# Has anybody here ever been banned from a forum/website? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 28, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274 "2009-11-28T22:16:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Is\_it\_safe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6de8d8/32.png) [@Is\_it\_safe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Is_it_safe)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/81 "2009-12-02T19:27:40Z")
My wife got us banned (temporarily) from 4chan! :eek: ---
**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:** [December 2, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/82 "2009-12-02T19:39:23Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > I actually got banned from a forum just yesterday, as a matter of fact. > > A few weeks or so ago, to try to understand the insane right-wing mind, I started lurking on the Hannity forums. Eventually, the sheer stupidity got to me, so I registered (I think it was a thread on evolution that got me). When I joined, I made it a point to obey the letter of the law on that forum, but to not hold back. I never started any threads- all I did was respond. Most of my posts were actually quite serious- I’d try to give factual answers as much as possible. I must admit that I did respond snarkily to particularly stupid examples of “Libruls are teh evil!!!11!!!”, though. > > Anyway, fairly early on I got accused of being a “retread”- basically, what we call a “sock puppet” here. What surprised me is that this accusation is fairly common, and the accused are never accused of being a retread of anyone in particular. Another interesting thing is that there’s a subforum devoted specifically to reporting other members to the mods. So as a result of arguing with someone, that person reported me as a retread. One of the mods checked me out, though, and said I was okay. > > So, yesterday, I got into another argument… and when I came back from a bike ride, I found that I’d been IP banned. I wasn’t too surprised. According to the rules, though, I was supposed to be able to argue my case in the mod forum- kind of hard to do if you’ve been banned. So I made another account, clearly labeled as a “responding to the ban” account (and quoted the rule which allowed me to do so), and asked politely, “If I’m a retread, who am I supposed to be a retread _of_?” > > The mod who banned me replied with, “We’re not going to give you the satisfaction of seeing your name here, you know who you are.”- and banned my new account. Apparently, if they don’t like what you’re saying, they accuse you of being a retread to get rid of you. > > TL;DR- I was banned from the Hannity forums for being a Liberal. The exact same thing happened to me there. I was banned as a retread, explained myself and gave them the IP information showing I wasn’t, and they called me a liar and banned me. That place is one fucked up scary part of the internets, led by lying moderators. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/83 "2009-12-03T09:39:46Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > The exact same thing happened to me there. I was banned as a retread, explained myself and gave them the IP information showing I wasn’t, and they called me a liar and banned me. That place is one fucked up scary part of the internets, led by lying moderators. A Hannity forum run by slandering liars who ignore all evidence that contradicts them? How completely unexpected. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Shroud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@The\_Shroud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Shroud)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/84 "2009-12-04T02:22:19Z")
My IP was blocked from posting at [Gothamist](http://gothamist.com/), after I corrected the editor several different times on her syntax and grammar. Her somewhat legendary inability to proofread drove me insane, and I would write things like, “you left out a verb in this sentence. Please proofread.” I sincerely hoped I would awaken a new found appreciation for copy editing within her, but I guess she thought I was just another troll. ETA: Just for fun I googled “Jen Chung proofread,” and found[someone else railing on her](http://proofreadbeforeposting.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=10). She’s got some good examples. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/85 "2009-12-04T02:37:26Z")
I was banned from the christian gamers server in battlefield 1942 for playing a suicide bomber. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/86 "2009-12-04T06:40:17Z")
He’s a “reprint” of a rant I wrote a few years ago (but ended up not posting) for a bass guitar discussion list after I was apparently banned from the forums on the Web site of legendary studio bassist Carol Kaye: SUBJECT: {MUSIC} I’ve finally hit the big time! (… I suppose) It’s true! I’ve been publicly insulted by Carol Kaye. I feel very special now. And I’ve apparently been banned from her message boards - something that has never happened to me before - so I guess that’s a bonus. I suppose I could have avoided this situation by taking the time to read through the complete forum archives before posting. I _did_ skim through the archives after I posted, but before the ban took effect, and I discovered that there is apparently a rather small number of acceptable topics to post about: 1. Carol 2. Praising and flattering Carol 3. Sucking up to Carol 4. “I’ve listened to ‘Bernadette’ over and over, and honestly, that sounds nothing like Jamerson!” 5. Agreeing with Carol 6. “I ran out and bought an Ibanez SRX700 just like yours, and wow, you’re right, Fenders _do_ suck!” Anyway, I had already decided to let the matter drop after my last post. I figure it’s her Web site and her forum, and she has a right to run it any way she chooses. No big deal. But there was still no need for her to insult me. Unfortunately, I can no longer even _view_ the forum, so I can’t quote exactly what was said. (Her forum requires registration in order to even simply view it, something I’ve never seen before on any other forum, so “banning” me was a simple matter of deleting my account. I can reach the site, but attempting to enter the forum prompts me to log in; attempting to log in gets me a message saying that my account name doesn’t exist.) What happened was that a 50-year-old bass player started a topic purely for the purpose of ranting about tablature. Actually, it was a rather vitriolic, unkind rant about young players approaching him after his praise band (!) finishes playing and asking him if he uses tab to learn his parts. To paraphrase his sample response to that query, “No way! I’m a MUSICIAN! Tab is for people who are too lazy to learn to read music! What a waste of time! I think I drank a Tab diet cola once!” From there he proceeded to link tablature to the outrageous onstage antics of modern rock musicians. Carol replied, indicating that yes, tablature is useless and people should learn to read music. Then I chimed in, making the mistake of suggesting that, even though I know how to read music, I think tablature has its place and is useful in certain situations. I also pointed out that tablature for stringed instruments predates modern notation. Carol said (paraphrasing) “People also used to say ‘doth’. You’re perpetrating ignorance. Learn to sightread a chart and learn your fretboard, and you won’t need tab.” Assuming she had misread my post, I (politely) repeated that I _do_ know how to read music. Then, in an attempt to clarify my previous post, I (politely) outlined why I feel tablature can be valid and useful. My basic points were: ``` 1) Due to either inadequate stereo speakers or my ears not being what they used to be, I cannot always clearly pick out every note of the bass line when attempting to learn a song by ear. Lacking a properly notated chart, tablature can show me those notes that I'm not hearing. 2) Even *with* a properly notated chart, I sometimes find that a particular passage is extremely awkward, or even impossible to play. Looking at the tablature can show me that the original artist played the passage in a completely different position (assuming that the person who transcribed the tab used video footage or a live performance as a guide), and that new position allows the passage to be played much more naturally and smoothly. 3) I would love to learn from a proper chart, and am perfectly capable of reading such a chart. But far more often than not, such a chart simply does not exist in a form obtainable by the likes of me. The "charts" I can purchase are reduced piano arrangements that don't accurately present what was played on the original recording. Additionally, the majority of the songs I want to learn to play have never even been released in *that* form. Thus, I am reduced to using my ears and/or tablature. ``` And this is where Carol insulted me. Paraphrasing again (but still pretty darn close): “Learn to sightread a chart and learn your fretboard. You don’t know how to play your instrument correctly.” ? ? ? I probably should have just let it go at this point. It was pretty clear to me that Carol was reading selectively, and only seeing the words she wanted to see. She also seems to have definitions of “sight read” and “chart” different from any other musician I’ve ever talked to. So I should have dropped it. But I didn’t/couldn’t (I know, I know. Pride.) My sarcastic, smart-aleck self initially wanted to respond with, “Hey, I _thought_ that was you I saw in the audience at my last gig! What? You’ve never been to my town before? Gosh, I assumed you must have heard me play. How else would you know that I don’t know how to play correctly?” But I thought better of it. Instead, I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, guessing that she assumed I was one of those young players that the OP mentioned. Even though I had clearly indicated already, at least twice, that _I know how to read music_. So, as politely (and unsarcastically) as I could, I explained that I’m not a rank newbie. That I’m nearing 41 years old, and I have known how to read music since I was 8 years old. That I’ve played the bass for 22 years, and the guitar for 27. That I’ve been composing my own music since I was 14, and have done full-score arrangements for jazz big bands, something I couldn’t do if I couldn’t read music. That every Sunday morning, I do something she mentions/brags about repeatedly on her forum: with nothing to work with but a sheet of paper with lyrics and chords written on it, I invent my own bass lines, and they’re good. And that seems to have been enough to get me banned. Oh well. She’s as entitled to her opinion as I am to mine. She’s a respected professional with an impressive resume, and I’m not. Still, I don’t think Victor Wooten would talk to a fan that way. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/87 "2009-12-04T09:06:08Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I was banned from the christian gamers server in battlefield 1942 for playing a suicide bomber. Who HASN’T been banned from the Christian server? **Me:** “Stop waiting for the damn armor and come capture some flags.” **Admin:** “Warning! Cyberhwk. Use of the swear word ‘Damn.’” **Me:** “Damn is a SWEAR WORD?!?!? The voice overs for this game use the word ‘damn’!!!” **Admin:** “That doesn’t make it right.” **Me:** “That’s fucking ridiculous.” **Admin:** :::YOU HAVE BEEN BANNED FROM CHRISTIAN GAMERS::: :D;)😃 ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/88 "2009-12-04T10:06:52Z")
A game with gratuitous blood and violence has a swear word filter? 😮 Also suicide bombers aren’t period for 1942 unless you’re kamikaze! ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/89 "2009-12-04T11:07:35Z")
Not sure if I was banned, but I have never been back to Cruise Critic. My wife and I had never been on a cruise so I went there to learn a bit about what I might like and what I wouldn’t. I actually had no idea about things like set dinner times and assigned table mates which I didn’t care for. Anyway I think the discussion got out of hand. It seems having an aversion to people is not terribly compatible with taking a cruise. The good news is that now that I learned about this, I ended up going on a cruise line that does not require you to sit with strangers at dinner. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/90 "2009-12-04T22:36:35Z")
I was banned from the World of Warcraft message boards for a week maybe for making disparaging comments about Scientology. Specifically saying that it was not actually a religion. ---
**Author:** ![Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eugene_of_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/91 "2009-12-04T23:49:28Z")
I was banned from a sports team board but that’s kind of a badge of honor. Even though it was my team. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/92 "2009-12-04T23:57:38Z")
> [@The\_Shroud](#): > > Her somewhat legendary inability to proofread drove me insane, and I would write things like, “you left out a verb in this sentence. Please proofread.” I accidentally your IP. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/93 "2009-12-05T01:04:19Z")
I was participating in a discussion list about a webcomic I read, which had a rule about “being nice and polite.” Once I made a joke reply to someone (I forget what it was, but I was playing off their comment talking about some mild insult in the comic strip) by saying “Fuckin’ A!” My account was immediately prevented from posting to the list (though I could still read the messages.) I suppose it was deserved but I didn’t think “Fuckin’ A” was that bad. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/94 "2009-12-05T01:12:24Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I have been banned from the [mothering.com](http://mothering.com) messageboards for being pro-vaccination. Of course, they have a sticky there that states that pro-vaccination posts do not help the ‘discussion’, which should have tipped me off. > > Regards, > Shodan Ooh, me too! High fives Shodan! 😃 One of the most evil places on the net ever. They have an unassisted home birthing forum that actually encourages women at risk to have a home birth. At least three babies have died as a result of mommy’s desire for the perfect unicorns and rainbows birth rather than the help of trained medical professionals. Other babies have been seriously injured because of such births. I hate them. HATE THEM! On a lighter note I had a huge laugh over there recently. They let Corzine (former New Jersey governor) buy add space during the recent race. If you clicked on the you actually got a very pro-vaccine message. I snickered for a full minute. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/95 "2009-12-23T18:23:58Z")
I’ve twice been banned from [http://retromags.com](http://retromags.com), a site devoted to the preservation of old video game magazines. The person who created this project was himself banned from arcade-at-home, and apparently primarily created that site so that he could have a little bit of power of his own, and make some money in the process. Retromags as a project is something I did and still believe in, and if you’ve come across scanned copies of old Nintendo Power magazines, odds are that I was the one who scanned it. However, as a community, it was run horribly. The admin would make demands against the other scanners (he wanted ME to send him donations in order to keep the site up, and when I suggested to him that he should be asking for donations from the people who just come to the site to download stuff, he flipped out on me.) I kept scanning, but stopped contributing my scans to the site because of this. Instead, I sent them directly to the other scanners. When he found out, I got banned from the site, along with all of the other scanners who weren’t contributing material to him. Strangely, my contributions didn’t get banned. We didn’t let the ban stop us though - we finished off the rest of the NP scans (issues 1-200) and released them to BT on our own, which was more than [retromags.com](http://retromags.com) was able to do. Finally about a year later I got an IM from the admin begging me to rejoin the group. He promised that I wouldn’t ever be banned again. A couple months later, he announced that the site would no longer carry any magazines that were newer than 10 years ago. I responded to that post simply stating a disagreement to the new policy, and stated that I would continue to scan newer magazines and just release them on my own, rather than through the site and the next thing I knew, I was banned again. This was over a year ago and there’s still an IP ban on there. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/96 "2009-12-23T18:42:24Z")
Yup. A few years ago, I hadn’t yet learned the internet’s most important rule: _Arguing on the internet is like competing in the Special Olympics; you may win, but you’ll still be retarded._ I got dragged into a flame war with some jerk, moderation ensued, I told the moderator what I thought of his moderation, and I got a form e-mail the next day indicating that I was banned. C’est la vie. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/97 "2009-12-23T18:45:44Z")
I was suspended from Television Without Pity for suggesting that another poster had a sexist viewpoint - the mod called it a personal attack, although I never said anything about the poster, only about his post. I was also told that a number of my posts were off topic in a 100 page thread that had gone off a few tangents. I could have gone back, but they’d already erased a number of my posts, and I decided that wasn’t really the kind of place I wanted to hang out. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/98 "2009-12-23T19:01:16Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > I got banned from a website I started. Has no one else asked for details on this? Or did I just miss it? ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/99 "2009-12-23T19:09:56Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > A virtual world didn’t like my binary numeric user name and auto banned me. I didn’t care because there were about 100 worlds to visit and I was just looking at peoples constructs. So … there were actually only four other worlds? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274/100 "2009-12-23T19:18:21Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > A few years ago, I hadn’t yet learned the internet’s most important rule: _Arguing on the internet is like competing in the Special Olympics; you may win, but you’ll still be retarded._ Someone got temporarily banned from a forum I moderate (not by me, but I supported it) for using that very quote in a thread. It was completely out of place, needlessly insulting (in that context) and delivered to someone with a child with Down’s Syndrome. And they included a photo that didn’t help things. It would have been OK if she’d apologized, but that didn’t happen either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-here-ever-been-banned-from-a-forum-website/519274.md?page=6)