The Banhammer

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Stagg737

Stagg737

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I've noticed a ton of people have been getting banned/put on probation recently. I think I've seen more people in this situation in the past 2 weeks than in the past year and a half before that. Is SDN tightening up on their policies or have people just been acting stupid a lot more lately for some reason?
 
Stagg737 said:
I've noticed a ton of people have been getting banned/put on probation recently. I think I've seen more people in this situation in the past 2 weeks than in the past year and a half before that. Is SDN tightening up on their policies or have people just been acting stupid a lot more lately for some reason?
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Mine was solely my fault. It had nothing to do with my posting though, so it wasn't due to subjectivity
 
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Idk. Some of my favorite posters have bans or warnings or whatever at different points. I'm not saying we should be mean to each other. But the culture of being offended needs to be beaten back.

Sdn seems fair. I've been warned for swearing and ****. But I sure as **** wouldn't be the one volunteering to read a bunch of whiney complaints to figure out who the buttheads are. So...God bless'em. They can ban me or whoever they want, their prerogative. It's just a website. Who gives a ****.
 
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I'm actually curious how this works. If I act like a poophole and someone nukes me with the Report button, what happens next? I get a message in my inbox telling me to stahp and my account goes light blue? Or maybe a picture of Winged Scapula's Ban Hammer +2 over my avatar? The latter would be pretty cool...
 
Red Lobster Actual said:
I'm actually curious how this works. If I act like a poophole and someone nukes me with the Report button, what happens next? I get a message in my inbox telling me to stahp and my account goes light blue? Or maybe a picture of Winged Scapula's Ban Hammer +2 over my avatar? The latter would be pretty cool...
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Best way to learn is through experience, give it a whirl.
 
WhippleWhileWeWork said:
Best way to learn is through experience, give it a whirl.
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I accept. @WhippleWhileWeWork, What did the five metal fingers say to your face? 😉

ChallengeSmack.gif
 
Red Lobster Actual said:
I'm actually curious how this works. If I act like a poophole and someone nukes me with the Report button, what happens next? I get a message in my inbox telling me to stahp and my account goes light blue? Or maybe a picture of Winged Scapula's Ban Hammer +2 over my avatar? The latter would be pretty cool...
Click to expand...

I was a mod for a brief time couple years ago.

There is a moderator subforum. We can't see it since we dont have access.

Reported posts from the various subforums auto-create new threads in the mods forum. The mod team/admins then discuss the reported post. A decision is made whether that be a lock, probation, ban, etc.

(This was how it worked on the prior website, I can only assume it is still similar since the SDN upgrade.)

It is rarely (if ever) one person making a decision.

It is a very fair process and the mods work hard to keep the quality of this site high.
 
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Red Lobster Actual said:
I'm actually curious how this works. If I act like a poophole and someone nukes me with the Report button, what happens next? I get a message in my inbox telling me to stahp and my account goes light blue? Or maybe a picture of Winged Scapula's Ban Hammer +2 over my avatar? The latter would be pretty cool...
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You just get a warning in your inbox, blue text, and the probation tag. Screw up again on probation and it's ban city. Get too many probations in too short a period of time, and you're gone for good as well.
 
Frazier said:
I was a mod for a brief time couple years ago.

There is a moderator subforum. We can't see it since we dont have access.

Reported posts from the various subforums auto-create new threads in the mods forum. The mod team/admins then discuss the reported post. A decision is made whether that be a lock, probation, ban, etc.

It is rarely (if ever) one person making a decision.

It is a very fair process and the mods work hard to keep the quality of this site high.
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That must be the darknet :ninja:
 
SouthernSurgeon said:
Sigh that's when I wish the bar to ban was lower and not higher. The tolerance for our current troll population is irksome.
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It really bothers the hell out of me. I was a master troll before coming to SDN, and they're using the same strategies I'd use on other forums and it just makes me want to throw my laptop out of a window because it's so transparent and yet nothing is done. At the same time, a lower bar might get me banned, so maybe I'll settle for the one we have :laugh:

The Best Trolling Personas:

The Oblivious Kid
The Rich Kid
The Foreigner/Sheltered Second Gen
The Chauvinist
The Victim
I'm Too Sexy for this Forum
The Hyper Liberal/Conservative/Libertarian
The Racist

Mix and match for optimum results. When people get bored with one aspect of a persona, add in a dash of another one to keep people interested and amplify the bait. See, SDN is the perfect troll playground- it's full of neurotic people that are stressed, fragile, and often take themselves far too seriously. That's why we get so many of them. I'd couldn't troll a place like this, because I targeted people that deserved it (racists, TRP/MRM forums, etc). And I guess that's why I find it so hard not to confront people I see trolling around here, because I know what their game is and they're targeting a very fragile group of people, particularly in pre-allo, allo, and the support forums. And that makes me pretty damn angry.
 
Mad Jack said:
See, SDN is the perfect troll playground- it's full of neurotic people that are stressed, fragile, and often take themselves far too seriously. That's why we get so many of them. I'd couldn't troll a place like this, because I targeted people that deserved it (racists, TRP/MRM forums, etc). And I guess that's why I find it so hard not to confront people I see trolling around here, because I know what their game is and they're targeting a very fragile group of people, particularly in pre-allo, allo, and the support forums. And that makes me pretty damn angry.
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This is pretty well said. The difference between troll and idiotic, neurotic, legitimate poster is pretty thin on SDN. I would argue that both deserve the same type of derisive response, but I'm definitely in the minority on that point. Most people clearly prefer to respond in a legitimate manner, which explains why even the most ridiculous of threads get at least a few honest replies.
 
colbgw02 said:
This is pretty well said. The difference between troll and idiotic, neurotic, legitimate poster is pretty thin on SDN. I would argue that both deserve the same type of derisive response, but I'm definitely in the minority on that point. Most people clearly prefer to respond in a legitimate manner, which explains why even the most ridiculous of threads get at least a few honest replies.
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Those legitimate responses are boring troll-feed. Any troll is going to claim they're serious with their queries. I prefer witty sarcasm, both in posting and reading it from others. Brings the lolz.
 
cidem2065 said:
Those legitimate responses are boring troll-feed. Any troll is going to claim they're serious with their queries. I prefer witty sarcasm, both in posting and reading it from others. Brings the lolz.
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Well, then I'd say you're in the minority. My challenge to you is to fabricate a marginally ridiculous scenario, and watch the fireworks. At worst, you'd get a single earnest response that would prompt several additional responses.
 
cidem2065 said:
Those legitimate responses are boring troll-feed. Any troll is going to claim they're serious with their queries. I prefer witty sarcasm, both in posting and reading it from others. Brings the lolz.
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If there's even a chance a person is serious, I give them a serious response. If they offer up a retort that is absolutely ridiculous, then the sarcasm train begins. Everyone gets a chance on SDN. But if they're egregiously trolling, they get exactly one chance.
 
Idk, the amount of trolls doesn't seem to be that much greater than normal. I'm still not ready to rule out the possibility that an angsty pre-med that didn't get enough ii's/acceptances somehow got ahold of the banhammer. I've counted about 30 people that I've seen get banned in the past few weeks.
 
Stagg737 said:
I've noticed a ton of people have been getting banned/put on probation recently. I think I've seen more people in this situation in the past 2 weeks than in the past year and a half before that. Is SDN tightening up on their policies or have people just been acting stupid a lot more lately for some reason?
Click to expand...

Pretty much the latter. 😛 Follow the few rules there are and don't be a jerk and you have nothing to worry about. The TOS is still the same and I don't feel like things are any more strict than they have been in the ~1.5 years I've been a mod. Perhaps it seems that way as several things happened in a short time frame as you said, but it's not because we just randomly decided to crack down now.

Stagg737 said:
Idk, the amount of trolls doesn't seem to be that much greater than normal. I'm still not ready to rule out the possibility that an angsty pre-med that didn't get enough ii's/acceptances somehow got ahold of the banhammer. I've counted about 30 people that I've seen get banned in the past few weeks.
Click to expand...

Like @Frazier said, it's almost never one mod making a decision, unless it's something cut and dry like obvious spam or a cross-post. And no, no unauthorized persons have gotten ahold of banning privileges 😛. Our privacy policy does not allow us to discuss actions taken against other users, but just know that there is legitimate rationale and discussion behind the actions taken.

Mad Jack said:
We're all just a bit too mischievous for the mods' liking. Plus we're really good at spotting trolls but really bad at not taking their bait, which tends to get us in a lot of trouble.
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SouthernSurgeon said:
Sigh that's when I wish the bar to ban was lower and not higher. The tolerance for our current troll population is irksome.
Click to expand...

If you think someone is trolling, please report it and the staff will look into it. We're not constantly monitoring the forums for trouble, so unless it's brought to our attention, it can be missed. There should be no reason to "attack" anyone on SDN anyway, troll or legitimate. As was said above, it's a fine line between "troll" and an ignorant/naive/neurotic person posting from a new account. So be nice to people 🙂
 
What is probationary status? I have it. Idk what it means.
 
SouthernSurgeon said:
I've tried reporting. The last troll post I reported the poster used "******" in a horribly derogatory fashion 3 or 4 times and mixed in a few more bleeped out swear words directed at other posters as well. Nothing was done.

This same poster has derailed literally dozens of threads and turns every thread into a discussion about themself. They also have blatantly lied on multiple occasions and have a constantly shifting absurd background story.

I've put the poster on ignore and am doing my best not to fuel the fire but it's absurd that they are being allowed to continue.
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Tell us who it is!
 
Ismet said:
Pretty much the latter. 😛 Follow the few rules there are and don't be a jerk and you have nothing to worry about. The TOS is still the same and I don't feel like things are any more strict than they have been in the ~1.5 years I've been a mod. Perhaps it seems that way as several things happened in a short time frame as you said, but it's not because we just randomly decided to crack down now.

Our privacy policy does not allow us to discuss actions taken against other users, but just know that there is legitimate rationale and discussion behind the actions taken.
Click to expand...

Got ya. What have been the main things happening recently? Is it just people attacking each other in an unprofessional way more or is it something else like swearing? Not trying to get specific examples or find out about any users, just curious as to what rules have been getting violated more lately. I understand if you can't share any info, I just want to make sure I don't do anything stupid without realizing it.
 
SouthernSurgeon said:
I've tried reporting. The last troll post I reported the poster used "******" in a horribly derogatory fashion 3 or 4 times and mixed in a few more bleeped out swear words directed at other posters as well. Nothing was done.

This same poster has derailed literally dozens of threads and turns every thread into a discussion about themself. They also have blatantly lied on multiple occasions and have a constantly shifting absurd background story.

I've put the poster on ignore and am doing my best not to fuel the fire but it's absurd that they are being allowed to continue.
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Without revealing details, please note that while it may appear nothing was done, users aren't always put on probation right off the bat so there may be action taken which is not apparent to the non staff member.

I like your observation about Sunday as I do tend to read SDN in more detail then. Or maybe I'm just hung over and cranky.
 
Stagg737 said:
Got ya. What have been the main things happening recently? Is it just people attacking each other in an unprofessional way more or is it something else like swearing? Not trying to get specific examples or find out about any users, just curious as to what rules have been getting violated more lately. I understand if you can't share any info, I just want to make sure I don't do anything stupid without realizing it.
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There have been 80 bannings in the last month. The vast majority are for Spam and duplicate accounts.

You may be confusing being banned with being on Post Hold because the notation on the account reads Banned in both cases. Users are not banned for "swearing"; it actually takes work (outside if the aforementioned Spam and dupes) to get banned. It's a pattern of behavior outside of the TOS.

My sense is that most who get banned are angry, argumentative types who get reported a lot and who also fail to contribute to the community and shape up when warned about their behavior.
 
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Mad Jack said:
People keep getting their buttons pressed and lashing out instead of using their ignore buttons like they should.
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Yup. I did dat. Dis is me. I got put on probationary status for yelling at a poster who said he was never going to a URM doctor because they are all "less competent". I'd do it again too. Suck deeezzzzz.
 
Stagg737 said:
I've noticed a ton of people have been getting banned/put on probation recently. I think I've seen more people in this situation in the past 2 weeks than in the past year and a half before that. Is SDN tightening up on their policies or have people just been acting stupid a lot more lately for some reason?
Click to expand...
What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger.
 
What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger.
 
colbgw02 said:
This is pretty well said. The difference between troll and idiotic, neurotic, legitimate poster is pretty thin on SDN. I would argue that both deserve the same type of derisive response, but I'm definitely in the minority on that point. Most people clearly prefer to respond in a legitimate manner, which explains why even the most ridiculous of threads get at least a few honest replies.
Click to expand...

There in lies the issue. See yourself die calling the troll or ****** or get grated into insanity dealing with the never ending onslaught. It's basically what happened to Jon Stewart (in my opinion). You can only call Fox news on their trolling so many times before either you slip up and get canned or slowly just get worn out into the grisled shell of a once optimist. Trolling is the entropy of the internet. You can rearrange the formulas and variables but the overall amount in the system inevitably rises.
 
Am I the only one who had trouble with the concept of a left shark? I was like hmm that one is on the left side of the tv but that other guy is on katy perry's left, which one are they taking about? I also had this issue when I was manipulating the uterus in robotic surgeries
 
Psai said:
Am I the only one who had trouble with the concept of a left shark? I was like hmm that one is on the left side of the tv but that other guy is on katy perry's left, which one are they taking about? I also had this issue when I was manipulating the uterus in robotic surgeries
Click to expand...

Didn't have this happen with left/right shark, but I do this all the time. That is, I refer to something's position based not on where I am, but on its location with respect to a third thing. So, instead of saying something is to the right of the fridge, I'll say left, meaning the refrigerator's left. I usually catch myself, but it occasionally slips out. In my case, it's a learned behavior because of my job, so I think you're just weird.
 
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