One reason why I was tempted to drift away from this site is how much rope you guys would often give a putative troll to let him hang himself-miles and miles in some cases. Now it seems that you are a bit quicker on the smackdown now (tho one recent suspension of a long-term member was way overdue-IMHO of course and not wishing to imply anything else beyond that)-with my main point is that if you continued to let the level of discourse here deteriorate, it would be to the detriment of the long-term health of the board, and people like me would end up leaving. To your credit you are apparently making a concerted effort to kick the trash to the curb.
I agree. More smacking down egregious abusers and less prophylacticly wrist-slapping minor transgressions is, in my opinion, a great tenor to set. I can see how hard it is to pin down “trolling” on one or two particular posts, but lately you guys have done a very good job of pointing to posting patterns and saying “enough of this shit, out of the pool”.
Thirded. This has been the bestest 4th of July weekend/period evar. I imagine a couple of folks are in disbelief that this could actually happen to them.
I agree that they sometimes let things run on way too long.
I would humbly suggest a shorter suspension period, perhaps one week or two. Maybe then they’d be more willing to act sooner, were the term shorter. Just a thought.
Elbows,
I’d disagree on the shorter period myself. A month won’t kill ya. I’d even suggest it should be two months. And for that matter if a month is big deal to be banned from just posting (hell, I’ve lurked here from nearly day one) then IMO you’ve got way too much of your real life invested in here/the internet and you really do need a break for your own good. Or, in other words, if this place is your only outlet (barring folks like the bubble boy) you, one, need to go get a real life…and two, if it IS that damn important that you MUST POST HERE then you sure as heck need to fricking start behaving yourself.
And I think a second suspension (assuming that such is even granted) should be more like 6 months to a year).
Also, the more compassionate side of me thinks people that were banned long long ago (like 5 to 10 years ago) should get a second chance (but be on a very short leash).
This has been done a few times, when the banned person pleaded for it, and seemed very sincere in their intent that this time, they’ll be good, honest. So far as I know, it’s never once worked out.
Not all suspensions last a month. That’s sort of become the default for someone who racks up a significant number of warnings in a short time. I can think of a few times we’ve suspended people for a week or two for violations that weren’t as severe or as frequent. I know of one time a poster was suspended for 24 hours because regular warnings weren’t sinking in at all. I don’t think we’ve suspended anyone for more than a month unless he/she was too young to post here. If a month away from the board is not long enough to make you reconsider what you’re doing, I’m not sure two or three is going to do it either.
Oh, I totally agree that a month isn’t too much to ask, I was just suggesting it in the hope they might be inclined to act sooner in some instances, is all.
Okay, I take you’ve talking about folks that were allowed back and still got banned again. Yeah, that may have well happened as I don’t keep track of that kinda stuff that much.
The case I remember that I think should be reconsidered due to time is a younger guy (and I think otherwise upstanding poster) that created a sock. IIRC the ONLY reason he created the sock/second account was he had a serious question/problem regarding a legal/ethical quandary and he didnt want to post the questions under his regular user name as he was easily identifiable under that one.
AFAIK he wasnt ever allowed back even though he politely asked to be several years after the incident.
Then again, it won’t hurt the offender that much and sure as heck gives the other posters a nice break.
I think the problem is folks are thinking about suspensions like prison sentences or massive monetary fines. Geezus people, its an internet forum, not your life.
BTW, how many suspensions do you need to rack up before the permanent banhammer drops?
Oh, and I think I got myself one of those shorter suspensions once FTR.
We will usually give someone a suspension before we resort to a ban, but it’s not a hard and fast rule. A newbie who gets a bunch of warnings right away is likely to just get banned. A few people have been suspended more than once (years and years apart), but that’s not common.
Completely agree with the OP.
I’ve never said it before and might as well say it now: I’m quite impressed how the mods handle things here. Many thanks for your great work over the years.
Can’t post what I’d like to say in this forum, unfortunately. But you can read all about it here.
Hm…I actually like the fact that the Mods are thoughtful and deliberate in using their powers to ban. I don’t want that to change in an orgy of bannings (especially since I could be one of those banned :p), but I have to say that the recent bannings seemed to be completely justified and even necessary.
-XT
I think the heat is making the mods grumpy. Not that that’s entirely a bad thing.
A suspension is generally the next-to-last resort. Most people respond to mod notes or warnings by changing their behavior. If someone has been warned multiple times in a relatively short period of time, and doesn’t show much sign of changing, we impose a suspension as a means of getting their attention. If they resume the same behavior within a short time after coming back, that will generally result in a ban.
It was a good call by the mods.
One of the issues I believe is that other members - especially new ones- can see posters really pushing the edge and gain the impression that such behaviour is acceptable.
Are we talking about something specific?
I think he’s referring to le cornes lapin…
-XT