Selective memory

[RecoveringKinkoid]

The poster Ree used as an example? Evidently not.

[HYHYBT]

An instant permaban would be really aggravating if, for example, you'd signed up long ago, didn't stay around, and forgot that you'd been here before.

[Ree]

Trust me....this one didn't forget.
They were posting regularly and communicating via PM on an almost daily basis with Raps and a couple of mods.

[RootedPhoenix]

*offers all chicken soup* Got lots here.

I'm glad the only board I'm an admin at is just my friends and me...and that it's not public. Blegh.

[HYHYBT]

Trust me....this one didn't forget.
They were posting regularly and communicating via PM on an almost daily basis with Raps and a couple of mods.

This must be my day for being misunderstood... I was speaking generally, nothing more.

[Ree]

Well, we don't generally permaban for no reason, especially if someone hasn't been around for a while, so I didn't quite understand the comment I guess.

[Mikkel]

Some sites have instant perma bans on the use of sockpuppets even if neither account used is being used offensively, it just raises the question of why you need two (or more).

An instant permaban would be really aggravating if, for example, you'd signed up long ago, didn't stay around, and forgot that you'd been here before.

Well, we don't generally permaban for no reason, especially if someone hasn't been around for a while, so I didn't quite understand the comment I guess.

I think HYHYBT commented on Ginger Tea, not on any practise of the mods here or on CS.

Interesting discussion. It isn't every day you get the moderators telling stories of what goes on behind the scenes.

[Rapscallion]

Heh - think we don't need to vent from time to time? However, it's very unlikely anyone will know who the people involved are. Well, apart from the people themselves. I'm pretty certain the person in question is watching avidly.

There's a war story I put up of one of the major WTF moments of me running CS.com. That was very much behind the scenes and I made sure that it was a year on before releasing details.

Rapscallion

[Lace Neil Singer]

Well, we don't generally permaban for no reason

Cept in the minds of persistant rulebreakers. XD

"Those bastards permabanned me FOR NO REASON! I only repeatedly spammed, flamed and trolled!"

[HYHYBT]

I think HYHYBT commented on Ginger Tea, not on any practise of the mods here or on CS.

Precisely.

[Ginger Tea]

Precisely.

and I was only commenting about a totally different sites* policy re 2nd forum ID aka sockpuppets, having been here only a short while and a non registered forum reader at CS.com I can't say I've seen any real public bans, Redpanda being the only one. others that are banned I've no idea why as I never saw anything posted ban worthy, but that doesn't mean it wasn't taken down.

*I'm pretty sure it was "the banhammer and you" at the escapist, a site I am not registered with but occasionally read threads about when not watching zero punctuation videos.

But aside a mod having a Batman login and a normal Bruce Wayne kinda affair, no one needs a second account without good reason.

[Hyena Dandy]

As far as I know, even in the US freedom of speech is not protected on Private Property, so there'd be no 'freedom of speech' protection even if it was in the UK.

[Ree]

I think HYHYBT commented on Ginger Tea, not on any practise of the mods here or on CS.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.
I guess I was still too frazzled by the whole thing, and wasn't reading carefully enough.

[Mikkel]

Heh - think we don't need to vent from time to time?

Oh yes, I wouldn't think you were human if you didn't vent all the time. I expect you do vent in those fora only visible to moderators .
I don't usually see what goes on behind scenes except when I'm on the receiving end. It's nice to get an idea of what happens before a ban or people being moderated.

[Ree]

I expect you do vent in those fora only visible to moderators

That's how it usually goes.

My reason for starting this thread was that I was really quite tired of the constant misunderstanding of how things work with the mod team.

There seemed to be a perception that we just randomly target certain members and lie in wait for anything we can jump on, and we take great glee in banning people from the site.

In many cases, it doesn't even occur to people that their fellow members, themselves, have reported the posts in question because of the content or tone.

When we make an edit on CS or warn a member that they have posted something close to the line, it goes one of three ways.

1. We get a polite apology with a thanks for letting them know, and a promise not to do it again. End of story.
2. We get a polite apology with a thanks, and a promise not to do it again, but they continue to do it again...repeatedly.
3. We get a note telling us they hope we are just as diligent with everyone else on the board because they are sick of being singled out, or they hope the other people in the thread also got warnings because they were making comments that were just as bad, or they complain and fret about how the whole thing was handled, as they feel the moderator was over-reacting or misunderstood what they were trying to say. Then they send a complaint to Raps, usually accusing the mod in question of abuse of power, and sometimes demanding that we cancel their account, saying they will never be back again.
   They may also make Facebook comments about the situation and the heavy-handed mod(s) at CS. They bash the mod(s) in chatrooms, or in IM's, telling only their version of the story. They complain to their friends and gain sympathy and cry foul and accuse the mod(s) of brushing off their concerns about others who post things just as bad, or that they were only defending themselves against an attack by another member but the mods just don't care about that. (In those cases, we usually check the reported posts area to see if we have any reports by the member to back up their claims that others have behaved badly, and in almost every case, there are no reports by that member.)

I have sent what I felt were very polite notes to people explaining certain things regarding the way the board operates, and the next thing I know, I am being accused of brushing them off and basically telling them to f**k off without any regard for what they were trying to say.

In the case of the annoying former member who emailed me, I suspected that they had signed up again with a new name. I had some pretty reliable proof on my side, as well as some pretty good deductive reasoning and amateur detective work. I admit to initiating the emailing months ago when I first discovered it. I was basically letting them know we were not stupid, and we were not going to play the game.
Of course, they played dumb.

The latest email from last week was one they sent, weeks later, playing innocent and asking what ever became of that member I mentioned to them.
When I received that last, nasty comment attacking me, and then a final one telling me not to ever contact them again, it was because I pretty much laid my cards on the table, and they knew they weren't fooling me anymore, nor the rest of the team, because I had pretty much blown the whistle.

The thing is, they mentioned still having friends around here. I figured these "friends" were only getting half the story regarding the situation when this person was banned, and that it was probably still that same old song, "They banned me without any warning or explanation."

I thought it was time to set the record straight, because, as has been said, while this was an extreme situation, it was not an isolated one, and it has been happening a lot lately.