# Why do certain (many) posters get banned so quickly? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 22, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-certain-many-posters-get-banned-so-quickly/659056 "2013-05-22T19:29:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-certain-many-posters-get-banned-so-quickly/659056/1 "2013-05-22T19:29:21Z")
I am curious why this poster got insta-banned so quickly after [this single post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16312674&postcount=2), which appears to be at least an attempt to add a constructive comment to a thread. I understand that the mods don’t wish to discuss publicly why any particular poster gets banned. But my question is really a more general one: It seems to me that I see this happening rather frequently: A new poster signs up, makes one post or some small number of posts, and is quickly banned – without any comment by the mods here in ATMB. And the posts that I see show no sign of any reason why the poster would be banned – as in the example linked here, it’s not a trolling post nor a spam, and there’s no warning or mod note or anything. (And in the case shown, it’s that poster’s ONLY post.) The only other reason I could think of it that the guy’s a sock. So, in general, if a new user gets banned so quickly for no apparent reason, it is usually because it’s a sock? Does the board software have some kind of automated sock alert? Like, if a new poster appears with a known IP, does the software immediately detect that and alert the mods? In a lot of these cases, I see new users getting banned very very quickly. ---
**Author:** ![AHarris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@AHarris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHarris)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-certain-many-posters-get-banned-so-quickly/659056/2 "2013-05-22T19:34:46Z")
The mods prefer that you message them if you have a question about a banned user. That said, I think that the answer is that it’s usually a spammer whose other posts have been disappeared or a sock. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-certain-many-posters-get-banned-so-quickly/659056/3 "2013-05-22T19:34:58Z")
This really doesn’t happen that much. When it does, it’s usually because the poster was a sock or troll or a spammer. As for why we don’t make announcements of those kinds of bans: > [@FAQ - Guidelines and Etiquette on the SDMB](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faq-guidelines-and-etiquette-on-the-sdmb/369402/7): > > If you have a question about a thread or poster who “disappeared,” please DO NOT post an inquiry. In probably 95% of such cases, the thread (or poster) that vanished was an attention-seeker – a spammer , sock, or troll. They’re out for any attention, even negative attention, and we don’t want to give it to them. They disappear, as do their posts. And as do posts about them. > > So, if you have a question about such, please email a moderator. DO NOT post your question. DO NOT give these folks any publicity, acknowledgement, or recognition. > > If you try to get such a thread via a link, you may get an error message that says something like: > > > [@](#): > > > > you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons: > > > > 1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else’s post, access administrative features or some other privileged system? > > 2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation. > > That probably means that the post or thread you’re looking for has been deliberately “disappeared.” Email a moderator if you wnat more information in a specific situation.