Should I be banned from the forums?

[AtomSmasher5]

Hey everyone.

 

I signed up for these forums about a month ago. I'm a Canadian medical student who has signed up just for fun - this is an interesting board to read with lots of intelligent people, unlike 99% of forums on the internet. Since then, a certain forum moderator has banned my account 4 times, giving me zero explanation for doing so.

 

Have I been trolling? No. Have I been offensive? No. I was banned for speaking my opinion. Although my beliefs are far from mainstream, they are far from deliberate trolling. Many people do not agree with me, and unfortunately one of those people is a certain forum moderator who keeps banning my account. Do people deserve to be banned for speaking their mind? Does censorship really allow for the most engaging, interesting online discussion community? I don't know about you, but I don't browse the internet in my spare time to read a rehash of the same old dominant train of thought that has been pounded into our brains since we were in diapers, by our teachers, parents, and the mainstream media. I read the internet to be exposed to a diversity of divergent points of view. Surely you can appreciate the merit to keeping an open mind and exposing yourself to a variety of points of view.

 

There is only one rule that I live my life by. This is not a rule that I was told by other people that I should live my life by. Rather, it is a rule that I have come up with myself to rebel against the mindless submission to the predominant view that most people engage in. Here's my #1 rule: always say what I mean. That is, I always say what I actually believe. I will never lie to you to give you the answer you want to hear.

 

In today's society, we are taught to never say what we mean. We are taught "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" before we even have the capacity TO speak. As adults, this type of self-censorship manifests itself as "professionalism" and "political correctness." Self-censorship is also envoked upon others by people who believe in the mainstream ideologies to silence dissenting points of view. This is why nobody ever questions, for example, if it is REALLY a good idea to be occupying Afghanistan, killing innocents, and attempting to impose our world view (European origin Democracy) on them "for their own good." Imagine if China invaded us to impose their worldview (communism) on us. That's what it feels like to them.

 

But I digress. You've heard my case, but let's let the community decide whether I should stay banned on these forums. The poll in this topic will be open for 3 days. If the number of No's exceed the number of Yes's at the end of it, I'll leave forever. Otherwise, the community has spoken: I'll stay, and the forum moderators will have to respect the will of the community.

 

P.S., I'm not voting in this poll.

[aaronjw]

You most certainly have been offensive but if you're being banned for being offensive than I and more than a few others would be too

 

Political correctness is a crock of ****, though maybe lay off points of discussions and/or commentary that you KNOW is meant to provoke a negative response - and trust me, we both know you're doing it to stir the pot and poke the bears a little.

[aaronjw]

lol oops. I voted incorrectly haha

 

maybe I should lay off the internet while cranked on T 4's lmao

[futurepediatric]

I definitely don't think you should be banned lol. Why did you make this poll though? Did someone say you should?

[aaronjw]

I definitely don't think you should be banned lol. Why did you make this poll though? Did someone say you should?

 

the fact he's been banned 4 times suggests that someone does lol

[futurepediatric]

the fact he's been banned 4 times suggests that someone does lol

 

Oh my, I didn't even realize, that's harsh. Anyways I think you should stay besides, I think there's so many other members who make posts people really dislike and their not banned

[Mithril]

Who are you?

[charmer08]

lol oops. I voted incorrectly haha

 

maybe I should lay off the internet while cranked on T 4's lmao

 

Yeah that was his trick... his poll question is "Should I be allowed to stay on this forums" which would be the opposite answer for the title question "should i be banned from the forums"

[futurepediatric]

Oops I did that too

[tooty]

it wasn't just me who banned you, atom

[PhoenixFlare500]

Forums have designated mods and admins so that decisions like this aren't made by the general users. Usually they're more responsible/active people who have very good reasons for banning someone or moderating a thread or whatever else they do. One ban by an overzealous mod is sometimes done for the wrong reasons. Several bans by more than one shows that the person shouldn't generally be on the forum anymore.

 

But I digress. You've heard my case, but let's let the community decide whether I should stay banned on these forums. The poll in this topic will be open for 3 days. If the number of No's exceed the number of Yes's at the end of it, I'll leave forever. Otherwise, the community has spoken: I'll stay, and the forum moderators will have to respect the will of the community.

This is not how the world works at all...

 

As for my personal opinion if it really matters, I haven't seen a single post from you that I can take seriously. If what you post really is your true personal opinion, then in my true personal opinion you got some thinking to do about life in general, maybe some growing up to do.

[Wayward son]

I am not voting in this poll. As I don't see any reason why this should be the up to the community to decide. It is not a free speech issue. This is a forum that is both very helpful to me and of which I get to use for free. There are forum rules. I don't know if you broke them, but that is also not up to me to decide. That is up to the mods. I would hope that they consult with each other before banning people, but it is their responsibility to try to ensure that this is a place where people can get helpful information, is not over-run by nonsense, and is a place that is welcoming for diverse groups of people.

 

So, as a hypothetical, lets say that a poster was making posts that were insulting to a large percentage of women or minorities. Would it make any sense for me, as a white male, to judge whether such a poster should be banned? I say no.

[PhoenixFlare500]

So, as a hypothetical, lets say that a poster was making posts that were insulting to a large percentage of women or minorities. Would it make any sense for me, as a white male, to judge whether such a poster should be banned? I say no.

As for that hypothetical situation, I still think white males can come to the defense of minority females, and probably should. Otherwise you could be very, very specific and say nobody should come to the defense of any other one person, leaving them to defend themselves. It's always nice to know someone else is on your side. Sure the decision about banning is left to the mods but don't feel like you can't give your input for the actual issue.

[Wayward son]

As for that hypothetical situation, I still think white males can come to the defense of minority females, and probably should. Otherwise you could be very, very specific and say nobody should come to the defense of any other one person, leaving them to defend themselves. It's always nice to know someone else is on your side.

 

That is very true. It is exam time, and I am busy, so I didn't express what I actually meant. What I meant was that if a board is dominated by white people, a poll about whether or not a poster, who made comments that a decent percentage of minorities found racist or insensitive, should be banned is kind of useless. I have spent most of my life hanging out with First Nations friends. I have seen a lot of racism directed against them. It pains me and it infuriates me. But, that doesn't mean that I can speak about what experiencing racism is like.

[future_doc]

The mods work well as a cohesive group and take their responsibilities seriously. This applies to banning any member. They will usually err on the side of caution. I do not have a clue of what is involved but do believe that the moderators act in a fair and reasonable manner and are deserving of our support.

[apache]

mmm, i searched some of your posts, your ideas aren't really that offensive. i've posted way more "offensive" stuff, and never had a problem, but that's usually because i explain my reasoning and don't call women sperm buckets or tell people their girlfriends are cheating on them. i don't think the message is the problem, it's sort of the medium in which it's conferred, personally i don't care, i don't get offended very easily, if ever... but you live in a world where people get offended when u make broad generalizations in 2 sentences and happen to call the person you're responding to a retard or something. if you're selling an idea to an investor and he has a bad suggestion you can just talk about its' strengths and weaknesses instead of calling him an idiot and losing the money, i tell randoms to **** off when they say stupid **** in rl all the time, but you have to gauge who your talking to and speak tactfully if you want to get people to listen to you, telling them they're a retard works too, if you don't care, but if you want to be convincing and have a financial, personal, or whatever interest in maintaining a cordial relationship with the person and don't want come off as a douche i wouldn't recommend it.

[thebouque]

Well you managed to create a thread and a poll (something I was never able to do even though I've never been banned) so you don't have an IP ban obviously. Therefore why wouldn't you just stick around with this new username and be a bit more careful?

[AtomSmasher5]

Yeah that was his trick... his poll question is "Should I be allowed to stay on this forums" which would be the opposite answer for the title question "should i be banned from the forums"

 

OK this was not intentional. Since I screwed up the poll, there's no way of knowing for sure who meant to vote for what. All those "No's" could have been from people who actually meant to vote yes. Since it would be awkward to make another poll, let's use a bit of reasoning.

 

2 of the 5 people who voted "Yes" stated in this topic that they chose the wrong choice, and there's nothing that would suggest that the same wouldn't be for all the "No" votes. So if you move 40% of the existing "No" votes to "Yes" and 40% of the existing "Yes" votes to "No," that makes it 8.6 to 10.4 against me - 45% in favour, 55% against.

 

For this reason it wouldn't be far fetched to infer that it's roughly split, meaning I should not be banned at this point.

[AtomSmasher5]

The mods work well as a cohesive group and take their responsibilities seriously. This applies to banning any member. They will usually err on the side of caution. I do not have a clue of what is involved but do believe that the moderators act in a fair and reasonable manner and are deserving of our support.

 

That's not true at all

 

The point is that moderators are human, which are a product of their individual subjective experiences, political beliefs, and values. The forum rules are nothing but a conflicting variety of stylized rationalizations that from which moderators pick and choose what to enforce, thus falsely legitamizing justification for a decision that is ultimately social, political, and more often than not emotional. The process of salvaging a neutral, mechanical method for determining the objectively "correct" attribution of rights in accordance to the forum rules is nothing more than illusion to shroud the administration of bannings on emotional whims of authority and other tomfoolery in a black garb. The forum rules are all but ignored by virtue of the forum moderators superior "artificial reason," thus they have evolved to the point where they have become hermetically self-justifying, without needing reference to external authority or divine right. In fact, they consider themselves the divine right enabling them to enact their destiny. The perceived neutrality of the moderation committee for the purposes of this discussion, in this regard is but a politically correct falsehood. How distressing, especially for innocents such as ourselves, the forum members, who are the guardians of a classic heritage embodying time-honored techniques and standards whos perfection in justice had been the labor of genius hundreds of years ago. Suddenly we find justifce as we once understood it being rejected by upstarts of the technocratic establishment that is the forum moderation.

 

Long story short, the mods are only human - they aren't always right... especially when it came to their decision to ban me.

[future_doc]

OK this was not intentional. Since I screwed up the poll, there's no way of knowing for sure who meant to vote for what. All those "No's" could have been from people who actually meant to vote yes. Since it would be awkward to make another poll, let's use a bit of reasoning.

 

2 of the 5 people who voted "Yes" stated in this topic that they chose the wrong choice, and there's nothing that would suggest that the same wouldn't be for all the "No" votes. So if you move 40% of the existing "No" votes to "Yes" and 40% of the existing "Yes" votes to "No," that makes it 8.6 to 10.4 against me - 45% in favour, 55% against.

 

For this reason it wouldn't be far fetched to infer that it's roughly split, meaning I should not be banned at this point.

 

You created your own rules whether you s/b banned or not and agreed to live by the results of the poll - which you now choose to dismiss as invalid. You have destroyed any credibility you might have otherwise had.

[aaronjw]

That's not true at all

 

The point is that moderators are human, which are a product of their individual subjective experiences, political beliefs, and values. The forum rules are nothing but a conflicting variety of stylized rationalizations that from which moderators pick and choose what to enforce, thus falsely legitamizing justification for a decision that is ultimately social, political, and more often than not emotional. The process of salvaging a neutral, mechanical method for determining the objectively "correct" attribution of rights in accordance to the forum rules is nothing more than illusion to shroud the administration of bannings on emotional whims of authority and other tomfoolery in a black garb. The forum rules are all but ignored by virtue of the forum moderators superior "artificial reason," thus they have evolved to the point where they have become hermetically self-justifying, without needing reference to external authority or divine right. In fact, they consider themselves the divine right enabling them to enact their destiny. The perceived neutrality of the moderation committee for the purposes of this discussion, in this regard is but a politically correct falsehood. How distressing, especially for innocents such as myself, who are the guardians of a classic heritage embodying time-honored techniques and standards whos perfection in justice had been the labor of genius hundreds of years ago. Suddenly we find justifce as we once understood it being rejected by upstarts of the technocratic establishment that is the forum moderation.

 

Long story short, the mods are only human - they aren't always right... especially when it came to their decision to ban me.

 

Maybe if you stopped being a troll and creating threads/posts just to be inflammatory then maybe, just maybe, you wouldn't get banned?

 

A lot of your views/posts are very derogatory and I'm quite certain you make them in the fashion that you do just to provoke a response.

[TheBoss]

I'm not actually gonna go through you post histories, but if i recall correctly you've frequently used derogatory labels and seemed to be intentionally provoking reactions/"trolling", as well making personal insults on occasion. I'd say that's the more likely reason for your being banned than merely expressing controversial opinions.

[future_doc]

The point is that moderators are human, which are a product of their individual subjective experiences, political beliefs, and values.

 

This is true of us all, however, this does not in any way suggest for a moment that they do not do their job well.

 

The forum rules are nothing but a conflicting variety of stylized rationalizations that from which moderators pick and choose what to enforce, thus falsely legitamizing justification for a decision that is ultimately social, political, and more often than not emotional. The process of salvaging a neutral, mechanical method for determining the objectively "correct" attribution of rights in accordance to the forum rules is nothing more than illusion to shroud the administration of bannings on emotional whims of authority and other tomfoolery in a black garb. The forum rules are all but ignored by virtue of the forum moderators superior "artificial reason," thus they have evolved to the point where they have become hermetically self-justifying, without needing reference to external authority or divine right. In fact, they consider themselves the divine right enabling them to enact their destiny. The perceived neutrality of the moderation committee for the purposes of this discussion, in this regard is but a politically correct falsehood.

 

This is absurd falsehood and with your obvious conflict of interest, you are the last person in the world to make anb objective comment. Of course, nobody is perfect and we all learn over time from our experiences - however, the mods have consistently done an excellent job since their appointment on mass more than a year ago. Prior to the mass appointments, the forum was in a bad way and they borught it back from the brink. Indeed, it is a no brainer that they are aware of this thread and have made the decision collectively to let this thread remain. Bottom line, they are doing an excellent job and indeed, they are very cautious when it comes to banning any member. Things being equal, I rely upon their collective wisdom and judgment.

 

How distressing, especially for innocents such as ourselves, the forum members, who are the guardians of a classic heritage embodying time-honored techniques and standards whos perfection in justice had been the labor of genius hundreds of years ago. Suddenly we find justifce as we once understood it being rejected by upstarts of the technocratic establishment that is the forum moderation.

 

Long story short, the mods are only human - they aren't always right... especially when it came to their decision to ban me.

 

The mods are in control, as they should be, and are doing an excellent job and are to be congratulated. Your banning has a detailed history of which we are not aware, but the mods are. Consider yourself lucky that you are still here, be observant of the rules of respect and decorum and perhaps they will let you remain for the remaining two days according to your Rules established in this thread. Go after them and your banning is assured.

 

PEACE.

[future_doc]

There you go:

 

I'm not actually gonna go through you post histories, but if i recall correctly you've frequently used derogatory labels and seemed to be intentionally provoking reactions/"trolling", as well making personal insults on occasion. I'd say that's the more likely reason for your being banned than merely expressing controversial opinions.

[Cerena]

I still don't see why you should be here. You're just trying to debate the justification of moderation. It is ironic that you bash the mods for relying upon their biases to judge whether or not you should be here after posing a public opinion poll.

 

Also, any informed decision should be made after seeing both sides of an argument. You haven't posted your previous user names clearly so others can see what you have written in the past. Just because your atomsmasher5 does not mean that others know your previous accounts were atomsmasher4, ...3, ...2, ...

 

The poll was created oddly. The subject title is different from the poll title making this a failed thread. I did not vote on the poll because of this.

 

From what I remember in your past postings is the level of rudeness that was present. And, as TheBoss noted, you insulted others and were derogatory.

 

I actually think the mods have been very lenient with you after giving you so many chances. The fact that you bash them afterwards is a poor reaction. The usage of the term self-justifying in your post against the mods is laughable as this entire thread is self-justifying. For yourself.