# You're banned from this thread **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 13, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223 "2011-04-13T13:48:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/101 "2011-04-15T18:44:09Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > A thread being locked is not an inevitability–it’s not a law of nature that a thread that has been hijacked must be locked. If you don’t want threads to get locked on account of hijacking, then please take it up with the moderators. He is taking it up with the moderators, by offering an alternative solution. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/102 "2011-04-15T20:27:17Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Of course that’s what’s being discussed here. No it isn’t. Anyone who thinks it is is lying. > [@](#): > > LHOD doesn’t want to read posts by certain posters in certain threads, so he wants those posters banned from those threads. Yes he does. You’re wrong. > [@](#): > > That’s the entire purpose of his proposal–that’s what it does. No it isn’t. > [@](#): > > A thread being locked is not an inevitability–it’s not a law of nature that a thread that has been hijacked must be locked. That’s a lie. [quote] If you don’t want threads to get locked on account of hijacking, then please take it up with the moderators. [quote] No–YOU take it up with the mods. If you don’t like it, hit the “report this post” button. > [@](#): > > I’ve tried and I’ve failed (see a thread in this forum by me titled something like “modding for content”). No you haven’t. Cite? > [@](#): > > Every bit of my post was 100% on topic. LHOD’s idea is to prohibit a poster from posting in a thread. The reason LHOD would like posters banned from a thread is so that LHOD doesn’t have to read a post by that poster in that thread. There can be no other reason. It is the essence of his proposal–that another post from that poster not appear in that thread. Only liars and their supporters believe this sort of thing.\* Oh, and you’re wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/103 "2011-04-15T20:31:26Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > A thread is not a conversation in real life. Yes it is. > [@](#): > > Two people arguing back and forth online are not monopolizing the floor. yes they are. you’re a liar if you say otherwise. > [@](#): > > They are not preventing anyone else from opining. They’re arguing with each other. No they’re not. It’s obvious and self-evident. > [@](#): > > It’s really not that hard to ignore two people who are arguing like that and if it’s more than two people, clearly the participants are more interested in discussing the bone of contention than whatever the OP wanted to talk about. Wrong. This is wrong anywhere in the world and people who believe otherwise are left-handed Anabaptists. > [@](#): > > (I always imagine people who demand threads be closed are irritating people in real life. I think you’re just making that up. It’s not true and never has been. Liar ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/104 "2011-04-15T20:33:53Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Wow, talk about missing the point. The idea is to keep the thread from getting locked for the rest of us - not about our “delicate sensibilities”. That’s just wrong. I have an extensive background in that topic or subject and am an expert in this matter. if you think the idea is to keep the thread from getting locked down, you’re wrong. I know. You can’t debate it either. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/105 "2011-04-16T14:22:03Z")
I suppose you think you are making some kind of point. Mind saying it plainly? I don’t think posts such as yours should warrant you being banned from the thread–they are easy to read past, and if you meant them seriously then I would know you are a person who makes such posts seriously and could treat you accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/106 "2011-04-16T15:32:47Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Didn’t we also have a **Handy** rule, which prohibited said poster from posting in medical threads? We did, and in retrospect we handled that not so well. We should have slapped him harder for his individual posts and warned him more swiftly and not jacked around with it for as long as we did. Instead we thought if we tried banning him from giving medical advice he’d be okay otherwise. We were mistaken. Since then we’ve been really averse to doing this sort of thing, although we’ve used it a few more times with people who were obsessed with certain topics and who just Could Not Stop. So it’s still a tool in the toolbox but one that obviously doesn’t apply to every situation and is used rarely. I think that’s appropriate. It would be a ton of extra work to have to monitor the posting habits of someone who was asked to leave a thread – not sure I would want to lay that work upon our moderators, they have a lot to say grace over as it is. I would hope if someone exhibited inappropriate behavior in any thread under any circumstances the other participants would report that post. That helps us keep on top of things but even so chasing after miscreants like that … I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/107 "2011-04-16T15:34:59Z")
**Fenris and Rand Rover – please take your personal disagreement elsewhere. There’s more appropriate places for this tango than About This Message Board.** ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/108 "2011-04-16T18:04:02Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > We should have slapped him harder for his individual posts and warned him more swiftly and not jacked around with it for as long as we did. Instead we thought if we tried banning him from giving medical advice he’d be okay otherwise. We were mistaken. Of course, this was long before the option of a preliminary suspension prior to a permanent ban, or the present system of warnings, had been instituted. Perhaps a preliminary suspension might have gotten **handy’s** attention better. **Handy’s** basic problem was post-padding. In GQ, he would post the first thing that popped into his head just to get his post count up, regardless of whether it was correct or not. And his answers in medical threads were almost invariably wrong. **Handy** was banned long before I became a mod. However, if a similar case happened today - a poster persistently and repeatedly giving wrong or pointless answers in GQ - I would probably give them instructions to either start posting more substantive answers or stop posting in threads they knew nothing about. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/109 "2011-04-16T21:33:39Z")
It’s good to know that this is still an arrow that mods have in their sheaves. I can understand the reluctance to use it but when a good sound thread is in danger of derailment and the fault can be laid at the door of a single member then they should not hesitate to let fly the Swift Shaft of Just Retribution. I still say it’s too good for them. Had I my way it woud be the Spell of Forlorn Encystment. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/110 "2011-04-16T22:09:56Z")
It could be much, much worse. Lynn Bodoni has submitted an expense form for [this](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://woodytondorf.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/2journal.jpg&imgrefurl=http://woodytondorf.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/10-thought-tuesday-things-ive-learned-from-video-games/&h=369&w=500&sz=91&tbnid=zBq2a4i44SwS5M:&tbnh=96&tbnw=130&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbuster%2Bsword%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=buster+sword&usg=__uAwoTwVFiuzyic0JVK6gm8DbM0U=&sa=X&ei=XhOqTbyFEPSx0QGel7z5CA&ved=0CDwQ9QEwAw). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/111 "2011-04-16T22:18:54Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > It could be much, much worse. > > Lynn Bodoni has submitted an expense form for [this](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://woodytondorf.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/2journal.jpg&imgrefurl=http://woodytondorf.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/10-thought-tuesday-things-ive-learned-from-video-games/&h=369&w=500&sz=91&tbnid=zBq2a4i44SwS5M:&tbnh=96&tbnw=130&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbuster%2Bsword%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=buster+sword&usg=__uAwoTwVFiuzyic0JVK6gm8DbM0U=&sa=X&ei=XhOqTbyFEPSx0QGel7z5CA&ved=0CDwQ9QEwAw). She ought to get a refund. That looks like a horrible repair job. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/112 "2011-04-16T22:45:19Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Had I my way it woud be the Spell of Forlorn Encystment. We’re looking to install that the next time we do a vBulletin upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/113 "2011-04-16T23:45:19Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > It could be much, much worse. > > Lynn Bodoni has submitted an expense form for [this](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://woodytondorf.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/2journal.jpg&imgrefurl=http://woodytondorf.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/10-thought-tuesday-things-ive-learned-from-video-games/&h=369&w=500&sz=91&tbnid=zBq2a4i44SwS5M:&tbnh=96&tbnw=130&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbuster%2Bsword%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=buster+sword&usg=__uAwoTwVFiuzyic0JVK6gm8DbM0U=&sa=X&ei=XhOqTbyFEPSx0QGel7z5CA&ved=0CDwQ9QEwAw). Where was Lynn and her widget this during my [thread=599733] Which of these machete/prybar tools ought I get [/thread] thread? ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/114 "2011-04-17T00:02:47Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > **Fenris and Rand Rover – please take your personal disagreement elsewhere. There’s more appropriate places for this tango than About This Message Board.** 😕 I have no personal disagreement with Fenris. He and I have barely crossed paths. He just posted a Dio-style “wall of negation” to one of my posts, and I asked what he meant by that. Geez, I swear this thread is like mod bizarro world. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/115 "2011-04-17T00:31:02Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > It could be much, much worse. > > Lynn Bodoni has submitted an expense form for [this](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://woodytondorf.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/2journal.jpg&imgrefurl=http://woodytondorf.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/10-thought-tuesday-things-ive-learned-from-video-games/&h=369&w=500&sz=91&tbnid=zBq2a4i44SwS5M:&tbnh=96&tbnw=130&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbuster%2Bsword%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=buster+sword&usg=__uAwoTwVFiuzyic0JVK6gm8DbM0U=&sa=X&ei=XhOqTbyFEPSx0QGel7z5CA&ved=0CDwQ9QEwAw). No, it was [THIS](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ioffer.com/img/item/146/061/139/advent-children-buster-sword-final-fantasy-w-stand-6f05f.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ioffer.com/i/advent-children-buster-sword-final-fantasy-w-stand-146061139&usg=__UCyyfdrZIzUGR962vk6daDgBVoQ=&h=305&w=500&sz=17&hl=en&start=11&zoom=1&tbnid=lAOY6SYP1Cn_zM:&tbnh=79&tbnw=130&ei=BjSqTfjRAqi20QGY59z5CA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbuster%2Bsword%2Badvent%2Bchildren%26hl%3Den%26newwindow%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DTiG%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1600%26bih%3D779%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1) one. I think that Cloud is much, much sexier than Squall ever was, but Squall has the better weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/116 "2011-04-17T00:36:09Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Of course, this was long before the option of a preliminary suspension prior to a permanent ban, or the present system of warnings, had been instituted. Perhaps a preliminary suspension might have gotten **handy’s** attention better. > > **Handy’s** basic problem was post-padding. In GQ, he would post the first thing that popped into his head just to get his post count up, regardless of whether it was correct or not. And his answers in medical threads were almost invariably wrong. > > **Handy** was banned long before I became a mod. However, if a similar case happened today - a poster persistently and repeatedly giving wrong or pointless answers in GQ - I would probably give them instructions to either start posting more substantive answers or stop posting in threads they knew nothing about. OK, fangirl mode off. I’m pretty sure that we didn’t have the option of suspension back when I banned handy. We could warn, and then we could ban, nothing in between. And I’m pretty sure that at that time, we didn’t have the option of unbanning, either. It’s been a while, and I might be mistaken. I do think that we probably should have warned him every single time he popped in to give medical misadvice. He was capable of posting thoughtfully and correctly, but as the hummingbird says, he wanted to get a post, any post, in as the first response, and never mind whether or not it was correct. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/117 "2011-04-17T02:03:09Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > And I’m pretty sure that at that time, we didn’t have the option of unbanning, either. A few people who were banned back then ( **Krispy Original** , **Collounsbury** , a few others) were allowed back in after promising to reform, but most of them sooner or later fell into the same behavior as before and were banned a second time. IIRC, **handy** , rather than applying for reinstatement, registered under a new username, which pretty much prevented it from being considered. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/118 "2011-04-17T14:03:05Z")
Does anyone else see the irony that is developing here in this thread? mmm ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223/119 "2011-04-18T00:20:33Z")
Has \*\*pinguin \*\*come up yet in the context of this thread? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-banned-from-this-thread/578223.md?page=5)