Perm bans, temp bans and reinstatements

[Lex]

Oh give me a break star you are much too smart to play victim. Anyone who has ever been banned has had messages or warnings from the moderators based on your actions on the board. Anyone who has the audacity to say they don't know why they were banned is living in a fools paradise. ...

Nude-- I want to point out that, before you were a moderator, a group of us were banned without warning. There was a heated thread and I posted in it, perhaps twice, and I was caught in a "ban them all" decision. The bans were all temporary and were reversed (after traffic to the other site increased significantly), but I just want to point out that not all bans are preceded by warnings.

I understand that some bans--being underage, spamming, nude avatars, do not warrant warnings. That being said, it has happened that people have been banned without warning and for no apparent individual reason (Again, I think some of us got caught in a catch-all net of bannings).

Also-- have you all been able to confirm the the banning notification system is (finally) working? It has been broken since I was a mod and (as of some of the more recent bannings, it seems to still not be working).

Again, this is not a criticism of you. I actually support some of the more recent efforts to be more transparent and re-think former decisions (in some instances).

 

[nudeyorker]

Nude-- I want to point out that, before you were a moderator, a group of us were banned without warning. There was a heated thread and I posted in it, perhaps twice, and I was caught in a "ban them all" decision. The bans were all temporary and were reversed (after traffic to the other site increased significantly), but I just want to point out that not all bans are preceded by warnings.

I understand that some bans--being underage, spamming, nude avatars, do not warrant warnings. That being said, it has happened that people have been banned without warning and for no apparent individual reason (Again, I think some of us got caught in a catch-all net of bannings).

Also-- have you all been able to confirm the the banning notification system is (finally) working? It has been broken since I was a mod and (as of some of the more recent bannings, it seems to still not be working).

Again, this is not a criticism of you. I actually support some of the more recent efforts to be more transparent and re-think former decisions (in some instances).

I really can only speak of my actions and the actions of the other moderators since last November when I became a moderator.

During my short time here; with the exception of minors,nude avatars, spammers and previously banned members who for reasons of their own do not understand that this is not the best venue for their interests; have received warnings prior to a ban. In addition I have never used the banning notification system (I have to confess...I have never heard of it until now) I have sent e-mail notification to members on a special e-mail account that I use for LPSG.

I really consider myself very lucky because I have only had one major altercation with another member two years ago. I have the greatest respect for Rob_E and all of the moderators that I have had the pleasure to work with here. Speaking for myself and what I have learned from them, we are fair, and honest and do not play favorites. I have too much respect for the membership of LPSG to feel anything other than that my position as a moderator is a privilege and not a power trip.
But I am only human, if I make a mistake or you disagree with me, send me a PM or an e-mail to davidlpsg@gmail.com

 

[Jason]

I wonder if there is a case for providing information on this site about who has been banned and why - else we are like chicken in the coop who wake up some mornings to find one of their group has vanished. For example a prolific poster called Jason Dawg that many here will know vanished a few weeks ago. Searching off-site I can find three different reasons for him vanishing from this board, two suggesting that he was banned and one that he bowed to legal pressure and deleted his account. Two of the three reasons are contradictory and cannot both be true. A third seems trivial. I think he deleted his account (and for very good reason), and that previously he had had a temporary ban because of posts he had made on his blog. But I don't actually know what has happened, and in as much as an online forum is a community, this sort of unexplained vanishing is weird. I have wondered if he is back on lpsg using a different name and sans photos - it would be nice to know.

 

[MisterMark]

I wonder if there is a case for providing information on this site about who has been banned and why - else we are like chicken in the coop who wake up some mornings to find one of their group has vanished. For example a prolific poster called Jason Dawg that many here will know vanished a few weeks ago. Searching off-site I can find three different reasons for him vanishing from this board, two suggesting that he was banned and one that he bowed to legal pressure and deleted his account. Two of the three reasons are contradictory and cannot both be true. A third seems trivial. I think he deleted his account (and for very good reason), and that previously he had had a temporary ban because of posts he had made on his blog. But I don't actually know what has happened, and in as much as an online forum is a community, this sort of unexplained vanishing is weird. I have wondered if he is back on lpsg using a different name and sans photos - it would be nice to know.

This is a very good point. When members suddenly disappear, I'm reminded of Soviet Russia. Maybe the member who has been banned knows the reason behind it, and the moderators know, but none of the regular members know. It's like the banned member has been carted off to a prison camp by the Secret Police, and all we can do is speculate as to why the member was banned.

I think it would be very helpful to know why members are banned so that others can avoid making the same mistakes. It still strikes me as incredibly odd and unnerving to see longtime members with thousands of posts just suddenly disappear with no explanation given to the rest of us.

On other boards, I see moderators issue "infractions" to members who have broken the rules. There's usually a "three strikes and you're out" philosophy behind it. Although the moderators here claim to have given warnings to members before they're banned, I don't find that to be entirely credible; there's too many members who say they never received a warning before they were banned. Maybe the moderating team is better organized now. I hope so.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Click around guys, you might learn something.

http://www.lpsg.org/124682-moderator-actions.html :smile:

And Jason, jasondawgxxx was temp banned as you say - during the time of that temp ban it came to light that the person posting using that username was not the person pictured in all the photos, that the blogs were a fiction and that the whole jasondawg persona was fake. Last time I checked the account was still showing 'banned' - I don't know if the person who owned the account was actually permanantly banned for using images that he did not have copyright on, for something else or if he asked the mods to delete the account (accounts here are not deleted per se, but often users who have asked to be deleted show up as 'banned' in the database when the account has been closed at the user's request - see dumbcow).

 

[MisterMark]

Click around guys, you might learn something.

http://www.lpsg.org/124682-moderator-actions.html :smile:.

Thank you, MB. That definitely helps. :smile2:

 

[MisterMark]

There sure are a lot of permanent bans due to nude avatars.

If a new member signs up and posts a nude avatar, is the new member permanently banned immediately or does he receive a warning first?

 

[ManlyBanisters]

A personal warning in PM or email? Not as far as I am aware - perhaps that has changed. But when you go to upload an avatar the Warning is fairly obvious, in a bold font of a different colour - I've added a little extra highlighting in the following screenshot:

.

 

[MisterMark]

A personal warning in PM or email? Not as far as I am aware - perhaps that has changed. But when you go to upload an avatar the Warning is fairly obvious, in a bold font of a different colour

Yeah, I saw that, but I'm sure that some people sign up and are very excited to start participating. It's easy to miss that text, even though it's in red.

Obviously, I don't make the rules, but I think it's a little harsh to permanently ban someone for making one simple mistake - especially when the member has just signed up. With a name like "Large Penis Support Group", I can easily see how people would initially think that it's okay to have an avatar that contains nudity.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

I agree, MisterMark - the admins used to change the avatar to the Marty Feldman 'no nude avatars' image and only take further action for repeat offenders. The change of direction to the immediate and permanent ban is not something I would have voted in favour of were that kind of thing ever put to the members.

From what I have understood the site owner is very, very keen not to have nude avatars at all and didn't feel that the way things were going was having any effect. There being so many members it is just random luck that a moderator comes across (no pun intended) a nude avatar and not all members would report them (many would not know it is an issue or how to report it, I suppose). So there were always a good few nude avatars - the hope is, I believe, that this new policy will cut down on the number of nude avatars being posted. This information is to the best of memory and mainly based on a post of Pecker's that I read but can't find right now.

I have reservations about the nature of the punishment changing the frequency of the crime and don't believe the banning policy will make that much of a difference to the overall number of unspotted nude avatars in use on this site at any given time. But that's just me. Rob_E and the admins are doing it this way and that is their perrogative.

 

[MisterMark]

From what I have understood the site owner is very, very keen not to have nude avatars at all and didn't feel that the way things were going was having any effect. There being so many members it is just random luck that a moderator comes across (no pun intended) a nude avatar and not all members would report them

I don't know if it's an option in the software that's being used, but it would be great if the avatar system was set up so that new avatars had to be approved by a moderator. It wouldn't be a difficult job. Even I could do it. :wink:

And I agree with you that immediately banning does little or nothing to decrease the number of nude avatars. It certainly wouldn't have any effect on someone who has just signed up, and my hunch is that they're the ones who are being banned the most.