# Charter Member Desmostylus banned **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 30, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092 "2005-05-30T14:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/41 "2005-05-31T05:08:11Z")
OK, thanks. Just trying to keep up. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/42 "2005-05-31T05:42:42Z")
I held my tongue until now. **Desmostylusā€¦BANNED name!** Aw, somebody had to do it. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/43 "2005-05-31T06:07:24Z")
> [@Acetylsalicylic](#): > > Does ā€œQuit sniping at each other. NOW.ā€ count as an official warning? > > I donā€™t mean this as a point of contention, only one of elucidation. Thatā€™s sort of what I was getting atā€¦ there should be different classes of fouls, and to me, the above would be a minor one, not worthy of going on oneā€™s ā€œpermanent record.ā€ It seems a bit lopsided to me that youā€™d count the occasional minor snark as a warning. Thatā€™s going to happen now and then. But at the same time, thereā€™s no censure on people who habitually hang around the pit spoiling for a fight. Thatā€™s not right, either. ---
**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:** [May 31, 2005, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/44 "2005-05-31T06:31:26Z")
And **Desmostylus** did post in that thread, anyway. Check out posts 63, 66, 69, and 72. You had his name misspelled in your post; did you perhaps misspell it in the search, too? If itā€™s any comfort, I only just now realized that ā€œsā€ was in there. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/45 "2005-05-31T06:44:17Z")
Oh, crap: I was searching on ā€œdemosā€, not ā€œdesmosā€. Apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/46 "2005-05-31T10:18:27Z")
Named after the Greek orator. Or is there a joke Iā€™m missing? ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/47 "2005-05-31T11:18:20Z")
> [@Gaudere](#): > > I thought about that, but I may as well change their title to ā€œIf You Donā€™t Like Me, Please Bait Me Continually Until I Lose It and Get Bannedā€ šŸ˜ƒ Smiley or not, isnā€™t that tantamount to encouraging trolling? I donā€™t have an unduly thin skin, but I find it hard to believe that such a remark would pass unnoticed if it were made by a regular member and not an Admin. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/48 "2005-05-31T11:54:36Z")
What a I missing, here, **Case**? **Gaudere** said that she had considered modiying the user label for posters on final warning, but decided against such an action as it would be tantamount to encouraging other mean-spirited posters to snipe at the ā€œbrandedā€ poster until that poster lashed out and broke a rule, getting them banned. For that reason she decided that modifying the user label was not an appropriate action. Where is the trolling? ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/49 "2005-05-31T12:03:51Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Smiley or not, isnā€™t that tantamount to encouraging trolling? I donā€™t have an unduly thin skin, but I find it hard to believe that such a remark would pass unnoticed if it were made by a regular member and not an Admin. I think you misunderstand what was being said. Saying ā€˜Aā€™ is what would happen if we did ā€˜Bā€™, so we wonā€™t do ā€˜Bā€™, is not the anything like encouraging ā€˜Aā€™. Unless you think that ā€˜Aā€™ would never have occurred to anyone until it was mentioned. Do you honestly think it would never occurred to anyone? My concern about the warnings that are reproduced after anyone is banned is that some of them always appear as slight taps on the wrist that you might expect would have be long forgotten & forgiven. Yet suddenly here they are back again on someoneā€™s permanent record, contributing to a banning. Does a long-standing poster have to worry about dumb things they may have done in their hot-headed youth? Have they been teetering on the brink of banning for the last 5 years, but never known it? Thereā€™s also times when a mod may have got it wrong (yes, it does happen.) Times when you might feel youā€™ve unjustly been given a telling off, but have let the issue lie rather than cause a fuss. It would now seem that any time you feel you have been unfairly mentioned (even in passing) in a modā€™s post you _must_ immediately spring to your defence with vigour, lest it comes back to add weight to a banning years further down the line. It seems to me that if the SDMB is going to administer some kind of strict enforcement of warnings and bannings where nothing is ever forgotten, it will need to devise a much clearer way of issuing the warnings and letting people know exactly where they stand. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/50 "2005-05-31T12:08:58Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Right. Iā€™m offering 6 to 4 on **Barbarian** making Mod one day. > > Tic-tacs madly to the crowd and takes wads of fivers and IOUs Nah, I like to have a life in the big blue room šŸ˜› ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/51 "2005-05-31T12:09:17Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#): > > I think you misunderstand what was being said. Saying ā€˜Aā€™ is what would happen if we did ā€˜Bā€™, so we wonā€™t do ā€˜Bā€™, is not the anything like encouraging ā€˜Aā€™. Unless you think that ā€˜Aā€™ would never have occurred to anyone until it was mentioned. Do you honestly think it would never occurred to anyone? :smack: That paragraph again, except this time in a way that makes senseā€¦ I think you misunderstand what was being said. Saying ā€œ **A** is what would happen if we did **B** , so we wonā€™t do **B** ā€, is not anything like encouraging **A**. Unless you think that **A** would never have occurred to anyone until it was mentioned. Do you honestly think it would never occur to anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/52 "2005-05-31T12:33:54Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > What a I missing, here, **Case**? **Gaudere** said that she had considered modiying the user label for posters on final warning, but decided against such an action as it would be tantamount to encouraging other mean-spirited posters to snipe at the ā€œbrandedā€ poster until that poster lashed out and broke a rule, getting them banned. For that reason she decided that modifying the user label was not an appropriate action. > > Where is the trolling? Iā€™m not looking to start any ā€œIā€™m a paying customer and I demand a better standard of serviceā€ squabbles here, and Iā€™m _not_ accusing **Gaudere** of trolling: I just think that such a remark, even in jest, is at least ill-considered for an Admin to make. As I said in my earlier post, do you suppose it would pass without at least a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket if I had made it? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/53 "2005-05-31T12:47:33Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#): > > It seems to me that if the SDMB is going to administer some kind of strict enforcement of warnings and bannings where nothing is ever forgotten, it will need to devise a much clearer way of issuing the warnings and letting people know exactly where they stand. Really. I wonder how how many warnings are in _my_ permanent record? I know itā€™s at least one, and hope itā€™s (much) fewer than five. But Iā€™m really not sure. Iā€™ve also received a few "not really a warning"sā€¦ do those go in the permanent record too? Do those ever add up to equal an official warning? Do old warnings _ever_ drop off the record? IMHO&FWIW (I know, zilch), I had a run-in or two with **Desmo** myself but for the most part I thought he was an intelligent and articulate poster, and this banning is pretty surprising to me. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/54 "2005-05-31T13:07:39Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Iā€™m not looking to start any ā€œIā€™m a paying customer and I demand a better standard of serviceā€ squabbles here, and Iā€™m _not_ accusing **Gaudere** of trolling: I just think that such a remark, even in jest, is at least ill-considered for an Admin to make. As I said in my earlier post, do you suppose it would pass without at least a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket if I had made it? Along with the others, I still donā€™t get what you have a problem with. **Guadere** merely stated that the thought crossed his/her(sorry?) mind and labeling the poster with _any_ type of warning would essentially create an atmosphere where other posters would/might place straws on the camels back until it broke. I think youā€™re missing something. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/55 "2005-05-31T13:32:20Z")
> [@Sevastopol](#): > > Named after the Greek orator. Or is there a joke Iā€™m missing? Uh, no. As **Colibri** first pointed out here, and I heard direct from **Desmostylus** elsewhere, the name is that of an extinct beast. Which orator were you thinking of? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/56 "2005-05-31T13:55:47Z")
Demosthenes? > [@roger thornhill](#): > > Tic-tacs madly to the crowd To ā€œtic-tacā€? Verb transitive? šŸ˜• ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/57 "2005-05-31T14:02:51Z")
> [@Sevastopol](#): > > Named after the Greek orator. Or is there a joke Iā€™m missing? What you are missing is the information you would already have if you had read the entire thread before posting. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/58 "2005-05-31T15:46:32Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Iā€™m not looking to start any ā€œIā€™m a paying customer and I demand a better standard of serviceā€ squabbles here, and Iā€™m _not_ accusing **Gaudere** of trolling: I just think that such a remark, even in jest, is at least ill-considered for an Admin to make. As I said in my earlier post, do you suppose it would pass without at least a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket if I had made it? Of course it would have. I think Iā€™m not the only one whoā€™s quite puzzled here - I simply donā€™t see why you think this comment was inappropriate. Thereā€™s just absolutely nothing wrong with what **Gaudere** said, as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/59 "2005-05-31T20:29:22Z")
I donā€™t know why, but that seems to be a rather common fallacy at Straight Dope. A -\> B :: B What theā€¦? Iā€™ve encountered it in arguments against the Modal Ontological Proof. The premise G -\> G is discarded because someone thinks it is equivalent to the premise G. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092/60 "2005-05-31T21:20:12Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I donā€™t know why, but that seems to be a rather common fallacy at Straight Dope. > > A -\> B > :: B > > What theā€¦? > > Iā€™ve encountered it in arguments against the Modal Ontological Proof. The premise > > G -\> G > > is discarded because someone thinks it is equivalent to the premise > > G. **Liberal** , Iā€™m sure your diagrams make a lot of sense to those schooled in logic. Could you translate all those symbols into English for the rest of us? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-member-desmostylus-banned/306092.md?page=4)