Der Trihs Suspension Discussion Thread

[Johnny_Bravo]

@Fenris

For years, he had a special exemption from getting modded for stuff that even the mods point-blank admitted would get other poster warned, especially newbies*. Now that terrible exemption is gone and he’s subjected to the same rules as others.

Cannot be overstated.

Not only has DT amassed many warnings with no repercussions, but he’s avoided even more of them because of the (hopefully forever) now-defunct “too terrible to be warned” super-special DT treatment.

Good riddance to the rule, and may it be dead for a thousand years.

If DT is willing to return to a board that treats him the same way everyone else is treated, and abide by the same rules as the rest of us, then I’ll be the first to welcome him back in a month’s time.

[Fenris]

@iiandyiiii

Could you educate me? What’s the SDSAB? (I assume it’s Straight Dope XXXX Advisory Board)

XXXX=Staff, IIRC.

They’re contributors who write or help with columns for Cecil’s non-Cecil column. They get a special title and membership priviliges for some length of time (a year? life? somewhere inbetween?).

[Loach]

@Bricker

I don’t see any instance of a mod gloating.

Are you perhaps confusing “moderator” with “SDSAB?”

Do you understand the role of the SDSAB?

Don’t let this go to your head and start throwing warnings around.

[Joey_P]

@Fenris

XXXX=Staff, IIRC.

They’re contributors who write or help with columns for Cecil’s non-Cecil column. They get a special title and membership priviliges for some length of time (a year? life? somewhere inbetween?).

Science. IIRC. They have nothing to do with the board other than they write some of the columns.

[Knorf]

Do we really think that Der Trihs’s suspension is directly a result of the recent turn-over of moderators? What, were C K Dexter Haven, Gukumatz, twickster, and TubaDiva just coddling him?

I’d like to think the suspension was imminent regardless. Accumulation of warnings, etc.

[Jonathan_Chance]

Heck, I wrote one of those 10+ years ago and never even claimed my title. No big thing and it doesn’t impart any particular power or whatever.

[Loach]

@Joey_P

Science. IIRC. They have nothing to do with the board other than they write some of the columns.

Specifically as per the disclaimer:

STAFF REPORTS ARE WRITTEN BY THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD, CECIL’S ONLINE AUXILIARY. THOUGH THE SDSAB DOES ITS BEST, THESE COLUMNS ARE EDITED BY ED ZOTTI, NOT CECIL, SO ACCURACYWISE YOU’D BETTER KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED.

They write columns such as this one by Bricker. They have no moderating powers. And I’m not allowed to write columns. But that is because of my semi-literacy and not a specific rule.

[engineer_comp_geek]

@iiandyiiii

Could you educate me? What’s the SDSAB? (I assume it’s Straight Dope XXXX Advisory Board)

Straight Dope Science Advisory Board.

They are the folks that write the staff reports for Cecil.

[Ed_Zotti]

@iiandyiiii

Could you educate me? What’s the SDSAB? (I assume it’s Straight Dope XXXX Advisory Board)

SDSAB = Straight Dope Science Advisory Board. This consists of people who’ve contributed a certain number of staff reports (which have begun appearing again after a long hiatus). The SDSAB has nothing to do with board administration, although some people have done both things.

ETA: Cheezit, triple ninja’d.

[Morgenstern]

When I see a thread announcing that someone has been suspended or banned I typically click on the links and weigh each “violation” against the “Don’t be a jerk” rule. I’d say half the time it’s quite a streeeeeeeeeetch to find a violation of that rule.

I picture a member or two with his panties in a wad hitting the report button every time someone they don’t like comes remotely close to being a jerk.

[camille]

@Fenris

The forum is supposed to be Great Debates, not “See How Close To The “Insult the Post, not the Poster” line without getting warned” Forum**.
**Although, I would personally love to see such a forum.

IMO, in the more contentious debates, it usually devolves into just that, and I believe a lot of posters avoid GD for that reason. Der Trihs is not the only poster to “play that game”, by far. The “Insult the Post, not the Poster” rule doesn’t really fool anyone, does it? To me, it’s more offensive to have to pretend it’s not meant as a personal insult*.
*Yes, there are exceptions, but not many.

[Fenris]

@camille

IMO, in the more contentious debates, it usually devolves into just that, and I believe a lot of posters avoid GD for that reason. Der Trihs is not the only poster to “play that game”, by far.

No, but he’s the only one to have had a free pass to do so.

[Amateur_Barbarian]

Can someone fill me in on DT’s supposed special magical exemption?

[Drunky_Smurf]

@Fear_Itself

Infractions that do not rise to the level of official warnings are hardly justification for suspension.

Well good thing he got suspended for actual official warnings, huh.

As many pointed out in the other thread, most of the “infractions” don’t even seem worthy of rebuke.

The mods seem to disagree with those “many”.

@Morgenstern

When I see a thread announcing that someone has been suspended or banned I typically click on the links and weigh each “violation” against the “Don’t be a jerk” rule. I’d say half the time it’s quite a streeeeeeeeeetch to find a violation of that rule.

There are more rules than just “don’t be a jerk”. Insulting people and violating mod instructions are also against the rules and the vast majority of the warnings I see in those threads with those links are for violations of those rules.

[DrDeth]

@Knorf

Here’s the announcement that lists the infractions.

I think it’s a perfectly understandable and reasonable policy that infractions are not allowed to expire, and a significant accumulation of them, even over years, leads to moderator review of posting privileges.

First- I have no issue with the suspension here But first of all, those link to the posts he made, not the actual warnings.

And frankly, I disagree. I think unless you have a new warning, your old warning should disappear after a reasonable period, say a year or two. Of course the topic here racked up warnings over & over, so…

[Drunky_Smurf]

@Amateur_Barbarian

Can someone fill me in on DT’s supposed special magical exemption?

See this pit thread.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10656767#post10656767

The Second Stone Pits tomndebb for him modding TSS in a GD thread. In the GD thread tomndebb tells TSS:

Nothing in this thread requires that it be hijacked into an acrimonious squabble over current politics. If you have a need to link WWII to the Iraq War, open a new thread.

Here’s the link to that quote.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10636802&postcount=29

In the Pit thread tomndebb explains why he modded TSS:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10655588&postcount=7

Liberal posts this:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10656203&postcount=20

In this link tomndebb explains to Liberal why he does not mod Der Trihs for behavior that he would for a newer poster.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10656767&postcount=28

[Fenris]

@Amateur_Barbarian

Can someone fill me in on DT’s supposed special magical exemption?

See this post for cites and quotes. There are at least a few more, but those are two fairly typical examples of a mod, point blank saying that because people don’t react to Der T’s gimmick, it’s fine for him to do so, but a newbie would “invite correction by a mod” for posting the exact same way.

[YogSothoth]

@Bricker

I don’t see any instance of a mod gloating.

Are you perhaps confusing “moderator” with “SDSAB?”

Do you understand the role of the SDSAB?

I consider them part of the structure of the board, even if technically they do different things. I don’t feel I’m incorrect in having that assumption, nor do I feel that its out of the ordinary that posters would consider SDSAB people “higher” than normal posters

@Fenris

Not wrongly. For years, he had a special exemption from getting modded for stuff that even the mods point-blank admitted would get other poster warned, especially newbies*. Now that terrible exemption is gone and he’s subjected to the same rules as others. And I’ll note that I’m one of the people who got mod-noted for the same behavior that got Der T. suspended. And I still think this is a good rule.

I didn’t know he had such an exemption. To me, like others, he didn’t do anything worth suspending. A warning here and there, but he wasn’t spamming or calling people cunts. That’s why I think he “got away” with it for so long, mods realized that what he did skirted the line on basic decorum, but its a matter of lots of little infractions that didn’t add up to much rather than fewer big infractions. With the new mods in place, I guess they’ve been chomping at the bit to get at him for a while which is why this suspension happened so quickly after they were promoted.

I’ll never be a mod because I don’t have the temperament for it amongst other things, but nothing he’s done warrants a 30 day suspension.

[crowmanyclouds]

@DrDeth

{…} I think unless you have a new warning, your old warning should disappear after a reasonable period, say a year or two. {…}

I swear I’ve read that that is, well apparently was, the official policy. (Suspensions, on the other hand, are/were cumulative.)

CMC fnord!

[Loach]

@YogSosoth

I consider them part of the structure of the board, even if technically they do different things. I don’t feel I’m incorrect in having that assumption, nor do I feel that its out of the ordinary that posters would consider SDSAB people “higher” than normal posters

There is nothing technical about it. They have nothing to do with the Board. They write columns that appear on the homepage. Even though many of us originally arrived here due to the books or column, the workings of the two are separate. They have no mod powers. They are not part of any mod decisions. They do not get treated differently than any poster here. The custom title is a thank you for service on the main page and cheaper than a coffee mug.