This was a thread in GD a while ago. I got the standard email that someone had posted to the thread, but when I click on the link it says I don’t have access privileges to the thread anymore. When I look in GD (or the other forums) the thread has vanished. Obviously my account hasn’t been banned (I’m posting here after all)…so was just curious if anyone knew what happened. Board glitch?
-XT
Yeah, really? I didn’t think anything even approached a level of abuse in that thread.
Well, normally the mods will post that the thread is closed…but I can’t find the thread at all. I’m guessing that its some kind of glitch.
-XT
They tend to disappear threads started by socks. Just a guess. I’d email if you’re really curious, though one will perhaps stop by here eventually.
From The Rules:
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven]
If a paying member and reasonably long-time poster is suspended or banned, we usually announce this in the About This Message Board forum. We try to strike a balance between informing our members about what’s happened, and respecting the privacy of the individual. If you don’t see a thread in this forum with an explanation, then the person was either a sock puppet, a spammer, or a banned person trying to sneak back in.
Also, please remember that you may not be seeing all there is to see. If someone had four or five inoffensive posts and is banned, you probably didn’t see the 20 spam posts that led to a porno site – they’d be “disappeared” along with the poster.
**While we post the reasons for banning a long-time poster, we really don’t want to post reasons for sock puppets, banned persons trying to sneak back in, or spammers – we don’t want them to have more publicity. The publicity is what they want. If they don’t get it, maybe they’ll go away and leave us alone.
If you’re dying of curiosity and really MUST know or you won’t be able to sleep nights, then email a Moderator. We’ll be happy to tell you offline.**
(* - A “sock puppet” or “sock” is a person with multiple usernames, including “repeat guests.” A spammer is a person trying to sell things or just annoy with multiple posts leading to some website of no (or harmful) consequence. A banned person trying to sneak back in is a banned person trying to sneak back in. These are all violations of our registration agreement, and incompatible with the sense of community that we’re trying to build.)
[/quote]
It is something of a bummer when there’s a thread like that and someone (in this case a mod, no less) has posted a useful lengthy reply comprising a long list of responses to silly points often made by 9/11 nutters, and then pouf! It’s gone.
No kidding. Boooo!
The topic is not off limits; we just removed the sock and his thread.
If anyone is desperate to go over the same stuff, again, you may open your own thread on the topic.
I did not find the departed sock’s responses to be much more than a lot of petulant cries that things did not make sesne (with a lot of unsupported assertions that he never returned to defend), but a serious discussion might be fun. (Although, there are darned few Dopers who would take the CT position, at this point, so it would tend to be not much of a “debate.”)
Nope, not interested in the least in going over the same paranoid 9/11 CT stuff again. I was just curious what happened. As I said, when I tried to click the link in my email it gave me a permissions error, which was unusual. I guess I was never in a thread that got yanked because of a sock before.
Live and learn…thanks for clearing it up.
-XT
I think it works like this: When the mods discover a thread begun by a sock and elect to remove it, it goes to a “private forum.” It’s essentially the detritus of the boards, mostly spam.
Because it’s accessible only to mods and admins, the rest of us get an error message about not having permission. Other discussions have taken place about the “invisible forum” or Mysterious Forum of Mystery. I should think it’s a pretty mundane place.
Actually, to get the full flavor of what we’re talking about here you should see The Straight Dope Tells All, pages 243-246.
I note that the same guy started another thread (under a new user name) in GD a few minutes ago. Tom has locked the thread pending (I assume) some kind of Mod’s huddle to discuss the situation and make a ruling. By Tom’s statement I assume that no determination has been made as to whether or not the guy is an SP?
Not that I think we need ANOTHER 9/11 CT nutcase in GD, or another silly thread that will go for 10 pages, mostly of people either cutting up the CTers or responding to their various nutball assertions while the CTers are curiously silent…
-XT
[QUOTE=TubaDiva]
Actually, to get the full flavor of what we’re talking about here you should see The Straight Dope Tells All, pages 243-246.
[/QUOTE]
Re:Item 248-Cecil Adams. Does that mean Cecil is the Pope? Because I thought he was more powerful than that.