OK, here’s the link.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11387495
The point we are making about the recently totality of his posts is to add weight to a opinion that the suspension will do no good, he’ll just keep doing the same.
You may opine all you like, but I think you should engage in more consideration of the content of your posts and less consideration of the content of mine. My response was pretty reserved. If you got the impression that your suggestion that my opinions do not count and I should stop posting was not appreciated, that demonstrates your reading comprehension skills are functional. I expressed that in a pretty polite fashion considering how impolite the suggestion was. If you are that interested in opining on such matters, that might be cause for reflection. Emily Post, heal thyself, as it were.
I will take that under consideration, sir.
As far as banning vs. suspending goes, for most of us, this appears to have been a procedural question: we generally suspend people for breaking the rules before we ban them. And for that reason, Seven’s ban was reduced to a month’s suspension. It was not a dispute about how bad Seven’s behavior was or was not.
For the record, or whatever it is, I had said earlier that Seven had received two mod warnings recently, and it’s actually three as far as I know. I missed this one. I posted this one and this one.
Excellent! Two solid subjects we can actually discuss about.
Two warnings, one for insulting liberal in a pit thread just after the rules of the pit were changed disallowing that, and another for making fun of Shodan by signing off with libertarian’s name, another, I think, new rule. Pretty silly reasons for a ban, and do denote a certain lack of humor among the mods, but whatever.
Would those two warnings be cause enough to warrant the banning of a poster, according to the mods?
Especially given the 9 warnings (including like 5 “last and final” warnings and the admin note) that Reeder got.
Or the similar amount of warnings December got.
And their posts were disruptive. Seven confined his “complaining” and/or “insulting” to a very, VERY small number of threads. Reeder was starting multiple threads a day and December was in about half of GD threads spewing.
Three.
This is an unusual use of “just.” I believe the Pit rules were changed in late February and the sticky about banned words is from March 2. The warning is from early May. And if you read the post Seven obviously knows the rule he is discussing.
A pretty recent one that resulted from much discussion on the boards, yes. And one that’s quoted in the post that drew the warning.
We felt that the time that those warnings, plus the other issues, warranted a banning but changed it to a one-month suspension after discussing it further.
So…not necessarily an informed or factual opinion is necessary, just one that serves the intended purpose? Excellent! The beatings will continue until morale improves!
Careful, now! You’re getting snarky with a mod…
No and Yes. One of the top rules here is “remember you are our guest here” (which also applies to paying members). If they don’t want you here, they can kick you out for no reason whatsoever. No evidence needed as this is not a due process thing and they do have full carte blanche to ban at will.
Although that might be true, this is not a good time to bring that up. This is an issue that brought a lot of people from all walks of sdmb life together. Even if just by association, you are pretty much accusing the whole board of recreational complaining (the new term du jour).
Yes. But. If a long time poster reinvents himself and comes back with a new persona, is he a new poster or an old one? Bonus points for the case of a poster whose reinvention happens after a hiatus on posting. (Please, this without it meaning that this is what I think happened with Seven). People change and have phases. According to other posters here, I am now in my third phase of sdmb posting.
I agree with all this, but I am getting the nagging feeling that some of the higher PTB do not agree with this anymore. That a manageable mass of more uniform thinking is what is now desirable. I think I once referred to this as the “club vs crossroads” dilemma. This started as a crossroads, then was forced into club mode with pay-to-post and some of TPTB got used to the peace of that mode over the variety of the crossroads model. Now that we are back to free-to-post, they are trying to fight the crossroads model from returning.
Marley, see what I mean by not giving them hooks to latch on?
Since when is DrDeth a mod?
I think that once someone has demonstrated a sincere interest in participating here (in contrast with a new trollish guest), you don’t worry about their opinions or attitudes so long as they’re within the rules.
You’re a perfect example, incidentally. You came very, very close to being banned after only a couple of warnings, and I think a large part of that was due to the combination of posting under your name at the Snarkpit and being critical of the staff in several Pit/ATMB threads. Are you an irredeemable troll? Or did you just have a snarky phase which you’ve since worked through?
I hope you’ve come up with scientific-sounding names for the phases. Please tell me that you have. 
Sound of Music moment:
When you walk
Through a phase
Keep your keep snark up high
And don’t be afraid if you troll
I trust you won’t view this question as snarky, but have you read many of Cecil’s books or columns?
This is the Straight Dope message board. It’s based on columns written by a man whose popularity lies largely on his snark. Granted, I don’t think that every moderator comment on the board should be insulting, snarky, or sarcastic, but the board is supposed to fight ignorance in a fun way.
And, as a side note, humor can often diffuse a situation where a robotic response couldn’t. Saying “You are being insulting in a forum where it is not allowed. This is an official moderator warning” isn’t going to get laughed off. Saying, “Hey, who pissed in your cornflakes this morning? Can you dial it back a notch?” just might.
The art of moderation lies in figuring out when to use which response.
Although by education I am a scientist, the reality is that at heart I am an artist. Thus:
Rose
Blue
Airy
I don’t think I have worked it through. I have just re-evaluated the effectiveness of my different strategies and changed the mix of how I use them.
Carousel, actually. I’m gay. I know these things.
I’m straight but love musicals. I should too. :smack:
(I love R&H and think Allegro is better than the original cast recording would lead one to believe. So there. 
)
That falls a bit flat, since you listed it as one of the reasons here.
That’s odd, I see a link to his signature and not a mention of “quoting a private message” as one of the issues there. I linked to his signature. I have said, repeatedly and in multiple threads, that the “offense” wasn’t quoting a private message. The issue was what he said, not where it came from. In fact there’s an entire thread devoted solely to that subject.