There have been requests on ATMB for a list of banned posters. Mods have responded they don’t want to put up a list on “don’t feed the troll” grounds – we would be infested with troublemakers gunning to get banned and listed as a point of honor. Fine, I can understand that. But now we can’t even talk about them?! Have they become unDopers now?! :mad:
I’m thinking his is related to the equally braindeadly policy of flushing banned posters’ threads down the memory hole so the rest of us can’t even access them for reference purposes – discussed in this Pit thread.
“Syme did not exist. Syme had never existed.”
Fellow Dopers! Never think you can’t be vaporized by the Thought Mods!
Spammers and socks and trolls are disappeared to the best of our ability. We understand the issues members have with that. Nevertheless, we believe it is the best method to deal with such.
Posters banned for other reasons are not wished into the cornfield. The reason we discourage general discussion of those posters is very simple: they cannot respond.
Though some may find it enjoyable to be able to unrequitedly pile on those who are no longer with us, we see no point in such a walk down memory lane.
If, in the course of a thread, a relevant reference is made to a banned poster, that’s a horse of a different color, but threads devoted solely and merely to the departed have been, and will be, closed.
That thread you linked to is, essentially, “list your favorite banned posters.” If you can’t see how that would violate a rule about not listing banned posters, which you yourself reference and acknowledge, then I don’t know what explanation is going to satisfy you.
There’s nothing Orwellian about it. It’s the same exact policy. If a banned poster comes up in conversation, there’s no problem at all. But a thread devoted to listing banned posters is going to be locked.
Are you kidding? You’ve been around plenty long enough to realize what a stupid idea the original thread was.
Aside from the whole issue of banned posters not being able to respond to criticism about them, a thread of that kind will almost inevitably devolve into discussion of why so-and-so was banned, and whether it was justified or not. It’s practically an invitation for a train-wreck.
Discussion of posters who voluntarily left without being banned is only marginally better. Some of these have been controversial, with strong feelings on the part of some for or against. Once again a fight just waiting to happen.
As has been pointed out, there is no problem with mentioning a banned poster when the subject happens to come up in the course of discussion. But a whole thread devoted to them? Bad news.
BrainGlutton: Overall I like you and your posts. You start many interesting threads. Last night half the active GD’s were started by you. I think I posted to half of those.
But you do come up with interesting complaints for the pit that show a weird lack of Board common sense recently. This thread and the This ATMB thread should not have been locked! really leave me scratching my head.
I was also wondering if you noticed that you have started 422 threads in the last year? That is an amazing amount. More amazing as so many are interesting.
