# The Banning of Shodan **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 14, 2020, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-banning-of-shodan/853763 "2020-05-14T02:33:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-banning-of-shodan/853763/423 "2020-05-17T02:45:29Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Gratuitous swipes against either side does, as in his last post, is not conducive to good debate. I disagree a lot with Falchion, with Velocity, with Sam Stone, with when he was here Bricker. Pool and Bump often say things I find pretty appalling. But all of them at least bring their honest and research opinions to the board. Yeah, I’m often less than pleased with what conservatives post. But Shodan’s sneering dishonesty and meanspirited bigotry was a thing apart from his terrible views. The only downside of his leaving is this thread. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-banning-of-shodan/853763/424 "2020-05-17T03:22:21Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Wrong on several counts. > > First of all, YOU say the word isn’t the issue, but the moderators say otherwise. According to [Chronos](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=22302053&postcount=53): _“He was banned for insulting members of the board, approximately half of them…By using an inherently gendered insult, Shodan was asserting that her gender was relevant, and made her in some way unqualified to hold opinions or make decisions.”_ > > Second, if it really were because he failed to follow moderator instructions, then the moderators should spell that out clearly. If that was their reason, they have not communicated it very well. > > Third, when exactly was the instruction given in the first place? Searching the archives, I can see no mention of it. As far as I can find, Shodan only used the word on [one other occasion](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5680671&highlight=harpy#post5680671), in a pit thread, in 2005, for which he was not moderated. As far as I can find, Jonathan Chance only moderated the word one [one previous occasion](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19517683&highlight=harpy#post19517683), when used by a different poster (Saint Cad). Even then, I’m not certain if the warning is for ‘harpy’ or for ‘shove [it] up your ass’. I think it’s the latter. > > Fourth, the punishment is harsh, disproportionate to the offence, and contrary to precedent. > > - RioRico got a 7 day suspension, returned, got several warnings in less than 4 months, and as a result was given a 30 day suspension and put on his last chance. > - Shodan got a 7 day suspension, returned, behaved himself for 8 months, then got one warning, and was banned. No 30 day suspension, no last chance. > See the difference between them? See how Shodan got a harsher treatment? This is a great summary and there has not been any satisfactory answer to this as the mods continue to refuse to engage in this type of argument. Eight months of no infractions and then a “harpy” does not seem to me to be a continued showing that a poster cannot follow board rules. And as you correctly point out, it is objectively false that Shodan could have been warned about “harpy.” Although it is possible that the mods had PMd him, that seems unlikely as he had not used that word since 2005. Further, the first poster that you mentioned started a thread that advocated the military overthrowing the President of the United States and had his thread closed and mod noted, so that doesn’t even count in his list of warnings. So this “reasoned discourse” and “better quality of debate” means that encouraging a military dictatorship and a violent coup is a tsk tsk please don’t do that and “harpy” is a ban? Do some of you guys even hear yourselves? Also, all the prior warnings are weak as well. They remind me of when there is an employee at work that you just don’t like but have no real grounds to fire him so you start writing him up for being 10 minutes late or for failing to complete a task on time after being given insufficient resources and you keep all of those notes in his file and demand absolute perfection from him (even though nobody else gets that kind of attention) and then when he does something else you can fire him because of his “continued pattern of misbehavior.” When he gets fired for taking a 62 minute lunch and others complain, then it was “just the straw that broke the camel’s back” when you were the one heaping straw on the camel to begin with. I’ve seen it enough times to know when it is happening and that is exactly what this is. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-banning-of-shodan/853763/425 "2020-05-17T03:37:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m going to use the War Games maneuver. The what now? ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-banning-of-shodan/853763/426 "2020-05-17T03:55:45Z")
“When you were the one heaping straw on the camels to begin with”. Well summarized. It really would be better if they gave up the pretenses and just said “we are banning people who annoy most posters.” ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-banning-of-shodan/853763/427 "2020-05-17T03:55:53Z")
Can someone please post a link to the thread that got Shodan banned? Thank you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-banning-of-shodan/853763/428 "2020-05-17T04:06:29Z")
**Moderator Action** It’s clear that this thread will never come to any sort of resolution, so that’s enough. We’re done here. Thread closed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-banning-of-shodan/853763.md?page=21)