Moderators Ball Cast of thousands.
It seems obvious from the information we have been given that G.I. Joe was a sock puppet. That is without question against the rules of SDMB SDMB. I believe mods have access to information (such as IP#s) that we don’t have – but I could be wrong.
I am of the opinion that if Gastrointestinal Joe had originally restricted herself or himself to opinions, that person would never have been banned in the first place. She or he would have been free to express viewpoints – other than hate speech.
I am a Liberal. I don’t believe in censorship. Sometimes Conservatives forget that that is often part of being liberal. Please remember that other liberal posters here did not ban G.I. Joe. The Mod Squad did. They are, as a group, non-partisan.
I’m glad I don’t have to make their decisions.
You’re right. Notice that every post has a little “IP: Logged” link in the lower right corner.
The scary thing is, so did Miller. 
Paranoia can lots of fun, especially for those who enjoy wearing foil hats and foaming at the mouth, but it’s really not all that becoming. Or helpful or even plain sensible, for that matter.
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There are lots and lots of people here.
Those people have different opinions.
Those opinions differ on lots and lots of things.
Like politics.
And religion.
And music.
And snack foods.
And computer operating systems.
And astrology, movies, science fiction, service jobs, wonky customers, parenting, child-free life, dating, sex roles, national and regional sterotypes, bodily functions quirks and failures, weight, smoking, fashion, sex roles, math fear, education, littering, telemarketing, food additives, computer games, evolving social roles, driving etiquette, pets, vegitarianism, spam, hacking vs. cracking…ad infinitum.
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A good day is like herding eels.
Anybody who assumes some sinister, monolithic Thought Police presence is gravely, seriously out of their raving gourd.
We try to keep general order here for the general good, folks; nothing more or less. Deal with it. Get a fucking grip already. It’s a message board, okay?
Mother o’ pearl, what a swivet.
I missed out on the December banned threads earlier. I put this question forth in another thread awhile ago.
I’m glad to see an open thread concerning December’s banning. I thought about opening a new thread but since the others have been locked I was kinda worried about doing so.
He always seemed to be an instigator and I never really had a problem with that. When I noticed he was banned (just now) I wondered why. So, I searched his recent posts and didn’t find anything really out of character for him.
What I finally came up with (before I read the threads all of you have been a part of explaining his banning)…anyway, I came up with his last thread. The one about Arnold Swarzeneggar and his interview with OUI Magazine.
December actually linked the interview to a cite that has very explicit pornographic photos available. Now, apparently I am wrong regarding the actual reason he was banned.
But, isn’t that a bannable offense by itself?
Oh, for fuck’s sake, people. This isn’t rocket science.
Speaking purely as a moderator, this thread is acceptable. Speaking as a poster, I disagree vigorously with the viewpoint expressed in the O.P. and subsequent posts by the thread starter (as you can tell by the fact that I posted to it and said as much in my capacity as a regular board member). But we’re not going to ban someone simply for posting threads with a viewpoint with which I or the other moderators personally disagre (although I may personally try to enlighten such people with reasoned arguments.) (The thread was locked after the person who posted it was banned.)
This post is NOT acceptable. See it? See the difference? I mean, I know it’s a subtle difference and all. It just doesn’t quite come up to the standards of a Great Debates post. (After moderating GD for a while, one just comes to have a feel for this sort of thing.)
Note, by the way, that the unacceptable post appears in a thread whose topic is almost identical to that of the first thread; the first thread’s original poster got banned, the second thread’s original poster has not been banned. Both of them started threads expressing similar viewpoints, but only the one who acted like a great big flaming jerk got banned.
Sheesh.
Sorry Tom if you were offended by what I thought was a legitimate question. Especially after some of what I have read by other members. Perhaps I should have chosen my words more carefully. Try this instead.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3917792#post3917792
Personally, I think the OP says more about Millen than about the SDMB moderators.
Don’t you mean “never dork on our door again?”
I was going to let this matter drop…
You don’t permit hateful comments against religious groups?
There’s enough hatred directed at “Fundies” on this board to power a small city for six months.
sigh
Cite?
I have noticed the similarity in our screen names too. To avoid any future confusion, I agree to change my screen name.
The mods also seem to be OK with hateful comments directed against Americans, as well.
Though the use of hatespeak (e.g.: racial slurs) will quickly land one in trouble.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=207057&highlight=fundie
Take a look at cole burner’s first post. Will cole burner be banned for this hateful post?
No. It was only one post (that I saw, anyway), and immediately after it was posted the post was assaulted for being hateful.
They will ban you for a continued pattern of hate posts. They won’t do it for only one.
What they prefer to do here is allow a sort of Community Justice, to borrow a term. A good example is in that thread. Poster A says something hateful. Posters B and C rip him for it. Poster A either says nothing more or apologizes - but doesn’t continue the argument.
That’s how it normally works. There will be times, however, when Poster A comes back with more vitriol. And more. And more. And then a moderator steps in and asks him or her to knock it off. And if they don’t … well, then that’s when the next step occurs.
People aren’t kicked off here for their beliefs. People are kicked off for consistently and aggressively ignoring the basic social mores of a forum, that’s all.
I see a lot more hatred in that thread. What about Bagkitty’s first post calling for fundies to be thrown to the lions. Did Gastrointestinal Joseph call for the killing of gays?
I didn’t know that it was continues hateful statements that gets one banned from this board. How many hateful statements did
december make? How many did Gastrointestinal Joseph make?
I would prefer that the Mods allowed Community Justice. However, it seems that if you are a conservative and make, what someone thinks is a hateful statement, you have a much greater chance of being banned.
Oh for the love of…if the mods just admit that there’s a big conspiracy against conservatives, will you just shut the fuck up already?
:rolleyes: