# So why was Ammonius Saccus banned? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 24, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438 "2006-12-24T14:15:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![badchad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b77776/32.png) [@badchad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badchad)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/1 "2006-12-24T14:15:40Z")
While I thought his arguments could use a little pruning I think the gist of them was sound. As I recall he was insulting to groups, not individuals and certainly no more “inflammatory” than **Der Trihs** or myself. He started a lot of threads but seemed to back them up ably and was responsive to the nuanced arguments of his opponents. I don’t see any official warnings given to him, nor any statements that he broke any rules, so what gives? If it makes anyone feel better, while I might desire a long argument I don’t have the time, I just want to hear the reason for his banning, if there is one. PS, and while I’m here, since when did it become a moderator function to say what could and could not be discussed in a given thread so long as everyone was playing by the rules? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/2 "2006-12-24T14:25:09Z")
Probably a sock puppet. They are usually banned without warning or fanfare. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/3 "2006-12-24T14:28:21Z")
Not sure, but it might have had something to do with the fact that he was posting drunk, spamming, and trolling. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/4 "2006-12-24T14:31:40Z")
For once, I agree with **badchad**. There is remarkably little difference between the subject and the author of this OP. They should be treated alike by the administrators of this site. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/5 "2006-12-24T14:35:30Z")
I think he was taking a clearly contemptuous tone about certain unnamable religious beliefs sacred to the PTB around here. Rather than come out of the closet of Religious Nutjobs, they feel safer just banning the fucker. Savers everyone time and anguish, if you stop to think about it. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/6 "2006-12-24T14:37:47Z")
“Saves everybody time and anguish” of course ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/7 "2006-12-24T15:12:36Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] I think he was taking a clearly contemptuous tone about certain unnamable religious beliefs sacred to the PTB around here. Rather than come out of the closet of Religious Nutjobs, they feel safer just banning the fucker. Savers everyone time and anguish, if you stop to think about it. [/QUOTE] Nope, his latests exploits included ignoring and being a jerk when it was pointed to him that it was stupid to say “Catholics are the most science haters” today. And even I am not a believer of Transubstantiation! His other jerkish action was to assume just by the act of explaining how wrong he was then me and others were defending the belief! :rolleyes: And his last thread was to tell Cecil that he was a pussy for not telling readers Santa was a crock. The idiot did not bother to check the dictionary for “joke” and “satire”. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/8 "2006-12-24T15:21:26Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] being a jerk when it was pointed to him that it was stupid to say “Catholics are the most science haters” [/QUOTE] Like I said, he was offending religious people. This site promotes a subtle (and not-so-subtle) pro-religious and specifically pro-Chirstian bias, which is the single most heinous act of hypocrisy for a site claiming to be about fighting ignorance. Pretty much every other unsubstantiated belief system gets ridiculed mercilessly here, and rightly so, which is why I love this place, but somehow Christianity gets a free pass. Christians claiming unverifiable nonsense who get their feet held to the fire can depend on the SD mod cavalry coming to the rescue, sooner or later, often instantly. I tolerate this stuff because the SD is otherwise a great place to learn about this planet, but I’ve long since had my eyes opened (from repeated rolling) about its over-the-top biases. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/9 "2006-12-24T15:23:48Z")
Because the administration of this board is in league with and supports the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church, and the poster in question was becoming a bit too effective at getting people to think a bit too closely abouQ\*^%(O&E NO CARRIER That joke worked better in the days of ubiquitous dial-up Hayes-compatible modems, I grant you. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/10 "2006-12-24T15:25:26Z")
I wondered the same thing. I knew that his banning was going to cause trouble because he was a bomb thrower from positions that garnered a great deal of support. I looked at & tried to break it down fairly and I say that:\*\* He was banned for trolling not for his POV.\*\* I base this on looking at the 13 threads he started in 2 weeks: General anti- Religion 2, Anti-Dog 2, AntiCatholic 1, Anti-Burger King 1, Anti-Mormon 1, Anti truducken 1, Anti-Cecil 1, Anti-Israel 1, Anti-Body Language 1, Anti-Bill O’Reilly 1, Anti-Neko Case 1, Pro-Bears (NFL) 1 Cite: Turducken - Really hard to make? Ammonius Saccus Mormons - How could anyone buy into it? Ammonius Saccus Culture War - Religious cannot win a debate so they start a war. Ammonius Saccus Burger King - My Way - Bullshit ( Multi-page thread 1 2 ) Ammonius Saccus Transubstatiation - Are Catholics the most science hating people on Earth? ( Ammonius Saccus Cecil Adams = Punk Ass Bitch Ammonius Saccus Religion - A place to throw it all away? Ammonius Saccus Is really a public debate that Israel practices a form of apartheid in Israel? Ammonius Saccus Body language experts - Quacks? Ammonius Saccus Neko Case married Max Casella? Ammonius Saccus I’m going to sexually molest your dog. Ammonius Saccus Under Bill O’Reilly’s logic should I be able to rape woman? Ammonius Saccus Is it wrong to donate to the dog charity? Ammonius Saccus Bears to clinch home field advantage throughout playoffs Ammonius Saccus In the threads that he participated in I estimate that about 1/2 have people calling him a troll - but he posted so much that I don’t claim that this is anything other than a WAg - not claiming it is an exact estimate ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/11 "2006-12-24T15:37:29Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] Like I said, he was offending religious people. [/quote] Lets be clear: I’m not religious, he was a jerk, a jerk that agrees with me is still a jerk. > [@](#): > > This site promotes a subtle (and not-so-subtle) pro-religious and specifically pro-Chirstian bias, which is the single most heinous act of hypocrisy for a site claiming to be about fighting ignorance. Pretty much every other unsubstantiated belief system gets ridiculed mercilessly here, and rightly so, which is why I love this place, but somehow Christianity gets a free pass. Christians claiming unverifiable nonsense who get their feet held to the fire can depend on the SD mod cavalry coming to the rescue, sooner or later, often instantly. :rolleyes: I have seen many more believers complaining we are the hardest religion bashing site in the planet. > [@](#): > > I tolerate this stuff because the SD is otherwise a great place to learn about this planet, but I’ve long since had my eyes opened (from repeated rolling) about its over-the-top biases. The bias in this last case was that the unbeliever started with straw men as arguments, I do not suffer idiots gladly specially when they say they support a side now dear to me. This is a site to fight ignorance, just because sometimes logic is on the side of believers (Catholics were right: Transubstantiation is a matter of faith and they do not kill you anymore if you dont believe on it, and they already accepted science will find the bread and wine does not change in this world) does not mean that overall they are right. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/12 "2006-12-24T16:13:09Z")
He was a sock puppet. Generally, his posts would have gone away with his username, but several of his threads had already picked up quite a bit of activity and we figured (in this instance) that the disruption to the discussions would have been more detrimental to the board than making him disappear completely. [/Moderator] ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/13 "2006-12-24T16:13:41Z")
I knew he wouldn’t be long for this board when he went into bulldog mode about mormonism. You will get a chorus of backers here for bashing $cientology and also for bashing religion in general, but to bash mormonism you have to either begin or follow up with some disclaimer about “some of my best friends are mormons”. Then you should expect one or more of the mormons on board to start another “ask the mormon” thread where questions about inconsitancies in dogma and church history wil be ignored in favor of blowing their peculiar brand of celestial sunshine up your skirt. I see more than a bit of hypocrisy in this. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/14 "2006-12-24T16:30:25Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] He was a sock puppet. [/Moderator] [/QUOTE] That too? 🙂 Well, in my book those are the biggest kind of jerks. But now there is a better reason for the banning. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/15 "2006-12-24T16:34:49Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] That too? 🙂 Well, in my book those are the biggest kind of jerks. But now there is a better reason for the banning. [/QUOTE] Of course, we’ll never know if he was or wasn’t. Personally, I think even the secretly pro-religious SD mods have a little too much integrity to lie about this, but since it’s a secret, we’ll just have to take their word that he was a sock. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/16 "2006-12-24T16:38:01Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] Of course, we’ll never know if he was or wasn’t. Personally, I think even the secretly pro-religious SD mods have a little too much integrity to lie about this, but since it’s a secret, we’ll just have to take their word that he was a sock. [/QUOTE] What would it take to convonce you? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/17 "2006-12-24T16:42:40Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] Of course, we’ll never know if he was or wasn’t. Personally, I think even the secretly pro-religious SD mods have a little too much integrity to lie about this, but since it’s a secret, we’ll just have to take their word that he was a sock. [/QUOTE] I’m an atheist. I know a few of the other mods are atheist, too. And the poster in question was a sock. As far as I’m concerned, the religious mods are very good at keeping their views and feelings separate from their actions as mods. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/18 "2006-12-24T16:51:53Z")
Sockpuppetry is an absolute anathema in this Board. The antirreligious can give as good as they take here – just **badchad** and **Der Trihs** , aggravating as they may be in their unapologetic bluntness, are alive and well in the Board, along with others. They’re not sockpuppets or trolls, are straightforward as to where they stand and usually stick to the issue being addressed. Being outnumbered in the debate by respondents from the other side does not necessarily mean there’s institutional bias against you, it just means you’re outnumbered. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/19 "2006-12-24T16:58:01Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] What would it take to convonce you? [/QUOTE] Maybe we’ll just have to wait for Dan Brown’s next book, in which he exposes the read truth about the SDMB moderators. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438/20 "2006-12-24T16:58:27Z")
[QUOTE=Lynn Bodoni] I’m an atheist. I know a few of the other mods are atheist, too. And the poster in question was a sock. As far as I’m concerned, the religious mods are very good at keeping their views and feelings separate from their actions as mods. [/QUOTE] I realize that, **Lynn**. Sorry I was ambiguous in suggesting that all of the SD mods were secretly religious. By"the secretly pro-religious SD mods" I meant “those SD mods who are secretly pro-religious.” You are not one of those. What I think is that you’ve all come to some sort of compromise of your core values ('fighting ignorance") whereby in the name of some lame re-definition of tolerance, you’ve agreed to exempt Christianity, and other allied religions, from having to adhere to the same standard you reasonably demand from other whacked-out systems of belief. Adhering to the same system, which would basically allow people to ask the same tough questions and be as abrasive and demanding of Christians as they’re allowed to be of Scientologists, Masonic conspiracists and Flat-earthers, would give the (correct) impression that Christianity is just another species of willful ignorance, and you don’t want to offend maybe half of your subscription base and maybe a large minority of your mods, so you compromise on this one issue and suck it up to make everyone happy. Well, everyone but me. And this is still the best site on the planet, even with that central flaw, but I do feel the need to point it out in the holy name of fighting ignorance. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-was-ammonius-saccus-banned/385438.md?page=2)