BigBallinStalin wrote:thegreekdog wrote:BigBallinStalin wrote:notyou2 wrote:You're recent ban BBS, in my opinion, was justified. However, I believe there have been many warnings and bans that weren't justified. I agree the rules and interpretation of them could certainly be clarified and have not been imposed equally in the past.
I guess. I can't see how people perceive the line between acceptable and unacceptable, and that ban still doesn't make that clear. Furthermore, MeDeFe can't even explain that fine line and its ever-changing circumstances. And, those perceptions are subject to change on even the most minute circumstances (e.g. Rds is more sensitive to the use of words like "faggot" and "muslims = X").
Another problem is that I'm a reactive kind of guy. If I see someone causing a bunch of shit, then I'll dash it back at them (e.g. Symmetry). Obviously, Symmetry didn't like that and put on some great theatrics/hysterics, so I got banned for it. So now what?
(1) Should I be an ass and report every instance of him breaking a rule? Pimpdave did that (and most of his reports may have been spurious), but either way, this annoyed the mods, thus contributing to their bias against him (mods aren't impartial).
So what do?
(2) Make a thread showing instances where particular users are baiting, flaming, trolling (the holy trinity)?
Then I may get banned for calling people out on... breaking the rules? (seems likely anyway given that some are effective at theatrics).
(3) Then there's the whole problem of formal and informal rules. Most of us in here have baited, flamed, trolled within the past 3 days, and to me that's not a problem---as long as the frequency is minimal and intentions are good (i.e. the accusations are baseless).
Etc., etc,.
What is your ultimate goal? If your goal is to have more enjoyment of the forums, I don't think I can answer that question since I don't know what you would enjoy (I suppose I could guess).
If your goal is not to get banned again, I can offer you some pretty sound advice (see below). If you had informed me, prior to doing so, that you were going to create a thread asking users to choose between saving Symmetry's life and cake, I would have told you that (1) Symmetry would have complained to any and all parties willing or unwilling to listen and (2) You would have been banned for flaming/baiting/trolling.
I'm pretty sure you're more intelligent than I am so I'm also fairly sure that you already knew what was going to happen when you posted that thread. I think it's fairly easy to stay on the right side of the rules. And I think you know how to do that. If others are looking at this thread for guidance on how to stay on the right side of the rules and not get banned, the best advice I can give is to think about what you've typed before you hit submit and determine whether what you're about to post can be a bannable offense. I've been around since 2008 and I've never received so much as a warning, even though I post multiple times a day nearly every day. And the only reason that has happened is because when I get angry or frustrated, I don't give in to the temptation. If you want to give in to the temptation, more power to you, but you're probably going to get some sort of disciplinary action. I've had this same sort of discussion with multiple users when I was a moderator and it rarely works, so I post this with no anticipation of anyone taking it seriously who doesn't already use the same strategy with respect to their posts.
My main goal is to have a community which isn't too stupid or too intentionally belligerent with too few lulz.
Yours is excellent advice, but as I've said, I'm that reactive kind of guy. I've stayed away from the Report button for a very long time because for years my way of dealing with people's aggressive stupidity was by simply reflecting their own behavior. Apparently, I've hit a dead end (got B&!), so it's time to rethink my strategy. Hence the 3 questions (#1-#3).
Unfortunately, your response isn't proactive enough to answer those three questions. Your approach is great if one does not mind sitting back and doing nothing while user X consistency acts like an asshole to others. (of course, you could Report, but that has problems).
Please, help yourself:

Questions (1) through (3) are good questions and I did not mean to denigrate them. They are just not good practical questions (as Woodruff has essentially indicated). Practically, it does not appear that things will change. I don't think things will change because, in my opinion, there aren't enough people leaving the forums because of poor or inconsistent or aggressive or hypocritical moderation. There are occasional perceived unfairnesses (patent pending), such as you and Symmetry here, but it's not enough to warrant that things change. That's the practical side of things I suppose.
My approach above is indicative of a non-reactive person. As you may know (or perhaps not), I also react to people (other than ignoring, which is also a reaction I suppose). I've been in plenty of "fights" with people on this forum. I think the key is to maintain a level of decorum while lambasting the opponent at the same time. Quite honestly, up until last week, you did this extremely well. I think better than anyone except Saxitoxin.
In sum (ha ha ha), your questions and views are valid, but not practical. And the questions and views are colored by your slip up from a week ago, where many people who support you in other ways found the thread to be in bad taste.
And thanks for the Taj Mahal cake.