I agree .
Not really. I was away from the board when he really got bad and missed a lot of it. But two votes no in just minutes tells me you saw things I didn’t get a chance to see.
Accepted
To the extent that there is some question about this being motivated by political viewpoint… I don’t see it. And I offer this opinion only because as one of the beleagured conservatives here, I thought it might have some greater relevance than the same view offered by Larry Leftypost, in any of his incarnations.
A compromise idea regarding banning:
For every warning, your default font color gets set to something lighter than before, and you can’t change it.
If you get too many warnings no one will be able to read your posts, but you won’t be banned, win-win.
For example:
I’ve been warned
Dang, I did it again
I just can’t help myself
HELP I CAN’T SEE MY OWN POSTS
I miss Satan. Do you think he’d be interested in coming back, though?
You can highlight the text and read it anyway.
Wasn’t there a certain type of quasi-banning used at some boards where people would post, but nothing they wrote would be visible to others and they weren’t aware of that? “Hmm why isn’t anyone responding anymore?” No, I think that is pretty despicable-just kick the guy so at least he knows the score.
Just having some fun with it.
You are actually advocating that we have special rules for long-timer posters? We get enough complaints from newbies who think that we give old timers special leeway. This isn’t going to fly at all.
Long time posters should know the rules and be able to follow them. Personally, I’m actually less inclined to give special treatment to someone because they have been around a long time than to a newbie who doesn’t know the ropes.
We give few warnings in comparison to the number of posts and posters, and we ban very few members. We banned exactly one, count 'em, one poster in all of 2008 for insulting other posters. The moderators as a group issued roughly 200 official warnings in all of 2008, or an average of something like 0.05 warnings per active member. Weirddave’s two warnings in 2008 represented 40 times more warnings than the average poster received.
The rules aren’t that hard to follow. Thousands of posters somehow manage to get through every year without a single warning.
Yeah, it sounds inconsistent at first but is it really that bad if you think about it? I’m not saying an entirely different set of rules for this group or that group of posters, but just to take certain things into consideration. If a guy wanders in from the cold and makes 10 posts in a week, 5 of them drawing warnings, I think that’s a lot different that a guy like Dave getting 5 warnings in a year and a half. Or if Dave had only made 50 or 100 or so posts in that time, and 5 of them got warnings, I think even then it would be a lot different. A ban would be a lot more understandable in that circumstance.
Isn’t getting five “last chances” a lot already?
I guess. Hell, what do I know, I would be a horrible moderator. They just seemed like pretty minor infractions to incur the wrath of the banhammer, in my opinion. It just seems like there’s Rules (don’t have a sock, don’t spam, don’t discuss current illegal activities) and then there’s Guidelines (don’t be a jerk.) I think there should be more wiggleroom for guideline fouls.
Yes. It’s absolutely a bad idea.
Personal insults outside the Pit are a pretty bright line rule that Dave was warned about over and over and over again without seeming to care.
Yeah, that’s kind of why there were five of them. When someone’s received that many warnings and are on the final straw, I think we end up looking for reasons not to ban them. You can’t say somebody who given a final warning almost two years ago and then received five more warnings was rushed out the door.
Here’s where you’re wrong. Although it’s phrased as “a guiding principle” in the Registration Agreement, “Don’t be a jerk” is not a guideline but rather the most basic rule of all.
Then there should be a lot more bannings.
Cite please.
You know, I don’t see a lot of jerkiness around here, and when I do, someone usually calls the person on it.
Good question. I don’t know. Drain Bead might know.