It is unseemly to attack people who cannot defend themselves, jackass. Why didn’t you come out of the shadows to sling your mud when she could sling it back?
Having now read Samclem’s link I do see that vanilla had been previously warned about similar behavior and I can understand that Lynn has to follow through on her warnings in order for them to be meaningful.
I’ll just say that I hope the ban isn’t permanent.
Just as a matter of interest - when you’re “BANNED” or “On a Posting Sabatacal” as I was for a while earlier this year, you can’t read the board.
Now, I suppose Vanilla could go to the library or something to check this thread out, but she wont be able to read it from her home computer (assuming that’s where she posts from).
Can’t someone read the board if they clear their cookies? That’s what I thought happens when someone isn’t a member and just lurks. I’m sure I could be wrong though, but I thought this is what I did before I joined.
Thanks Liberal. It’s gotten so a ‘why was X banned (or some such)’ thread doesn’t seem complete until you make that much needed point. 
Depends on if it’s an IP ban or cookie ban. And even then it depends on other factors. The only thing to say with confidence is “the account will not be used to post during the time in question”.
I was under the impression, from speaking (emailing) posters in the same position that typically an IP ban is used meaning that the posters personal computer is banned.
This may not be totally accurate, and obviously, this doesn’t prevent someone from looking via someone elses computer.
An IP ban is not necessarily someone’s personal computer–just the IP address from which they currently post. In a lot (if not most) cases, the poster is getting a new IP address from their ISP every time they log on (such as in dial-up). You can see where this wouldn’t be effective in the long run. Banning by specific IP address is normally only effective when you know a poster is always using that address. (There are, as in most cases, exceptions to this.)
Like Liberal said:
AFAIK (IANAAdmin), unless a poster consistently registers socks, an identity ban on the username is all that it used, not an IP ban. Logging out enables you to read the boards. I speak from experience.
I’m in a tearing hurry (Turkey Day, don’t’cha’know), so I hope I’ll be forgiven for, just this once, posting without reading the entire thread.
There’s always the possibility of a dispute that crosses Real World/Dope World lines getting heated enough to result in a lawsuit.
One lawsuit would ruin the Chicago Reader.
Not “could”. Would.
I just came back from a “Posting Sabatical” and I can tell you for a fact you can still read the boards.
Why would they stop you?
Speaking only for myself, I don’t like it when people tell me what’s being said behind my back. I figure, if it’s behind my back, that means the people saying it don’t have the stones to say it to my face. So I’m not bothered about them. The person/people I do get bothered about are the ones who go out of their way to make sure I hear these remarks. In which case, it’s difficult for me to think anything except that they are consciously trying to hurt me. Or to set up a “let’s you and him fight” between me and whoever they’re quoting.
I don’t remember where but I saw a mod specifically say once that in certain cases they do prevent the banned member from viewing the boards.
My guess would be if the poster in question had threatened to hack the boards, if they suspected they were harassing members through email or if they were using a third party as a go between…just my guess though of course.
Exactly, exactly, exactly!
Now, I know that some people invite their coworkers, relatives, friends to check out the board, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as it’s an innocuous invitation (“Check out this great message board!”) and they (the one inviting) knows that they can never, never, NEVER post anything too personal on this board.
However, you have to realize that if, for instance, if you invite Coworker A to the boards, Coworker A can tell everyone else that you (and they) post to these boards, and then anyone else that you know has access to what you say on these boards. Then they can make things difficult for you, or they can search all the posts that you made in the X years you’ve posted here and perhaps find something that you discuss that they take offense with (some comments in a 2-year-old thread about your coworkers, perhaps?). Then they can bump up the thread, and get really nasty with you about it, or cause some other messy stuff with you.
Is it really worth that risk? Sometimes, if you know that you are only informing the Most Trusted Friends and Loved Ones of this board, it is worth the risk because there really isn’t any risk. (If you can’t trust mom, who can you trust?) But a lot of the time, it’s not worth it.
It’s also a good idea to never write anything on these boards that you couldn’t bear to be exposed as being written by you. Be vague enough about personal details and when describing other people/situations so that, worst case scenario, if they found out what you wrote, you could still face them. You never know who might have stumbled upon this board and figured out who you are.
I hope you come back too, vanilla. We love you.
maybe it’s because i’m not familiar with a paid message board culture, but i find these snippets disquieting, and am not at all surprised at the interest on bannings.
If I were vanilla, I don’t know that I’d want to come back. After being treated like shit by her fellow churchgoers and an Admin, then be publicly humiliated by that Admin and being subject to a month long suspension? Being forced to grovel to be let back into our little club? Why would she want to come back? In forcing the distinction between this board and RL, it seems we often force a distinction between real people and clever anonymous screen names, when there isn’t any. That false distinction leads to way over the top situations like this. And Jesus wept? Indeed.
Meh. I work in a maximum security prison. I see plenty of rights being lost and compromised, both appropriately so and in wildly unfair and capricious manners. And I do what I can to address such problems when and where I can. This whole situation boils down to “You were warned. Actions have consequences. You can’t post on our site for at least a month. Deal with it.”
Having complained previously, I am duty-bound to come back and say that samclem has clarified the situation.
I still hope she is allowed back after a month.
Regards,
Shodan
In all honesty, I think it’s very naive to think that she sent the thread to the elder without knowing full well it would be forwarded. So I disagree with the statements that say “she’s innocent because she didn’t forward the link directly.” No, but she sent it to someone who obviously would. If anything, due to the potential for libel.
It would be as if I wrote a nasty thread about my ex-girlfriend and then sent a link to it to one of her best friends saying “Ssh! Don’t tell anyone… Oh, and especially don’t tell Sniffs_Markers…” Then imagine I cried foul and acted “surprised” and “apalled” that my trust had been betrayed, and shocked, just shocked, that it got passed along to my ex.
You’d roll your eyes at me and my obvious passive-aggressive ploy. You’d roll 'em so hard you’d be able to see your tonsils.
She could have composed a separate complaint, or copied and pasted her OP. But she didn’t. She sent a message to en elder that said: “Look! I’m publicly maligning the pastor. See for yourself. And lots of people agree with me and my side of the story. See? See?” Of course it got forwarded to the pastor.
It’s like talking about someone behind their back, loud enough so you know they still hear you.
Hopefully this behaviour is the exception, not the rule. Like ffinn I’ve had issues with some elements of her behaviour, but over the past year she has been nothing but upstanding and sweet. So I’m hoping that this was just an uncharacterstic lapse, and will be resolved so she can come back as the well-respected contributor she has been for the past year.