# Down the memory hole: Has Libertarian been banned? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 25, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235 "2003-11-25T19:16:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Truth\_Seeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Truth\_Seeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth_Seeker)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/1 "2003-11-25T19:16:57Z")
I’ve recently heard a rumour that **Libertarian** has been banned. Apparently, in a fit of snarkiness, he more-or-less invited a mod to ban him. Now I don’t necessarily a problem with the banning itself. But I am _very_ concerned about the way it’s been handled. As of this post, **Libertarian** still has “Member” under his name and the post where he dared the mods to ban him seems to have been erased. His last posts that still are on the board are all pretty tame and appear to contain nothing ban-worthy. Now of course, the mods can ban anyone they feel they need to. But I’m a bit weirded out by this one. The process should be transparent. It’s one thing to ban someone, it’s another thing to remove all evidence of a banning. As it looks now, you would think **Lib** is still a member in good standing who just hasn’t posted for a couple of weeks. So I find this whole idea of zombie posters unsettling. Often, we post things with the expectation that some particular poster will chime in with a response. If someone’s gone – especially when that someone is a long-standing poster – please let us know, somehow. Of course, if this rumour is false, please accept my apologies in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/2 "2003-11-25T19:25:17Z")
Lib asked to have his posting privs removed, so we did. He can ask to come back any time. Lots of posters ask us to take away their privs for a while so they can have a break from the board and not be tempted to post; we usually don’t change their status, though we will sometimes put “on sabbatical” by their name if requested. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/3 "2003-11-25T19:26:11Z")
You’re concerned about how the events in an unconfirmed rumor have been handled? ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/4 "2003-11-25T19:27:42Z")
I mean semi-confirmed… ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/5 "2003-11-25T19:28:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gaudere \* > **Lots of posters ask us to take away their privs for a while so they can have a break from the board and not be tempted to post;** I gotta say, I find that a bit odd. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/6 "2003-11-25T19:28:18Z")
[There is a thread at Fathom](http://fff.fathom.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=15474) where you can read Libertarians take on the matter. \* - Please note that I am NOT suggesting any kind of interaction between the two boards, although I know that there is a pretty significant membership overlap. I am simply acting as a conduit for information. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/7 "2003-11-25T19:29:53Z")
And if I had previewed, I would have seen that an Administrator (may she live forever) had told you what had happened. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/8 "2003-11-25T19:31:19Z")
**Libertarian** has strong views and is not afraid to defend them against any majority. I think that, **Waverly** , is why **Truth Seeker** was worried about what, precisely, had happened to **Lib**. Think of people like him as canaries in a coal mine: If the Admins of this board decide to change policy, it’s people like them who would feel the effects of that shift first. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/9 "2003-11-25T19:33:24Z")
Hm, upon reading that thread I think Lib had a big bowl of Whinyflakes and a frosty glass of bitchjuice that morning. He asked for his privs removed (as he’s done at least once before, IIRC) and we did as he asked. If he didn’t want his privs removed, why doesn’t he ask to come back? If he did want them removed, what’s he fussing about? Geez. ---
**Author:** ![blanx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f04885/32.png) [@blanx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blanx)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/10 "2003-11-25T19:37:11Z")
I like my bitchjuice warm, thank you very much. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/11 "2003-11-25T19:44:31Z")
I’m sorry to see him go, but the linked explanation is extremely disingenuous. Why is it that a certain destination on the web is crawling with unflattering comments about the SDMB and the continued assertion that being banned (Lib’s word, although it doesn’t seem to be altogether accurate) is a badge of honor? The vast majority of these proud-to-be-banned have demonstrated themselves to be irredeemable wankers. Other than the wanking, is there an upside to being a wanker? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/12 "2003-11-25T19:56:08Z")
I don’t get it either. But then again, I don’t get **Libertarian**. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/13 "2003-11-25T19:59:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Waverly \* > \*\*Other than the wanking, is there an upside to being a wanker? \*\* You get a little extra moan on your whinyflakes and your bitchjuice comes fresh in a complainglass. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/14 "2003-11-25T20:06:30Z")
Gaudere, can Libertarian have his posting privileges restored on request? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/15 "2003-11-25T20:08:26Z")
**Waverly** , do you hate wankers? Are you spreading hate speech against those who wank? Wanking has a long and proud tradition. Some of our biggest leaders were wankers: [ul] [li]Thomas Jefferson invented a device to automatically wank him, and later sold it to the French to help pay off his debts. To this day, the French have been known as some of the biggest wankers in the world.[/li][li]Abraham Lincoln’s wanking helped us win the Civil War when it so disgusted the prudish Robert Lee that he vomited into his own hat, making it impossible for him to make treaties beween the Confederacy and Great Britain.[/li][li]Franklin Roosevelt, one of the great success stories to come out of polio, regained enough strength in one hand to successfully wank, giving him the confidence to fight WWII from a wheelchair made out of the bones of his adversaries and carried around by a troop of genetically-engineered monkeys. (Those monkeys, in fact, formed the genetic base for all further developments in the creation of monkey butlers.)[/li][/ul]So, please show some respect for wankers. We’re working hard to get us all up where we belong. ---
**Author:** ![NotMrKnowItAll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6bbea6/32.png) [@NotMrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotMrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/16 "2003-11-25T20:11:22Z")
Wait, I thought a Wanker was a kind of automobile engine with triangular pistons that flailed around in a epi-cyclo-pentagram (something like that) pattern and had an unnatural number of spark plugs. I do recall the engines did whine a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/17 "2003-11-25T20:19:10Z")
**NotMrKnowItAll** : No, that’s a Wankel. A Wankel rotary engine, to be exact. ---
**Author:** ![NotMrKnowItAll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6bbea6/32.png) [@NotMrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotMrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/18 "2003-11-25T20:25:15Z")
Oh sure, everyone else gets to wisecrack, but when I do, I get smacked down. I thought calling the rotor a triangular piston was quite the riot. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/19 "2003-11-25T20:26:58Z")
Boy, there are a lot of whiney-pants over there: "all the good posters came here, and the dregs were left over at Dope . . " “if you do not 100% support every aspect of the Gay Political agenda, you are a Bigot . . .” People we are much better off without. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235/20 "2003-11-25T20:40:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*Gaudere, can Libertarian have his posting privileges restored on request? \*\* > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Gaudere_ > \*\* He can ask to come back any time.\*\* [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-memory-hole-has-libertarian-been-banned/215235.md?page=2)