Banished Lounger?

[deadlyhandsome]

The particular individual who I have a problem with (and and to whom @belfastboy was referring to), is a darling of the FL and has flouted the rules about politics, in particular, since before I got here. This individual regularly rides the line and frequently crosses it. I assume they've built up enough political capital at the FL to do this with impunity.

I just generally try to avoid engaging them if I can.

I try to stay in the Hat Forum. It gets scary when I venture out. And I too have seen overtly political posts that seem to go unchallenged.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

The particular individual who I have a problem with (and and to whom @belfastboy was referring to), is a darling of the FL and has flouted the rules about politics, in particular, since before I got here. This individual regularly rides the line and frequently crosses it. I assume they've built up enough political capital at the FL to do this with impunity.

I just generally try to avoid engaging them if I can.

Yes, the behavior is obvious...and perhaps speaking up might lead nowhere, but remaining silent can only lead the abuser to feel assured that they are indeed untouchable no matter what they do or say.

 

[Just Daniel]

I assume the folks running this little digital show would accept an apology and a promise to behave in the future - the first or second time.

 

[Rmccamey]

This is a business, not a democracy. We are here as guests. The owners have exclusive control over who they hire, who they allow to participate, and who they ban. As long as they don't discriminate based on a protected class in violation of Title VII ( for U.S. based companies), they can operate their business as they see fit whether we agree or not.

You remember correctly. And intervention seems to be arbitrary at times, if not punitive.

This thread was resurrected from 2007. Some things to consider.....

If a person is "banned" it could have happened fast, or, shall we say, they eventually "earned it". In that I mean the new member who flames, rude, or comes here to sell, scam, troll.... we all recognize that immediately and all internet groups suffer those problems.

Others, who are "regulars" sometimes fray into subjects that have no place here, or become extreme, or a member becomes hostile, personal, or otherwise against other members. That is not tolerated. The Lounge is not that kind of place. In those cases, the offending member certainly receives "SEVERAL" warnings....ie. their posts have been seen or reported and then looked at. We PM the member privately, and then sometimes post an "open warning". You've all seen those.

However, like any company, "termination" is a confidential matter. The past couple questions here "what ever happened to so and so??" will not get an answer. We do not discuss YOU or THEM, removal is confidential and the person is told. If you know them personally and contact them outside the Lounge, that's up to you. If someone is "no longer here" they could have been "banned" or they could cancel their account on their own, deciding to go elsewhere.

OK, it's an oligarchy (since I don't know the word for rule by bartenders). However, we're here by the good graces and benevolence of the site owners. This is not a public commons. If we don't like it, it's our option to pick up our ball and go home.

I'm like you. I don't really come here to argue, and some have attempted to bait me into it at times. Easier to walk away, er...socially distance myself.

 

[Woodtroll]

I followed part of the dispute and the sad thing was that Cindy was baited by the bartender and unfortunately Cindy took the bait and paid the price. A great miscarriage of justice IMHO.

The particular individual who I have a problem with (and and to whom @belfastboy was referring to), is a darling of the FL and has flouted the rules about politics, in particular, since before I got here. This individual regularly rides the line and frequently crosses it. I assume they've built up enough political capital at the FL to do this with impunity.

Yes, indeed. What is "acceptable" here is sometimes very dependent on who posts it. Trying to point out the hypocrisy of some posts is received, well, pretty much as I expected. There are some threads I don't participate in anymore for this very reason, but I share y'all's frustration.

 

[GHT]

If you've been on forums with good moderators and forums with bad moderators, you know that forums don't flourish because of the subject of the discussion, they succeed because of the quality of the curation of the content.
Moderators have their work cut out to keep a forum a peaceful place so that every member can enjoy posting there, sharing their thoughts and discussing interesting and informative topics. They have a responsibility to check every post and every member profile, they have to delete all spam links, profiles, merge threads and guide new members using the forum.

It can be difficult to keep emotions under control when dealing with difficult people but it's not a power trip and it's not something that I would want to take on.

 

[belfastboy]

If you've been on forums with good moderators and forums with bad moderators, you know that forums don't flourish because of the subject of the discussion, they succeed because of the quality of the curation of the content.
Moderators have their work cut out to keep a forum a peaceful place so that every member can enjoy posting there, sharing their thoughts and discussing interesting and informative topics. They have a responsibility to check every post and every member profile, they have to delete all spam links, profiles, merge threads and guide new members using the forum.

It can be difficult to keep emotions under control when dealing with difficult people but it's not a power trip and it's not something that I would want to take on.

Yes, and I also think that a long standing member that has a history of contributing should they transgress all it would take is a short PM advising them to reel it in some. I could be way off base but what I know of Cindy it would be hard for me to believe otherwise.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

This is a business, not a democracy. We are here as guests. The owners have exclusive control over who they hire, who they allow to participate, and who they ban. As long as they don't discriminate based on a protected class in violation of Title VII ( for U.S. based companies), they can operate their business as they see fit whether we agree or not.

You are absolutely right, Randy. Still, there isn’t anything wrong trying to cajole the powers-that-be to reconsider an action they’ve taken. I’m aware of my position here and I try to show deference without debasing myself. I don’t have all the facts, I don’t know all the prior attempts to rehabilitate a wayward member, and I don’t insist on having things my own way. However, I do have an opinion and a reasoned appeal to make. I’m grateful for The Lounge and will continue to play by the rules regardless of the success or failure of my argument. I guess more than anything else I would just like to see Bob back...and he might not even want to return.

 

[Bushman]

I assume the folks running this little digital show would accept an apology and a promise to behave in the future - the first or second time.

Many years ago, I helped run a now defunct message board (the owner wanted to retire managing it and moved to keep the site/blog only) that had one such policy that was, sadly, never much used. I can probably count on one hand the number of members that actually used what we called "the apology system," with myself counting among them after having ran afoul of an abusive Admin. The amazing thing was we were the largest message board of our subject at the time, with well over 20,000 members signed up, and probably about 500 active users at its heyday. Come to think of it, it still is. The owner, whom I'm still friends with, and still help out in running the website for, had a strict "be nice" TOS policy (it was actually much more complicated than that, but at its heart we tried to enforce the golden rule) that sadly many members just tried to push the limits of. We've had our fair shares of banned members ranging from megalomaniacs who tried to take over the board for themselves to useless, foul mouthed trolls who honestly didn't seem to understand that they were just being idiots.

I actually can remember every person who had used the apology system we had in place, it was so seldom used. Basically, if you showed that you genuinely felt ashamed for the behavior that led to your permanent ban, you were allowed to return to the site on a 6 month parole (i.e. any further behavior that led to your banishment in the first place got you kicked back out). It was a good system, and I can only think of one time where it was actually abused (ironically, the same person who became an Admin and tried getting rid of me). The owner honestly never understood why more members didn't want to use the apology system, and instead simply chose to run off to Reddit to rant and whine about how mean we were for enforcing our rules.

Another thing I'll add, is that some message boards enforce a "No Banned Member" discussion, in an effort to ensure that the banned member's friends don't join up to suddenly come to the banned member's defence. Unfortunately, in some of the communities I hang around, there are scammers and people who like to rip other people off. Basically, taking their money and never delivering a product. I think this is when banned member discussion is the most important to have. If somebody has a history of ripping people off, and pops up someplace else to rip people off after being banned for it, I think people who are unaware of this person's tactics have the right to know that they may potentially get scammed if they do business with this person.

 

[Just Daniel]

Great answer and explanation.

Many years ago, I helped run a now defunct message board (the owner wanted to retire managing it and moved to keep the site/blog only) that had one such policy that was, sadly, never much used. I can probably count on one hand the number of members that actually used what we called "the apology system," with myself counting among them after having ran afoul of an abusive Admin. The amazing thing was we were the largest message board of our subject at the time, with well over 20,000 members signed up, and probably about 500 active users at its heyday. Come to think of it, it still is. The owner, whom I'm still friends with, and still help out in running the website for, had a strict "be nice" TOS policy (it was actually much more complicated than that, but at its heart we tried to enforce the golden rule) that sadly many members just tried to push the limits of. We've had our fair shares of banned members ranging from megalomaniacs who tried to take over the board for themselves to useless, foul mouthed trolls who honestly didn't seem to understand that they were just being idiots.

I actually can remember every person who had used the apology system we had in place, it was so seldom used. Basically, if you showed that you genuinely felt ashamed for the behavior that led to your permanent ban, you were allowed to return to the site on a 6 month parole (i.e. any further behavior that led to your banishment in the first place got you kicked back out). It was a good system, and I can only think of one time where it was actually abused (ironically, the same person who became an Admin and tried getting rid of me). The owner honestly never understood why more members didn't want to use the apology system, and instead simply chose to run off to Reddit to rant and whine about how mean we were for enforcing our rules.

Another thing I'll add, is that some message boards enforce a "No Banned Member" discussion, in an effort to ensure that the banned member's friends don't join up to suddenly come to the banned member's defence. Unfortunately, in some of the communities I hang around, there are scammers and people who like to rip other people off. Basically, taking their money and never delivering a product. I think this is when banned member discussion is the most important to have. If somebody has a history of ripping people off, and pops up someplace else to rip people off after being banned for it, I think people who are unaware of this person's tactics have the right to know that they may potentially get scammed if they do business with this person.

 

[tropicalbob]

If I remember correctly Bob was "put in the penalty box" for a while and then was back in the game. He then posted some material that the bartender asked him not to post and it was removed. He reposted the same material and was banned. That is if I remember correctly.

I was a bartender (in a real bar) in an earlier incarnation, and whenever this subject comes up it reminds me of those days. I didn't know why Bob got 86'd, but it sounds justifiable. If a bartender asks you to cease and desist, well, you know what happens if you don't. One thing I absolutely agree with is the ban on politics: it makes the atmosphere on this forum absolutely refreshing. Imagine if we didn't have it.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Many years ago, I helped run a now defunct message board (the owner wanted to retire managing it and moved to keep the site/blog only) that had one such policy that was, sadly, never much used. I can probably count on one hand the number of members that actually used what we called "the apology system," with myself counting among them after having ran afoul of an abusive Admin. The amazing thing was we were the largest message board of our subject at the time, with well over 20,000 members signed up, and probably about 500 active users at its heyday. Come to think of it, it still is. The owner, whom I'm still friends with, and still help out in running the website for, had a strict "be nice" TOS policy (it was actually much more complicated than that, but at its heart we tried to enforce the golden rule) that sadly many members just tried to push the limits of. We've had our fair shares of banned members ranging from megalomaniacs who tried to take over the board for themselves to useless, foul mouthed trolls who honestly didn't seem to understand that they were just being idiots.

I actually can remember every person who had used the apology system we had in place, it was so seldom used. Basically, if you showed that you genuinely felt ashamed for the behavior that led to your permanent ban, you were allowed to return to the site on a 6 month parole (i.e. any further behavior that led to your banishment in the first place got you kicked back out). It was a good system, and I can only think of one time where it was actually abused (ironically, the same person who became an Admin and tried getting rid of me). The owner honestly never understood why more members didn't want to use the apology system, and instead simply chose to run off to Reddit to rant and whine about how mean we were for enforcing our rules.

Another thing I'll add, is that some message boards enforce a "No Banned Member" discussion, in an effort to ensure that the banned member's friends don't join up to suddenly come to the banned member's defence. Unfortunately, in some of the communities I hang around, there are scammers and people who like to rip other people off. Basically, taking their money and never delivering a product. I think this is when banned member discussion is the most important to have. If somebody has a history of ripping people off, and pops up someplace else to rip people off after being banned for it, I think people who are unaware of this person's tactics have the right to know that they may potentially get scammed if they do business with this person.

I like the idea of an “apology system.”

 

[tropicalbob]

I try to stay in the Hat Forum. It gets scary when I venture out. And I too have seen overtly political posts that seem to go unchallenged.

Thanks. I got a laugh out of this one. I was attacked in the Outerwear forum not too long ago in the kind of overtly political way (attacking my lack of rabid nationalism) that I thought was strictly taboo, and I was annoyed that nothing was done about it. I think i responded in an appropriate way but I was still pretty annoyed, but that's the poison of these types.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Thanks. I got a laugh out of this one. I was attacked in the Outerwear forum not too long ago in the kind of overtly political way (attacking my lack of rabid nationalism) that I thought was strictly taboo, and I was annoyed that nothing was done about it. I think i responded in an appropriate way but I was still pretty annoyed, but that's the poison of these types.

Luckily my interests don’t much extend to those other spheres.

Some people are just caustic and if you know who they are you just have to block them, but when you venture out into the weeds you don’t know the players.