Bans and moderators

[saint]

For the record - the moderators of this board do just that - moderate.  Bans are done by me.

--- saint

[DrewKaree]

Ban, Sure, Degree

All things that are considered when doing such a thing....and deodorants.

Good stuff to know, and answered a question I never wanted to find out I needed to ask 

Danke

[ClairStJohn]

For the record - the moderators of this board do just that - moderate.

[saint]

Any ban is for violating the rules. Your opinions have nothing to do with it.

[Chris]

This forum has fewer rules than most.  Anyone who gets banned here is going out of their way to be so.  And the free-speech argument is apples and oranges: these forums (for which Saint pays for bandwidth and maintenance) exist to support discussion of a particular set of topics, so they were never a free public forum to start with. 

Here's an example: If I go into "Everything Else" and start a political discussion, and Saint bans me from the board for espousing a particular political point he doesn't like (when other points are allowed), you can call him a hypocrite.  But if he says "This is not a political board, please don't post such discussions here" and I continue to post them anyway, or if I post abusive comments toward all of the other posters politely flaming me for my viewpoints, Saint has every right to tatoo his bootprint on my posterior.

--Chris

[DrewKaree]

OR tatoo Lara Croft all ov....wait...wrong thread!

Ya, I think "freedom of speech" drum gets banged way too much.  If someone can't understand that freedom comes with responsibility, and that there are consequences to shirking that responsibility, they're always the first to wrap themselves in that flag.

If anyone would like to start their own website dedicated to building your own arcade controls then they can decide how THEIR site should be run.  Until then, Mr StClair has my utmost respect for being able to hold his tongue as long as he does sometimes....more so for injecting the points he wishes to express without taking a side, but making us think. 

If Saint hasn't made you rethink/consider what you're doing, you'll never understand.  Kudos to you for putting up with _me us, Saint.

[HaRuMaN]

Knowing saint, if someone got banned, there was probably a pretty good reason for it...

[zvar]

What about being put on 'probation'? 

Well, let's take a recent example of someone I know was banned.

After several weeks of said person being a jerk in most peoples minds, Saint warned him, he kept it up, Saint banned him for 3 days.
After the the 3 days were up said person jumped back on doing the exact same thing.  About after a week of this Saint finally banned him.  I'm guessing permanently, it could have been for a short time and the person just simply got the hint and left.  I dunno

But anyway, I'm just saying that from the short amount of time I've been here Saint does not like to actually ban people,  he much prefers to let said person actually start following the very few rules of the forum.

Now, if this is being posted for the drama right now, please be patient, Saint has said he will post later this evening about it.

Steven

[SirPoonga]

Freedom of Speech is not the same as the right to speak.

I, due to the latest events, have beem pmed by several people asking why I banned them.  Though in many situation where people don't realize I can't ban them is helpful, it's become more of a nuisance than a gift.

In the past I usualyl just tell them to talk to an admin (usually saint).  But I think they are PMing me because they don;t trust the admins.  What to do.  Will have to wait for saint's big post....

[1UP]

There is a difference between the freedom to speak your mind without the government punishing you for it, and the freedom to be an annoying jerk without your neighbors putting their bootprint on your hinder.

Freedom of speech is subject to appropriateness of venue, and respecting the rights of others.  You can stand on a soapbox in a public square and speak your mind, and as long as you are not violating any noise regulations, or causing a danger to the public, you are within your rights.

If you crash a private party, and start raving about how Wal-Mart is unfair to mom and pop stores, you will be hauled off.

People posting here should just be aware that some moderators (not the majority) have itchy trigger fingers, so just mind what you say to them.  Learn to take a joke and don't take chats so seriously.  If you're going to come to a party uninvited, you should know who not to tick off.

In the past, I've learned the hard way that arguing with a mod will get you kicked faster than any profanity or general rudeness.  If you are asked to tone it down, take a friggin hint.

Zoloft is not right for everyone, but maybe it's for you. 

[quarterback]

arguing with a mod will get you kicked faster than any profanity or general rudeness.

Maybe that's what happens, but I was under the impression that here people were only banned for violating the rules, and not for their opinions.

Disagreeing with somebody seems more like "voicing an opinion" than "violating a rule".

[SirPoonga]

how does Freedom of Speech affect this forum?  Does US law govern this site because the server is based in the US?

Still, there's nothing incriminating your freedom of speech here that the US government doesn't do.  You still can't swear and such in the media....

[quarterback]

how does Freedom of Speech affect this forum?

[1UP]

how does Freedom of Speech affect this forum?

[SirPoonga]

No, just a reply in general.

[RayB]

I just want to make a point that if the majority of the issues here (or even say half of them) are chat-room related, there are a couple solutions:

1. Make the chatroom a "free for all" type place with an adequate warning of such before entering. That way, there is no need to police the room. If someone has a problem with someone else, they always have the power to leave.
 
or

2. Remove the chatroom. No more chatroom problems.


 

[quarterback]

I just want to make a point that if the majority of the issues here (or even say half of them) are chat-room related, there are a couple solutions:

1. Make the chatroom a "free for all" type place with an adequate warning of such before entering. That way, there is no need to police the room. If someone has a problem with someone else, they always have the power to leave.
 
or

2. Remove the chatroom. No more chatroom problems.

Makes sense to me.  IMO chatrooms have a tendency to be a little more of a free-for-all.  People are all talking at the same time.  Not much thought or editing is put into most 'posts' and besides the posting logs, the paper-trail isn't as 'obvious'.

The post I found particularly funny last night was when SirWoogie suggested "For quicker turnaround, I do suggest posting in the forums."   My guess is that (in general) people choose a chatroom over a bulletin board/forum so they can reap the real-time benefits.

[Chris]

And the drama that isn't in the chatroom is in Everything Else.  I was actually caught by suprise at mentions of all this drama because I rarely go to either place.

[RetroJames]

<$0.02>

Not sure what started all this, don't really want to know either.  (Too busy building cabs and controls) 

For what it is worth though, I would hope everyone remembers that this forum is maintained by Saint and his volunteers due to a love of the hobby and a kind of awe in regards to the good that does come from these forums.

If there is an undue amount of bickering, flaming, etc (must be or these rules etc would not be comming out) it really just needs to stop.  There are a million chatrooms and forums where folks can act like idiots and be in good company. 

IMHO, come here;  Learn, Build, Play.  Simple. 

Saint and the others are not quitting thier day-jobs for this board and it would be a real shame if a few knuckleheads forced them to decide the effort is not worth it.

</$0.02>

P.S. - Never a truer statement was uttered, "When you argue with someone on the Internet, it only proves your both retarded."

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I can second the notion that a person would reeeeeally have to go out of their way to be banned. I've posted some pretty hairy stuff when arguing politics, being a strong-headed idealist...and a few times I was pretty sure I'd be banned, but felt it important enough to post anyway. I've never broken the rules though, as far as I know.

Well, I have yet to be banned and I'd say that's a testament to this boards moderators and Saint's remarkable restraint.

mrC

[saint]

I just like cowbells.

I can second the notion that a person would reeeeeally have to go out of their way to be banned. I've posted some pretty hairy stuff when arguing politics, being a strong-headed idealist...and a few times I was pretty sure I'd be banned, but felt it important enough to post anyway. I've never broken the rules though, as far as I know.

Well, I have yet to be banned and I'd say that's a testament to this boards moderators and Saint's remarkable restraint.

mrC

[RetroJames]

<cowbell - in effect>

Mississippi Queen...You Know What I mean....

<air guitar>

bwa.bwa-BWA.BWA.BWA....etc.

</air guitar>


ahem

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I just like cowbells.

hehe...And I'd be doing *myself* a disservice, and every member of this community a disservice, if I didn't play the HELL out of this thing!!!

*clang* *clang* *clang* *clang*


mrC

[Crazy Cooter]

I just like cowbells.

Exactly why this is such a great forum.
FWIW, I've never posted more than 10-20 times in any other forum.  I usually get fed up with the attitudes etc.  Plus there's more help in one thread here than the entire board at other (non-arcade) sites.  This community in general is very tolerant.

Except the whole TM thing...

[DrewKaree]

Exactly why this is such a great forum.
FWIW, I've never posted more than 10-20 times in any other forum.  I usually get fed up with the attitudes etc.  Plus there's more help in one thread here than the entire board at other (non-arcade) sites.  This community in general is very tolerant.

Except the whole TM thing...

I've since made my mark of trade (don't wanna step on the proper term that's been slapped with it) on "help", "tolerant" (and all its forms), and "attitude".

Cowbells, I believe to be protected under GNU.

[walls83]

Any ban is for violating the rules. Your opinions have nothing to do with it.

Word to your mother.

[vib_ribbon]

hi saint,

i'm new here. finding it a useful place to be.

anyway, my problem is that i posted up an advert on the buy/trade section, but now i realise that i'm not on the status to reply to the guy who's asking for more information on the item in question.

i read elsewhere later that i need to post something like 20 posts before i can reply in that section...? is there a way of overcoming this porblem as i don't have that much to contribute right now without spamming the place.

thanks.

[Shape D.]

if they put something up to prevent that you could always send the member a p.m.

[sirwoogie]

You can still PM the member involved.