# START has been banned
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [July 7, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505 "2005-07-07T20:52:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/21 "2005-07-08T00:27:42Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> **BBVL** , I am not a comics expert, but isn’t the Green Lantern vaguely unique in comic lore for being not one superhero, but many people? A succession, if you will, of people continually taking up where the last one left off?
>
> Sort of like a sock following the falling out of an online persona?
>
> I think it was a clue in favor of START, Kyle Rayner and who knows what other banned posters of the past (white pajama guy?) being a succesion of personas held by one person: a reverse Green Lantern, if you will.
>
> Or maybe I’m overthinking it.
You are right, but your average non-reader doesn’t know that. Someone START’s age might know John Stewart, the African-American Green Lantern from the JLU cartoon, but that’s about it.
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/22 "2005-07-08T00:29:03Z")
> [@Lobsang](#):
>
> Prison terms are finite… Shouldn’t banning terms be? Shouldn’t the crime of creating a sock be one forgivable with an un-banning somewhere down the line?
Some people have been reinstated after a banning. **However** , I think most of those were a case of someone being banned because they were known to argue a lot, and had gotten themselves so worked up they could no longer be reasonable. The reinstatements were granted after a cooling-off period.
I don’t know if the same generosity would be extended to a puppeteer. There’s a difference between someone who just has trouble controlling their emotions, and someone who yanks other posters’ chains for the fun of it. Furthermore, the “no socks” rule is pretty cut-and-dried, not as open to interpretation as “don’t be a jerk”.
**WhyNot** , you think START and **Skewbald** were one and the same? Veddy intarhesting…
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### Author:  [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/23 "2005-07-08T00:36:01Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#):
>
> You are right, but your average non-reader doesn’t know that. Someone START’s age might know John Stewart, the African-American Green Lantern from the JLU cartoon, but that’s about it.
I _hate_ comics - they do nothing for me entertainment wise - yet I have a pretty extensive understanding of characters past and present. I’m a teenager and have picked it up solely from these boreds and pop culture. If I was so inclined, I could pick up a ton more just through a few hours of research.
Yet and still, you make a fine point - he really did go far and beyond a basic knowledge of comic books. However, with all else pointing against him, it seems little more than a shitck that one would pick up to diversify himself from the past. Perhaps in doing so be shielded from the large comic book fanbase we have here.
Then again I might just be a hopeless romantic.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/24 "2005-07-08T00:37:14Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#):
>
> **WhyNot** , you think START and **Skewbald** were one and the same? Veddy intarhesting…
Mebbe, mebbe not. I wasn’t here when \*\*Skewbald \*\*was, so never got to know his style. The white pajama girl thread someone linked to recently, and I read that. Seems a similar: “I was a jerk, was that wrong?” kind of attention whoring. Seemed better writing, technically speaking, but still didn’t play true.
Frankly, all three feel to me like a young writer (20’s, 30’s), playing with “voice” and seeing how convincing s/he can be with it. Whether it’s the same young writer or not, I couldn’t really say.
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### Author:  [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/25 "2005-07-08T00:40:15Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#):
>
> …Someone START’s age might know…
I see your argument as legitimate on one level, however, I think the key here is your assumption that the **START** persona was legitimate. If START were really what he represented himself to be then your arguments are logical. If, on the other hand, START was just a fictional persona, then there’s no basis for making assumptions about what someone his “age” would or wouldn’t know. We really don’t know his//her age or interests, only what was presented in the character of START.
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### Author:  [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/26 "2005-07-08T01:43:11Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#):
>
> **WhyNot** , you think START and **Skewbald** were one and the same? Veddy intarhesting…
To cast my own opinion on this, I think **Skewbald** ’s Pyjama Girl tale was vastly superior and more interesting than anything START or the late, alleged sock have ever written.
I was sorry when Skewbald’s story ended. Even though I thought it was probably fiction, it was still an interesting and neat little tale. The drivel that START and the recent sock write is a torture to read, not a pleasure.
There are some differences between START and the sock, particularly the comic book slant that **BBVL** mentions above, but they could well be the same writer.
My opinion is that Skewbald couldn’t write that poorly if he was trying to.
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### Author:  [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/27 "2005-07-08T01:44:52Z")
Am I alone in hoping that START actually \*was \* just pulling our chains?
The way I look at it, if he was just trying to get a rise out of us, then I don’t have to feel bad for wanting to slap him upside the head so often… which is something I did feel awfully guilty about when I was giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming he was just a very emotionally and socially immature teen. 😃
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### Author:  [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/28 "2005-07-08T02:18:45Z")
> [@Bites When Provoked](#):
>
> Am I alone in hoping that START actually \*was \* just pulling our chains?
No, it would be sad if someone 15 years old actually was that clueless and unfortunate.
Evidence suggests it was just someone trying to screw around with us.
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### Author:  [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/29 "2005-07-08T03:09:04Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#):
>
> You are right, but your average non-reader doesn’t know that. Someone START’s age might know John Stewart, the African-American Green Lantern from the JLU cartoon, but that’s about it.
That assumes the human behind START was, in fact, a teenager. He/she/it/them could have really been any age/sex/religion/whatever.
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### Author:  [@Mdm.President](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdm.President)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/30 "2005-07-08T03:42:31Z")
Hesheit is having a blast.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/31 "2005-07-08T04:12:12Z")
_wild crazy brainstorming hat on_
A thought: Is it possible that the incidents related by **START** (and by whatever other personna might have been used) were true, but that the first and third person were reversed? That is to say, that perhaps the person writing the posts was the ill-treated young lady in question, and that she was trying to understand the young man in question by exploring the situation from his point of view? This might explain a lot.
But then again, it might not. That sort of thing happens when I wear my wild crazy brainstorming hat.
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### Author:  [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/32 "2005-07-08T05:43:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> But then again, it might not. That sort of thing happens when I wear my wild crazy brainstorming hat.
No no no – that’s a [thought shower hat](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=323459), or didn’t you get the memo? 😉
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/33 "2005-07-08T05:49:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> A thought: Is it possible that the incidents related by **START** (and by whatever other personna might have been used) were true, but that the first and third person were reversed? That is to say, that perhaps the person writing the posts was the ill-treated young lady in question, and that she was trying to understand the young man in question by exploring the situation from his point of view? This might explain a lot.
That’s a good theory, but no. By the time he posted the Laura stories, his pattern of “I was a jerk do you think that was a bad idea and why” was well-established.
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### Author:  [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/34 "2005-07-08T11:01:00Z")
I don’t know why, but I never come across threads where someone has earned a banning until I see their name in ATMB. And the nosey part of me always needs to know why someone was banned too 🙂
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/35 "2005-07-08T11:53:32Z")
> [@Excalibre](#):
>
> I think he’s just the announcer. Their policy requires multiple people to agree on a banning, and I think it requires at least one admin.
I seem to recall one of the mods once saying that they could ban guests, but it took an admin to ban a member.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/36 "2005-07-08T12:10:50Z")
> [@Garfield226](#):
>
> Not to mention the fact that, IIRC, one of the members here (I forget who) forked over the money for his membership. I think I’d feel…used. And especially so if he was allowed back.
Yep. From what I gather, he claimed his parents wouldn’t let him use a credit card online.
No, **Bites When Provoked** , you’re not the only one. If only because it means that at least “Laura” and the guy buying underwear at the Goodwill aren’t real and haven’t been horribly humiliated.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/37 "2005-07-08T12:46:59Z")
Kind of off-topic, or maybe not, but does anyone remember that thread where the OP talked about his ‘feeyonsay’? - anyone got a link (the searches they do nothing)
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### Author:  [@drgnrdr07](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drgnrdr07)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/38 "2005-07-08T14:06:03Z")
Well… I am not sure whether KR was START or not. If KR was a board lurker for all of these years he could have possibly known of START and his stories, but if they traced both IPs back to the same computer it would mean that KR would have to be one of START’s siblings, friends, or START himself.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/39 "2005-07-08T14:30:54Z")
> [@drgnrdr07](#):
>
> but if they traced both IPs back to the same computer it would mean that KR would have to be one of START’s siblings, friends, or START himself.
…or (not very likely) that KR and START used the same ISP with dynamic allocation of IP.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/start-has-been-banned/311505/40 "2005-07-08T14:41:11Z")
To those who aren’t sure whether KR and START are the same person, it’s possible that he confirmed it via email. At least that’s the assumption I’m making. The mods and admins aren’t going to violate his privacy by telling us that, though.
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