Satan has been banned

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61

OK, as the “newbie’ hee, i am trying to figure out what is going on, and exactly why these two dudes were banned. Satan was warned several times- but was banned over a relatively trivial offense- i have seen several people call each other 'weasle” in GD. In fact the next guy “danielinthewolvesden” was called that many times- and by dudes that are not banned- nor did i see a Moderator warning to them. Yes, “satan” was mean at times, but i enjoyed reading his posts. He & “Ditwd” had one thing in common- their posts were NEVER boring.

As for "Ditwd’ as some of you dudes called him- i could see exactly one warning (thanks to all the wonderful links somebody posted). Then he was banned, with only one warning? And I cannot see anything in those last posts that were so bad. In fact “DDG” asked the dude who started the thread when "ditwd’ called him a Nazi- and “Ben” was only able to come up with that one instance in answer to his (DDG) question. Which is the incident he was warned for- so it appears “Ditwd” was banned for one transgresion- the same one he was warned over. WTF? I know they could not have banned “Daniel…” (what a silly long name) for just saying that somebody was using a “Lie” or whatever. Was it for something else, like a private message or the Chat room? Yes, he was insulting the dudes that attacked him, but after all, it was in the “pit”, and they “started it”.

About this “daniel…” dude: his posts were both annoying & entertaining; but the best part- they were SHORT & pithy. He was entertaining & thought-provoking in GD, helpful in GQ, kind in MPSIMS, but in the “pit” he seemed to only open his mouth to change feet. I am going to miss him more than satan, but they were both greats; “IMHO”.

62

I can’t resist:

DUuuuuDE

It was a bad reflex, I apologize to the mods and admins but not the DUuuuuUDE er last person I saw post. Dude.

63

Hmmm,let’s check. Yup. Still a guy. Been that way as long as I can remember. Same with being called Muffin – been called that since infancy. And yes, that’s my web page.

64

So I break my glasses in half tonight in the process of getting some idiot out of the bar where I work. I come home after work and do the McGyvver thing with a paper clip and pliers, so I can see when I sign in here to try and relax. And I find this thread.

Well, hell.
So long, Satan,
I wish you well.

We’ll miss you.

I wrote the following a few months ago. Didn’t have a clue what to do with it… so, in my own strange way I offer it as a salute.

jm
Lucifer (on his descent)
I only ever saw His back
All this about me being the light of his eye,
The Prince of Morning and so on –
Well, I don’t know where that came from
Gabriel, or Michael, maybe;
They always liked a good story, those two.
And I don’t deny that makes a fine one.

I mean, an archangel, The Archangel, even –
Second only to the Old Fellow, himself,
Gets a little too big for his boots.
Decides maybe he should be running the show,
And is cast down from his high place
(Run out of town, to use the vernacular).

And, from then on, dedicates himself
To tearing down everything Good and True.

It’s a classical, Freudian case;
The son feels resentment for the father
And seeks to overthrow and replace him.
Blah, blah, blah.

Of course, the thing that gets overlooked there is,
What’s the old man’s part in all this?
Where did he go wrong bringing this young fellow up,
That the kid felt he had no choice but to act as a usurper?

You can look at it from a Jungian angle, too.
And from that side, I’m only a metaphor, a symbol.
See, God’s doing some self-examination
And finds this darkness (me) within Him.

So, what’s he do? Instead of accepting
This part of Him, He denies it. So,
It (me!) keeps popping out all over the place,
Causing all sorts of problems.

And, of course, He never will admit
That He is His own worst enemy and is caught
In a spiralling cycle of denial and self-destruction.

I sure can go off on a tangent, can’t I?
Well – if you’d spent the time that I have
Going to and fro upon the earth,
And walking up in down in it, as the fellow says,
You’d be as old as me, and as easily distracted.
Anyway, as I was saying, I only ever saw His back…

65

I agree, I don’t think Satan has been kicked around in this thread; and certainly not when he is down; he is not down. On the other hand, his peculiar terrible honesty is not at present available on the boards.

It looks as if he has deliberately pushed the envelope as King-Hell bad boy of the boards, but I also see a quest for genuine dialogue and a plea for real involvement in questions that Satan takes seriously; and he seems to be one of those passionate people who takes every detail seriously. I think this is the reason he has so much respect on the boards from people who might, in any case, prefer not to deal with his in-your-face attitude. If Satan is not Satan, he can’t communicate honestly, and it is this damn-the-torpedoes insistence on being himself, rules or not, that has gotten him banned.

66

I edited the quote above to apply it generically - to anyone here.

I hope that you understand that this cannot be used as a justification not to ban someone?

67

Forgive my probably newbie question, but what’s to prevent Satan from re-registering under a different name (and email address, if necessary)?

Oh, I know – you run a grammar/style checker on the new name’s posts, and if it matches Satan’s old posts, he gets tossed, too.:wink:

68

The Rules.

Practically speaking, nothing prevents this. However, as soon as he is discovered to have re-registered without the Board Goddesses’ permission, he will be banned again.

69

A perfect example of why the “3 Strikes” blows chunks, as it happens.

70

Somehow, I just can’t picture Satan doing the sockpuppet thing.

71

On the one hand, I have to agree that Satan used to come across as a real hale-fellow-well-met sort of person. Jolly, witty, good-humored, smart, fun, and definitely a star.

But, perhaps like many stars, it went to his head. In recent months, both before his sabbatical and since he returned, I agree with others who have said it that he seems to have been possessed by a far less pleasant or happy person. Which made me sad. But he never got in MY face.

Looking at his “crimes”, though, my take on it is that the rules HE was expected to live by seemed to be much more stringent than the rules others have to live by. Perhaps it can be written off as a direct result of being such a high-profile poster, but I agree again, that there is a contingent of, well, assholes, around here that get away with murder, way worse than anything I’ve ever seen Brian do. In fact, there are a couple that can’t seem to open their mouths (so to speak) without being nasty and insulting to someone. And I always marvel at it.

and on that third hand growing out of my back, I’d like to say this: with the exception of blatant trolls who exist for the single purpose of being irritating, I am not all that crazy about the idea of banning anyone. Especially people who have proven over years, literally, that they have tremendous contributions to make. I think it SHOULD matter that someone has a huge post count, a wide fan base, and has made many friends. Brian has been on the rag lately. So? Is he going to be sending anyone into a mental breakdown because he gets a little snotty with them? They can stop talking to him, easy enough. He can be shunned.

Again…there are others who have been and continue to be worse than Satan has EVER been. Yes, he needs to chill some, no he shouldn’t have been banned.

My pennies.

stoid

72

Seriously, this thread (and topic) made my day. I guess it IS just a messageboard after all!

73

Stoid

Your pennies make a lot of sense/cents

74

You know, I see people complain all the time about the rules being too strict around here, but pardon me, I don’t see it.

I mod over at Smile and Act Nice where ANYTHING goes, and I was once banned from Hissyfit, where you can be banned, without notice, without warning, recourse, without knowing WHY, except that the owner just plain doesn’t like you, because you don’t kiss her ass. I’d say, SDMB is a nice place.

http://www.hissyfit.com

You wanna see a really anal set of mods, go here.

75

I sincerely hope that I misinterpreted that.

76

Assume it has nothing to do with you, Scylla, unless the world does, indeed, revolve around you (which I don’t believe you think it does). Wouldn’t it be best, in your particular case, not to second-guess a certain someone? Something about picking at scabs…

Esprix

77

Man, this will teach me to not log on for a couple of days. I was just getting used to seeing Satan back here too.

78

Guin, just because other places are worse, doesn’t mean that the SD is perfect.

I understand the motive in having and utilitizing a set of rules of conduct. But I think there is a lack of consistency, and that it sometimes goes in the wrong direction. I believe that the vast majority of Dopers are more than capable of dealing with Satan’s pissy outbursts, it is not going to ruin their day or even their experience of SD. As I said, there is much more disruptive, obnoxious, and deeply rude behavior than his,** * without * ** his compensating wit, charm, and intelligence, and I’m not even seeing warnings.

This is not to say that Satan has been the soul of charm lately. He hasn’t. But i don’t believe he deserved banning. Suspension, sure. Give him a chance to cool off, let a mod or two who isn’t at all invested or personally irritated with him discuss the situation in e-mail with him, try to reach him. it’s not like this is the only Satan he knows how to be, ya know?

I wonder what he thinks if he’s reading this. I wonder if he really knows how much the perception of him has changed around here? We may never know, unless Drain Bead decides to tell us.

He’ll be missed by many, no question.

stoid
PS: ** Esprix **, thank you. Well said.

79

Forgive me, Stoid, but that is just absurd. If anything, he was given far more leeway than almost any other poster who has ultimately been shown the door around here.

You seem to be forgetting something very, very important in all of this, which is that Satan knows the rules here, yet intentionally violated MANY them anyway, even after REPEATED warnings not to do so.

And I’m not just talking about personal insults in GD. You tell me if any other poster who did all of the following would be, or should be, still around and allowed to post:
[ul]
[li]Posted copyrighted material, not once, but several times, in spite of being VERY aware that it was not only against the rules, but ILLEGAL to do so.[/li][li]Posted insults in Non-Pit threads ON PURPOSE so that the thread would get moved to the Pit where they knew they could then “get away with it.”[/li][li]Posted obscene and abusive comments to a moderator, again, not in the Pit.[/li][li]Posted repeated insults in GD in spite of several warnings not to do so.[/li][li]Posted complaints about a moderator’s actions in a Non-Pit thread, knowing those types of comments belong only in the Pit, even after having been out and out told to take it there if they had any complaints.[/ul]Sorry, but these are not “trivial” or “minor” infractions. Many, many posters have been banned for far fewer and lesser “crimes” (as you call them). Every single time Satan was warned and then turned around and repeated the behaviour he was warned against continuing, he was basically thumbing his nose at the moderators and administrators here. Doing so is beyond rude and disrespectful, it’s downright contemptible, not only to them, but to this entire community.[/li]
The fact that you think it should be perfectly OK to treat the moderators and fellow posters the way he did because he has a “fan base” is utterly unbelievable. Utterly.

There may very well be other posters who are, or who you think are assholes. But if those people post outright insults, they are warned not to do it again, and for the most part, they apologize and comply. They may continue to skirt questions, rant incoherently, or do any other such thing that you may think qualifies them for asshole status, but if they repeatedly insult people in any forum other than the Pit, or continue to insult people and do things like knowingly post in the wrong forum, knowingly post copyrighted material, or any other combination of rules violations, they too end up getting banned. And if they aren’t yet, you can pretty much rest assured that the moderators and administrators have their eye on them and they’re likely to be next.

For the life of me I do not understand what’s so hard to grasp about this.

80

I guess you’re still wrong and will never quite get it!