Quote from: san dee jota;946830Since it seems relevant, I'm also a newcomer here who jumped ship from there.  I never got a ban that I recall, and only ever got one warning a few years ago (actually staying in the rpg sections of a site devoted to rpgs certainly helped).  

What snapped for me was a while back some guy joined.  He was enthusiastic, passionate, and... a bit annoying.  One of those "what system would you use for this obscure anime/80's cartoon/movie/show I really love" types who'd chime in after the discussion had started, except you might get 12 posts like that a month.  Mods banned him because they said he was posting stuff like this every day and not responding to his posts, and encouraged us to use the search function if we doubted them.

So I did.

And like I said, he posted at worst 12 times in one month, but he also -would- contribute in some of his threads that got traction.  I pointed this out in a thread, and the thread got locked, and it's bugged me ever since.  I never knew the guy, I doubt he'd fit in better here than he did there, but it was just such a shitty way to lie about something to justify kicking them out because they were annoying (not breaking rules, not even being rude, just... annoying).  

Anyway, that's my story.  Hello.

After what I considered a sketchy reason for bounding me from a thread, I actually PM'ed them and told them to go fuck themselves. Lifetime ban. and worth it!:-)

After looking over the latest Zakdrama thread I can see the mods there seem very banhappy. If they don't want any heated political discussions why would they even allow the thread? Pretty goofy to keep it open and claim that it is okay for people to defend Zak and then systematically ban everyone who attempts to do so. And with two of the mods being directly involved there's a pretty clear conflict of interest. No wonder forums are on a decline.

Quote from: san dee jota;946830Since it seems relevant, I'm also a newcomer here who jumped ship from there.  I never got a ban that I recall, and only ever got one warning a few years ago (actually staying in the rpg sections of a site devoted to rpgs certainly helped).  

What snapped for me was a while back some guy joined.  He was enthusiastic, passionate, and... a bit annoying.  One of those "what system would you use for this obscure anime/80's cartoon/movie/show I really love" types who'd chime in after the discussion had started, except you might get 12 posts like that a month.  Mods banned him because they said he was posting stuff like this every day and not responding to his posts, and encouraged us to use the search function if we doubted them.

So I did.

And like I said, he posted at worst 12 times in one month, but he also -would- contribute in some of his threads that got traction.  I pointed this out in a thread, and the thread got locked, and it's bugged me ever since.  I never knew the guy, I doubt he'd fit in better here than he did there, but it was just such a shitty way to lie about something to justify kicking them out because they were annoying (not breaking rules, not even being rude, just... annoying).  

Anyway, that's my story.

Well, that's shit.

I knew another user who got banned. Nicest guy you'd ever meet, all smiles and good cheer, a bit weird and all over the place but just about the most fundamentally harmless person you'd meet. He'd been there for years, too, and contributed in all sorts of ways. But he got his ass permabanned anyway.

Why, you ask? For disruptive and offensive behaviour? No. For triggering someone? Not at all. For telling people to please, please, please stop getting triggered by every single aspect of the universe? If I ever get banned, I'll bet you dollars to donuts that'll be why, but he never seemed to have any trouble avoiding it.

No, he hinted - just hinted - at something in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of books. In a thread devoted to the Game of Thrones TV show.

Permabanned. For very mild spoilers.

I try not to be paranoid, but... I can't help it note that while the guy never told anyone to stop being triggered, he also had a habit of going, "aw, c'mon, it's not that bad!" at people. Like I said, he was one of those super-positive sorts. And that's not against site rules, but it does kind of go against the "the world is a horrible, horrible place and that's why we need to be so vigilant against Bad Elements" philosophy that it runs on. So I have to wonder if that didn't play a part in some way.

Quote from: Baeraad;946842I try not to be paranoid, but... I can't help it note that while the guy never told anyone to stop being triggered, he also had a habit of going, "aw, c'mon, it's not that bad!" at people. Like I said, he was one of those super-positive sorts. And that's not against site rules, but it does kind of go against the "the world is a horrible, horrible place and that's why we need to be so vigilant against Bad Elements" philosophy that it runs on. So I have to wonder if that didn't play a part in some way.

It's very much a game of favoritism and moving goal posts.  

I'm sure I got away with stuff a new member wouldn't simply because they saw I had thousands of posts, dozens of reviews, and no recent warnings/bans.  And I can see the logic, but it's about as biased as you can get.  And ideally mods should be more impartial than that, but the mods don't want to be impartial.  They want to shape and sculpt things a certain way, and that way changes over time, and changes from mod to mod.

So you have a bunch of cops who basically do what they want, and it's grating.  

By comparison, this place seems pretty much self-moderated, and more civil and easy going for it.

Yeah... that's my impression too, unfortunately. They're not enforcing the rules, they're enforcing what they see as the point of the rules, which is to keep the bad people out. Wouldn't want any bad people to slip in just because they managed to obey the letter of the law, would you? And that logic sounds compelling, right up until the point where you're the only one who's still allowed inside and you end up throwing yourself out because you catch yourself thinking that perhaps you shouldn't have thrown everyone else out.

As for this place, I'm as new as you are, so I might just not have seen its sordid underbelly yet. But yes, so far I'm finding it surprisingly polite and friendly.

Quote from: Baeraad;946865I'm finding it surprisingly polite and friendly.

Oh that'll change.

Quote from: san dee jota;946830Anyway, that's my story.  Hello.

Nice to see you here, SDJ.

Quote from: CRKrueger;946867Oh that'll change.

Hush, you. Let me keep my comforting delusions for as long as I can.

Quote from: Baeraad;946865As for this place, I'm as new as you are, so I might just not have seen its sordid underbelly yet. But yes, so far I'm finding it surprisingly polite and friendly.

I'm honestly thinking it's like the difference between attending a formal event and jumping in a mosh pit.  I'm not saying one is better than the other, but people tend to prefer one or the other.
 
Another way to look at it: at my table we tell jokes about sodomy, and once encouraged a player to try to go out in public and explain how "niggardly" has no etymological relation to another word (I mean, he was absolutely right when he brought it up, so what harm could it do to him?).  Just typing that elsewhere would probably get me at least a warning from the mod staff, here... we'll see how good a fit I am (*rolls on FATAL anal circumference tables*).

Quote from: Baeraad;946865But yes, so far I'm finding it surprisingly polite and friendly.

Where's my damn beer?

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;946908Where's my damn beer?

In your refrigerator I'd imagine, unless you get off your old and fat ass to walk over to it and get it yourself? I just assume you're fat, but I know you're old and irrelevant to my gaming experience and opinions. I figure you have to be at legal retirement age and still playing a game created 40+ years ago and believing it's scripture like The Bible?

Quote from: Baeraad;946842Well, that's shit.

I knew another user who got banned. Nicest guy you'd ever meet, all smiles and good cheer, a bit weird and all over the place but just about the most fundamentally harmless person you'd meet. He'd been there for years, too, and contributed in all sorts of ways. But he got his ass permabanned anyway.

Why, you ask? For disruptive and offensive behaviour? No. For triggering someone? Not at all. For telling people to please, please, please stop getting triggered by every single aspect of the universe? If I ever get banned, I'll bet you dollars to donuts that'll be why, but he never seemed to have any trouble avoiding it.

No, he hinted - just hinted - at something in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of books. In a thread devoted to the Game of Thrones TV show.

Permabanned. For very mild spoilers.

I try not to be paranoid, but... I can't help it note that while the guy never told anyone to stop being triggered, he also had a habit of going, "aw, c'mon, it's not that bad!" at people. Like I said, he was one of those super-positive sorts. And that's not against site rules, but it does kind of go against the "the world is a horrible, horrible place and that's why we need to be so vigilant against Bad Elements" philosophy that it runs on. So I have to wonder if that didn't play a part in some way.

Quote from: Baeraad;946865Yeah... that's my impression too, unfortunately. They're not enforcing the rules, they're enforcing what they see as the point of the rules, which is to keep the bad people out. Wouldn't want any bad people to slip in just because they managed to obey the letter of the law, would you? And that logic sounds compelling, right up until the point where you're the only one who's still allowed inside and you end up throwing yourself out because you catch yourself thinking that perhaps you shouldn't have thrown everyone else out.

As for this place, I'm as new as you are, so I might just not have seen its sordid underbelly yet. But yes, so far I'm finding it surprisingly polite and friendly.

Interesting take. It isn't polite or friendly, it's the Old West. If you have a gun and can use it you're fine. If you're an SJW or worse, you will have problems. Despite Rincewind and a couple others like Jim with a cowboy hat from Asia/Singapore/Oceania that prefer hanging out in the few pure politics threads aside. It's more open and less hidden wordplay or straight war if you buy into Rincewind's bullshit? I don't, so it isn't faux friendly like the Big Purple. It's all about "you like it? So tell me why... and don't be mad if I hate it.... or you didn't explain it clearly".

Quote from: Baeraad;945396Hehe, nah, I'm not banned. It's just that in order to stay non-banned, I keep finding myself having to bite my tongue so hard that I think it's left permanent teeth marks. Spending a little less time there and a little more time somewhere where I won't have to worry about getting threadbanned for using the word "whining" might be good for my blood pressure, is my theory.

(I happen to think that my use of the word "whining" was not only justified but bipartisan, too! To be specific, I said that everyone, regardless of outlook, could stand to stop whining about not every game being perfectly adjusted to their taste. This, it turns out, was not popular with the local powers that be. )

+1 to this.  I got warned off for saying that it was silly to worry about racism against fantasy creatures.  I figure that I should lay low for awhile. >.<  (Maybe it was my joke about Santa violating workers' rights against the elves.)

I guess there is no sarcasm allowed.  Which is bad - because 30-40% of my communication is in sarcasm.

Quote from: Marleycat;946941In your refrigerator I'd imagine, unless you get off your old and fat ass to walk over to it and get it yourself? I just assume you're fat, but I know you're old and irrelevant to my gaming experience and opinions. I figure you have to be at legal retirement age and still playing a game created 40+ years ago and believing it's scripture like The Bible?

Drink soup made from the brown crusty patches in my underpants, asshole.