If a longtime poster gets banned, and there’s no announcement, and the person’s posting history doesn’t show any gigantic flameout in the last few days, am I allowed to ask about the reason for the ban? The rules note that one should not post a thread asking about a disappearance, but I didn’t see anything about a banning.
If the answer to my question is no, and this thread is inappropriate, my apologies. Feel free to lock it or remove it.
You’re allowed to ask, we just prefer people ask in private. With bannings like these, the reason is almost always the same: the poster in question turns out to be a sock puppet account of a previously banned poster. We don’t post announcements so these people don’t get the extra attention they’re after.
Thanks. I’ll PM you if that’s OK.
Go ahead.
We generally do post announcements when a long-time poster gets banned, to explain reasons. When we don’t, you can take it almost always that the poster had multiple socks, or was a banned returnee. We don’t want those [del]jackasses[/del] people to get any more public notice than we’re stuck with; they thrive on publicity and attention. If we don’t give it to them, perhaps they’ll go away and leave us alone.
Damn man, you’ve been here for seven years with 2,000 posts and don’t know that it’s preferred that you e-mail or private message an admin to ask why someone was banned? :dubious:
A lot of people don’t know that, or at least it’s often forgotten - and he did ask what to do. There’s no need to get on his case.
ETA: We do explain most bannings. It’s the remaining, un-commented on bannings that tend to confuse people.
That’s true, I apologize. My excuse is that I apparently haven’t had enough caffeine. Allow me to go alleviate that.
Bees! makes a fair point. It’s the sort of thing an educated Doper ought to know.
Mods, you’re welcome to lock this thread.
In that case, I think it should be in Guidelines and Etiquette.
Yeah, Dex. Since you got nothin’ else to do. 