Why was Zhen'ka banned?

His/her name has “BANNED” under it, and while I’m not doubting there was a reason, as said poster has been here for ten years, why hasn’t there been a thread?

(There are even threads for suspensions)

That’s just the 10 year auto-ban. Due to the hamsters being underfed on that Soylent kibble, they are running a few months behind, so they have only got as far as banning 10 year posters from May, rather than September. You still have a couple of months before they catch up to you, and I won’t get disappeared until the new year.

That just might be the best answer to a question I have seen all week!:stuck_out_tongue:

I’m guessing socks. Socks and spammers are the only times the mods don’t post a “Poster X was banned” thread.

At first I was thinking, “A sock from 10 years ago?” but then I understood what you meant. But I’m not sure I understand the logic of not informing people that someone used a sock–heck, I could see some utility for naming them off (if they don’t go to the trouble to combine thei accounts)–what better way to keep them from getting away with it?

If we’ve banned them, they didn’t get away with it.

Zhen’ka was involved in a minor disagreement; when we attempted to contact him or her to discuss this, we discovered that he or she did not have a valid email address, which is a requirement for posting here. The banning was an attempt to get his or her attention. This attempt has been unsuccessful so far, because we haven’t heard directly from him or her.

And, Guin, let me remind you again that if you have a question about a banning, we prefer that you contact a member of the staff by email or PM to inquire.

I hope at least this time you actually explained that it wasn’t a real banning. I remember someone coming to the Giraffeboards quite irate that they had been banned for doing nothing, and had no idea what they were supposed to do.

I fit as much of an explanation as I could into the space that’s allowed, including instructions to email me to resolve the issue. Before that I sent Zhen’ka a PM explaining the situation. When the user doesn’t have a good email address it’s difficult for us to communicate with them.

Although I understand why this is policy under normal circumstances, and there was no way Guin could have known that this wasn’t a normal circumstance, I would think that because she did start this thread that the poster in question now has a better understanding of the situation than before. If she had not started this thread, how did you think the other poster was to find out about this? Were you hoping they would try to log in, and when they couldn’t try to contact you? Most people wouldn’t bother.

So yes. We were hoping Zhen’ka would try to log in, at which point Zhen’ka would receive the message to email me, because that’s how I set up the notice Zhen’ka would receive after a login attempt. The message says “Need working email. Contact [Gfactor’s email address] for details.”

She DOES know, though, that she’s not supposed to post these questions, but that she’s supposed to ask in email or PM.

Just out of curiosity, how does one register for a board without a valid e-mail address? You do need to confirm, after all. Or was it a case of “The address was good, but now it is no longer working?”

Zhen’ka had registered 10 years ago – not entirely surprising the email address used then is no longer good.

Reminder to all: check the email address in your profile and make sure it’s still good. If we have reason to communicate with you and are unable to do so, banning can result.

I can’t remember the specifics in this case, but most of the time it was an address that was valid when they signed up but has since fallen into disuse. The flip side of the coin is sites that lets you make a temporary e-mail for 30 minutes so you can sign up for random stuff without getting a spam buffet on your private mail.

Why?

I thought that was only the policy for socks/trolls – long time members usually get a thread? :dubious:

The policy is, that if you want to know why someone is banned and you can’t find a thread, ask a staff member by email or PM. 'Cuz if you don’t know why, you don’t know why, right? So shoot off an email or PM and we’ll tell you why.

And the policy is that we don’t want to give undue attention to socks and trolls, and that attention includes announcing that they’re socks and trolls.

Ah. Makes sense. Shoulda thoughta that.

MODERATOR ISSUES A FRIENDLY REMINDER: The policy (for a lonnnng time now) is that we usually post an explanation when a long-time member has been banned or suspended. Upper case for emphasis: **WHEN WE DON’T POST AN EXPLANATION, THERE’S A REASON WE HAVEN’T DONE SO. ** The reason may be sockism or trolling, and we don’t want to give such people any publicity or attention. The reason may be that there is something personal or confidential going on that is nobody else’s business. The reason may be something else.

IF THERE IS NO POST FROM A MODERATOR, PLEASE ASK YOUR QUESTION ABOUT OTHER POSTERS IN EMAIL or PM. Is this now clear, Guin? My recollection (admittedly faulty, and if so in this case, I apologize) is that you’ve encountered this situation several times in the past.

It’s highly unlikely I would ever care enough to want to enquire about a bannee by any means, whether by PM/Email or by asking on ATMB, but IMHO your comment about not wanting to give trolls/socks attention really only makes sense when you completely vanish someone off SDMB which you only seem to do rarely, if at all. As long as the bannee’s stuff is on SDMB and they are visible as having been banned, they have their attention. Does a one-liner “D L Sinister Hovel has been banned - troll” really make a difference in terms of the amount of attention the bannee gets?