The staff is getting tired of his disruptive and combative behavior. We are going to be quick to thread ban him for now on as needed.
As needed means when he enters a thread and is disruptive, picks a minor detail apart to the detriment of the thread and/or start an argument off the subject. This is all threads in all forums outside of the Pit.
So please, if he starts trashing a thread, let us know using the Flag system and choose the Something Else option to explain it. If we agree he is being disruptive we will either modnote him or banned him from the thread.
You know in that thread it took two , well actually three to be “disruptive”. But all the blame goes to me. I even tried to get the thread back on track to the Op. But others insisted on arguing about some other issue. Sure, i argued also, but i wasnt arguing by myself.
Then you came up with a new rule for GD, one that seemingly mostly applies to me- no more 'contrast and compare" posts, even tho everyone has been doing that in GD for decades. Not to mention in that thread a Mod was using that exact same debate technique. But he didnt get kicked out of the thread or even modded. One other poster was modded, but I was the only one kicked out- for the exact same “off topic” posts other posters did before -including a Mod- and other posters continued to do afterwards. So apparently a new rule- just for me.
That new rule was the subject of a very long thread here in ATMB where nearly every poster said you were dead wrong.
But you blamed me.
Then you suspended me- without even a warning. Not even a note. Just out of the blue. This is unprecedented, iirc.
You have a personal animosity towards me, this is exhibited in your PIT posts and in posts you make on other message boards. I dont know why, even.
Dude you were ruining what up until then was a very interesting thread. I don’t have any opinion about any of the rest of that shit but you were rightfully thread banned in that case.
That is a lot of egotism, go read my pit posts, there isn’t much about you. Some of it is defending you.
To the best of my memory I don’t post about you on the other board(s) at all. Hell I was barely aware of you before becoming a mod.
When one poster consistently causes problems, something needs to be done. We are trying to help you be a better poster. But your choice in the end. I did recommend a week suspension. The consensus was that wouldn’t help but Thread Bans might. So we’re going to try that.
This is funny, I just checked your Pit thread. I have 18 posts in it and not once a bad word about you until the 18th which was more chastising k9bfriender.
So as animosity go, I really suck at them apparently.
I have a question, @What_Exit - why the extra leniency? If he’s proven disruptive, and just earned a suspension but comes back railing against it rather than contrite (see post 3), why is the next step micro-managed thread bans, and not just outright banning? I get that that’s the mod consensus, but … why? Just because he’s a long-time poster?
I thought it was clear that my comment was with respect to your overall posting history – a knowledgeable and valuable poster, but often quite an abrasive one. That is all.
The collective opinion of the mods was that his actions haven’t risen to the level of an outright ban, but that we need to be more proactive in protecting discussions from going off the rails.
And yes, sadly, a lot of the mods thought that DrDeth tends to drive threads off the rails.
I might have written the OP more gently, but WhatExit is the mod who offered to draft it. (Thanks, WhatExit.) We did perceive that DrDeth has a habit of showing up in a thread and aggressively pushing some point that is irrelevant in light of what has already been discussed, to the detriment of the thread.
DrDeth, if you’d like to avoid further mod action, our advice is that you read the thread before you post. Not just the last couple of posts, but all, or substantially all of the thread. And try to understand what the main point being discussed is. And don’t worry a point to death.
That last is generally good advise for anyone. While it’s always tempting to correct someone who is wrong on the internet, once you’ve tried two or three times to make a particular point, either you succeeded or you didn’t, and more attempts are likely just to annoy others.
Next time, just say that you think some posts are off-topic and that you won’t engage on that subject in that thread. If they keep after you, just report them.
Warranted or not, you’re seen as a disruptive force in some threads – you can fix that by staying on topic and refusing to engage in hijacks.
Lots of posters don’t get these extra chances. If it were me, I would make the most of it.
puzzlegal answered this better than I could have. {Thank you}.
DrDeth stays within our stated rules except of course the 1st rule he ends up pushing with posting his style. What puzzlegal posted really needs to be taken to heart by @DrDeth.
Whether this is true or not, there is precedent for it when dealing with someone who is not explicitly breaking rules but who nevertheless engages in a disruptive pattern of behavior. I’m thinking of one poster in particular – no longer with us, and I’m not going to name names – who was quite skilled at the form of trolling that has come to be known as “sea-lioning”: superficially very civil, but extremely and willfully disruptive, and clearly not interested in good-faith debate. After a long period of this he was specifically called out for this pattern of behavior.
Sorry, I withdraw the comment. I was a little cranky (I blame the vaccine!) and it struck me as a little uncharitable to ask why someone isn’t just banned immediately. But my comment was unjustifiably over the top.
It seems like the approach toward long-time problem posters is:
Let them be a problem, for a long time
Observe that no specific action violates board rules, but there is a pattern of some sort
Let the pattern fester for several more years with occasional mild reprimand
When the pattern has finally worn out its welcome beyond all tolerance, zap the person for some minor bright-line violation
Because the pattern itself was never adequately named and shamed, part of the community will be aggrieved that the root problem was never addressed. Similarly, another part of the community will grieve the lack of bright-line rules
The combined effect is that someone else will step in to serve the various trolling/disrupting duties of the banned individual.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Seems like there must be some easier way to get ahead of it in step 1 or 2, but I guess tradition is tradition.
There have been many others over the years who have been banned from certain threads and banned from posting at all about certain topics. This is nothing new.
