Quite possibly he had saved the link to the thread.
Yeah, Tris, because you’ve been rude to mods and defended the right of “the chosen few” to use SDMB resources in selfish disregard for the wishes of our hosts and violated the rules of the house repeatedly and . . .
Wait. Tris hasn’t done any of those things. Whyfore you call him an asshole, Manservant Hecubus? Was it because he dared to express his opinion of another member of this community?
Perhaps you should face that mirror inward.
Oh my. That’s the best you could do? Manny once started a PIT thread about an asshole who hacked the HTML of the SDMB? And he actually said mean and nasty things there? In the PIT?
That’s just pitiful.
Hey, I think if someone cared to they could probably find a nice little collection of manhattanisms that skirt, or obliterate, the line of polite interaction. But if the best you can do is linking to a PIT thread he started after the board’s code was hacked, I suggest you leave the job to someone else. That’s just embarrassing.
If someone does choose to fritter away their hours on such a pursuit, I hope that they will take it to its own thread. Silo wasn’t banned for manhattan’s behavior. He was banned for his own. Besides, DavidB was creeping up in the PIT thread contest. Manhattan might appreciate the boost.
ad noctum
I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. 
Trust me, it ain’t rocket science. (Despite what techchick might say.)
Speaking of what techchick has to say:
Nice misrepresentation. Silo wasn’t banned for giving out information. He was clearly banned for giving out attitude after being told he had posted information the mods thought was out-of-bounds. Maybe if you had read “all the damn thread” before posting you would have been able to figure that out.
The SDMB admins chose instead to allow users to retain the search function with as few limitations as necessary in order to improve board performance. I, for one, am thankful that they made that decision. I don’t blame Silo particularly for posting his workaround. It was clueless but eminently excuseable. Well, if he had asked to be excused, of course.
Some people learn lessons once. Some repeat as necessary. Silo seems to be an “as necessary” sort.
Loyalty to one’s friends is an admirable trait.
You got me. I actually DO believe that a single Mod’s actions on a recreational Message board is exactly the same thing as nation-wide political regulation for the largest country on earth.
I also believe in The Invisible Pink Unicorn.
:rolleyes:
— G. Raven
Ummmmm, I am a former HTML guru or something like that…um I still don’t know what the hell Silo was talking about and choose not to know. I am not a hacker and the SDMB needs to know these things, Silo pointed out.
I think given Manny’s response Silo was in the right for his response to Manny…so…where does that leave us all? Same fucking place we all were when we entered in this thread. We all looked at it and made a decision of who is right and who is wrong.
Well, in this case, neither was in the right, but the SDMB was in the wrong for the banning given the offense. Silo doesn’t arbitarily and never has been (since his MM days) a thorn in a mod or admins side that I recall.
This is bullshit, big and stinky, as far as the eye can see.
Yes, many people surf the net without ever learning the most basic elements of how it functions. Is that relevant? It makes little difference whether the backdoor Silo posted was understand by a dozen or a thousand. The mods expressed disapproval of having the information posted. Silo reacted poorly. He was not baaned for the content of his first post; he was banned for the attitudes of his subsequent posts.
Or perhaps it’s because he was not banned because of the content of his first post. Hmmm. How could we find out which is the case. I know, if reading the damned thread doesn’t make it clear maybe we could read what the administrators of the board have posted in this thread.
Seems pretty clear, doesn’t it? The content posted, while it did not make the administration happy, was not the reason for the banning.
Sheesh. I know that emotions can run high when a poster gets banned, but how hard is it to at least get the public facts of the case right?
As previously stated in this thread, more than once, the admins/mods already know about the workaround before Silo posted, because other people took the proper route and emailed them.
I guess the qualifications for guru aren’t what they used to be. Once upon a time I actually learned what a URL meant, but that was in one of those big yellow books with “Dummies” on the cover. I think they might be classified.
morrison’s lament
I’ve long suspected as much.
Yours was the first post following the banning in the ATMB thread. It consisted entirely of “:rolleyes:”. After your “joke” in this thread, you posted a question which contradicted the interpretation of Silo’s post given by an administrator. In between those to pithy moments, you post an extremely worded criticism of a mod an admin and teh SDMB staff in total. That post, apparently, was your joke.
I’ll repeat. It isn’t particularly funny.
Here’s a hint: if you want to lampoon a position through hyperbole, it helps if you don’t associate yourself with that position before and afterwards.
Attitude? What attitude?
I have thought long and hard about replying to this thread, and finally decided to do so. I feel that I am in a dificult postion because several moderators are people I consider personal friends. They have held my hand, offered sage advice ( which I followed, to my benefit ) and been nothing except great people whom I am proud to know in my life. That being said, I am a firm believer in being honest and letting the chips fall where they may, it is one of the cornerstones of my character, and I will not sacrifice it. I recently did it in my personal life, and the chips fell where I didn’t want them to. shrug So be it, it’s better than beating around the bush.
IMHO this entire situation was precipatated by another of Manny’s vindictive posts. I admire Manny for his ability to post just the right bon mot, and many times he has reduced me to helpless laughter at the wit of his posts. He is a wonderful addition to our community. Unfortunately, as a moderator I feel he rates slightly lower than Satan’s scrotum. He is mean, vindictive and happy to use his power to his own twisted ends. He posted in the thread in question:
Very nice. Let’s just keep on beating up someone for mistakes he made almost 2 years ago!! Silo has openly apologised for his original behavior on these boards, and been since, not a model poster, but certainly no better or worse than any of us. Does that matter? No, not to Manny. (Strangely,)I have to agree with Sua, if you said such to me, I guarantee that my response would not be nearly as mild as Silo’s was. As a poster you are aces Manny, as a mod, you suck harder than Jenna Jamison in a double feature. Your inability to seperate your responsibility from your sad life poisons your ability to moderate. You are a sad, sad man.
I also think that Silo’s post:
was a tacid apology for posting a work around to the disabled search function. It was obscure and left handed, but that’s how I see it. Everyone ignored it because it was “Michael Masterson” posting it, and y’all looked for the worst. I am saddened because I am sure if I, or Esprix, or Geobabe, or Falcon, or MaxTorque, or evilbeth, or ChiefScott, or RTFirefly, or Olentzero, or Iampunha,or Purplebear, or …fill in the blank, had posted that it would have been seen as such. Sometimes the past has to be seen as past.
I am not criticizing the right of the administration to do as they see fit, persay, obviously than can do as they see fit, it’s their board. I will, have, and do support their actions in general, they do a thankless job very well. In this case, however, I think they made a mistake, prolly because they rallied behind one of their own, a vendictive little man. C’mon guys, I know you, you’re better than this. Please prove me right.
One final thought: Manny referde to “Mike fucking Masterson” in an ATMB thread. It’s been pretty well established that that is not the place for that kind of language. Mods, please enforce the rules evenly. Coldy, Tuba, Euty, etc…? I know you are better than that. Keep the rules, don’t let a loose cannon roll over your athority, Mod or not. Please, be what we expect of you. We respect you, live up to it.
Thank you.
Dave
I’ve thought about this for a while now. And I’ve come to one inescapable conclusion.
I’m the only guy that a Mod hasn’t pissed off!
Manny was never mean to me, not even once. I’m feeling a little left out here. Don’t you guys like me??
Ok, ok, ok. It was my impression from Silo’s post that, although he did not mind his info being deleted, he had no qualms about using said info hisself in violation of what Mod’s and Admin’s wanted. He understood that Mod’s and Admin’s were taken aback by the very suggestion of it and made no apology, yada, yada, yada. I…still don’t understand why people are suprised he was banned.
But I am a little slow.
That’s beautiful Dave, I could hardly agree more.
— G. Raven
Let’s see, I was first to teply. I apologize for this mortal sin.
Second, I did not agree with the discourse of a single moderator on the whole Silo phenomenon. Again, I seem to be bound for hell.
Third, I criticized the very jerks responsible for what I believed to be a great injustice. I deliberately named only two people, NOT “the entire SDMB staff in total”.
And, yes, that was my joke. I apologize for not being funny, to you.
— G. Raven
I read this whole thread. I read the entire thread where Silo made the posts that got him banned. And I would like to add my voice to the many saying that this is total bullshit.
Point 1) This is a community. To anyone saying that losing a member of the community shouldn’t bother us, I say fuck you. I liked Silo, and I liked reading his posts. I’ve never met him or talked to him IRL, I think I talked to him in the IRC channel once or twice, but so what? He added to the community. It’s not the end of the world, and it’s a blow to our community, and yes, it does make me feel uncomfortable.
Point 2) a) I don’t give a rat’s ass about the search function, I noticed when the “Search All” was disabled, I was inconvenienced, but I survived. This board is pretty damn slow and anything the people who own/run it want to do about that, that’s their business.
and b) The mods can do what they fucking like. They’re in charge, and purportedly they are in charge for a reason. I want to make it clear that I like the concept of the moderators and the concept of the SDMB’s rule #1. I’m glad there are people that are willing to volunteer to keep all our shit running smoothly. I’m sure it’s a thankless task, I’m sure it’s a lot of work, and I know they volunteered for it, but I don’t think we should all lick their fucking soiled hosiery because of it. If somebody doesn’t want to do the work, don’t do it. The fact that they work hard for our benefit doesn’t give them the right to break the rules. They’re hosts, and we’re guests. I get that. I also get that if they start acting like assholes, this will be a pretty shitty place to be a guest. Back to point 1 again, this is a community, and while it’s not the only MB on the internet, it’s one of the very few I’ve been attracted to hang around at for any length of time, and that’s because of the feeling of community that it has. And I haven’t even been here long enough to have any idea who Michael Masterson is, or any of that other stuff.
Point 3) Silo showed very little attitude. Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have posted the “workaround” (I’d like to weigh in with the people who have no clue what it meant or how to use it, despite some small knowledge), maybe he should have apologized for it IMMEDIATELY, and maybe he should have been more careful, knowing that he was perpetually on thin ice from his misbehavior of times past.
BUT A) Lynn already said that he wasn’t banned for the info he posted. If that’s true, the mods’ position seems to me to be even weaker. He was banned for i.saying that the mods (individually or collectively) were getting bent out of shape? ii.suggesting that the post he was getting attacked for having posted be deleted. Or what? What the fuck?
B) Holding a grudge for a year and a half, or whatever, is totally fucked up. In my experience lurking and posting, Silo is a funny, positive guy and I enjoyed his contribution.
C) I think Silo was held to an unrealistic expectation as far as what he was supposed to interpret as a warning. IMO, he never got one. If any post was offensive, it was his second one, the one about “a little luxury.” But instead of the levelheaded response that might have occured (e.g. “well, you may feel that way, but it fucks our shit up so don’t do it, and don’t post about it either,” or “a little luxury for you fucks up everyone else’s party,” etc. or “if you don’t shut up about it you’re gonna get banned,”), the mods gangbang him and then when he suggests that some overreacting has occurred (he was RIGHT, for chrissakes, the whole thing was totally, way over the top), BANG! he’s gone. That is utter bullshit.
It just makes me sad. That this could happen. Okay, so the SDMB will go on. It’s just fucked up. That’s all. It’s just too bad that things are run that way. Though it would be nice, I’ve got no realistic expectation that Silo will be coming back. Since he already messed up and got his membership back, he’ll never be coming back a second time. But he shouldn’t have been banned for this.
Addendum: I’m sure there’s shit that goes on behind the scenes. It’s completely possible that there are whole other rationales behind this that (for whatever reason) aren’t being talked about here. If that is the case, I accept that 100% and without questions. I just wish someone would say so. “Silo was banned because of other things that occurred that it’s not so easy for the average poster to perceive.” But both admins and mods have come out and said that he was banned for his attitude (and NOT for the info he posted or for his tarnished past record), WHICH DOES SCARE ME PERSONALLY because if what he posted is interpreted as “attitude,” then you never know when someone else might get banned out of hand because someone had a personal grudge. And I think that that is fucked up. IMO and $.02, as iampunha put it so well.
The attitude of a customer to a flunky. The unpaid staff worked to achieve a balance between a functioning search engine and people being able to read the board during the daytime. Silo posted information which undermined – perhaps sabotaged is too strong – those efforts made on our behalf. Called on it he eventually deigns to have his post deleted.
If required, I can probably help explain why Manny got shirty about this.
You know, the way some posters soliloquy, you’d think that in order to not get banned you need a masters degree in the subtle art of Staying On The Boards.
It’s really not that complicated folks. Diplomacy - it’s all it takes. Respect - show a little for those appointed to do a difficult task and you’ll be absolutely fine. Empathy - imagine how YOU’D feel if you were the mod reading that post you’ve just written and rewrite it if appropriate.
I’ve not seen one banning yet that’s been a bolt from the blue. Sure, sometimes they can seem harsh. Hell - maybe sometimes they are harsh. So? There’s still always a fairly glaring reason for the banning.
When I read Silo’s workaround, I immediately thought “uh-oh”. When I read his non-contrite reply, I thought “no no”. When I saw him attempt to justify it, I thought “this is going to be a ban”. What I don’t understand is how Silo didn’t realise this little sequence. It didn’t take a masterful working of logic.
So remember - diplomacy, respect and empathy. Do this and she’ll be right. Honestly.
pan
White Lightning just made my “cool posters” list.
Carry on, people.
— G. Raven
Can I use this for my upcoming thread: “Justifying Communist Attrocities: It’s all their fault for not groveling enough”?
— G. Raven
For whatever it’s worth… I followed the discussion over the search facility in ATMB; amongst other things, I’m a professional Internet software developer, and as such I’m interested in how bandwidth and load-balnacing problems are addressed in real life.
As a professional Internet software developer, I read Silo’s post about the workaround, and knew immediately what he meant. And I’d expect most professional Internet people, of which there are not a few on the board, would also know.
And, as a computer geek, my first thought was “Oooh! I know how to do that! Let’s have a go!” Fortunately, the sensible side of me popped up immediately thereafter, reminding me of the many times I’ve been frustrated by the speed of the board, and pointing out the comments made by several of the mods in the same thread, about how using this workaround would undermine what they were trying to do.
In short, my sensible side said, “Don’t be a jerk.” And I listened to it. And I suspect that Silo’s sensible side said the same to him… and he should have listened.
I mean, the ATMB thread contained an impressive list of mods, all of them saying very clearly Do Not Do This, It Is A Bad Idea. (So one of them used intemperate language… I can’t honestly say that bothers me all that much.) I got the message; for that matter, it looks to me as though Silo got the message too, but chose to reject it. In short, he took a deliberately wrong-headed position on a touchy issue. The consequences of this seem pretty predictable. On balance, I’m on the mods’ side over this one. (Gosh, I’m sure they’ll all sleep much easier in their beds knowing that…)
No, ML, you can’t. Do we really have to go over the painfully obvious reasons why?
pan
Let’s see:[list=1]
[li]Message board creaking under strain.[/li][li]Administrators take action to reduce strain.[/li][li]User posts guide on how to construct a URL to undo that action.[/li][li]Administrators ban user.[/li][/list=1]
Sorry, which part is “fucked up”?
And if it really is as fascist an institution as some seem to think, anyone care to tell me why Monster104 is still here after this little tantrum: