# Bestway to find out WHY someone's been banned? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 10, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bestway-to-find-out-why-someones-been-banned/563711 "2010-12-10T22:17:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bestway-to-find-out-why-someones-been-banned/563711/1 "2010-12-10T22:17:27Z")
I noticed **scifisam2009** has been posting as of this morning, but is showing up as “banned.” I don’t have a mental file for that Doper at all, but I’m curious because I have nothing better to think about: why the banning? In general, what’s the easiest/best way to find out what someone did to get banned? Searching for that poster’s most recent posts didn’t work out for me. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bestway-to-find-out-why-someones-been-banned/563711/2 "2010-12-10T22:21:30Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > I noticed **scifisam2009** has been posting as of this morning, but is showing up as “banned.” I don’t have a mental file for that Doper at all, but I’m curious because I have nothing better to think about: why the banning? > > In general, what’s the easiest/best way to find out what someone did to get banned? Searching for that poster’s most recent posts didn’t work out for me. Usually PMing a mod is the preferred way. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bestway-to-find-out-why-someones-been-banned/563711/3 "2010-12-10T22:23:38Z")
Or email. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bestway-to-find-out-why-someones-been-banned/563711/4 "2010-12-10T22:23:41Z")
Ah. Thank you. Any old mod? I mean, I don’t know \*who \*banned him/her. (If I saw the “You broke X rule - you’re banned now!” post, I’d not only know which mod did it, but I’d know why in the 1st place.) ---
**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:** [December 10, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bestway-to-find-out-why-someones-been-banned/563711/5 "2010-12-10T22:38:09Z")
See: [How do I find out what happened to a missing thread or poster?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9034110#post9034110), which is post #7 in [FAQ - Guidelines and Etiquette on the Straight Dope Message Boards](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=384745) ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bestway-to-find-out-why-someones-been-banned/563711/6 "2010-12-11T01:44:20Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Ah. Thank you. Any old mod? I mean, I don’t know \*who \*banned him/her. (If I saw the “You broke X rule - you’re banned now!” post, I’d not only know which mod did it, but I’d know why in the 1st place.) Yes, any old mod. Unless the person is a spammer, in which case you probably wouldn’t know or care, there’s always discussion on the mod loop before a banning. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bestway-to-find-out-why-someones-been-banned/563711/7 "2010-12-11T01:50:30Z")
Back when mods cared, they’d make a thread in ATMB saying Poster Soandso was banned for these reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bestway-to-find-out-why-someones-been-banned/563711/8 "2010-12-11T01:52:19Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Yes, any old mod. Great. Now we’re expected to know how old the mods are. :rolleyes: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bestway-to-find-out-why-someones-been-banned/563711/9 "2010-12-11T02:09:18Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Back when mods cared, they’d make a thread in ATMB saying Poster Soandso was banned for these reasons. Which is still the standard practice in most cases for long-term posters. If you want to know why a poster has been banned, and no announcement thread has been posted in ATMB, as has been noted the correct procedure is to e-mail or PM a moderator.