I feel like if this was the first time the SDMB ever moderated someone for making an unwarranted phone call to another poster (or at least trying to do so), it should have been a warning and not resulted in a ban.
That being said, it was only a matter of time before Simple Linctus was banned anyway, so I’m not so heartbroken.
Is there an answer to this and missed it? If not could we get one? Because this seems very inconsistent to me.
I didn’t reveal real-life information (his username on that forum includes what I assume is his real first name, but it’s not my fault he includes his first initial in his username here) and I didn’t “make it possible” for anyone to do anything: I posted links to posts on a card-collecting forum, all from what was, at the time, the first hit on a Google search of his username. Just like people have done with others, such as umkay, James Otto Sweet Heart, etc. Glad I could clear that up for you.
The answer is that all the information used to identify pchaos was posted by pchaos, and everything on the other boards was found easily by Googling. I don’t think it’s reasonable to say pchaos’ privacy was invaded when he himself made all of that information public.
Guin. I’m totally proud of you. You summed up the whole situation correctly.
So, if pchaos is a fake, then SL left a very confusing message on some random person’s answering machine.
If he gave the name Straight Dope in the message, it sure makes this board look stupid. To have members calling people who are not members and have never heard of us, and then asking for some code? It reflects poorly on the board.
You’re right. Lictus should be double-banned for this potential hit to our reputation!
Double secret bannation. 
Oak, you are more than welcome to send me a few cases of chili. I’ll be glad to take them off your hands. Extra beans, please with finely chopped jalapeños.
Forget the rules lawyering.
Personally I am happy that should I get into an argument with some random username, that the boards admin will not look favourably should some random creep then decide to start ringing my family or workplace.
You are contacting people in real life because of words on the internet? How the hell is that not being a jerk?
My reference was to the “Don’t be a jerk” rule itself rather than any one particular example of a jerky comment. Since DBAJ can be pretty much whatever a Mod wants it to be at any point in time then almost anything will fit firmly within its bounds.
Can we hijack this thread to talk about gun control now?
Not until I get accused of junior modding. Priorities, dude!
Just wondering, why did you stop being a moderator? I mean, you get accused of junior moderating, so why did you quit in the first place, and why don’t you go back to being a moderator?
I did it for over ten years, which was long enough-time to make room for new blood. I enjoyed it very much, but I’m having too much fun to go back.
Can I accuse you of senior modding? How about modding emeritus?
It’s definitely a form of stalking. It’s taking board issues and looking up someone in real life and then contacting them off board.
I know that if I got an unsolicited email or phone call to my work address/number (i.e. stuff I have not posted on this board) from someone identifying themselves as from the SDMB, I’d be a bit leery. It’s one thing if it came from someone whom I have interacted IRL and given my real name personally. It’s quite another to have some “random stranger” google me and find info and then contact me IRL. And it’s even worse. Because if I got contacted from someone I have a generally good interaction on the board, I’m going to take it much better than if that phone call comes from someone with whom I am currently engaged in a heated discussion questioning my integrity, professionalism, and veracity. That person is going to come off as damn threatening, regardless of what they actually say in the phone message.
Your hyperbole is noted. I don’t freak out if I get a strange number on my caller ID. I don’t panic if I get a weird message from someone I don’t recognize. I’ve been hit with wrong numbers without freaking out. It’s the “I’m so-and-so and I’m hunting you down” that does perk my attention.
I will note that in this instance, Simple Lictus was actually acting in a manner that would support pchaos’s claims. Of course, pchaos did not need SL to give him a code word to share. If pchaos had wished to connect his RL identity he would merely have linked that work content himself. The fact that he had not suggests it was not his desire to share that here.
Also, I will note that my phrasing “hunt you down” probably comes off as hyberbolic. SL didn’t say anything about showing up on his doorstep or anything like that. Nevertheless, taking efforts to ID the phone number and actually making the phone call is a step in that direction. Were I on the receiving end, I would be cautious that the person taking the effort to actually find my identity might be interested in taking the effort to find me physically. Else, why do they need my RL identity?
Steps along the ladder. If first offence, it would have stopped at a Warning. If history of Warnings, it might have been a suspension. Because there was a prior suspension, the Warning triggered banning as well. It wasn’t this act in isolation that got him banned, it was this act in addition to past history and prior suspension.
I don’t have enough history with SL to know if I would have let this Warning trigger the ban. Based solely on the ambiguity of this incident, I might have been inclined to let this one be a “freeby” between suspension and banning. I.e., he’d have the Warning and any subsequent issue would then trigger the ban. YMMV. I won’t question the mods’ call on this.
To me, the problem with SL’s posting that he’d made the call was that it placed pchaos in a position of having to waive his privacy or permit the inference to be drawn that he was a fraud. Don’t see how the mods can formulate a specific rule which covers this scenario. Sometimes we have to settle for general rules which depend for their fairness on the integrity of the folks administering them.
I think people are being too easy on AClockworkMelon. He didn’t just do some investigating googling, he posted his results here. If the board is fine with that, what is to prevent someone from sharing some google results, or deeper investigation, here. While I think the right call was made in regards to Simple Linctus, not modding AClockworkMelon inadvertently sets a precedent, or at least creates the impression, that one can do investigating into the real life of posters and as long as they don’t try to contact them in real life and just post what they found, is okay. I think that’s a bit troubling.