# Poster Warned then Suspended for debating in Great Debates **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 21, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092 "2019-10-21T16:26:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/161 "2019-10-24T00:44:12Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I have not been seen as a “problem poster” nearly that long. It was just last December that I first got Pitted, although the OP of that thread did say it was “a little bit overdue”. Since then, they have been slowly turning up the heat, including a recent suspension. Perhaps it’s the deep state pushing the mods to get rid of you? ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/162 "2019-10-24T00:55:57Z")
I fucking love the deep state! They are saving all our asses. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/163 "2019-10-24T00:57:34Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Since you appear to believe that the moderation staff is dishonest and malevolent, perhaps you’d be happier in a different online community? You don’t seem to be happy in this one. That’s enough of that, andy. Do not suggest other posters should leave or are not welcome here. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/164 "2019-10-24T00:58:57Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I have not been seen as a “problem poster” nearly that long. It was just last December that I first got Pitted, although the OP of that thread did say it was “a little bit overdue”. Since then, they have been slowly turning up the heat, including a recent suspension. To pull back the curtain a bit, I’ll say with absolute certainty that I have not once taken a pitting into consideration when awarding notes or warnings or in any other moderation decision. Nor do I believe any of the others have done so. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/165 "2019-10-24T01:08:03Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > To pull back the curtain a bit, I’ll say with absolute certainty that I have not once taken a pitting into consideration when awarding notes or warnings or in any other moderation decision. Nor do I believe any of the others have done so. Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. I was just using it to illustrate that it has not been a huge percentage of my 16 years that I have been persona non grata around here. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/166 "2019-10-24T01:18:54Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Oh, I have absolutely zero doubt that you are patiently working on building up to it with me, starting with ticky-tack fouls so you can later claim that there have been X number within Y length of time. If I magically had access to your PMs, I am confident they would show a massive number of people screaming at you to get rid of me, and assurances from you that you are working on it but that I am cagey so it will therefore take some time. Also, I have zero PMs from people asking for your departure. I have zero PMs about you. Not that it matters. Moderator action is not a popularity contest. The way warnings work, is they are attributed to your profile so by virtue of their issuance, they build up and would result in X number within Y length of time. Given as you mention your previous suspension (I had to verify in our logs because I had forgotten), I do think it’s a good idea to adhere to forum rules. It makes the board a more pleasant place for discussion. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/167 "2019-10-24T03:20:22Z")
I have seen you post on the Giraffe Boards where people frequently say they lodge complaints about me on the regular, so you can presumably understand why that’s a bit tough for me to believe. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/168 "2019-10-24T03:25:23Z")
Altho I understand the controversy, I have to support the staff on this one. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/169 "2019-10-24T05:27:26Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. I was just using it to illustrate that it has not been a huge percentage of my 16 years that I have been persona non grata around here. Well, you didn’t freely and openly [admit to being a racist](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20832726&postcount=398) for most of those years, so yeah, there’s that. I can see how that would get you on more people’s radar. Not that modding is a popularity contest, they tell me. But I reckon less of your posts are just let slide by your fellow posters than before. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/170 "2019-10-24T14:02:08Z")
Threads like this are perplexing. This is a moderated board and it seems to me that it takes a conscious effort to ignore instructions and guidance to the degree that suspension, let alone banning is even considered. The instruction was clear and the poster’s obsessive interest was _not_ even _tangentially_ related to the thread. The poster was completely free to open a thread dedicated to the subject or to participate in a thread that was about the subject. The poster instead ignored instruction and continued to behave in the manner of one of those Onion "Ask the … " bits. Once given guidance as clearly as it was given any rational poster who wishes to continue posting here would steer far clear from the margins laid out by the moderator, and attempting to insult a mod while arguing about the response to ignoring the instruction? That is a declaration of not caring enough about participation to stay. (FWIW my visual imagery of **Bone** is Ron Swanson.) ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/171 "2019-10-24T14:54:38Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Well, you didn’t freely and openly [admit to being a racist](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20832726&postcount=398) for most of those years, so yeah, there’s that. I can see how that would get you on more people’s radar. > > Not that modding is a popularity contest, they tell me. But I reckon less of your posts are just let slide by your fellow posters than before. And here we see a perfect example of race being brought into an unrelated thread. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2019, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/172 "2019-10-24T15:03:55Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > And here we see a perfect example of race being brought into an unrelated thread. When you can come up with examples of him doing this in other supposedly unrelated threads after being told not to by the mods, you will have a point. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/173 "2019-10-24T15:17:48Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > When you can come up with examples of him doing this in other supposedly unrelated threads after being told not to by the mods, you will have a point. The point is that he won’t be told not to do it, because he is on the supported side. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/174 "2019-10-24T15:20:30Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > The point is that he won’t be told not to do it, because he is on the supported side. The actual point is that you have provided no evidence whatsoever to support this opinion. Repeating opinion does not make it fact. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/175 "2019-10-24T15:38:22Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > And here we see a perfect example of race being brought into an unrelated thread. ? A poster suggests that they are reported often and another suggests a possible reason for such if true. That seems very related to the natural flow of discussion. Not a hijack. Not a repeated hijack by the same poster. Not the same repeat hijack by the same poster. Not done despite clear guidance to cease and desist. No insult and argument to the clear directive. But other the exact same thing! Score you! ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/176 "2019-10-24T15:39:05Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > The point is that he won’t be told not to do it, because he is on the supported side. I asked you directly in post #105, and mentioned it again in post #151. You’ve asserted that the latest post that received an infraction was actually on topic. I laid out my rationale on why I think you’re wrong. This seems to be the crux of your argument but you’re not actually addressing it in any kind of meaningful way. This forum is meant to address complaints, comments, questions about moderation, etc. and I’ll do my best to do that. But if you aren’t interested in actually engaging on that then I can’t really offer much more than what has been said already. What side do you think I support? MrDibble and I are pretty much polar opposites when it comes to public policy, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/177 "2019-10-24T16:39:04Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > What side do you think I support? MrDibble and I are pretty much polar opposites when it comes to public policy, IIRC. You’ve shown that you support shutting down certain types of discussion, specifically right wing/libertarian discussion. Whether you do so because of your own beliefs or because you are told to by TPTB is ultimately irrelevant. As for whether the post in question is on topic, it would be hard for it to be _more_ on topic. The thread is literally about whether the Government should be allowed to shut down speech it deems harmful, and **Will Farnaby** ’s post, in total, consists of his opinion of that sort of action, and some examples of it. So, not only was your rule that only applied to him a bullshit rule, _it didn’t even apply to this case_. If this modding is of your own accord, you are unfit to be a moderator. If you are doing it despite disagreeing with it, you should step down and say so. Either way, this banning is ridiculous, it is deliberate censorship of a particular viewpoint, and it should be reversed. If that makes some people uncomfortable, _good_. This board, especially the debate forums, should not be a safe space for anyone. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/178 "2019-10-24T16:43:13Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > You’ve shown that you support shutting down certain types of discussion, specifically right wing/libertarian discussion. You’re not only merely wrong, you’re really most sincerely wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/179 "2019-10-24T16:47:09Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > or because you are told to by TPTB is ultimately irrelevant. Who are these PTB? ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092/180 "2019-10-24T16:48:41Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Who are these PTB? Whoever owns/runs the board these days. It’s been sold, and **Ed** retired. since I last knew for certain who that was. Or the deep state/Russians/Ukrainians/Chinese/Lizard People, if you prefer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poster-warned-then-suspended-for-debating-in-great-debates/842092.md?page=10)