Post by Drifter on Dec 2, 2015 0:33:10 GMT
Yes, we do ban posters here. Given the size of the forum, however, banning affects very few people. But because of deliberate attempts elsewhere to demonize the fact that people in the past have been banned here, I thought it would be a good idea to give the topic some specific attention.
Members are advised to read Greg's "Forum Decorum" in the Welcome section. Almost all posters adhere to these rules. But in the nearly three years the forum has been active, a few have not, and so they have been banned.
The most frequent reasons members get banned are as follows, probably in the order listed ...
1. They bash or insult other members. When members become overly argumentative and try to force their opinions on others, that's a problem. I will always let posters get angry at people with differing opinions; after all, this case reeks of controversy, confusion, and conjecture. We're all adults here, and so passionate discussion, and anger at others, is permitted.
You will not find banning on any other related message board because everyone there pretty much agrees on everything about the EAR/ONS case. There are no controversial topics. The bullying members will not allow differences of opinion or outside-the-box thinking. So everyone reinforces everyone else's bland conventional opinions... thus no controversy, no arguments, no discord, and no banning.
But such a "happy family" board is repressive, and subject to group censorship and group-think. Not only is that approach restraining, it can also lead to self-deception. For example, if a member gets nothing but positive feedback about his/her view, then that poster comes to accept his/her view as truth. But popularity of opinion is no substitute for the reality of what happened in this case.
We encourage individual dissent, so long as it's expressed in a manner that is respectful of other posters. But ... after a prolonged period of arguing or attempts to bully, and after multiple warnings, if a poster refuses to stop the bullying, or refuses to stop bashing or insulting another member, that poster gets banned.
2. Multiple screen names. Having more than one screen name is a form of deception; such accounts are called "sock-puppet" accounts. We do not allow that. I can tell when a poster has multiple screen names owing to that person's IP address.
Further, some posters who have been banned try to return, using a different screen name. However, I keep a list of banned IP addresses. And I always scan a new member's IP to see if it matches any address on the banned list. If it does, that "new" poster won't be around for long. That situation happened about a week ago.
But elsewhere, I guess having sock-puppet accounts is acceptable. Of course they have so few posters, any screen name that is different conveys an exaggerated number of members, which is someone's attempt to deceive.
3. Displaying private information on the public boards. Sometimes a poster will be so mad at someone else that they publicly post a PM from another poster. The point is to use the PM against the person they're mad at, to discredit that poster. Under no circumstances will a poster publicly post the content of PMs or any other information that is private. To do so will get a poster banned.
We do not ban anyone for having an unpopular opinion, or having an opinion that differs from my own. Unpopular opinions may actually be the most reliable in a case that has so little comment from LE. And of course, elsewhere, with an echo chamber mentality, everyone will swear that someone here on our board was banned because that someone disagreed with the moderator. (ha ha).
If that were the case, poster "lepke" would have been banned two years ago! Lepke was banned because of his item #1 problem that went on and on and on and on. I got so much negative feedback about lepke, I did not feel comfortable keeping him around any longer. And though I will not make public the specifics of my final warning to lepke, I did express to him my hope that he would return, after his temporary banning. True to form for lepke, he never returned. Which, in retrospect, may have been a good thing, because being as closed-minded as he was, he might have repeated #1 all over again, causing me the same old headaches as before.
Hope my explanation here clears up questions about the banning process. Elsewhere, all you ever hear is BS about "Drifter"; none of it is true.
We have a good group of posters here. Almost everyone is respectful of others despite differences of opinion, which is essential for an effective message board. But when an occasional poster attempts to break the rules in Forum Decorum, a good moderator will intervene, to make the forum more pleasant for everyone else.
I will keep this thread open, so that if you have questions or comments, you can post them below.
Drifter
Members are advised to read Greg's "Forum Decorum" in the Welcome section. Almost all posters adhere to these rules. But in the nearly three years the forum has been active, a few have not, and so they have been banned.
The most frequent reasons members get banned are as follows, probably in the order listed ...
1. They bash or insult other members. When members become overly argumentative and try to force their opinions on others, that's a problem. I will always let posters get angry at people with differing opinions; after all, this case reeks of controversy, confusion, and conjecture. We're all adults here, and so passionate discussion, and anger at others, is permitted.
You will not find banning on any other related message board because everyone there pretty much agrees on everything about the EAR/ONS case. There are no controversial topics. The bullying members will not allow differences of opinion or outside-the-box thinking. So everyone reinforces everyone else's bland conventional opinions... thus no controversy, no arguments, no discord, and no banning.
But such a "happy family" board is repressive, and subject to group censorship and group-think. Not only is that approach restraining, it can also lead to self-deception. For example, if a member gets nothing but positive feedback about his/her view, then that poster comes to accept his/her view as truth. But popularity of opinion is no substitute for the reality of what happened in this case.
We encourage individual dissent, so long as it's expressed in a manner that is respectful of other posters. But ... after a prolonged period of arguing or attempts to bully, and after multiple warnings, if a poster refuses to stop the bullying, or refuses to stop bashing or insulting another member, that poster gets banned.
2. Multiple screen names. Having more than one screen name is a form of deception; such accounts are called "sock-puppet" accounts. We do not allow that. I can tell when a poster has multiple screen names owing to that person's IP address.
Further, some posters who have been banned try to return, using a different screen name. However, I keep a list of banned IP addresses. And I always scan a new member's IP to see if it matches any address on the banned list. If it does, that "new" poster won't be around for long. That situation happened about a week ago.
But elsewhere, I guess having sock-puppet accounts is acceptable. Of course they have so few posters, any screen name that is different conveys an exaggerated number of members, which is someone's attempt to deceive.
3. Displaying private information on the public boards. Sometimes a poster will be so mad at someone else that they publicly post a PM from another poster. The point is to use the PM against the person they're mad at, to discredit that poster. Under no circumstances will a poster publicly post the content of PMs or any other information that is private. To do so will get a poster banned.
We do not ban anyone for having an unpopular opinion, or having an opinion that differs from my own. Unpopular opinions may actually be the most reliable in a case that has so little comment from LE. And of course, elsewhere, with an echo chamber mentality, everyone will swear that someone here on our board was banned because that someone disagreed with the moderator. (ha ha).
If that were the case, poster "lepke" would have been banned two years ago! Lepke was banned because of his item #1 problem that went on and on and on and on. I got so much negative feedback about lepke, I did not feel comfortable keeping him around any longer. And though I will not make public the specifics of my final warning to lepke, I did express to him my hope that he would return, after his temporary banning. True to form for lepke, he never returned. Which, in retrospect, may have been a good thing, because being as closed-minded as he was, he might have repeated #1 all over again, causing me the same old headaches as before.
Hope my explanation here clears up questions about the banning process. Elsewhere, all you ever hear is BS about "Drifter"; none of it is true.
We have a good group of posters here. Almost everyone is respectful of others despite differences of opinion, which is essential for an effective message board. But when an occasional poster attempts to break the rules in Forum Decorum, a good moderator will intervene, to make the forum more pleasant for everyone else.
I will keep this thread open, so that if you have questions or comments, you can post them below.
Drifter
