I’m putting the question in the Pit, because I don’t know where else it should go. I tried looking in ATMB, but failed to see a relevant post on the subject.
Really, I’m just curious; I’m not trying to Pit anybody. I thought what I saw of his/her contributions was pretty decent, so I’m somewhat surprised to see the “BANNED” next to Demorian’s name.
I’m guessing it was Zagadka again. He put a “o_O” in a post of his.
Ahhh. So, has he tried this before?
The mods locked his original ban thread, but there have been at least three other people who put “o_O” in their posts who have been banned without an explanation.
This is all from memory of course, and so I could be wrong. If you want to know for sure, it’d probably be best to e-mail a mod.
So whats with that peculiar little set of symbols? I mean, it can’t be more offensive than some other shit I’ve seen bandied about. Whazzadeal here?
It’s a picture of “raising your eyebrows inquisitively.” It’s pretty common in anime related boards or chat rooms.
As should be obvious, it appears to be evidence of a sock rather than anything offensive in it’s own right.
There is nothing wrong with the “raised eyebrow” emoticon and Zagadka is not the only poster to have used it. Coincidentally, Zagadka happens to have used it while manipualting all of his sock puppets, although we are identifying his posts in other ways. The “o_O” is simply the part of his identity that is readily visible to the rest of the Teeming Millions.
It’s not the symbol itself, it’s that said symbol was the annoying trademark of Zadadka, and the use of it presumably blew his sock-puppet cover when the uncontrollable urge to use The Forbidden Mark overcame him.
I’m genuinely curious as to how much money he’s spent on the board.
Huh. Now why would somebody give themselves away so easily, unless they’re trying to get banned? I always associate that little o_O thingy with Zagadka. It used to drive me crazy. “What the hell is that?”, I would ask myself. I wondered if it was supposed to be spools on a reel-to-reel tape. Or a drag-racer. Zagadka’s use of that emoticon is the reason I found it was something like :dubious:. Difficult to forget; and hence an extremely poor addition to a sock, if you ask me.
About the only more obvious ‘tell’ was The Grapist. Hard to hide purple, if that’s your trademark.
It may have some deeply existential significance, reflecting the tragic nullity of the moment and the emptiness of being, as symbolized by the “sock puppet”.
That, or he’s just being a dick.
I know. Given his descriptions of his personal situation, it’s a tragic all around, I think. 
Not that I fault the mods at all on this matter…
Heck, I was 90% sure it was Zagadka without ever seeing the dreaded emoticon of doom in any of Demorian’s posts. Exactly the same posting style. Same sort of writing, same political views, same everything. A master of disguise he is not.
In my experience, it’s more shocked amazement than it is raising your eyebrow; here’s a pretty good graphical representation.
Without knowing anything about this guy or his background:
What the hell? That’s like banning anyone that uses “=)” or “:)” or “lol” or “wtf.” I wonder how many random people are wondering why they just got banned.
None, you moron.
OK Brutus. Here’s what I see from this thread.
Again, I probably shouldn’t be saying anything because I don’t know anything about this guy or his background, but that symbol is pretty common and banning people just for using it seems pretty ignorant to me.
