# Why was Wildest Bill banned? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 19, 2001, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332 "2001-10-19T00:48:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/81 "2001-10-19T08:59:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > \*\*[sorry, Fenris, I didn’t see your link, PO’ed as I still was/am] \*\* Just curious, Duck. What were you PO’ed about, his position on that issue or his use of that forum to express it? ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/82 "2001-10-19T11:00:51Z")
I thought it was pretty clear (at least to me) that it was the ‘inappropriate forum’ issoe that was the issue. As for **Wildest Bill** , I too will miss him. I thought some of his threads were hilarious. Too bad he had a [understatement]tendency[/understatement] to go a bit too far. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/83 "2001-10-19T11:46:16Z")
> [@](#): > > I thought it was pretty clear (at least to me) that it was the ‘inappropriate forum’ issoe that was the issue. There are issues, and there are issues, and then there are issues. And there are conveniences. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/84 "2001-10-19T11:50:31Z")
And there are final straws. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/85 "2001-10-19T12:13:47Z")
Speaking of Seethruart, or whatever, I was glancing over the newest additions to crank dot net. There’s a link to a page by a Seethruart-could it be? ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/86 "2001-10-19T12:59:32Z")
I raise my glass in salute to the mods and nod to the departing troll. **Wildest Bill** needed the response of this board as validation of a kind. I know he is a member of many other boards, but clearly in his own borderline way, he valued the recognition he gained here. I feel sorry for him, but I won’t miss him. The universe abhors a vacumn and someone will step up to fill the void (unfortunately). (_I agree, he will be back in a sock puppet incarnation in the not to distant future_) TV ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/87 "2001-10-19T13:05:14Z")
GEEEZ. :rolleyes: Okay, okay, I hereby formally apologize to Izzy for so fiendishly twisting his words that their original meaning was totally lost, and so instead of the Ferenghi Peace Treaty going through, the Ferenghi opened fire on Planet Earth, _just because_ I’d added a few itty-bitty words here and there to the diplomatic pouch. Sorry. Won’t happen again. [ka-boom] > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > \*\*What were you PO’ed about, his position on that issue or his use of that forum to express it? \*\* Ahh, the correct answer here is (b). Frankly, Scarlett, I really don’t give a damn what he says about Clinton in GD or IMHO or the Pit. (Actually, I really don’t give a damn what _anybody_ says about Clinton, anywhere on the entire message board. I don’t give a damn about Clinton. Or Bush. Or Gore. Or the Florida elections. Or, basically, anything having to do with politics.) But General Questions is different. I spend a lot of time there, and I couldn’t just scroll past it and ignore it like I’ve been doing with his GD and Pit threads. And also it was so, so–disingenuous. “Does he think we’re stupid, or what?” I wondered. “Does he think we’re not gonna realize what he’s doing?” Hence my severe PO’edness. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/88 "2001-10-19T13:10:38Z")
**DDG** might I also add that even though you gave **Bill** a supreme asswhipping in GQ, you managed to make it so that it wasn’t something inappropriate that should have been in the Pit, yet it was fair nastier than much of what I’ve seen in the Pit, but still civilized? My god, how do you DO it? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/89 "2001-10-19T13:12:25Z")
I was kinda waiting until WB got banned before posting this… At the Vikings Dopefest a couple weekends ago, somebody came up with a new analogy for pointless activity: “It’s like sitting around _waiting_ for the next **Wildest Bill** thread.” ---
**Author:** ![ageless6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@ageless6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ageless6)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/90 "2001-10-19T13:16:50Z")
I will go Fenris one better. I think WB had his persona honed to a straight razor’s edge. It’s true, his speeling and grammerosity would suddenly take a 180, and I don’t think it was because he was angry. I think he was laughing so hard he simply forgot he was the hick for the nonce, or possibly just threw in literate passages to see who got it. It’s just a gut feeling I’ve always had about Bill and as Dennis Miller says, blah,blah,blah. Damned if I won’t also miss him. Like JDT, he provided comic relief. But someone else will come along soon to fill the crap-gap. They always do. The people I really miss are known as Satan and Eve and thems like thet. So long,WB, and thanks for all the over-ripe fish. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/91 "2001-10-19T13:18:34Z")
And, just for the record: I have never **once** e-mailed a mod or admin to ask that a poster be banned. I was **not** one of the “half-dozen or so posters” who “asked Lynn to look at WB”. I find it easy enough to ignore certain posters–I don’t feel a need to complain to the administration about them. I **have** e-mailed Tuba many times to ask whether a new poster was a returning sock puppet. But **never** to say, “Hey, this poster’s a jerk, why don’t ya’ll ban him?” Hope this helps all those Straight Dope Conspiracy Theorists to shake loose from this theory and go find another one. I understand they’re looking for theorists over at the crop circles website. ---
**Author:** ![Venoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Venoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Venoma)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/92 "2001-10-19T13:20:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Speaking of Seethruart, or whatever, I was glancing over the newest additions to crank dot net. There’s a link to a page by a Seethruart-could it be? \*\* Yeah, Guin, that’s the freak himself (seethruart also known as Piper, aka pipsqueak) One of the guys from the Bad Astronomy BB nominated him 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/93 "2001-10-19T13:25:31Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > …you managed to make it so that it wasn’t something inappropriate that should have been in the Pit, yet it was fair nastier than much of what I’ve seen in the Pit, but still civilized?_\* Morning, Guin. 🙂 It’s called “verbal skills”. 😃 There are ways to yell at someone without saying “fuck you, asshole”. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/94 "2001-10-19T13:31:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CnoteChris \* > You really are in the club **DDG**. Whoohoo! I’m in the club, too! :moved: :sniffles: ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/95 "2001-10-19T14:13:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Milossarian \* > \*\*Jack Dean Tyler was, too. But a lot of you certainly bought _that_ hook, line and sinker. > \*\* You see, I’m not sure about that. I think Jack was a bona fide loon. Or was that someone else’s um…‘thingie’ on that web site of his? That seems like a bit far to go for a troll. ---
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/96 "2001-10-19T14:16:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > \*\*Actually, **Goose, Izzy** , the two ideas aren’t necessarily in conflict. > > Most Dopers don’t like Jerks (for whatever valure you assign to the word “Jerk”). > Jerks get complained about more than any other class of posters, > Therefore, yes. People who are complained about _a lot_ are often banned. But the cause isn’t the complaining, the cause is the Jerk-ish behavior that generates the complaints.\*\* Some truth in that, but I don’t think it is the whole story. I can think of two reasons for unpopularity being a factor in someone’s being banned. 1. Because it brings the poster’s transgressions, such as they are, into focus of the moderators. The moderators and admins are busy people who have enough to do as it is, and a lot can get by them. By starting Pit threads or e-mailing mods about a poster’s transgressions, it forces a closer look at the posters deeds, which can be found ban-worthy. In this sense, it is true that the poster is being banned solely for the “Jerkish behaviour”, but it is also true that another poster with identical jerkish behavior might get away with it. Of course, it is true that there will be some degree of correlation between jerkish behavior and unpopularity. So to some extent being unpopular might be itself an indication that a poster should be banned. But I think everyone would likely agree that this correlation is not absolute - that holders of unpopular opinions or people who don’t “click” as well on a personal level can become unpopular beyond their level of jerkiness. Which can in turn be a factor. 1. The judgement as to what constitutes jerky behavior is itself subjective. It is true that there are many cases that are clear-cut, but there are a lot of borderline cases as well. (Many discussions of bannings include reasonable people on both sides of the issue with regards to whether the behavior in question met the “don’t be a jerk” rule.) The same goes for debating tactics. It follows that a judgement as to whether a given poster is a jerk (i.e. whether his behavior is “jerkish”) can be influenced by feelings about that poster and their opinions. IMHO, it is unlikely that the moderators and admins are not influenced by the weight of public opinion in this regard. So in sum: I don’t think anyone is banned for the crime of being unpopular, but the unpopularity will cause increased focus on one’s sins, and possibly influence the judgement of them as well. With regard to **WB** specifically, I couldn’t say - with this type of banning you have to be familiar with all the various infractions that he has committed, and I don’t think I am. My _impression_ however differs from that of most of the posters. It would seem to me that WB is simply not capable of rigorous thought and argument - that his thinking tends to be more the stream-of-consciousness type, and I think many or most of his infractions are the result of this. To use the linked thread as an example, most people would recognize immediately that his OP was inappropriate for GQ - more for the Pit really. But I would guess that in WB’s mind the question about the pardons and the idea that Clinton was the worst president ever etc. were all muddled together into one big issue. And he put it in GQ because it had a GQ component, rather than as part of a sinister plot. It is likely that IRL WB does not encounter the type of debating that goes on on this MB, and that his style - combined with an engaging personality - goes over better IRL than it does here. So I think that WB is simply not a “good fit” for this MB. At the same time, apparently there are many who dig his act and find him an asset to the board. OTOH, there are also many who most definitely don’t, and find him a decided detriment. Whether it all adds up to banning is a decision that I will happily leave to the admins. But in answer to the OP, I continue to maintain that the fact that WB had so many determined enemies on these boards was a factor that led to his being banned. (As was likely the case with DITWD as well.) > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > I hereby formally apologize to Izzy etc. Accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/97 "2001-10-19T14:21:28Z")
Yes, he’s gone. And I agree that for the most part he was an ill wind that blew no good. But he did give us [“Gotcha Ya”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=80870), which remains the single funniest thread I’ve encountered on this board. To this day I revisit it, and it makes me laugh out loud. It’s like when someone makes a great movie and then follows it with years of dreck, I keep hoping that something equally entertaining will come along from the person. It usually doesn’t, and it didn’t with Bill, but hope keeps one young! ---
**Author:** ![Tretiak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@Tretiak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tretiak)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/98 "2001-10-19T14:52:55Z")
I am not so sure about the specifics of the Wildest Bill saga because I learned a long time ago to just not open threads he has started. But unles he was A) harrassing fellow dopers (certainly possible), B)posting topics consistly in inappropriate forums (could be), C) posting on inappropriate topics (not sure what this would be…but I really see no evidence of it); D) hijacking other threads for the purposes of disrupting them (very possible)or E)flooding the board as to make it unreadable (appears not to be the case, and believe me I have been on boards where some joker comes in and makes it practically unreadable for eveyone else). I guess what I am saying is, these are just words on a board and it does not seem justified to ban someone simply for posting unpopular opinions, even if they are just trolls. Widlest Bill was innocuous it seems to me, and if folks didn’t like him they could have easily just ignored him. I don’t recall him hijacking threads either. Now I do not go into Great Debates that much, so I may be wrong. Of course if any of A-E are the case then I have no problem with it. I just hope it is not because some people did not **like** him. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/99 "2001-10-19T14:55:36Z")
Eh, good riddance to bad garbage. I just hope the door hit him hard in his fat-burner-chomping, shark-killing ass on the way out. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332/100 "2001-10-19T15:23:20Z")
He WAS entertaining-and he could be a nice person, deep down, I feel-like when he asked for advice for his daughters, like the poor girl who was being harassed. And stuff like that. And he was funny. The Gotcha Ya was priceless. But that said, he knew he was pushing it-and I think **Fenris** is correct-he wasn’t NEARLY as dumb as he pretended to be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-wildest-bill-banned/88332.md?page=6)