# OldOakTree Banned **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 28, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208 "2021-06-28T19:54:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/1 "2021-06-28T19:54:00Z")
This bums me out. I’m guessing he was a sock and not a troll because all of his posts I read were well behaved. I’d like to see the SDMB adopt a less-permanent form of punishment with a chance to eventually return. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/2 "2021-06-28T19:59:12Z")
> [@Dark\_Sponge](#): > > I’m guessing he was a sock and not a troll because all of his posts I read were well behaved. You should have read more of his posts, then. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2021, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/3 "2021-06-28T20:07:14Z")
> [@Dark\_Sponge](#): > > I’d like to see the SDMB adopt a less-permanent form of punishment with a chance to eventually return. Being banned isn’t necessarily permanent as it is, given that bannees can request reinstatement. Case in point: @lissener. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/4 "2021-06-28T20:11:04Z")
The poster in question was relentlessly argumentative about any tiny side point they could bring up to avoid the fact that most of their assertions and arguments had been successfully challenged and rebutted. It was painful to read any thread they were in, and I don’t know how so many other posters were able to persist as long as they did. They may not have called names or broken any of the other bright-line rules (or they may have, I didn’t read everything they wrote) but to me they were clearly in it for the lulz. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/5 "2021-06-28T20:31:59Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Being banned isn’t necessarily permanent as it is, given that bannees can request reinstatement. Deeply ironic statement considering that the bannee was a sock, likely on his dozeneth incarnation here. [I can hazard a few educated guesses as to who they were, too] Not necessarily ragging on **Skywatcher** here, understand, but clearly the Whack-A-Mole method of dealing with chronic socks doesn’t work very well at all. But I can’t see much in the way of any more optimal methods (other than Tachy Goes to Coventry which itself isn’t an ideal permanent solution). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/6 "2021-06-28T20:56:57Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > The poster in question was relentlessly argumentative about any tiny side point they could bring up to avoid the fact that most of their assertions and arguments had been successfully challenged and rebutted. It was painful to read any thread they were in, and I don’t know how so many other posters were able to persist as long as they did. And, at one point, he said (paraphrasing), “I like to argue, and I don’t see that as a fault.” Shortly after his “arrival,” when he was starting to get pushback from Dopers on his behavior, he reached out to me, in a private message, to ask for advice on how he could, in fact, “be a better Doper.” I advised him that he should try to steer clear of forums like Great Debates and Politics, because it just seemed to feed his combative nature, to which he replied, “but isn’t being argumentative part of GD etc.” At any rate, he solicited advice, publicly and privately, from several people, and followed little to none of it. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/7 "2021-06-28T21:16:54Z")
> [@Dark\_Sponge](#): > > I’m guessing he was a sock and not a troll You guess wrong. He was banned not just for socking but also for being a troll, and for some evidence of trolling, see [this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-oldoaktree/944587). He also had sealion tendencies as well. If he wasn’t a sock he probably still would be gone. This isn’t to invalidate your original point, you just picked a poor example for this. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/8 "2021-06-28T22:26:17Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > And, at one point, he said (paraphrasing), “I like to argue, and I don’t see that as a fault.” > > Shortly after his “arrival,” when he was starting to get pushback from Dopers on his behavior, he reached out to me, in a private message, to ask for advice on how he could, in fact, “be a better Doper.” I advised him that he should try to steer clear of forums like Great Debates and Politics, because it just seemed to feed his combative nature, to which he replied, “but isn’t being argumentative part of GD etc.” > > At any rate, he solicited advice, publicly and privately, from several people, and followed little to none of it. I don’t see enjoying an argument as a fault either, and frankly, I think you gave him bad advice. His problem wasn’t that he enjoyed argument - it’s that he was bad at it, probably intentionally because he was a troll, but possibly (\< 1% chance, IMO) he was earnest and just didn’t make an effort to engage with opponents’ arguments. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/9 "2021-06-28T22:42:50Z")
He’s the first and only person on my ignore list. It seemed like he was purposefully stirring the pot way too much. If he toned it down a bit he would have been fine. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/10 "2021-06-28T22:45:15Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > I don’t see enjoying an argument as a fault either, and frankly, I think you gave him bad advice. Entirely possible. Personally, I hate arguing, but he asked me, specifically, for my advice on building a positive reputation here, and how he could avoid being seen as a troll. FWIW, this is what I specifically said to him: > [@](#): > > If you truly want to be a positive member of the board, but you’re already seeing that you’re running into trouble with other posters due to your politics and opinions (and I noted that, in your closed thread, you admitted to being “argumentative”), I would advise steering clear of Great Debates, Politics & Elections, and the Pit. Engage with people in a way that doesn’t involve arguing with them or challenging them. And, as others noted in the closed Pit thread, start fewer threads of your own, and participate in other discussions. > > If people see you participating in other threads in a positive way, and not just see you as someone who’s stirring the pot, it might help. ---
**Author:** ![CorpusNeptune](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corpusneptune/32/17561_2.png) [@CorpusNeptune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CorpusNeptune)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2021, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/11 "2021-06-29T06:33:32Z")
Like other people mentioned in several threads he posted in, he wasn’t there to have a civilized argument in GD or P&E - he was there to fight and “slap sheep,” as **OldOakTree** himself put it. Of course, it was a constant losing battle, as he didn’t even know how to do _that_. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2021, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/12 "2021-06-29T14:24:00Z")
> [@CorpusNeptune](#): > > he was there to fight and “slap sheep,” That’s **Martin\_Hyde** in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![CorpusNeptune](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corpusneptune/32/17561_2.png) [@CorpusNeptune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CorpusNeptune)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/13 "2021-06-29T15:14:51Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > That’s **Martin\_Hyde** in the Pit. Hey, it’s pretty easy to mix up stupid people when there’s just so many of them. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/14 "2021-06-29T17:03:35Z")
Probably best to close this. If anyone has further questions about why OldOakTree was banned, feel free to send us a PM. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldoaktree-banned/945208/15 "2021-06-29T17:03:42Z")