# mswas banning **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 3, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552 "2010-02-03T17:46:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/41 "2010-02-03T20:13:15Z")
I like \*\*mswas \*\*just fine, sometimes. Other times, not so much. But if you can’t see that he woke up this morning and had “Get Banned from SDMB” right at the top of his calander, you’re fucking blind. ---
**Author:** ![tacoloco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/42 "2010-02-03T20:19:15Z")
> [@ajb867](#): > > It’s not even close to a cheap shot, you have made it abundantly clear you just didn’t like the poster. Said poster has contributed a whole lot more to the board then posting inflammatory retorts regarding his banning for “their entertainment”. It’s absolutely a cheap shot. You can at least be honest and admit it. I don’t dislike **mswas**. I also don’t care about his being banned. Any of my comments here are not for my own entertainment nor are they based out of some bias against **mswas**. The entire point of posting is that **mswas** decided his own fate. It does not matter one whit whether you agree or disagree. > [@](#): > > I’m not absolving mswas of all guilt in this matter but we lost more then what was gained if you ask me. He is entirely to blame for his situation now. I have zero respect for someone who paves their own way to the exit and then taunts the mods to take action. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/43 "2010-02-03T20:38:06Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Announcements of bans and suspensions always get locked, but people are free to open a new thread to ask questions. > > That was suicide by mod as far as I was concerned, yes. You can read his ‘I’m going to get banned, goodbye’ thread as evidence and to see he had no interest in trying to follow the same rules as everybody else. He had eight warnings since last April, including a suspension in the fall. You wanted him, you got him. Well done Marley. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/44 "2010-02-03T20:44:41Z")
I can see where you got that out of my post, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/45 "2010-02-03T20:46:12Z")
> [@ajb867](#): > > Hey crazy burrito your bias is showing. Do you remember this? > > "Hmm. Yeah, Rand Rover is sort of a common enemy. Even more so that Der Trihs, who seems to have some fans. > > I don’t care who posts or who doesn’t or who gets banned or not. All I care about is whether I’m entertained or not. > > The preemptive goodbye thread was sort of a decent flame out. I’d have liked it better if mswas had called all the mods something nasty and triple dog dared them to ban him. Xploder style. " > > Gee, I wonder who could be the author of this quote. > > The door to this thread is to your left, please don’t forget to take your credibility with you when you leave. Perhaps some context is required. That post was in direct response to me, when I stated: > [@me](#): > > The Dope needs Rand Rover. When the general populace of that board doesn’t have a common enemy to hate on, things get intractably boring. Reading one of his hate fest threads is infinitely more entertaining than reading a forty post dissection of what was meant by using the word ‘than’ instead of the word ‘by.’ > ‘But I meant this. That should have been clear to a four year old (who started reading when he was two, like me).’ > ‘It obviously wasn’t clear and perhaps you should take the time to preview blah blah BLAH, BLAH **BLAH, BLAH** **BLAH**.’ Now that may well be slightly hyperbolic, but it remains my opinion and I own it. The question is: why should tacoloco be restrained to voicing _his_ opinion in one place and one place only? This attitude that one must embrace one board and one board only or be branded a traitor or devoid of credibility is the stupidest brand of tribalism I’ve encountered. He didn’t even say anything contrary in that thread to what he’s said here. He didn’t wish mswas any ill will or snark on him so much as admire his flame out style. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/46 "2010-02-03T20:47:50Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > You wanted him, you got him. > > Well done Marley. Well done. You make it sound like he had it in for **mswas** when it seems to me he just posted a lot of things that got him warned. If he’d really wanted to stay, why not just post his opinions but do so in a polite and friendly manner? It’s not all that hard to do in a written forum where you have time to go back and read over what you say to make sure it’s not incendiary or offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/47 "2010-02-03T20:56:33Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That was suicide by mod as far as I was concerned, yes. You can read his ‘I’m going to get banned, goodbye’ thread as evidence and to see he had no interest in trying to follow the same rules as everybody else. It would have helped if you had linked to that thread in the announcement of his banning. For those who haven’t seen it, look here: > **[A Pre-Emptive Goodbye](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=550478)** > > So after my most recent capricious warning on this message board, I have been informed that if I run afoul of the moderator caprice one more time, I am going to be banned, no warnings, ifs ands or buts. So as far as I see it, this is probably... Such behaviour after being warned for the last time made his banning inevitable. He could have survived if not for the above thread, but you can see that he was deliberately piling on straws, looking for the last one. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/48 "2010-02-03T21:03:34Z")
He should have been banned for excessive use of winking emoticons alone. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/49 "2010-02-03T21:34:38Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > He should have been banned for excessive use of winking emoticons alone. That, and his recent habit of LOLing at everything. Seriously, he just could not stop insulting people outside the pit. He frequently got angry and frustrated, and flung insults around. He could not help himself. This was not the right place for him. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/50 "2010-02-03T21:48:26Z")
**mswas** was obviously looking for a banning, but it was a particular type of banning he wanted. He wanted his last infraction not to specifically violate the rules. And he pulled it off. You can say he was insulting, but as I’ve often lamented, that isn’t against the rules. I’ve been told that “Personal insults” specifically means calling someone a name, which I have seen no evidence **mswas** did. He was being jerkish, but no more than anyone else I’ve seen, to the point that I’m even doing it. I also am not impressed by the “We all agreed, so it wasn’t arbitrary” deal. Y’all are good guys, but I’ve seen very little evidence of you guys disagreeing. It’s not like the Supreme Court or anything. So, in my mind, it comes across as a bunch of like-minded people all agreed on something. Is that supposed to mean something? ## I think to get across what you intended to get across, you would need to point out that a particular mod, who is very hesitant to ban, agreed that a ban was indicated. So that’s my opinion on the matter. It’s why I post in ATMB: You just don’t have the right to complain about something not going your way if you didn’t object to it when it happened to someone else. It would be like not voting and complaining about the results of the election. Still, I don’t object to **mswas** being banned as much as his last warning that caused it. And I honestly do hate to see him go. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/51 "2010-02-03T22:05:22Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > **mswas** was obviously looking for a banning, but it was a particular type of banning he wanted. He wanted his last infraction not to specifically violate the rules. > [@](#): > > [Originally posted by **Ed Zotti**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=482772) > please don’t badger or abuse the staff - this will get you thrown out pretty quick. Is that not a rule or has it changed? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/52 "2010-02-03T22:16:43Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > He wanted to stay. He said so directly. This is ludicrous. mswas had boarded the ship, left territorial waters, and was screaming into a microphone over a radio hookup far from land. He (or she or it: somebody needs to decide) couldn’t have been more gone aboard the International Space Station. I don’t post in GD or the Pit, so I have no history with either of you and no scores to settle. I can read, however. mswas was pleading to get banned as a way of showing his contempt for the SDMB. Of course a banning happened shortly after. This is exactly how this board or any other sane board should function. I can’t agree with every decision the mods make, but there simply isn’t another side to this one. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bith_Shuffle)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/53 "2010-02-03T22:43:20Z")
This is most unfortunate; it was **mswas** who reassured me that **Maeglin** wasn’t such a bad guy after my debate with the latter got a little bit heated. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/54 "2010-02-03T23:14:02Z")
> [@tacoloco](#): > > I love the smell of Jr. Modding in the afternoon. > [@tacoloco](#): > > And I’m really not suprised at your jr. modding. > [@tacoloco](#): > > Don’t flatter yourself, Sparky. > [@ajb867](#): > > Gee, I wonder who could be the author of this quote. **tacoloco** , if you think someone is junior modding, please report the post instead. Also, name calling is not permitted in ATMB. Please don’t repeat this. **ajb867** , if you have an issue with what someone posted on the Giraffe Boards, please address it on the Giraffe Boards. - **xash** Administrator ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/55 "2010-02-03T23:51:24Z")
All three of these comments were made by **magellan01** in the same post: > [@](#): > > Czarcasm was kind of insulting, but probably within bounds. > [@](#): > > Okay. So we have a mod, Czarcasm, if not actually violating the do not insult the poster rule, coming awfully close. At the very least he was baiting mswas (in the post I provided and several times in the thread prior to that. > [@](#): > > by the actions of Czarcasm and (especially) Marley23, mswas has been proven correct that the tiniest fraction—real or imagined—wold get him banned. **magellan** , you have shown no actions or words of **Czarcasm** that were against board rules and you admit this in the first two comments. Yet you seem to fault him more for **mswas’s** banning than **mswas** himself. That is an insult to **mswas** who is a grown man and knows full well that he is responsible. Don’t treat him as if he were a victim or a helpless child. He is neither of those. Maybe he will come back someday when he gets it all together again and has his pride still intact. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/56 "2010-02-04T00:37:27Z")
This isn’t the pit, and I won’t kick a guy who can’t defend himself, so I’ll just say I support this banning more than any other since I’ve been here. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/57 "2010-02-04T00:40:06Z")
I’m not going to comment on the banning, because I don’t know all the details of what transpired and what the backstory is behind all this. However, I just want to say that I thought **mswas** was one of the better posters on this board, and if you asked me to list the most abusive, rule-violating posters on this board, it wouldn’t even have occurred to me to put **mswas** on the list. Not even in the top twenty. The board administration should remember that the users on this board are your stock in trade, and that the good ones who post a lot and are generally thoughtful and civil and intelligent are pretty hard to come by. Don’t let them go lightly. Now, perhaps you didn’t. There seems to be a long history here. But at the same time, I find it depressing and disturbing. Is it really that much more work to simply give out more suspensions? Banning someone with ten years of investment in a community is a pretty harsh act. I hope the mods consider a different model for dealing with posters who have long records of good behaviour interspersed with periods of outbursts. Cool 'em off, sure. Give **mswas** a one month suspension. If s/he comes back and steps out of line again, an instant one month suspension again. Continue as necessary. A banning should really be for an infraction extremely severe, such as physically threatening another member or attempting to hack someone’s account or repeatedly posting illegal material. I understand you’re volunteers and there are so many hours in a day and dealing with this is a hassle. But you also need to remember that for some people, the Straight Dope has been a tremendous investment of time and effort, and they have forged real bonds with other people here. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/58 "2010-02-04T00:45:10Z")
**Sam** , he had two one month suspensions already. And I don’t understand why he was such a good debater. Most of posts were just arrogant condescending jibes about how stupid we all were for failing to understand the lofty plane on which he dwelled. I’ve never seen a poster get away with insulting people as much as mswas did. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/59 "2010-02-04T00:45:16Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > \>snipped blah blah blah blah blah \< > > So, I hereby request that this injustice be reviewed by the administration. I think **Czarcasm** should just be reminded that GD is not for insults and that as a mod, he probably she not get as close to the line as he did. > > Marley23 should be reprimanded and be made to apologize to **mswas**. > > This was wrong on many levels. There is some irony in it though: by the actions of **Czarcasm** and (especially) **Marley23** , mswas has been proven correct that the tiniest fraction—real or imagined—wold get him banned. lawl. Thanks for the laughs. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552/60 "2010-02-04T00:47:27Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Maybe he will come back someday when he gets it all together again and has his pride still intact. He has been banned. If he were to come back, it would be as a sock, and that account would be banned as well. If you want to hang out with him, check the splinter boards. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > The board administration should remember that the users on this board are your stock in trade, and that the good ones who post a lot and are generally thoughtful and civil and intelligent are pretty hard to come by. Don’t let them go lightly. Take a look at his posting history over the last year. Neither “thoughtful” nor “civil” would be among the adjectives I would use to describe his behavior. What he was like 10 years ago, I don’t know, it was before my time. Of late, he’s been rude, insulting, and bull-headed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mswas-banning/527552.md?page=4)