# Two posters reinstated, one stays banned

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-posters-reinstated-one-stays-banned/463649>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [September 15, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-posters-reinstated-one-stays-banned/463649 "2008-09-15T02:25:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-posters-reinstated-one-stays-banned/463649/1 "2008-09-15T02:25:25Z")

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I’ve reinstated two members who had their posting privileges revoked during the controversy earlier this week, **Baldwin** and **the PC apeman**. The third member, **Otto** , is another story. Some background: Contrary to wide impression that **Otto** was an innocent bystander who got caught in the crossfire, he has a long history with us. Over the past five years he’s received 13 warnings. (We log all warnings.) Granted, his most recent was in January 2008. Nonetheless, he’s been a constant thorn, and when he posted the following in my “stop whining” thread last Wednesday:

> [@](#):
>
> And if a member of the board staff is rude to a guest outside the Pit? Will they be summarily fired and banned?

… it wasn’t unreasonable of me to think he was being snarky. In fact, judging from this post:

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10178421&postcount=35](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10178421&postcount=35)

… **Otto** WAS being snarky, although he claimed otherwise in an e-mail to me that day. Nonetheless, there’s no question I banned him hastily, and when I said in my “time out, everybody” thread that I was going to reinstate him, I meant it. Then, **AFTER** I made this announcement, **Otto** took it upon himself to post the following message using a sock puppet (alternative screen name):

> **[Long time lurker, first time poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=482840)**
>
> Seems to me that if Ed were really sorry about his decision, he’d reinstate these people immediately, instead of making them sit in the corner for the weekend because he lost his temper. Sorry for speaking up, I’ll take my banning like a good boy, I...

There’s no excuse for this behavior. As a veteran member **Otto** is well aware that sock puppets are a violation of our rules and grounds for banning. Yet just two hours after I rescind one banning he turns around and commits another banning offense. In a subsequent e-mail, **Otto** claimed he hadn’t used the sock, rather that a friend had. We don’t believe this. The sock’s IP number (indicating originating computer) matches the one used by **Otto**. Conclusion: **Otto** is jerking us around. We don’t trust him and want nothing more to do with him. After discussion, we’ve decided **Otto** ’s ban will be permanent.