Banned?

[i VTAK]

Alternate accounts. We call em PBM's( Previously Banned Members) on another forum I frequent. I don't think they can stop anyone from viewing the forums, but IP's can be traced to prevent alternate accounts. With the amount of internet available nowadays that may be tough though.

As to why this is still being discussed: I find this thread more interesting and entertaining that the zillion 2.1 threads.

 

[Trident]

Alternate accounts. We call em PBM's( Previously Banned Members) on another forum I frequent. I don't think they can stop anyone from viewing the forums, but IP's can be traced to prevent alternate accounts. With the amount of internet available nowadays that may be tough though.

As to why this is still being discussed: I find this thread more interesting and entertaining that the zillion 2.1 threads.

I saw a banned member named OHIO that had recenly visited IOWA's user profile. The user had no posts what so ever. That makes me wonder if he attempted to make another account..

Not sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[shivers316]

That's IOWA. He created that account to contact us. It's been handled.

 

[Vihzel]

It wasn't until now that I just realized that his name was a the name of a state... lmao. Wow did that not really register in my head.

 

[TheSultan]

IOWA sent me a message saying he would probably be banned in the near future and to get contact info to keep in touch. He made a deliberate concentrated decision to "speak his mind" knowing full well what the consequences would be. I have no idea what went down, haven't tried to find it.


Arguing with a total stranger on an online forum can't really be that gratifying can it???

 

[Vihzel]

Arguing with a total stranger on an online forum can't really be that gratifying can it???

Well to mbell, it is. He seems to do stuff for the sake of starting an argument.

 

[TheSultan]

Well to mbell, it is. He seems to do stuff for the sake of starting an argument.

i once heard that arguing online is like being in the special olympics, even if you win...well...you get the gist of it.

 

[3devious]

I'm truly curious if anything could have been done to prevent this entire mess (more so than just ignoring each other).

We told IOWA privately that it wasn't worth it. You can't make people behave (especially when misbehaving can be highly entertaining.) Unfortunately, a suspension isn't exactly what is in order here. This happens because of lack of faith that the forum staff will do what is right.

You can't really win in that situation. He'll take a temporary vacation but feel it was worth it because the forums got "cleaned up a bit." It won't really deter this from happening again because he thinks he's helping. It doesn't really say anything about IOWA really, that is just how people get. When they feel that something needs to be done, consequences be damned.

This will continue as long as people feel that the forum staff blatantly turns a blind eye to behavior such as mbell75's. IOWA would not be the only one to end up banned and everyone would be angry all of the time. The staff would be mad because of the lack of civility and posters would be mad at the "gestapo moderators."

Where do we go from here? We need to be able to trust that the forum staff will handle unwanted elements. The forum staff needs us not to become forum vigilantes yeah, it is a dorky as it sounds and make it harder for them to keep order in a fair and balanced fashion. I am not really sure how to facilitate that kind of environment, but those guys (figuratively) are pretty reasonable, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to give them the benefit of the doubt.

What a lot of you may ask is why can't we get them to be more aggressive with posters like mbell75, but remember that there can be a fine line between someone causing a disruption because their behavior/content is unpopular versus actually behaving in a disruptive manner. You don't want the forum staff to be forced to moderate things based on popular opinion because that would cause them and us to lose any sort of credibility we have.

We have a great environment that really encourages us to strive towards equality. The mere presence of the diverse cross section of posters we have is impressive and provides affordances for each of us to broaden our-(OK, I am sure you guys get the picture.) The long and short of it is, let's not abuse the freedoms we have to bully and pick on people just because they are unpopular. If they disrupt our environment, I fully expect the forum staff to come down on them like the hammer of the gods (well OK, not really but it would be cool.)

 

[Vihzel]

Really... this is at the fault of mbell75. He just kept pushing ALL over our buttons, not just IOWA. From what I know, IOWA only pushes mbell75's buttons. So... yeah... that's my 2 cents.

 

[Caddyman]

you can do 3 things

take the direct approach, attack back, and risk getting banned

take the indirect approach and report the posts

take the non approach and use your ignore list feature

 

[OfTheDamned]

you can do 3 things

take the direct approach, attack back, and risk getting banned

take the indirect approach and report the posts

take the non approach and use your ignore list feature

I use option 4.

Do all 3 and confuse the hell out of everyone.

 

[Frisco]

How can you tell when a member is banned?

 

[Trident]

How can you tell when a member is banned?

Their name is blacked out and below their name it says "Banned."

 

[Frisco]

Their name is blacked out and below their name it says "Banned."

Holy Moly, I thought Iowa put "banned" in there as a joke.

I was wondering how he got his user name in black.

I'm gonna go have a triple espresso.

 

[Vihzel]

Do you guys think it was right for the moderators to ban IOWA? I'm just curious.

 

[Caddyman]

if he broke the rules in any way shape or form, absolutely.

 

[Frisco]

Do you guys think it was right for the moderators to ban IOWA? I'm just curious.

It is not a true "ban." He's allowed to return, that's just a "vacation" or suspension of posting privileges.

Being as how the moderators here have already taken the action, I see no point in discussing a perceived "right or wrong" about it, unless they invite us to do that.

 

[3devious]

Yeah, Vizhel I do. Over the last few days, he intentionally baited mbell75 to the point of going off and getting himself banned.

It is nice having the original disruptive party gone for a while, but it does not make this place any better when you sink to that person's level to achieve that. Mbell75 would have eventually gotten himself banned, but IOWA chose not to wait.

We can't really just vote someone off the island for being annoying. (OK, we can but that doesn't do us any good in the long run.) I am sure that the individual that wanted Messenger13 to be banned felt that he was allowed act against forum policy because he is popular. That wasn't the case. Messenger13 might have been a bit abrupt with the poster, but he wasn't abusive.

That annoying thing is that for everyone to benefit I believe that we really have to take the high road in cases like these.

PS: I don't see any harm in discussing the actions taken by the forum staff. We talk about actions taken by our politicians/police/administrators/military everyday. The only place those kinds of discussion seem to be discouraged is in many workplaces. While I feel that we should be free to talk about it, it should not have any real effect on what has happened.

 

[Phases]

I've only just now seen this thread. It's debatable if we should even be discussing it but.. Here we go!

Ok, I've got to ask. Why did Iowa get banned?

Darn you for starting this thread! But, see quote below.

Trying to egg on mbell would be my guess. Yesterday they were both warned about bickering and such. Last night IOWA created like 10 topics with 5 or so bashing Apple, probly an attempt to lure in mbell. They are both probly on temp bans.

This post is pure speculation.

Yes, that. ^

I imagine there might've been some deliberation between mods before bans handed out...

Yes, for a good while now. These two have been a repeat topic.

I'm hoping that Iowa and mbell can more or less get past it and leave each other alone. I'm also hoping that the overall angry tone I've been seeing on the forum lately can go away. This is supposed to be fun, not an anger fest.

Me too.

IOWA wasn't blameless, but mbell was clearly just a troll. He accused others of it but would get shitty when people said Apple sucked.

Been watching IOWA longer that mbell, admittedly. But we're onto him now.

Sort of a verbal boxing ring. I like that idea.

We've talked about having a "Romper-Room" type forum. Ultimately decided against it.

They were both warned and both decided to not listen to the warning. They're taking a nice 7 day vacation from each other and the forum. Hopefully we'll have a bit more harmony when they come back.

^^

It's a shame it came to what it did, but they both were asking for it IMO. They can deny it, but they both seemed to go out of their way to egg the other on.

Yes.

mbell75 isn't worth getting banned over. Just my 2 cents.

Agreed.

Isn't this the second time that IOWA's been banned?

I believe so.

He better not eff up anymore or it may be the last we see of him.

I believe so.

I think mbell as well...

I believe so.

Depends...can't read the forums if their IP range was banned (although that might block other users)

Only banned usernames, in this instance. For a week.

not exactly sure why it's still being discussed after a mod made a post about it....i mean it is technically a staff issue/decision...

fwiw, I REALLY wish that Phases or Rob would take a look at installing AE DETECTOR, it's on vb.org, would prevent banned users from creating alts....

I agree, but here with are. I only just now saw the thread, and since my colleague is here entertaining questions, I may as well chime in. Plus every so often it's probably okay to interact with the community about .. things.

As for AE Detector, maybe we'll look into it, but, you can't keep someone out if they're determined enough anyway. We do ban IPs or ranges when we feel we need to, though. And then play the endurance game if we must. .

Plus, when they know it's a temp ban, they're usually okay. Mad for a few days but okay.

Arguing with a total stranger on an online forum can't really be that gratifying can it???

You'd think not, but it can be strangely addicting.

Really... this is at the fault of mbell75. He just kept pushing ALL over our buttons, not just IOWA. From what I know, IOWA only pushes mbell75's buttons. So... yeah... that's my 2 cents.

That's probably accurate.

Do you guys think it was right for the moderators to ban IOWA? I'm just curious.

Yes.

Yeah, Vizhel I do. Over the last few days, he intentionally baited mbell75 to the point of going off and getting himself banned.

It is nice having the original disruptive party gone for a while, but it does not make this place any better when you sink to that person's level to achieve that. Mbell75 would have eventually gotten himself banned, but IOWA chose not to wait.

That. ^

...Guys. These two have been going at it a while. IOWA, as helpful as he can be, has walked the line a few times. mbell just seems to really like to fight, from what I can see. (I haven't dug too deep into his history.) I did tell them both in PM to stop, or be banned. They both in one way or another continued.

Really, this doesn't have to even be a big deal. We'll see.

*disclaimer: This reply doesn't mean I'll reply to questions or posts that follow, nor is it a sign that I believe we should openly talk about bannings that happen around here.

*Note: I have not explained everything that goes on inside my brain-thing with all this stuff.

*Also note: I do personally hope when they both return they go about their business and not stir the pot, and stay as members of the community.

 

[avacomputers]

I'll probably get banned for this, but I think what ever happens in the staff room should stay there. Just my opinion.

 

[Phases]

I'll probably get banned for this, but I think what ever happens in the staff room should stay there. Just my opinion.

Why would you get banned for that? That's a perfectly fine thing to say, and a good opinion to have. For the most part I agree.

Sometimes we do come out of hiding to address something, though.

 

[Trident]

Wow thank you for addressing this thread, Phases.

 

[Fonseca]

I actually think it is pretty cool for the moderators to come out and tell us the reasons behind bannings. All other forums I go on, you get this response: "We do not discuss bans." *close thread*

 

[Trident]

I actually think it is pretty cool for the moderators to come out and tell us the reasons behind bannings. All other forums I go on, you get this response: "We do not discuss bans." *close thread*

Yep, and this way, you can learn from other's mistakes.

 

[OfTheDamned]

Yep, and this way, you can learn from other's mistakes.

That is what I was more or less hoping for when I started the thread. More for Iowa and mbell than the rest of us, but for the rest of us too.