I don’t think I’ve ever got involved in one of these types of threads, but I just feel like everyone is childishly pouncing on lissener undeservedly.
I agree with many poster’s comments that the original GQ thread OP was inappropriate for the forum, as well as simply the wrong approach according to simple common sense.
Now, I have no clue whatever history there may be between lissener and Manny and I don’t care enough to search. If it turns out that lissener has repeatedly violated GQ rules with rant-like tones after being warned, well OK.
But judging from this one instance alone why close the GQ thread like that? The only thing I can find in that thread, even remotely inappropriate is the thread title. Ok, so it said Microsuck. Seems to me a simple: “Please keep your rant-like tone in the pit. You are advised to email a mod to change the thread title” or something to that effect would have been more constructive.
But OK, Manny chose to close the thread. It’s not unprecedented or even that radical, and it was perhaps a silly knee-jerk reaction to pit him for it.
Now comes Manny’s punishment. I can predict one possible, perhaps very probable, response to my alternate suggestion regarding the GQ thread as something like: “Do you think we mods have enough time on our hands to suggest to posters that they make requests to change threads, and then sit around waiting for the request before qoing in and wasting more time changing it? It’s easier just to lock it and let the poster reopen it” as if the current punishment of banning participation in all computer related threads won’t be ten times more time consuming to enforce. Besides that, the punishment just doesn’t fit the crime, unless it’s to address the threat of trolling, (a very very stupid threat to make lissener. I mean damnit! What the hell was the point of that???). But still, is threatening to troll the same as trolling??? No more than saying “I’m gonna kill you” is murder or even close enough to it to be punishable by law in and of itself (OK, I’m not a lawyer and have no clue what I’m talking about here, but I hope you get my meaning. Sure, a stalker who poses a real threat to someone is different than your average “I’m going to kill you” statement, but I’m really losing focus here).
But the real reason I felt compelled to get involved is the frustratingly childish way others have since jumped all over lissener with that arrogant “let’s joke in front of him as if he’s not even here about how soon he’ll be banned” crap.
My parents used to do that shit to me when I threw a temper tantrum:
“He’s so bad”
“I just don’t know what’s gotten in to him”
“Maybe he’s on drugs”
and so on…
I mean come on guys, grow up. Why does there always have to be a group of posters that feel the need to fuel the fire like that? That’s the kind of thing I think should be reprimanded by the powers here. Just MHO.