S.E. vs. Me TL;DR - About the Forums

AGame18 · 01-25-2012, 12:15 AM

I have recently been banned forever from the Yankees thread in SE by Tuq. I believe the banning to be unfair, and wanted to discuss it in further with him. He was not very interested, and I asked permission to post here and he told me to do so.

First, a bit of history. I am probably one of the least liked posters in all of S.E. Most people think I am stupid, arrogant, full of myself, argumentative, and just in general a really bad poster. This even extends to the team threads of which I am a die-hard fan of. I am not going to pretend I am well-liked with a few exceptions, because I'm not. I do think that the consensus of my "ineffectiveness as a poster" is largely based on memory bias. When I post something that people disagree with, it becomes a long winded thing with many happy to jump on the witch-hunt and add to the bashing, whereas when I post something people agree with, no one comments or cares. Therefore, people don't remember it or pay attention. Not sure if any of that is relative or not anyway.

Despite this, I haven't really committed many ban worthy offenses. I was banned for a day once by Tuq over a year ago. I don't really remember what it was about but I remember thinking it wasn't unfair. Other than that, my only other ban is the second one Tuq gave me recently. Despite being hated, I have tried my best to maintain a "don't do anything banworthy" policy, knowing that while I can't control what people think of me, I can control what I type. I sometimes slip up and call someone an idiot or something, but I am usually always provoked, being insulted first.

The incident in question happened a week ago or so. The whole exchange is not very long, so it can be read in entirety by anyone who cares to spend a few minutes. It would be easier to just link the thread than repost every post here.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/15.../index346.html

That is the thread. The context for the beginning of the argument starts at JTG's post #34592. It continues on past Triumph's post #34619. I don't remember what number post the last one I made was since Tuq deleted it (maybe he can recover it for the purposes of this thread) but figure #34625 or so. I also don't remember the exact wording, but I said something like
"wow, so much for apologizing, now I just hope you kill yourself triumph."

For that, I was given a 2 or 3 day ban, and a perma-ban from the thread. I'm not sure the rules of what is bannable and what isn't, so it may be perfectly reasonable that my post got me a ban while Triumph's didn't get him one. But it still seems relevant to mention that my post was merely responding to him calling me a terrible poster and belittling my intelligence. Now, I'm sure Tuq will argue that my perma-ban is not merely due to my transgression in this instance, but my posting history in the thread. My response is simple. The biggest thing I've done wrong in that thread was not be well-liked by others. Is simply being disliked (even if it's by everyone) grounds for banning someone? If yes then I guess I should be banned from the entire forum

If no, then I feel I have not been treated fairly here.

I'm sure at this point, you're wondering, "if everyone hates you and you know it while do you even bother to keep posting at all?" It's a good question, and there's a few reasons why. In the interest in not making this OP even longer, I'm gonna not answer until a mod tells me I should/need to. Rest assured, it is not because I enjoy pissing people off. In fact, it is much closer to the exact opposite. But in this particular case, it's not as if I am a red sox fan asking permission to troll another team's thread. I'm sure many on here can verify my die-hard Yankee fanhood. The simplest reason is I want/need to be able to post about my favorite team in my favorite sport on the forum which I frequent.

This thread is going to be hard for me, and I debated even making it, but I've exhausted all other options. As soon as the SE/yankees regs see it, they will come in and try to crush me. Because of that, I can only ask the non SE posters to try to remain as objective as possible in this discussion.

1outter · 01-25-2012, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AGame18

I have recently been banned forever from the Yankees thread in SE by Tuq. I believe the banning to be unfair, and wanted to discuss it in further with him. He was not very interested, and I asked permission to post here and he told me to do so.

First, a bit of history. I am probably one of the least liked posters in all of S.E. Most people think I am stupid, arrogant, full of myself, argumentative, and just in general a really bad poster.

I only read this far. They don't like you, get over it.

**Bobo Fett** · 01-25-2012, 01:11 AM

I just want to go and fix the title of the thread and insert "Series" where it belongs.

**kerowo** · 01-25-2012, 03:22 AM

Only retarts care about the Yankees, you seem like you would fit right in.

SimonStylesTheActo · 01-25-2012, 07:28 AM

Quite a well written post sir, I hope your troubles are resolved to the satisfaction of all parties involved.

dkgojackets · 01-25-2012, 08:05 AM

just make another account and start posting, that seems to be the thing to do for permad users

AGame18 · 01-25-2012, 08:19 AM

I was told I can't do that, if they figure out it's me (and they will) I would be banned again. Besides, I like my account. I post in other forums where people know who I am. I'm not banned anywhere else. Changing to a new name and/or switching just to post in one thread is too problematic.

ractar · 01-25-2012, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AGame18

I was told I can't do that, if they figure out it's me (and they will) I would be banned again.

They won't figure out it's you. Hell, I'm Chris Ferguson and stole all of your money from Full Tilt and they still let my sorry ass post.

BASaint · 01-25-2012, 08:53 AM

Getting banned from your own homer thread requires a large amount of WIL

HENLEYS · 01-25-2012, 08:54 AM

Just leave it alone for a month or so and then politely request to be allowed back. Threads like this add fuel to the fire in the vast majority of cases.

**SGT RJ** · 01-25-2012, 09:56 AM

Unless SE rules differ wildly from the rest of 2p2, telling anyone they should kill themselves is most certainly worthy of an infraction/temp-ban.

As for a permanent ban from the thread, I'd like to hear the other side of the story, but I would tend to agree that if your primary flaw is being disliked, that's not a reason to exclude you from the thread. If, however, you have a tendency to escalate the insults being flung (you told someone to kill themselves because they called you a retard? JFC.) then it's probably well deserved. The "he started it so I'm justified in saying anything I want in return" defense is pretty weak.

jmill · 01-25-2012, 11:37 AM

AGame, while some of the criticism you get may be unfair and due to a hivemind like mentality among certain posters, do you ever stop and think that maybe you're partly to blame for so many people disliking you on here?

You say you can't control what people think of you, but you can simply by maturing as a poster, and that doesn't mean you have to give up all sense of individuality to do this, but just growing up a bit and not being so abrasive towards people.

Triumph36 · 01-25-2012, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmill

AGame, while some of the criticism you get may be unfair and due to a hivemind like mentality among certain posters, do you ever stop and think that maybe you're partly to blame for so many people disliking you on here?

You say you can't control what people think of you, but you can simply by maturing as a poster, and that doesn't mean you have to give up all sense of individuality to do this, but just growing up a bit and not being so abrasive towards people.

This. Yeah, I'm not gonna claim that the regular posters in the Yankees thread are saints and AGame is ruining our beatific party, but we all generally get along.

The post that started the discussion was precisely the sort of post that is completely unnecessary on any forum ever, namely, the 'Why are we having this discussion' post. If people are having a discussion that's on topic, there is no need for a poster to barge in to ask why the discussion is being had.

AGame's had plenty of chances, but the fact is that his posting won't be missed at all - he's willfully argumentative and confrontational. I almost felt bad when I heard that he was banned from the Yankees thread, especially since I had just put him on ignore, but I'm pretty sure he's earned it.

**Karak** · 01-25-2012, 12:03 PM

Anyone familiar with SE will tell you the NYY homers typically are a very welcoming and forgiving bunch. Many of us have differing opinions, but we are some of the more tactful and friendly fans on the forum, especially when it comes to "our own." I'm generally the one who gets picked on the most, but it's all in good fun and we enjoy it.

We've had a group of regs posting in the NYY thread for what... 6-7 years now? People come and go... some are liked better than others, but never before has anyone been so inflammatory as Agame.

There is no one who benefits from those posts. He takes contrary positions on seemingly every topic and flames further conflict.

Even if we assume he genuinely believes his opinions (which is certainly possible), he isn't able to present them in a tactful, helpful way. It isn't long before he degrades into insults and trolling, such as whath e said to Triumph.

While this is not unique to the NYY thread, he presents an ability to be non-contentious in other threads, such as the Big East thread.

All that said, no one who regularly posts in the thread gets any enjoyment or benefit from those posts. Not one person stepped up to defend him. In fact, we have been forced to discuss multiple times in the thread a general "agreement" to not respond to him. Every once in a while, someone breaks it and the thread inevitably degenerates into a derail.

I do not understand why he wants to keep posting in it. I wouldn't. I've faced similar situations on forums here before. Forums I clearly don't belong in and am unable to participate in without creating contention. I don't post in those threads/forums anymore. Why would I want to? If everyone there doesn't like my contributions, I may as well go elsewhere.

I think Agame is probably a good guy, but he can't help himself but attack people in the thread. I don't know why. I typically don't mind his posts in the Big East thread, although I do tease him about rooting for 2 rival schools. In the NYY thread we've had a friendly, enjoyable environment for 5+ years. I think tuq would be remiss if he allowed 1 poster to ruin such a great thread, especially when it serves to benefit no one but that poster.

**tuq** · 01-25-2012, 12:33 PM

Yeah AGame seems like a nice enough guy and our exchanges have been pretty pleasant (I did forget to respond to his most recent PM though which was not intentional).

Anyway, the only people whose opinions matter are the Yankees regs including AGame. Everyone else might as well post pictures, it doesn't matter. This has been going on for probably a year and has involved an asston of PMs, several pleads both publicly and privately with Yankees regs to try to incorporate AGame into the discussion, and it always ends poorly.

Finally, where one could suspect this is another case of someone being excluded from the cool kids club, that isn't really the case here or at least not to any degree of relevance. The Yankees homers are probably the best in the forum and what's more is they are very clearly welcoming to outsiders.

Too many requests to play nice have gone unheeded. AGame is not to post in the Yankees thread anymore unless and until there is a consensus among Yankees regs to let him have another chance. That's it.