Quote:
Originally Posted by browser2920
I think while well-intentioned, Max has been thrashing around B&M like a bull in a china shop. His enthusiasm and interest in the Tampa Hard Rock thread has been a positive addition, IMO, but he has stepped across the lines more than a few times in regard to low/no content posts and some trolling.
I think there are a few considerations about the process of warnings/bannings that should be discussed. First, I am too old to know what a hotlink is, but somewhere reading these forums I have picked up that it is bad. But I'm not sure where it actually says that. And given that Max was specifically warned about it, and then did it again, a temp ban is clearly appropriate.
As to the way posts that violate rules are addressed, there can be some confusion about that. I remember the first time I had a post deleted, I had no idea what had happened. It was just gone. No one told me why, or even that it was related to violating a T&C. For all I knew, it was a technical glitch. Later I deduced that getting posts deleted was because a mod thought they broke the rules, but that was from reading posts from mods about "cleaning up threads". It's obvious once you've been on the site for a while, but I can relate to how relatively new posters might not immediately equate a missing post as a warning that a ban is ahead.
But in this case, Max was in fact warned, so there's that. But I thought we had gone to a system where you got temp banned for violations, and that permabans were going to be rare for the very worst offenders. The temp ban for Max's hotlinking seems to follow that pattern. But the exile from B&M, which includes the Tampa Hard Rock thread, if not also temp as the hotlinking ban was, seems to contradict that policy.
IMO, getting exiled from B&M permanently while still being allowed to see the rest of the site is really no different than a permaban from the site entirely. I post almost exclusively in B&M and the THR thread. So the punishment effect of a permanent exile from B&M is as punitive as a permaban from the entire site. I think it's little consolation to a B&M poster to say "don't worry, it's not so bad, you can still post in BBV4L and SMP!"
Therefore I would suggest an appropriate intermediate punishment along the punishment spectrum would be a temp ban from B&M for a few days which would serve the purpose of absolutely getting a posters attention and make him realize what he will be missing if he comes back and continues his old ways. This will also insure that if a poster misses the message that deleted posts and mod comments were meant to send, he will have one last chance to get the message loud and clear before permanent exile.
So cliffs: I think Max is a well intentioned but at times thick headed poster (sorry Max) who has both made postive contributions and violated rules repeatedly. I recommend a temp exile for a few days to let it all sink in, and then let Max come back to B&M.
Plus, part of it may be a generational thing because:
Since this is an airing of the laundry thread. I will chime in and say I appreciate Max's posts because due to the rules, otherwise it's very dry. There's only so much I want to read about the next tournament structure.
And I'm not bashing the rules, I get why they are there and even if I don't, the people who run the site make the rules. End of story.
As for mods, I would suggest all give them a break as much as possible. They have a tough job with I'm guessing zero pay. It's like yelling at a little league umpire who is just a dad who volunteered to umpire games other than his own kids. Not cool.