# Manhattan's Mass Banning Fucking Power Trip **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 12, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740 "2003-03-12T04:16:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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 12, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/21 "2003-03-12T05:38:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nightime \* > \*\*Isn’t there some way of only banning them from GQ? \*\* Yes, but it would take some script hacking. I doubt if they’d go for that. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/22 "2003-03-12T05:42:56Z")
And yet someone who tells someone to go kill himself doesn’t get banned. Well, that was in another forum. ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/23 "2003-03-12T05:47:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*Yes, but it would take some script hacking. I doubt if they’d go for that. \*\* If I’m not mistaken, I believe a new category of user can be created and that user category can be assigned certain priviledges and denied others. Potentially a person can have read only access to GQ or any other forum, depending on what their user classification. ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/24 "2003-03-12T05:48:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\*And yet someone who tells someone to go kill himself doesn’t get banned. > > Well, that was in another forum. \*\* And also not against the rules. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/25 "2003-03-12T05:50:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Potentially a person can have read only access to GQ or any other forum, depending on what their user classification. I think _anyone_ can read anything. You just can’t post if you’re banned. ---
**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 12, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/26 "2003-03-12T05:54:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by EasyPhil \* > \*\*If I’m not mistaken, I believe a new category of user can be created and that user category can be assigned certain priviledges and denied others. Potentially a person can have read only access to GQ or any other forum, depending on what their user classification. \*\* Yes, new user categories can be created, but I don’t think vB allows them to be imposed on individual forum categories. It’s an all-or-none thing as far as the scripts are concerned. I’ve worked on hacking forum (that is, making them better by improving the coding, not breaking into them) boards similar to this and they all behave the same in that respect. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/27 "2003-03-12T05:54:56Z")
EasyPhil: I do believe the bit about wishing someone go kill themselves has been expressly prohibited. Give me some time and I’ll see if I can find…er… So, what are we calling the Words of the Moderators/Admins these days? I was going to type _stone tablets_ but that’s so 20th Century. Yes, I see the joke in there. That’s why I typed _century_ with a capital c. p.s. Great username. ---
**Author:** ![Nightime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Nightime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightime)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/28 "2003-03-12T05:59:19Z")
Looks like we have another mass banning on the way in the french fries thread in GQ. When will people learn that we are not here to have human conversations! ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/29 "2003-03-12T06:04:42Z")
I guess I can understand the problem the mods had with the posts, though I never would have expected such a mass banning from them. I just figured the first bannings from the “No Politics in GQ” policy would have stemmed from the daily non-sequitur “Bush is an idiot/stole the election/Clinton couldn’t keep it in his pants/lied about everything” genres. _Those_ get really old. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/30 "2003-03-12T06:08:59Z")
Hey, Phil! You’re right! I obviously misremembered the Administrator’s comment. Here it is from the Moderator Behaviour (not by a newbie) thread in the BBQ Pit: > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Gaudere_ > If you’re talking about the thread I think you are, any newbie or reg could have gotten away with that comment without an official warning; horrifyingly tasteless though I think it is, it’s not against the GD rules to express a desire for a public figure to commit suicide. I’ll use a bit of induction here and decide for myself that if it’s not against the rules in GD to express a desire for a public figure to commit suicide, then it’s not against the rules in the BBQ Pit to issue an imperative for another poster to commit suicide. Of course it’s incredibly tacky, tastless, stupid, petty, childish, and moronic, but not against the rules. It ought to be against the rules, though, IMHO. Okay, so my question still stands: What’re we going to call them thar words instead of _stone tablets_. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/31 "2003-03-12T06:28:54Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ll use a bit of induction here and decide for myself that if it’s not against the rules in GD to express a desire for a public figure to commit suicide, then it’s not against the rules in the BBQ Pit to issue an imperative for another poster to commit suicide. Of course it’s incredibly tacky, tastless, stupid, petty, childish, and moronic, but not against the rules. It ought to be against the rules, though, IMHO. I can tell you that if I find something like that in MPSIMS, I’m gonna make a stink about it. And I suspect that were it to be found in the Pit, the Pit mods would have something to say, too. It’s a question of _who_ one is wishing death upon. Comments towards public figures are treated differently than comments directed towards members of the boards. Except where U.S. law says it’s illegal to do so, as in the case of the president of the United States. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/32 "2003-03-12T06:37:01Z")
> [@](#): > > _Nightime imparted:_ When will people learn that we are not here to have human conversations! That’s disingenuous at best, a complete misreprestation at worst. There _are_ forums for “human conversations,” such as MPSIMS, IMHO, Cafe Society, etc. General Questions is intended to serve a very specific purpose, “human conversation” ain’t it. We realize fully that these types of conversations are going to take place no matter what, hence the evolution of MPSIMS (and some other forums). Initially the SDMB consisted entirely of CoCC, GQ and later CoSR; the other forums were established as we saw certain types of converstations as being inevitable. All we ask is that these things are kept to the correct forums; they’re in no way proscripted. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/33 "2003-03-12T07:07:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\*Okay, so my question still stands: What’re we going to call them thar words instead of _stone tablets_. \*\* [Pharmacy Tech geek Mode ON]How about _enteric coated_ stone tablets?[/Pharmacy Tech geek Mode OFF] ---
**Author:** ![Nightime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Nightime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightime)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/34 "2003-03-12T07:22:01Z")
Then perhaps it would have been a better idea to simply ask the posters in question to keep to the other forums from now on, rather than banning them altogether. It is sad that javaman gets banned after 2058 posts because he didn’t understand the new rule enforcement in GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/35 "2003-03-12T07:54:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by UncleBeer \* > \*\*Except where U.S. law says it’s illegal to do so, as in the case of the president of the United States. \*\* When was that law passed? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/36 "2003-03-12T08:04:03Z")
I stand corrected re: **javaman** being a newbie. Anyway, there’s a long-running problem of people not paying the slightest bit of attention to the rules around here. Yes, we all break them, either by a mistake, or because it’s a flexible rule, but God damn, some people act like they just don’t care about rules or basic working of the SDMB. How many times are we going to see posts asking why the edit feature doesn’t work? How many people are going to start threads asking which P2P application works best on their OS? Does this sound familiar? > [@](#): > > Welcome to the SDMB, and thank you for posting your comment. > Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site. > To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space before and after the text of the URL). > Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link: … People continue to make zero effort to learn the ways of this board. How far can that go? A line has to be drawn clearly somwehere. Plastering the rules all over the place doesn’t seem to work, so what the hell is a bunch overworked unpaid folks to do? Reviewing the thread, I think it’s a bummer that **javaman** was basically in the wrong place at the wrong time. What he did in that thread\* has been tolerated for a long time, and he, along with the other bannees, just happened to be standing where the rug was yanked out. \*-OP starts with “Just the facts no debate,” java starts his with “[mounting high horse]”. He didn’t start the hijack, but he did participate. I’m not wholly worried, because **manhattan** ’s post above implies (“Can they come back? Actually, yeah.”) that they will be welcomed back, assuming they agree to follow the revamped rules. If it looked like they were gone for good, then it’d be a different story. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/37 "2003-03-12T08:09:59Z")
[http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/871.html](http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/871.html) Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 41, Section 871: Threats against President and successors to the Presidency I don’t know when exactly it was passed, but I know it dates back to before Bush43, Clinton or Bush41. Also, subsequent court decisions have ruled that the law also applies to email and messages on the Internet, which includes what get posted at the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/38 "2003-03-12T08:11:58Z")
That was in response to **Aslan2** , btw. I just noticed that your profile gives a location of Vancouver. The Chicago Reader and the SDMB, however, are in the US and are subject to its laws. ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/39 "2003-03-12T08:15:15Z")
Ah. ---
**Author:** ![Skorch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Skorch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skorch)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740/40 "2003-03-12T08:42:46Z")
AE (Area Effect, mass) Bannings suck ass. They ruin alot of boards and people are left thinking wtf did I get banned for? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattans-mass-banning-fucking-power-trip/160740.md?page=3)