Banned!
In the history of my company, we've never had to ban a user of our forums. Prior to last spring, simply reminding people that we provided forums as a courtesy and we expected people to be respectful, non-baiting, and generally on-topic was enough. Our boards were active, friendly, and self-moderating. It was a joy and a delight to participate. Our policies warned that anyone could be banned from participating at any time for virtually any reason, with or without warning. It's part of the terms of service for participating on our boards, clearly posted for everyone to see, but we've never had to resort to banning anyone. We've rarely had to even warn participants about bad behavior once, let alone repeatedly. Bannings? Never. Until recently.
Single-handedly, one user in particular caused a great deal of conflict. He backed off for a bit whenever he was warned, but much like a naughty child, he always slipped back into his inappropriate behavior when he felt the moderators' backs were turned. We had many other users of our forums say outright that they were avoiding our forums because of this user. After nearly a year trying to be reasonable and accommodating, and after he posted yet another tourette's-like outburst that disregarded every warning about conduct he'd ever been given, he was banned without further ado and good riddance.
Of course, now he's certain that it's all political. I'm a radical feminist out to stifle dissent. Because I'm not going to get into it with him by private mail, nor name the person who physically turned the banned key on him (presumably so he can go off and harass that person directly or slander their name all over the internet--in those forums from which he's not already been banned) I'm trying to hide "secret fascists" and cowardly "secret moderators" who won't reveal themselves to him. Bullshit! I owe him nothing, and nothing is what he gets.
Still, he rants on cluelessly about everything he believes to be true about me, little of which actually is. Do I care about human decency? Sure! Does this mean I blackball writers who believe in free-market economy in order to show preference to those who give the secret "I <3 the Nanny State" handshake? Absolutely not. If I need someone to write, edit, or draw something, what I care about is their work performance, not their politics. I'll work with people who can hit their deadlines and give me a clean turnover, regardless of their personal views, political or religious. I'll stop working with someone who can't come within a six month window of their deadline, whether they're bleeding hearts or neocons. Can you do the job I've hired you to do? Great. We'll get along fine. I, personally, don't care if your game includes evil armies of undead and gritty mud-covered crows, or goody-goody unicorns and pretty-pretty princesses. My company has released in the neighborhood of 100 titles that run the gamut from foul to funny, from good to evil, freeform to linear, black to white and everything in between. To think you know anything about me personally from the books my company puts out is foolishness.
I'll tell you what I don't like: I don't like liars, I don't like people who don't respect my privacy (I'm looking at you, Dancey), I don't like backstabbers, and I don't like bullies. If you decide you're going on a campaign to denigrate my customers and ruin both their fun and my business because the mere existence of the game they're enjoying drives you bananas, I'm going to come out in defense of those on the receiving end of your bullying behavior. I don't do this because I've got some deeply held political agenda, I'm not doing it because I'm trying to shove gay rights or unicorns or socialist nanny states down your throat...I'm doing it because you're an asshole and a bully, you're the kind of person who kicks sand on other people at the beach because their "hippy music" was bothering you. Standing up for them doesn't mean I like "hippy music," it means I hate bullying assholes. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Single-handedly, one user in particular caused a great deal of conflict. He backed off for a bit whenever he was warned, but much like a naughty child, he always slipped back into his inappropriate behavior when he felt the moderators' backs were turned. We had many other users of our forums say outright that they were avoiding our forums because of this user. After nearly a year trying to be reasonable and accommodating, and after he posted yet another tourette's-like outburst that disregarded every warning about conduct he'd ever been given, he was banned without further ado and good riddance.
Of course, now he's certain that it's all political. I'm a radical feminist out to stifle dissent. Because I'm not going to get into it with him by private mail, nor name the person who physically turned the banned key on him (presumably so he can go off and harass that person directly or slander their name all over the internet--in those forums from which he's not already been banned) I'm trying to hide "secret fascists" and cowardly "secret moderators" who won't reveal themselves to him. Bullshit! I owe him nothing, and nothing is what he gets.
Still, he rants on cluelessly about everything he believes to be true about me, little of which actually is. Do I care about human decency? Sure! Does this mean I blackball writers who believe in free-market economy in order to show preference to those who give the secret "I <3 the Nanny State" handshake? Absolutely not. If I need someone to write, edit, or draw something, what I care about is their work performance, not their politics. I'll work with people who can hit their deadlines and give me a clean turnover, regardless of their personal views, political or religious. I'll stop working with someone who can't come within a six month window of their deadline, whether they're bleeding hearts or neocons. Can you do the job I've hired you to do? Great. We'll get along fine. I, personally, don't care if your game includes evil armies of undead and gritty mud-covered crows, or goody-goody unicorns and pretty-pretty princesses. My company has released in the neighborhood of 100 titles that run the gamut from foul to funny, from good to evil, freeform to linear, black to white and everything in between. To think you know anything about me personally from the books my company puts out is foolishness.
I'll tell you what I don't like: I don't like liars, I don't like people who don't respect my privacy (I'm looking at you, Dancey), I don't like backstabbers, and I don't like bullies. If you decide you're going on a campaign to denigrate my customers and ruin both their fun and my business because the mere existence of the game they're enjoying drives you bananas, I'm going to come out in defense of those on the receiving end of your bullying behavior. I don't do this because I've got some deeply held political agenda, I'm not doing it because I'm trying to shove gay rights or unicorns or socialist nanny states down your throat...I'm doing it because you're an asshole and a bully, you're the kind of person who kicks sand on other people at the beach because their "hippy music" was bothering you. Standing up for them doesn't mean I like "hippy music," it means I hate bullying assholes. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
