I regularly disagree with @Kedicat’s assessment of the Ukraine war, and this assessment of the conflict is ridiculous. But isn’t the board about discussion and challenging each other’s ignorance? (And I say this knowing there’s a non-zero chance that I am the ignorant one.) How can anyone do that if anything contrary is immediately shut down? Am I missing something here? I want to argue with @Kedicat, not have him removed.
Yes, it really comes off as What_Exit banning Kedicat due to personal disagreement.
Or maybe I’ve followed his history a lot closer as I am a Moderator:
History of trolling: Amazing number of notes rather than warnings.
Insults
Blatant bullshit and hijacks that looks more like trolling and probably is:
Ukraine:
https://boards.straightdope.com/review/13341 → Russia invades Ukraine {2022-02-24} (Part 1) - #6886 by Kedikat
https://boards.straightdope.com/review/13571 & https://boards.straightdope.com/review/13572 → Russia invades Ukraine {2022-02-24} (Part 1) - #7243 by Kedikat
https://boards.straightdope.com/review/13634 → Russia invades Ukraine {2022-02-24} (Part 1) - #7385 by Kedikat
https://boards.straightdope.com/review/15626 Approved by Millar for flag for Openly Trolling in the Pit no less.
https://boards.straightdope.com/review/21621 for Russia invades Ukraine -- The regional situation - #924 by Kedikat
https://boards.straightdope.com/review/21622 for Russia invades Ukraine -- The regional situation - #929 by Kedikat
https://boards.straightdope.com/review/21625
And now this pair:
https://boards.straightdope.com/review/24089 & https://boards.straightdope.com/review/24090 → Russia invades Ukraine -- The regional situation - #1635 by Kedikat
This is a lot of trolling, just metered out slowly.
That latest bit was old stuff he rolled back out after 3+ years .
I started a Modloop discussion on him this morning.
He’s a troll. Good moderation.
EDIT: Most of the Ukraine links are off limits to me, I presume mod-only.
Sorry, that was part of what I submited to the Modloop, so links are to approved flags. I’ve added in many of the post links now. Took extra effort.
And these were only the ones flagged, there was good reason he was banned from the breaking news thread.
Looking at the thread ban in isolation after the last few comments, I thought it seemed unwarranted, but after viewing that list, I’m now thinking that was long overdue.
Wow, I was unaware of most of that, and mostly knew of his antics from the Ukraine thread, where I welcomed his thread ban.
He was impossible to argue with – persistently obstinate and unyielding to reason. Even absent all the evidence that @What_Exit presented about his behaviour in other threads, I would have supported a ban from the Ukraine thread because Kedicat was persistently disruptive in a thread where the rest of the posters were trying to have a reasoned and factual discussion about the latest developments in the Ukraine war. Kedicat’s posts there were pretty much the definition of thread-shitting.
It absolutely was.
As the OP, I started the thread (in IMHO) to discuss the wider situation with Ukraine, including tangential things that affect the region. Yes, @Kedicat does a bit of trolling; and yes, he was banned from the breaking news thread. But in this case he offers an analysis that seems reasoned and not provocative. I disagree with his conclusion, but his post is a difference of opinion and not a baited line.
Looks like a good move.
Thanks for taking the time to include the full context. I’m a bit on the fence now because these aren’t uncommon views amongst the general populace. The problem with modding this situation seems to be in trying to interpret a poster’s intentions and that’s obviously very difficult.
I’m familiar with Kedikat, all too familiar in fact, and after a while when you remind him about the same problem with his sources and/or arguments, and he just keeps doing it, you can’t give the benefit of the doubt forever.
I just want to be clear that when I said I welcomed the thread ban I was talking about the “Russia Invades Ukraine” breaking news thread in MPSIMS, in which Kedikat was a major disruption to posters trying to have a fact-based conversation. What he has said in other threads I mostly have no idea, but he’s obviously pretty trollish and has had multiple thread bans plus a suspension for violating a thread ban (Oct 2024).
I have no opinion on whether he should be banned from the board or allowed to remain, but I don’t want his troll-like arguments mucking up fact-based threads like the MPSIMS thread on the invasion of Ukraine.
I didn’t find the post he was warned for to be trolling. His arguments did not seem outlandish or hyperbolic, and they let to the conclusion he posted. As I said, I think he came to the wrong conclusion; but I think he did it within the boundaries of the thread – which was intended to be more wide-ranging than the breaking news thread.
FWIW I just want to throw my own view out that yes, Kedikat qualifies as a troll. He has a long history of disappearing for months at a time only to come back with a flurry of fact absent assertions and disinformation, mucking up otherwise interesting and productive conversations. As demonstrated he’s also racked up an impressive number of mod warnings, notes and thread bans over the years. He’s managed to raise sealioning to an art form.
He’s long had a particular canard for the Ukraine/Russia conflict and if he’s not a Russian propaganda bot he does a gobsmackingly good impression of one.
Just my 2 cents.
Not one post, it is his weird pattern. It is bringing back old arguments from 3+ years ago. It is a slow form of trolling.
I’m guessing Comrade Kedicat is on the Russian payroll. And if not, he should be because he is doing their work for free!
This. If he posted something once and was refuted, no harm. That’s a discussion, and saying something that’s inaccurate isn’t that big of a deal in isolation. It’s coming back repeatedly with the same thing that does it.
I didn’t realize it had gotten to the level of repeating the same things from years ago, but I guess that’s where we’re at now.
It’s almost like a variation of the “tired topics” we have, except centered around one poster.