Ban for specific forums

[MaxOfMetal]

Tangentially, if you communicate to Alex regularly, can you please point out that the "Rules" page linked at the top of the site still doesn't link to the actual enforced rule set in your (and my) sig? I've repeatedly contacted Alex about it myself, and he hasn't done anything about it. I have seen instances (although thankfully not as much recently) where relatively new posters have gotten banned for offenses that they probably didn't know were against the forum rules, simply because the rules they had consulted weren't the same set of rules that the moderators actually use.

Preaching to the choir.

But let's not turn this into a "Alex needs to......" thread.

This thread isn't about the new guys, it's about folks who have been here for years who really have no excuse to not know how this place works.

That said, if a new user comes on here just to be a dick, I have no problem setting them straight or just pulling thier card.

If you read the "old rules" that are in the "Rules" tab the basics are pretty much covered: don't be a dick, one account, etc. Most of the rules in the current batch are more specific, but it's not like new users are getting banned for posting "pre-NGDs" or necro-bumping and other minor etiquette things.

The main source of new user bans are for issues related to the Marketplace which has it's own set of posted rules. There's no excuse for breaking those.

 

[Drew]

^It is to me...

Also, the bit about parenting was in reference to other dude who said that banning should be used to teach them a lesson.

I understand what you mean, that the rule isn't against just arguing but against making personal fights. But even you have to admit that the line there can be really thin and easy to snap, and especially when you're writing lots and lots about stuff you feel strongly about in the P&CE forum.

I guess then it's just a thing only with me, maybe I just don't have a real problem with the internet being a rowdy place, and of the internet forums out there I feel like this one is so tame... even some of the people who get banned don't seem so unreasonable in the context of how people in general behave online. But I've seen many other users talk about how this place is great because it's a safe haven for them. So I guess it's good that you are strict. But I would hope that people who are very internet-sensitive would have the sense to not dive too deep into a P&CE thread.

Not that Max needs much in the way of additional support, but I'm completely with him here.

Does it suck that if you get banned for something you do in P&CE, that you're banned from the whole site? Sure it does. It sucks so much that it's a pretty strong incentive NOT to be disrespectful or offensive or hateful to people who have different opinions than yours, and if you can't be civil in that subforum when you run into disagreement, then you likely won't be civil in other sections as well. And, I DON'T have to agree that the line between disagreeing with someone and making a personal attack is hard not to cross - if you find you can't disagree with someone without attacking them personally, then that doesn't speak highly for the underpinnings of your beliefs if all you've got to support them is ad hominum attacks.

The forum is clearly labeled as being strictly moderated, and part of the reason that was done was as a shot across the bow to discourage that kind of behavior. Browser beware, and if you can't be civil when running into political opinions you disagree with, then you should know enough to stay out (or, risk the consequences - a site ban).

Regardless of what flies in other corners of the internet, the moderators have the right to run this board as they see fit and determine what they think should be permissible and impermissible. If they want to clamp down on certain behaviors that might be allowed elsewhere, well, if you want to post here then you kind of need to respect that.

At the end of the day, a P&CE ban prohibiting you from posting across the ENTIRE site and not that subforum should help ensure people act like adults in P&CE, more than a selective forum-level ban that doesn't otherwise impact their posting abilities. It'd be a fair amount of work to set up and administer, and it would encourage people to push the rules in P&CE - why would the mod team spend that time on something that would only encourage flame-outs in P&CE?

 

[vilk]

I just kinda thought that often times people don't realize that they're going over the line. Like, sometimes people get worked up and they're more concerned with expressing themselves than remembering that other people might perceive them as offensive. Like, I saw that dude got banned for writing that that you can honor Wayne Static's dead wife by watching one of her old pornos. It might seem obvious to everyone else that that's insensitive, but I'm pretty sure that user didn't understand that. He's always a pretty opinionated type guy in general so it's not surprising that he tried to defend his original position. You might think "OK well this will teach him his lesson", but it might only teach him that in this community you can get banned for making a mistake, or even for being misunderstood. Which apparently no one aside from me seems to see an issue with, and that's fine, but it just seems a little impersonal to me. I like forums where a mod might step in and be like "OK drop it or you're gonna get the ban" but I know some mods on here seem to get off on slapping people in the face with it. To me it's just as offensive to have someone who you read and write with online every day up and throw you off a website without so much as a warning.

So I guess I was mistaken when I said it's hard to draw the line-- what I really meant is that in the heat of debate it can be easy to forget the line.

And clearly I'm the only one that thinks of online communities as a group of something-like-friends. Or maybe I just take forum use too seriously and that's why it makes me feel so upset to get banned--maybe other people don't even care they just go outside and bbq or whatever. So I guess it's just me. Thanks everyone for at least discussing it.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Turn up the passive-aggressive attitude, please.

With that, this thread has run its course. I don't see anything productive taking place with that kind of attitude.