# Liberal's Prospective Suspension/Banning **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 27, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134 "2006-03-27T19:25:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/81 "2006-03-28T05:53:26Z")
I’m put in mind of **Manhattan** ’s rather plaintive attempts to generate a groundswell of posters beseeching him to stay when he held out the “stick” of his resignation, which he rather pompously got another poster to write for him. As it happened, most people saw it as a “carrot”, and he left in high dudgeon. Just the latest in a very long line of human beings to discover that the importance one attaches to the self is seldom matched by that attached to it by others with whom one shares the planet. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/82 "2006-03-28T06:12:07Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > Psst, we’re not supposed to make the Sock accusation. Just report his post if you are suspicious. I just _knew_ I should have used a term like ‘footwarmer’ instead of ‘sock’. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/83 "2006-03-28T06:20:17Z")
I’ve had my disagreements with Liberal on some subjects. But I’ve never understood the anger and abuse that have been directed his way. The man has his opinions and he expresses them. If you disagree, argue with him or ignore him. But why do so many people take it so personally? I, for one, will miss Liberal if he leaves. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/84 "2006-03-28T06:23:20Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Liberal, > > Please, _please_, don’t go! The SDMB is the most important place in the universe and you are the linchpin of its existence. If you go, even for 30 days, this board\_and by extension my life\_ will cease to have any meaning at all. Certainly, it must be difficult for you to deal with the cretins and vulgarians that overpopulate this place. Yet you have soldiered on so bravely and selflessly all this time! Please, do not now leave us all, for whom your posts are the single spark of light in a dark and soulless world! If you leave, even for a moment, Liberal, I don’t know if I’ll be able to bear up under the loss. Your words in the electronic void have given me reason to live. They’ve been something to cling to when the world seemed a cold and malevolent place; and now you want to snatch away the sole source of my succor! Fie on you, sir! Fie! You inconstant doxie! You made me love you! You made me live for each post! It was just to give me hope solely so you could snatch it away! Wasn’t it? Wasn’t it YOU BASTARD!? How many other boards have there been? Whore! You 've been posting all over the net haven’t you!? You fucking skank whore! I HATE YOU!!! **I HATE YOU!!!** \*\* I HATE YOU!!!\*\* _God, I wish I knew how to quit you Ennis!_ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/85 "2006-03-28T06:27:36Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > I’ve had my disagreements with Liberal on some subjects. But I’ve never understood the anger and abuse that have been directed his way. The man has his opinions and he expresses them. If you disagree, argue with him or ignore him. But why do so many people take it so personally? Well, it’s not a matter of taking things personally, \*\*Lib \*\*can make things very personal when he wants. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/86 "2006-03-28T06:33:04Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > I’ve had my disagreements with Liberal on some subjects. But I’ve never understood the anger and abuse that have been directed his way. The man has his opinions and he expresses them. If you disagree, argue with him or ignore him. But why do so many people take it so personally? Well, it’s not a matter of taking things personally, \*\*Lib \*\*can make things very personal when he wants. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/87 "2006-03-28T06:38:17Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > … The man has his opinions and he expresses them. If you disagree, argue with him or ignore him. But why do so many people take it so personally? Um, I think you should should be asking **Lib** why he takes it _personally_ seeing as he is the one seeking banning/temporary exorcisement from the Board. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/88 "2006-03-28T07:32:34Z")
**Liberal** asks for help, rather publicly, to quit. Rather than disparage the choice he’s made, I suggest the mods try to honor it. Call it a “suspension.” Effective immediately. Leave the suspension in place for a minimum of thirty days but DO NOT ALLOW **Liberal** TO POST until he actually _asks_ to return. If it’s 30, 40, 60, 90 days from now, just continue the suspension. If he doesn’t return before this current subscription runs out, he retconns as a “guest.” His many, many posts will still be in place. If he violates the terms of the SDMB agreement by returning as a sock while his **Liberal** ID is still under suspension, ban him outright and do not allow him to repost again. I do think **Lib** could use more balanced interests and probably needs help to resist the temptation to come back here. Do so in a way where he remains in good standing. Regardless of why he made this choice, I sort of agree it may well be a healthy choice if he replaces it with other activities. He’ll be missed by most. I do wish him well. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/89 "2006-03-28T07:47:53Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > **Liberal** asks for help, rather publicly, to quit. Rather than disparage the choice he’s made, I suggest the mods try to honor it. Oh, please. If someone’s will is so pathetically weak that he needs “help” not to post to a message board, he’s just better off being…well, not here. It’s not like he’s asked help to kick a drug addiction or quit smoking. I mean, for fuck’s sake, just _stop posting_. The staff have better things to do with their time than “help” folks who can’t shut the fuck up on their own; it’s not their problem. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/90 "2006-03-28T07:48:11Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > \ One of the reasons I enjoy coming here. Bravo, Sir, Bravo! I think **Liberal** is so wrapped up in his ‘logic’ that he is now unable to make a relatively easy decision as to whether to continue to post on a bulleting board. Go out into the Sun I say. Leave your Ivory Tower. Take a walk in the woods. Feel the cool breeze on your face. The only proof as to the worlds existence is that it is and you can see and feel it. Up is up and down is down, 1 + 1 = 2 for no other reason than that it is. Leave the board, or not: “Do, or do not. There is no try”, as a rather famous munchkin once said. Or, just grab a cool one and turn on the tube for a while. Whatever, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/91 "2006-03-28T08:30:29Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Oh, please. If someone’s will is so pathetically weak that he needs “help” not to post to a message board, he’s just better off being…well, not here. It’s not like he’s asked help to kick a drug addiction or quit smoking. I mean, for fuck’s sake, just _stop posting_. The staff have better things to do with their time than “help” folks who can’t shut the fuck up on their own; it’s not their problem. I kind of agree, but would you be so annoyed with the request if someone else – say me – made it? (I’ve thought about it.) I don’t think of most people as ‘pathetically weak-willed’ so much people who have really strongly engrained habits of things they enjoy doing and they need help breaking/replacing these enjoyable habits. I tend to think of “will” as measure of self-control for a long-standing repeated action as an unquantifiable myth anyway: unlike, “will”, a habit can be observed by its repetition. To me, all “will” is the application of habit: either an old, engrained one a person does automatically without thinking, sometimes by complusion; or a new one to replace an old one. Approaching my diet with the idea I’m AVOIDING unhealthy food habits is the current approach I’m doing with my current weight loss regimen and it’s the most helpful attitude I’ve had. ANYWAY – **Liberal** could use a new habit. He looks like he could use help making a new habit of NOT posting on the boards all the time. Why not help? The staff may well have better things to do, but this isn’t a time-consuming, rule-shattering or intrusive request. The staff would simply need to suspend him and leave the suspension in place until he specifically requests to do come back after thirty days instead of the 30 days being automatic. Meanwhile I hope **Liberal** finds new activities and diversions. Maybe he could volunteer, or find some new physical activities to do. My two cents. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/92 "2006-03-28T12:56:16Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > _God, I wish I knew how to quit you Ennis!_ I can’t let this slip by. Genius 😃 Jim {First good laugh of the morning} ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/93 "2006-03-28T13:11:48Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > 1 + 1 = 2 Wrong. Don’t you listen to the Who? One and one don’t make two, one and one make one? Sheesh… ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/94 "2006-03-28T13:16:38Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > **Liberal** asks for help, rather publicly, to quit. Rather than disparage the choice he’s made, I suggest the mods try to honor it. > … > He’ll be missed by most. I do wish him well. Yep. As someone who has not always been on the best of terms with him, I do wish him well. That may well mean that he needs to find a discussion group where people are willing to accept his assumptions and to have intelligent and erudite discussions that don’t challenge those assumptions. More power, and I mean this sincerely, to him if he can find such a group. I just think it was kinda silly to post the request publicly. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![cards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cards)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/95 "2006-03-28T13:27:55Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Liberal, > > Please, _please_, don’t go! The SDMB is the most important place in the universe and you are the linchpin of its existence. If you go, even for 30 days, this board\_and by extension my life\_ will cease to have any meaning at all. Certainly, it must be difficult for you to deal with the cretins and vulgarians that overpopulate this place. Yet you have soldiered on so bravely and selflessly all this time! Please, do not now leave us all, for whom your posts are the single spark of light in a dark and soulless world! If you leave, even for a moment, Liberal, I don’t know if I’ll be able to bear up under the loss. Your words in the electronic void have given me reason to live. They’ve been something to cling to when the world seemed a cold and malevolent place; and now you want to snatch away the sole source of my succor! Fie on you, sir! Fie! You inconstant doxie! You made me love you! You made me live for each post! It was just to give me hope solely so you could snatch it away! Wasn’t it? Wasn’t it YOU BASTARD!? How many other boards have there been? Whore! You 've been posting all over the net haven’t you!? You fucking skank whore! I HATE YOU!!! **I HATE YOU!!!** \*\* I HATE YOU!!!\*\* I hardly think Lib is more important than our own beloved Bosda. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=321407&highlight=Bosda](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=321407&highlight=Bosda) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/96 "2006-03-28T13:52:29Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Fie on you, sir! Fie! You inconstant doxie! Be careful with such language. I believe **elucidator** has the copyright on this sort of effluvinous turd-mongery. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/97 "2006-03-28T14:53:08Z")
Who the hell is **Liberal**? For one thing, he must be the star attraction at the corner tavern: **Liberal** : Sam, I’ve been thinking about it, and there’s only one solution. You’ve got to throw me out. **Sam** : (polishing shot glasses) Why? **Liberal** : There’s gonna be trouble. Big trouble. I can sense it. And it’s gonna be rough, and it’s gonna be loud, and it’s gonna be all about me. **Sam** : That so? **Liberal** : Oh, yeah. See, I threaten you guys. **Sam** : Threaten? When? What with? **Liberal** : Moral and intellectual superiority. I try to hold it in, but it just keeps oozing out. **Sam** : You want I should Lysol your stool? **Liberal** : See, it’s bad enough being always right. That’d make anyone a target. But lately, I feel myself getting even more smarter than you guys. The gap’s widening and I can tell you and your customers can’t handle it. You’re about to explode, and it will be my fault. Not morally or legally, that way it’d be _your_ fault, but in the sense of if they made a movie out of it later, I’d be the hero. **Sam** : Uh-huh. **Liberal** : I’m telling you this because I can see that you couldn’t understand the private communication I gave you on account of I don’t crave the attention of others. **Sam** : You gave me a cocktail napkin with “P or not P?” written on it. I figured you was trying to decide whether to have another beer before you hit the head. **Liberal** : You don’t understand! I’m losing my ability to suffer you fools gladly! I’m _dangerous_, I tells ya! You gotta haul me outta here pronto! **Sam** : I don’t get the gag. If you don’t like it here, whyn’t you just leave? **Liberal** : No! That wouldn’t work at all! _You’ve_ got to do it. You gotta come right over the bar yelling and hollering and grab me by the collar and drag me offa this stool and across the floor, knocking over chairs and spilling everyone’s beer, and just before we get to the door, I wrote down what you’re supposed to say. **Sam** : (reading) “We got no use for your towering intellect in here, highbrow scum. Take your scintillating wit and scything insight to some lofty aerie of pure thought where the denizens who walk in wisdom and grace might dimly appreciate you, though they could never fully understand you.” **Liberal** : And then you let go of my collar and I square my shoulders, look levelly around the room, and walk out with dignity. **Sam** : Dignity. **Liberal** : Of course. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/98 "2006-03-28T15:07:40Z")
**The King of Soup** , that’s just perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/99 "2006-03-28T15:12:16Z")
That is pure genius, captures the situation perfectly. If anything makes \*\*Lib \*\* come back, it will be that post, if only to take a bow. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134/100 "2006-03-28T15:18:02Z")
Heh heh, **King**. I think **Lib** himself would laugh at that skit in good grace. Does anyone know of a specific thread which might have brought on this request of his? Absent any particularly hurtful or unsavoury episode, then the out-of-the-blue nature suggests to me that, this time, something in his life requires attention and he is removing the temptation of the addictive time-thief this place can be. And if I were to request such a thing, I might as well put a note in ATMB saying so. Behold his powers! He can summon a tempest by merely making a cup of tea. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberals-prospective-suspension-banning/350134.md?page=6)