# Regarding my 2nd warning in the "Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel" thread **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 12, 2023, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020 "2023-11-12T14:25:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2023, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/1 "2023-11-12T14:25:53Z")
I was banned from the “Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023” for pointing out to someone who had been misrepresenting my posts that they were misrepresenting my posts. I had assumed that a ban from the thread would mean that the board software would prevent me from posting in the thread. Yesterday, I wished to reply to a post in that thread and went to copy it with the intention of replying to it in the Pit thread. I saw I could reply in the thread and did so, erroneously thinking the ban had been temporary or that it had been lifted. While I’m here in the appropriate forum, I would like to say that I feel my banning from the thread was an unjust and incorrect decision, but I’m not going to get into a debate about it myself, as I feel I will be wasting my time. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2023, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/2 "2023-11-12T14:36:45Z")
Just because you are capable of doing something doesn’t mean you are allowed to do it. Especially when you have been specifically told not to do it. Imagine trying that theory on a cop, “Yes, Officer, I saw that speed limit sign that said I could only drive at 55 mph. But when I stepped on my gas pedal, I discovered my car could move at 80 mph. So I assumed this must be allowed or why else would my car have that capability?” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/3 "2023-11-12T14:37:30Z")
Context: So first: > [@Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/499): > > Moderating: Okay, both of you drop it. This is a hijack. You aren’t even discussing news, you are discussing an onion article. @Babale and @Walken_After_Midnight, you are both banned from this thread until Monday. Let’s say midnight in Israel, (GMT+3) And everyone, please don’t discuss this article further. Then this: > [@Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/1207): > > Moderating: That’s attacking the poster. As I’ve been pretty involved in this thread, I’m asking other mods for input. > [@Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/1227): > > Moderating: I’ve moved most of the posts about whether Israel is an apartheid regime to their own thread. I left them in MPSIMS. I’m dubious the thread will survive there, as it is already sounding like it belongs in the pit, and will write more about that there. Also, the split of posts between threads isn’t as clean as i would like. But i did the best i could. @Walken_After_Midnight, after discussion with other mods, i am banning you from this thread. I know this is a highly emotional to… You know for multiple times attacking other posters in the thread. Looks pretty clear you were thread banned, especially after the first temporary ban. Leading to this: > [@Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/1478): > > Moderator Warning You were thread-banned here: This is an official warning for disobeying moderator instructions. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2023, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/4 "2023-11-12T15:45:37Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > I had assumed that a ban from the thread would mean that the board software would prevent me from posting in the thread. It would be sweet if the software had that functionality. But as @Little_Nemo says, thread bans are like speed limit signs. They have the force of law, but you have the ability to violate them. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/5 "2023-11-12T15:52:50Z")
And if a cop catches you driving 80 mph in a residential neighborhood at 11:30 pm, you could end up… ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2023, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/6 "2023-11-12T15:55:42Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > I had assumed that a ban from the thread would mean that the board software would prevent me from posting in the thread… I saw I could reply in the thread and did so, erroneously thinking the ban had been temporary or that it had been lifted. I think you should have gone with “I didn’t realize what thread I was posting in”, which would have been a better excuse. That’s what I assumed was happening, since when you were banned you created a Pit thread with an almost identical title - something that I think is annoying, I search by “Latest” not by forum, and often mistake one thread for the other. If you knew what thread you were posting in and _assumed_ you were unbanned without checking, the warning is 100% justified. It behooves you to check. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2023, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/7 "2023-11-12T15:59:25Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > rroneously thinking the ban had been temporary or that it had been lifted. So you were told not to take any cookies from the cookie jar, but then you saw that the cookie jar had been left on the kitchen counter. You decided this meant you could take cookies from the cookie jar. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2023, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/8 "2023-11-12T19:52:34Z")
Your best course of action is to simply mute the thread so you won’t be tempted to respond. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/9 "2023-11-12T20:10:21Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > I was banned from the “Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023” for pointing out to someone who had been misrepresenting my posts that they were misrepresenting my posts. I feel I must point out to you that you are misrepresenting your posts when you claim that you were banned for pointing out to someone who had been misrepresenting your posts that they were misrepresenting your posts. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/10 "2023-11-13T13:38:29Z")
I’ve never been banned from a thread here, but I have been banned from a subreddit on Reddit. When I tested it, I found my reply would not work. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/11 "2023-11-13T13:42:49Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I have been banned from a subreddit on Reddit Each subreddit is its own forum with its own mods and rules. Getting banned from any given subreddit is the equivalent of getting banned from the SDMB. I don’t know if redditor mod tools are granular enough to ban a user from just one thread. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2023, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/12 "2023-11-13T19:47:12Z")
the bulk of my experience in this area is with Wikipedia, where I was an admin for years. At Wikipedia we had bans and blocks, and they weren’t the same thing. A block was a technical thing. If you are blocked, you can no longer contribute. The whole site is effectively read-only for you. Blocks could be for a particular duration or indefinite. Bans on the other hand were a behavioral restriction. You might be banned from a page, or banned from a topic. Generally it was because a person was okay as long as they stayed away from certain things. Like a person who has a grudge against a celebrity and can’t help posting biased negative info, or someone who has a pet theory about a topic and can’t help but try to slip their own original research into articles about the topic. There’s no technical ability to stop someone from doing what they are banned from doing, the system just relies on an admin noticing a ban violation or someone reporting the violation. Then the admin brings sanctions as appropriate; warnings, then blocks of escalating duration, etc. There are also “site bans” which are permanent blocks from the web site, it’s just another term for a type of technical block. I’ve never been a mod here (everyone sigh in relief) but in my observation things here work very similarly to how they do on Wikipedia. You can’t assume that if you _can_ do something, you’re allowed to do it. That’s just a bad approach to life in general. If you know you’re not supposed to do it, don’t do it anyway just because you can. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/13 "2023-11-21T04:53:37Z")
I see babale was moderated for attacking a poster in the Israel-Hamas thread and was not banned from it, yet I was. The fact that this poster is still allowed to post in that thread and I am not is inconsistent and unjust moderation. In my opinion, that poster’s behaviour in that thread has been far more worthy of banning than my own, which is one of the reasons I am stepping away from this board. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-my-2nd-warning-in-the-discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread/993020/14 "2023-11-21T13:42:39Z")
To be fair: it would be much more desirable for all involved if a thread ban could be enforced by the software. To me this is so obvious that I even can understand the argument. To continue the car analogy: officer I drove too fast because my speed limiter malfunctioned. (The concept that random people regulate their car’s speed on the honor system when they are driving through a residential area is absolutely mindboggling stupid)