All right, well this was a fun read while I was taking a shit at work, I tell you what. So let's get to the crux of the issue: was Surtur's temp banning justified?
Well I mean, yeah, lol.
"User banned by BackFire, for 13 days
Reason: Because I said I would. Said it would be permanent but figured it would be unfair to ban him permanently without warning for doing something he has done so many times - failing to support himself, or his arguments."
Surtur's interpretation of the listed reasoning seems to be his main point of contention, pointing out that failing to justify a statement to a mod is not a bannable offense listed under the rules. First of all; that list of rules is out of date garbage. Technically speaking there is no actual rule against trolling (that doesn't include personal attacks) either, but no one bats an eye when a troll gets banned. But that's beside the point. It's just a semantics argument. Backfire's hastily-written note on the ban is not really particularly compelling evidence for anything. Fact is that Surtur insulted a mod, which is a bannable offense right from the get-go. Backfire didn't need to give Surtur a chance to explain his words, so it was very stupid (and frankly cowardly) for Surtur to then refuse to do so, while continuing to poke and prod at Backfire. Do not think my own personal interactions with Surtur are coloring this post. I have consistently pointed out unfairness on the part of the moderation team, even when it was hurting people I disliked. When Burning Thought was banned and bullied in the video games forum many years back, I defended him and admonished the moderation team, and anyone who knew me back then would know that I hated Burning Thought, more than I ever came close to hating Surtur.
However, I would say that there should be higher standards for ban posts, and more important this subforum should really have an in-depth rules list of its own, since it is, theoretically, a debate/discussion forum. Comic versus has one, movie versus does, Star Wars Vs. does, Video Game Versus does. There is no reason this board shouldn't as well.
But anyway, Surtur would then contend that even if he's banned for essentially personal attacks, he's not doing anything others haven't done before.
And he is 100%, absolutely definitely stupendously right here. 👆
But that does not imply he should not have been punished, only that others should as well. 👇
But he is right in that there has been a level of bias among the modding team. 👆
There always has been. I've done more than enough to warrant being permanently banned several times over, and I'm not the only one. In fact, in many ways this is my fault. Surtur didn't used to troll and insult other posters as much, not before I relentlessly insulted and flamed him in the cop kills darky threads of olde. It's why I didn't really do it as much. He was always shitposting, so what was the point?
Anyway, tl;dr, Surtur's banning was justified, mod favoritism is not, I'm a bad person, general discussion needs its own stickied rules thread, and Backfire likes wolverine cock.
Originally posted by NemeBro
and more important this subforum should really have an in-depth rules list of its own, since it is, theoretically, a debate/discussion forum. Comic versus has one, movie versus does, Star Wars Vs. does, Video Game Versus does. There is no reason this board shouldn't as well.
This is a very good point. I wasn't even aware that those other sub forums had their own rules of engagement. That's definitely something this sub forum should also have, as you're absolutely right, it is a debate forum more or less.
Maybe if we ever get more mods to help enforce such rules we can think about doing that (lol yeah right).
I feel like it's been said in here already, but I'll repeat, we can't reverse bans once they've been implemented. So the ban is there for 2 weeks even if I wanted to reverse it.
Keep in mind, however, that Surtur's sock was not banned by me. I actually had no intent to ban it.
This is why I can't take much of these complaints seriously - a ban is barely even a ban anymore. It's more of a minor inconvenience for the person being banned, as the tech the site is based on is so old and decrepit that getting around the IP check that is used is so simple that anyone can do it within a minute or two, and then probably post for many hours before a mod may see, and there's a good chance the mods won't really care or react because then the sock will just create another sock. TI makes sock after sock account, it's not because he's really allowed to, Bada will ban him for it still, and Bada knows pretty quickly when he does it, as does Imp and I, it's just that we don't really give much of a shit about it because then he'll just make yet another one, so what's the point, really?
From my rules thread in the MVF:
I've always tried to let people run free in my section of this message board. I consider myself to be a laid back mod who wants people to have a good time debating and posting here without censorship or wagging fingers telling someone to stop. We're all grown ass adults here, many of us reasonably educated with a sense of right and wrong. I want you to feel free to share opinions and have fun and challenging debates here, but with just a little bit of humility.
My 3 unofficial rules are simple:
-Absolutely no personal attacks on family members e.g. wives/husbands, children, dead relatives, et al.
-No cruel or personal attacks on KMC members e.g. disabilities, current situations, hardships, et al.
-No unnecessary flaming, baiting, or derailing in and of threads so as not to obscure the debate at hand. If you feel the need to bait or flame or just be a c0ck weasel to someone, GO TO THE OFF TOPIC THREAD OR USE PM. It's not that hard.
Originally posted by Impediment
From my rules thread in the MVF:I've always tried to let people run free in my section of this message board. I consider myself to be a laid back mod who wants people to have a good time debating and posting here without censorship or wagging fingers telling someone to stop. We're all grown ass adults here, many of us reasonably educated with a sense of right and wrong. I want you to feel free to share opinions and have fun and challenging debates here, but with just a little bit of humility.
My 3 unofficial rules are simple:
-Absolutely no personal attacks on family members e.g. wives/husbands, children, dead relatives, et al.
-No cruel or personal attacks on KMC members e.g. disabilities, current situations, hardships, et al.
-No unnecessary flaming, baiting, or derailing in and of threads so as not to obscure the debate at hand. If you feel the need to bait or flame or just be a c0ck weasel to someone, GO TO THE OFF TOPIC THREAD OR USE PM. It's not that hard.
1) Yes
2) hmm... but it can be funny!
3) Maybe