I'm gonna get banned on a different board

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I’ve never been banned from a message board. I’ve left before that could happen.

I used to frequent a board devoted to a particular hobby. It had nothing to do with automobiles, but just for the sake of an example, let’s imagine it was. And for our example, one of the forums was “Italian Cars.”

The other forums were called, say, “Japanese Cars,” or “Muscle Cars” or “Engine Repairs.” They were full of reasonable discussions on engines, transmissions, carbs, performance improvements, and whatnot. Or Fords, Toyotas, Chevys, Porsches, and Saabs. Or…but you get the idea.

The Italian Cars forum, though, was dominated by a group of people who believed that if you did not drive an Italian car, you were an idiot. Specifically, if you did not drive a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, you were an idiot of the highest order. Anybody who wanted to compare, say, a Porsche to a Ferrari was called a troll, and a Pit-worthy pile-on occurred. Even if somebody had a question about a different Italian car–say, a Fiat–their question was never answered, but instead, they were laughed at, called an idiot for not driving a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, and then a Pit-worthy pile-on would occur. Of course, there was plenty of derision heaped on the posters in other forums who were not discussing high-end Italian cars as well.

I liked Italian cars, sure, but I also liked many other kinds of cars. So when these people also had the balls to suggest to the board moderator (who never moderated) that the board as a whole (that is, not just the Italian Cars forum) needed extra moderators–them of course–to keep out the riff-raff, I decided to leave before they coud be granted their wish. I probably would have been one of the first kicked out.

22

I got banned from the “Johhny Dangerously” message board once. ONCE.

23

I was recently posting on a message board about ocean cruising as I took my first cruise last summer and had been looking for information. There were a lot of questions about bringing booze onboard certain cruise lines as this was against company policy, but drinks on the ship are very expensive. This is as hot a topic on that board as Scientology and evangelists are on this board. Briefly that is because bringing booze on board is against company policy, but does not break any laws. Some posters think that it is only right to follow rules you are aware of in advance, others see this policy as an invasion of their privacy and a profit grab by the cruise lines. They are also bothered by the limited selections of wine available.

So I posted on my experience after there had been recent rule changes. I got a lot of responses which was kinda fun. One moderator wrote a post that was about 8 paragraphs long, and there was a lot of useful information about wineries across North America. When the debate sometimes got nasty, a moderator would delete the offending post. There are no nasty arguments allowed on that board.

So the next morning I go to check the thread and can’t find it. I politely e-mailed a mod wtf? They said that the thread was taking too much of their time, so they deleted it! I was really pissed. Hours of my participation and others’ evaporated forever. That is how they deal with things. I would have expected them to have warned or removed the offending poster. I have not felt like posting there since. For what its worth, that message board is more active with more members than the SD.

24

Early in my life, I was a member of some sort of Skeptic board. I had the temerity to post something along the lines of “second hand smoke is bad for people” and got piled on like crazy. I didn’t know that besides being supposedly a “skeptic” board, they were also hard-core libertarian, and mostly smokers, too. Weird combo. But anyway, I got seriously flamed (like in the PIT here), and everything but run off on a rail. I stopped posting. Oddly, I got a PM and a couple “after” messages asking things like “why did he leave” and “I hope we didn’t scare him off”. huh? :confused: I guess that was just the way they did things and there were no hard feelings. But it’d be like posting in a thread here (for example) about banning smoking in bars: “… but we know SHS is bad for you” and in that same thread half the posters posting PIT-like rants about you. “Moron” was about the nicest thing I was called. :eek:

Oddly, despite my rather strong opinions here, I have never been personally PITed. Although some of my posts/replies have been ripped in the PIT- and sometimes it was even deserving.

My Bro got banned on a certain television board= for asking a question. In the right forum for asking that sort of question. Apparently, it was “the question none dare ask” and you get banned for it- but it’s not in the rules or anything. :dubious: :rolleyes:

25

What was the question?

26

DrDeth, I’m here to tell you that if you don’t tell us what the question was, you’re going to get pitted with extreme prejudice.
I cannot withstand the curiosity. I am not alone in this.

27

Is it that one where Lassie came limping back to the house, began barking, and mom said, “What is it Lassie? Is it Timmy? Timmy is … in the well?” never realizing how close to the truth she really came?

28

Woosh? I don’t get it.

29

Something along the lines of “Why do you pick a reviewer to give weekly reviews of a show who has *openly stated * that they despise, loath and hate that show?”.

I can’t remember the show (Joan of Arcadia?), offhand, nor the exact wording. But he did show me the post- lo these many years ago, and it was posted in a forum for that sort of questions. From reading around, this had been a hot button topic for a while just previously, and if you dared question their policies on this, they banned you. In his case- he was a newbie and was actually asking a question, and fairly nicely. Nicer than I would have asked, as I would have put it something like “why the fuck do you morons…”

So as to not start "board wars’ I won’t mention the name of the board. Please don’t speculate.

30

Sounds suspiciously like a board I was banned from. My offense was not the same as your brother’s, but it was equally insignificant, if not more so. If this is the same board, I will just say that they are notorious for capricious banning (I found out later).

31

snicker
Thank you for the clarification! I won’t speculate where it happened. I can live with THAT level of curiosity. :smiley:
I just had to get the meat of the story is all.

Jeez, that’s like going into the pit and getting banned for calling a mod a “Jack Booted Thug”. It’s just silly!

32

No, it’s more like going into the PIT and asking “Why do the Mods close the reads about words that end with …GRY?” :stuck_out_tongue: IMHO the question was that innocent - *for a newbie. *

Sarahfeena- yes, I suspect you were both banned without pity :smiley: .

33

Yup. This sounds familiar. I joined my husband’s baseball board because he said they were such nice people, and thought I’d really like them. Which, for the most part I do, despite the fact that the owner is a controlling asshat who demands “respect” (read that as constant sucking up), and anyone who disagrees with him politically is immediately pounced on by him and his merry group of sycophants. He doesn’t even attempt to remain objective. I once told him he was wrong, explained why, gave cites to back up my assertion, and was very polite the entire post. I got warned. For disagreeing with him. Not to mention all the “me too!” posts: “U R teh DUM! Y r u arguing with him, he was there, he noes (yes, the spelling really was that bad) u don’t!” It was jaw droppingly scary. To this day, I am “dead to him” (something that causes me no end of amusement). He locked and hid the politics board not long ago. Hm…I wonder why…

And the smilies. Oh, dear merciful goddess, the smilies. Don’t get me wrong. I use the occasional :stuck_out_tongue: or :eek:. I used to think that the people on this board who complained about their usage were over reacting. No longer. There is a woman on that board who uses a smilie per sentence. At least. And her sentence structure… This is a grown woman. I can’t…it doesn’t…ok, example:

And no one is allowed to say a word to her because she’s friends with the site owner and the decree has been handed down: “Anyone giving Mindy (not her real name) any grief will be banned!”
sigh…

34

My post, more directly, should have read:

Was the question, “Did Timmy ever have sex with Lassie?” That ought to get someone banned for trolling and bad taste.

This direct post is not as cute as posting the cliched scene in the television show Lassie and letting the posters create their own “question none dare ask.”

35

Politics always seems to be the thing that sets people off these days.

I post on another board that has banned all discussion of politics whatsoever, because during the 2000 election it got so heated. I must say, it is a pleasant board!

36

I meant to say that my banning was due to politics that did not toe the party line…part of my post seems to have been eaten.

37

Ah, see, and that’s another thing. The owner allows “politics related” threads to be posted, so long as he agrees with the OP and likes that person. But the second I or anyone who disagrees with that person posts, he locks it. And insults the person he disagrees with in a locked post, so that person has absolutely no chance to respond. Nor are “pittings” of moderators allowed. Which, I gotta say, I really admire about the Dope. It’s a rare board that encourages mod pittings, and still rarer for those mods to be so objective and gracious when someone is in their face ranting and railling.

38

The board I was banned from is similar…post after post after post giving one political viewpoint…then when I jumped in to give an opposite POV, I was banned for going off topic (the topic being the show in question, not politcal issues raised by that show). The thread was locked shortly thereafter, but I was the only one banned. Hmmm…

I love that moderators are allowed to be pitted here, too. The board I am banned from is notorious for banning people who disagree with moderators…even if they disagree within the context of a discussion, not for disagreeing with official moderator actions. Sure, they find another excuse for the banning…they would never SAY that they ban people for disagreeing, but the pattern is obvious.

39

I got banned from that board for mentioning that I thought the weekly episode recaps weren’t funny (and my offending post was deleted). I could see that, maybe, if I had been particulary obnoxious about it or kept bringing it up, but it was just that once and I felt it was on-topic to what a couple of other posters were discussing.

Ah well. I didn’t post there much anyway.

40

Well, at least my husband’s board of choice has nice people in it. So nice that they can’t be arsed to straighten out borderline trolls and even encourage them. I have a feeling if I pitted a Mod there, it would be like I came in hitting line drives with kittens into babies.

Here’s an example; it’s something I actually posted here the same day, for pretty much the same reason - someone was spouting gibberish. I said, “I see. And have you tried making sense?” which, as far as I’m concerned, is not all that harsh, and mostly funny (to me, anyway). I got called (in large, red letters) RUDE!!! I felt like saying, “Honey, if you think that’s rude, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!” (I mean, there wasn’t any mention of their mothers and goat-felching or anything), but I thought the better of it. Maybe I’ve been hanging out in the Pit too long, but that didn’t seem all that bad to me. I guess their mileage is varying.