As you may know, I was recently "topic banned’ on a certain subject by Idle Thoughts. I wish to protest this banning. (I apparently can’t mention the topic itself)
The Topic banning was apparently done due to my last ATMB thread on the subject, plus some PMs.
Altho it’s true that Idle Thoughts never (as I had thought) encouraged me to start a new thread in ATMB, he specifically gave me permission three or four times:* “Making topics in ATMB works too… That post would be fine in an ATMB topic about this. …Either use PM (to a mod) if you have an issue, report the posts you have issues with, or use ATMB to discuss issues about it. Those are your only options, as they should be… I said to people to open one up if they want to discuss the things. That’s what I and other mods always say…but you are not required to. We’re not telling you to, it’s up to YOU if YOU want to continue discussion.”*
Finally, this is the only time I have seen on the SDMB where a banning of this sort went without a single warning. Yes, Handy was topic banned (then banned) for similar postings, but he was given many warnings. I was not given any warnings.
The closest thing to a warning was "Now…stop discussing rules or the book/show meta thing in that thread* please, or you will possibly be topic banned for awhile. " I did. How then is a banning fair if you give a warning, someone promptly stops doing that, but is banned any way?
“That Thread” referred to the Cafe Society thread.
Yes, I am sure the staff here were all tired of my handful of threads about the issue in ATMB, and doubtless the zillions of “Reports” from others. I apologize for that, but like I told IT, all he had to do is say “Please stop starting threads in ATMB about this subject”. Instead, no less than three times he said it was OK to start a thread about it.
This warning was out of the blue and unfair. I have made every effort to respond to any request from any Staff member. At no time was a request or "order’ made where I ignored it.
To sum up: I apologize for any inconvenience caused. I would happily refrain if simply asked. But I wasn’t warned on this and annoyance- factor or no, the way you run your SDMB is to Warn first, ban after. It’s not fair to treat a long term paid Charter Member like this.
You had been told multiple times in both posts and PMs to let things go and stop bringing up the subject.
You also had to have many notes given to you, most of them in a short period of time, because you can’t seem to control yourself when it comes to GoT things.
It’s fairly simple: Show spoilers and book spoilers go into TWO different threads on here. General discussion will always be asked to have both a book only and show only thread and each, specific episode will be asked to have both a book only and show only thread. Another thread that has both book and show stuff in it is allowed as well, but the main point is: Keep the book spoilers out of the any show spoilers thread and vica versa. You seemed unable to do that and had to be constantly modded and/or PMed for it…so I apologize if I’m just a little wary in thinking you won’t eventually go back to it.
For two, it seems that discussion about it was cropping up in ATMB with an almost constant regularity and at the center of each one was you, who seemed to care more about it than anyone else. Most of these threads seemed to dissolve into little more than “You VS everyone else”. Even now you’re saying stuff like
Yes, you were. Many times. You’d have to be noted or PMed over, again, what is mostly a fairly simple concept: Just keep the two separate, in separate threads.
Now, I will think about lifting the ban, let me discuss it with the and I’ll get back to you. Please be patient in the meantime.
While I have nothing good to say* about how you approach the banned topic (despite somewhat agreeing with you), I think that as big a problem as you are in that topic (Game of Thrones thread rules…I’m not banned from saying it), any and everyone who responds to you is equally complicit. Your thoughts on the subject are known, and the best way to deal with them is to ignore them, not continually engage you. Therefore, your most vocal detractors (like someone whose user name initials are SB) should also be banned from the topic, rather than your ban lifted.
*That is being overly kind to a fault.
ETA: You just had to sneak in there with a response during my edits, didn’t you Idle?
Yes, this is fair-** about Meta rules for that one particular thread**. Not about the subject itself. I didn’t and dont like the special rules, for that or any other subject . *Mea Culpa. * I will drop that issue, as long as my general objection to special rules is noted.
Sure- and I followed that rule. You even said yourself " Your problem is just getting started on talking ABOUT the rule in those threads. You don’t break it." * ** I never broke the rules.* Was I a dick about the rules? Yes, a little. :o
We had copious PM discussions, I agree. But not a single Warning. The closest thing was “"Now…stop discussing rules or the book/show meta thing in that (Cafe Society)thread please, or you will possibly be topic banned for awhile. *” I did exactly that. Yes, I started yet another ATMB thread. So, I followed your advice to the letter. Perhaps not in the spirit. *() mine.
Thank you for reconsidering. I do agree I was a little bit of a dick about the rules thing. I will drop that issue- reluctantly. I will never post in a “certain persons” “no spoilers” thread- with elan and happiness.
I hope that’s a reasonable compromise, since I was a bit of a jerk. I followed the letter but not the spirit of the rules.
After a discussion among the staff, we have decided that the topic ban for DrDeth will remain in place.
I am also closing this thread. The topic ban and the reasons for it have been discussed at length in previous threads, and we don’t need to re-hash all of that again here. If anyone believes that they have a compelling reason to re-open this, feel free to PM me and we can discuss it.
