I don’t think 524 posts between official warnings is all that unbelievable, considering that I’m sure we have plenty of people around here with hundreds/thousands of posts and no official warnings.
Find me another forum on the internet comparable to the topics that we discuss here, and show me a guy on that forum that can go ten posts without calling someone a boner-biting dickfart fuckface and/or posting a “Fail” picture. I’m not saying it’s unheard of here, but if you look at the internets as a whole, 524 is Herculean.
I have one official warning which was later deemed to have been in error, and I can sometimes be a smarmy asshole, and arrogant ass, and a real jerk. Or so I’m told. If his ratio is unbelievable, my ratio must be supernatural to the infinity power.
Well, OK. Then maybe Weirddave will find success posting at some of those other forums. I’m not disagreeing with your point, it’s just that saying someone’s behavior is really good for another forum besides this one isn’t really germane to discussing his behavior here, on this forum.
Holy Cow! They banned him from the internet? I’m really going to watch my step now.
Not insulting someone isn’t an achievement and it doesn’t need to be rewarded. Anyway there are probably hundreds of people here who’ve made thousands more posts than Weirddave without racking up the number of warnings he reached post-suspension alone, in the last year and a half. It is not an accompishment to avoid repeatedly insulting people when you know you aren’t supposed to. What kind of reward would be adequate for meeting that kind of minimum standard? We go easy on people who slip up in the heat of an argument, even if they do it more than once, but it’s not like you can accidentally call someone names a message board.
Under this system, there would be two penalties: warnings, which never build up to anything and expire within a short period of time, and an endless number of ineffective suspensions. How would that make it “incredibly inconvenient and counter-productive” to reoffend? That sounds incredibly inconvenient to everyone else, and counter-productive to the board. What’s the incentive to follow the rule in the first place? Most people do follow this rule without a problem, so why tie one hand behind their backs in an argument?
I’ve been here six and a half years and way, way, way too many posts, and am pretty sure I’ve never gotten a warning. I think I might have gotten an “ahem” once, but that might just be my guilty conscience.
It’s not that hard to treat other people with some kind of minimum civility. Hint – if you can’t say anything pleasant, don’t say anything at all. There are certain people whose threads I stay out of, because I know I’m going to get pissed off if I go into them.
Hey, Mods, just curious-do I have any warnings? Oh wait-recently I did for calling someone a liar outside of the Pit. (I think we used to be allowed to do so.)
But do I have any others?
Definitely not going to give out anybody’s tally in public, Guinastasia. Send me a PM and I’ll take a look.
Membership.
No, under this system, a person who kept slipping up would have much more time out than “time in” and would learn that s/he was either going to follow the standards of the community or not post. The warnings do lead up to something (suspensions) and 6 months is not a short period of time. Most probation periods after fucking up at a real life job are 90 days. I’m not saying that this should be done for everyone, but a guy like Dave who has been here for a decade, almost 10,000 posts, has hosted dopefests, met his wife here, etc (what I’m getting at is that he obviously cares a lot about this place, no matter what he’d probably tell you right now) should be given some extra leeway.
And you know what? We should officially recognize that Mods don’t have to play by the rules, either.
And chapter members should get a present on their birthdays.
And people who’ve got over 10,000 posts should get a blowjob (or something else of comparable value).
Jeez Louise! How about we set up some clear rules that apply to everyone and try to, you know, follow them?
Personally, I should think that someone who “obviously cares a lot about this place” would put some effort into following the rules. Maybe that’s just me.
I tend to agree with Cervaise above: Weirddave was always an angry poster; for some time now he’s been simply a venomous one.
I’d settle for a wink and a woot.
I’ve never understood the idea that someone who breaks rules shouldn’t be punished for it. I’ve never understood the idea that someone who breaks rules repeatedly should be allowed to continue breaking the rules repeatedly. I think those who think so simply are against any serious moderation of this message board.
If someone can continuously break the rules and post in the manner of the poster in question, without being banned, I know I’m in the wrong place.
You mean the thing people already have?
Ok, maybe I misunderstood. Right now, we have warnings, which lead up to (usually) a headsup that suspension is imminent, and then a suspension, which is a final warning or close to it. I guess the difference is at what point you cut the cord, if ever.
I’m not suggesting Dave didn’t care about the board- although I don’t think that earns you more chances. I’m sure he did, that’s why I said that this situation sucks. But like I said: the rules here aren’t a big mystery and he’d been here more than long enough to know them. If you can’t avoid breaking some simple rules, you put your membership at risk, and he knew he was running out of chances. It’s not like there was a rush to ban him.
Speak for yourself. (Well, obviously a blowjob would be out in my case…)
It’s the Mods call, of course, and they may know something about him that we don’t. But I feel Brian brought an in-your-face view of things that was interesting.
Toward the end he got depressed or something and his posts seemed to fly off the hook.
Maybe enought water has passed under the bridge by now.
Meh.
Plenty of warnings, given plenty of chances to ratchet back but he didn’t heed any of it. His choice, his decision; personal responsibility and all that.
A no-brainer, IMO.
Don’t waste your time.
whoosh. I think.