reader more latitude in banning people. After a number of petty disagreements and misunderstandings between the staff of the SDMB and **Melin** , Ed decided that it was not worthwhile to have her as a member here. There were several threads and a lot of controversy at the time (last March), and several people left the Board permanently or temporarily. > > [sub]Hopefully I have presented a fair and objective summary of the events, and have not opened the subject up for further argument\*\* \*\* :eek::eek::eek: ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-acquittal/92803/10 "2001-11-12T05:47:08Z")
A few minor additions > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by waterj2 \* > \*\*Yes. **Melin** was a moderator in MPSIMS for a while, and was fired from that position for continuing an argument with **JillGat** after Ed told them to stop. Later, a situation arose on another forum (I think it was a board on **OpalCat** ’s Teeming Millions page that preceded Fathom) \*\* I’m fairly certain that it was on one of the Usenet groups. The board had been hacked or had crashed hard, Melin, by virtue of her ex-Mod status had access to a mod-only forum(?) that was still active, and passed on the info in such a way that led _some_ to wonder if she was acting in an official capacity. Or what. There was another poster (who’s name I can’t remember who was all mixed up in this. \*\* > [@](#): > > She threatened to sue for libel before the situation got peacefully resolved.\*\* She (IIRC) denies(denied?) that it was a serious threat (IIRC). \*\* > [@](#): > > After a number of petty disagreements and misunderstandings between the staff of the SDMB and **Melin** \*\* And some fairly minor sniping at the Board/Mods/Ed. She kept putting some…either witty or whiney depending on your POV…comments in her sig. (“Who is NOT Straight Dope Staff”, “Voted Best Moderator - Emeritus” and “Sig Line: Censored”. There may have been one more.) Other than those added details, I agree. Two threads: [Ed’s/the SDMB’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=8465) and [Melin’s](http://fathom.org/cgi-bin/sdmb.pl?read=1284) that sum up the whole issue. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-acquittal/92803/11 "2001-11-12T22:37:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > \*\* > Two threads: [Ed’s/the SDMB’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=8465) > and > [Melin’s](http://fathom.org/cgi-bin/sdmb.pl?read=1284) > that sum up the whole issue. > > Fenris \*\* What a mess…