Why Was VinylBoy Banned?

D_Chocho_Lippz

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Let's face it, this site leans Left. VB was pretty squarely camped on that side of the river. I hear many people on here complaining that there is a "blanding down" of the site, specifically the political forum. However, I think you are all forgetting the slew of people who have debated from the other side of the river and been banned. Yes, some of them were banned properly, others completely out of line. This is not to even include the many people on the Right who simply left the pol-forum (myself included) because it did feel like a bash fest for the simple fact of the nature of the forum.

Being very Right of center, I clashed with VB many times. And I cannot help but think that many of you viewed his posts as A-OK simply because you ideologically agreed with his posts and let the banter behind it slide. Regardless of whether this ban was instigated by the moderators watching or a member who felt flamed, it was the moderator in the end who confirmed that VB had indeed broken the rules. Furthermore, as it sounds, he is a repeat offender.

As Bush W. said, "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — [pauses] — shame on you. Fool me — [pauses] — You can't get fooled again."

With that said, I think there are people who I probably think are more worthy of the ban; however, I haven't been to the pol-forum for a long time for the aforementioned reasons.
 

AlphaMale

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VinylBoy was the biggest troublemaker, instigator, drama queen and troll that this board has ever seen. Hands down.

Nearly every single post he made was inflammatory. It didn't matter who it was or what the topic was. He was the king of taking someone else's post and multi-quoting it sentence by sentence (the length of some of his responses were just downright absurd) to try and make them look bad, stupid, etc. Not to mention that he would always end with a condescending, "Understand...?" to seemingly express his authority over the poster.

I realize that the majority of people who have already responded to this thread will not agree with me. Maybe he treated you all differently when dealing with you privately. Publicly, however, he was definitely not a kind person and he constantly exhibited traits of someone with very low character.

That being said, VB being perma-banned is definitely a good thing. Our opinions are now free from the scrutiny of someone who will relentlessly reply with page after page of dissenting opinion to no end/avail.
 
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Endued

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The fact remains that this is a privately owned site, and the owner has the right to determine the terms of us, and code of conduct. If don't like it, we can leave.

I don't think this is the right way about things. There's a third option, that being petition those in charge to make changes. You don't have to just like it or lump it.
 

D_Bob_Crotchitch

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I don't think this is the right way about things. There's a third option, that being petition those in charge to make changes. You don't have to just like it or lump it.

They still have the final say, and that was my point. Every time a person gets banned, it goes into an immediate attack on moderators. Some of these threads will reach dozens of pages until it is finally locked. In the past, it went so far as for people to start another site just because a person was banned. This is neither a Democratic Republic like the USA nor a democracy.
 

D_Chocho_Lippz

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I don't think this is the right way about things. There's a third option, that being petition those in charge to make changes. You don't have to just like it or lump it.
Petition who on what? The moderators on the privately owned board made a decision. As I said above, he was given multiple chances, and he didn't abide. If anything, VB already petitioned himself off!

As hootie said, this is a privately owned board and not subject to the whims of members.

???
 

Drifterwood

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Our opinions are now free from the scrutiny of someone who will relentlessly reply with page after page of dissenting opinion to no end/avail.

So, fuck the 1st Amendment then?

My attitude to the Politics Forum is, if you can't stand the heat, then get the hell out of the kitchen. People have different ideas as to what is fair in love and war, and evidently politics. I don't mind mavericks and if one gets in your face, it's worth learning how to deal with it. That rarely includes blubbing off to a Mod IMO.
 

AlphaMale

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So, fuck the 1st Amendment then?

My attitude to the Politics Forum is, if you can't stand the heat, then get the hell out of the kitchen. People have different ideas as to what is fair in love and war, and evidently politics. I don't mind mavericks and if one gets in your face, it's worth learning how to deal with it. That rarely includes blubbing off to a Mod IMO.

There's a difference between disagreeing with what someone has to say and forming a constructive dissenting opinion and disagreeing with what someone has to say simply for the sake of disagreeing and wanting to start an argument.

VB was always the latter.

Not to mention he would start the arguments with people and then try and report them to mods over and over again. :rolleyes:

EDIT:

I'm laughing at the amount of people saying that his posts were "well thought out", "constructive", and "high quality" - wow, just wow! He trolled you guys so hardcore, lol
 
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SilverTrain

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I'm looking forward to bannings in the future:

AverageLPSG'er: [Permanent Ban] Repeatedly being an annoying tool

That will really thin the field.
 

monel

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So, fuck the 1st Amendment then?

My attitude to the Politics Forum is, if you can't stand the heat, then get the hell out of the kitchen. People have different ideas as to what is fair in love and war, and evidently politics. I don't mind mavericks and if one gets in your face, it's worth learning how to deal with it. That rarely includes blubbing off to a Mod IMO.

I think that my politics tend to run concurrent with yours but in this we part ways. The 1st Amendment applies to government restrictions on free speech not private. Not to mention this is, for all practical purposes an international forum. As such the 1st Amendment is not implicated in this discussion and, like it or not, the Mods were within their right to act as they did.
 

SilverTrain

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I think that my politics tend to run concurrent with yours but in this we part ways. The 1st Amendment applies to government restrictions on free speech not private. Not to mention this is, for all practical purposes an international forum. As such the 1st Amendment is not implicated in this discussion and, like it or not, the Mods were within their right to act as they did.

Indeed. I've consistently maintained the stance that this is a private site and the "powers that be" can ban whomever they want. They are most certainly NOT subject to any free-speech provisions.

That being said, I've consistently had to pick my jaw up off the floor with regards to the banning of members, and the various instances of the "stated rationale" (or lack of same, as it were) therefor. There seems to be no consistent standard or approach. It's truly haphazard [Which The Powers have no obligation to be anything but...] Yet.....Yet, there has been a longstanding visible effort to characterize the bannings as being strictly based on violations of the TOS. Problem: the TOS are violated ALL THE TIME, and mostly no bannings ever ensue. So when one does occur: outcry, etc.. rinse...repeat.

I stand by the "bland-ing down" comment. It's obvious to anyone.
 

monel

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Indeed. I've consistently maintained the stance that this is a private site and the "powers that be" can ban whomever they want. They are most certainly NOT subject to any free-speech provisions.

That being said, I've consistently had to pick my jaw up off the floor with regards to the banning of members, and the various instances of the "stated rationale" (or lack of same, as it were) therefor. There seems to be no consistent standard or approach. It's truly haphazard [Which The Powers have no obligation to be anything but...] Yet.....Yet, there has been a longstanding visible effort to characterize the bannings as being strictly based on violations of the TOS. Problem: the TOS are violated ALL THE TIME, and mostly no bannings ever ensue. So when one does occur: outcry, etc.. rinse...repeat.

I stand by the "bland-ing down" comment. It's obvious to anyone.

I tend to agree with you on this, Silver Train. But on these types of boards where mods and administrators regularly change, the TOS are subject to differing interpretations without regard for precedent. Even when the powers that be don' t change, personal whims and biases come into effect. In the end, all the lowly member can do is accept the decision or leave.
 

D_Humper E Bogart

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That board was set up to keep the Etc board nice and clean, and there've been some major changes in how it's moderated and what's considered acceptable...

...I have written passionately in support of the Politics Forum in the past and continue to support (and contribute to it) now.
Well I prefer to mass-debate by myself if you know what I mean. I was around when the debate was brought up about the role of ETC and the politics sub forum, but ultimately it doesn't give me much interest but a huge face palm print on my face. I prefer far more important topics..like large penis support? :biggrin1:

Seems to me he was foolish to have gone back to old habbits. If in doubt, FUCK POLITICS. It's how I have such a positive disposition, even when being cynical.
 

The Dragon

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There's a difference between disagreeing with what someone has to say and forming a constructive dissenting opinion and disagreeing with what someone has to say simply for the sake of disagreeing and wanting to start an argument.

VB was always the latter.

Not to mention he would start the arguments with people and then try and report them to mods over and over again. :rolleyes:

EDIT:

I'm laughing at the amount of people saying that his posts were "well thought out", "constructive", and "high quality" - wow, just wow! He trolled you guys so hardcore, lol

^^^This.

Karma is a bitch.
 

Klingsor

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VinylBoy was the biggest troublemaker, instigator, drama queen and troll that this board has ever seen. Hands down.

I'm new to the Politics Forum, so I don't know the whole story. But I also bring a fresh perspective. I have to say, VinylBoy did not strike me as you describe.

Nearly every single post he made was inflammatory. It didn't matter who it was or what the topic was. He was the king of taking someone else's post and multi-quoting it sentence by sentence (the length of some of his responses were just downright absurd) to try and make them look bad, stupid, etc.

So he regularly gave a close, careful reading of the other person's argument in order to point out its flaws? Isn't that what a good debater *should* do?

Not to mention that he would always end with a condescending, "Understand...?" to seemingly express his authority over the poster.

Probably just as well not to mention it, since I don't see anything remotely worthy of a ban there.

I realize that the majority of people who have already responded to this thread will not agree with me. Maybe he treated you all differently when dealing with you privately. Publicly, however, he was definitely not a kind person and he constantly exhibited traits of someone with very low character.

Again, if first impressions count for anything, I did not see him that way at all.

That being said, VB being perma-banned is definitely a good thing. Our opinions are now free from the scrutiny of someone who will relentlessly reply with page after page of dissenting opinion to no end/avail.

Isn't a political forum *supposed* to be made up of relentlessly dissenting opinions?
 
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SilverTrain

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For what it's worth, my prior rants on the topic were not published with the intent to disparage the current mod team. It's the behind-the-scenes Draco Malfoy-esque whiners, tattletales and bald-faced liars of the world that draw the lion's share of the ire.
 

D_Percy_Prettywillie

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As Bush W. said,

I'm going to stop you right there. What a shock that the conservative element (what a contradiction- this is the internet, and not only is it the internet, it's an adult website on said internet) supports a ban of one the Political Forums most out spoken left leaning advocates. Color me perplexed with the most sarcastic crayon you can find.

Our opinions are now free from the scrutiny of someone who will relentlessly reply with page after page of dissenting opinion to no end/avail.

If you really think that I invite you to drop on by any time of the day or not... partner. Do we still give as good as we get down in the Political Forum? You betcha. ;)

This is nothing shy of outrageous. Whether you agreed with him or not, I challenge you to find a post in the last few days where he flamed someone or went beyond what someone who signs up to a pornographic website and the enters the political forum should be prepared to expect.

Congress can't be forced to behave in a civil fashion toward one another on national television. Why then is it so gut wrenching that an advocate of progress would be somewhat less than civil when engaging with people who had ideas he considered to be sheer lunacy?

He never threw the first punch but he didn't back down either. Whatever thin skinned poster was offended by his rhetoric had no business posting in that forum to begin with. They, like our conservative member up there, have the option to move on to other places to avoid the "bash fest" they can't handle.


Nothing shy of outrageous.



JSZ