I'm actually kind of scared to post here, on account of all the bans.

[sretsoorder]

I notice you guys are banning an awful lot of people. I've just joined, though at times I've lurked topics that catch my eye, and upon reading the User's Guide to the Forums, apparently titled very aptly from what I've seen, the mods' word is law, and they're... they're called the Red Guards? You mean like those guys who ran around China beating up intellectuals under Mao?

I had to check myself to see if I wasn't back in 2010-era 4chan. Haven't been back there since the Great Crisis of Boxxy, so my memory is a little foggy, but I see a lot of similarities, moderation-wise. I see people getting banned for completely random posts, and the classic "user was banned for this post" and accompanying gif. I saw people get banned for implying that certain kinds of music would be hard to dance to, and another banned for saying that a person prejudiced their target audience.


Well, their word is law. User will probably be banned for this post, but while we're still here, talk to me about whether or not this is actually as bad as it looks.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Er, it's not really that big of a deal.

OTOH, I could post something deliberately inflammatory, such as "people who are on unemployment benefits for more than 5 years should have their organs harvested", and the people who call me a terrible person would be the ones getting modded.

And the low content rules strikes me as foolish, as simply adding more words without more information gets around it.

 

[Caiphus]

I actually lurked on the forum for a few years before posting because I thought that people would be mean and yell at me D:. Not really because of the mods though.

It's actually not quite as bad as you make it sound. The low content rule is a bit strange, almost as if it's an arbitrary /5char check. Which means it's rather difficult to agree with someone. So most of the replies you will get are people disagreeing with you. Unless they want to expand on your post, which is rarer. Which brings you to my problem, see?

As long as you don't resort to name calling or inflammatory language, you should be fine. Which does, unfortunately, mean you should stay out of threads that could piss you off. Partially for your sanity's sake, but partially because you'll rack up infractions rather quickly if you tend to react angrily.

As for 4chan, I'm no expert. The mods won't ban you for liking Justin Bieber, or whatever you like OP, I won't judge. You generally don't get warnings for having contentious or controversial opinions, unless you're getting close to, again, inflammatory language.
Which is what thaluikhain pointed out: You can think the other guy's opinion is rude/bigoted/nuts, but if he doesn't resort to name-calling and you do, the mods will take his side. You can agree with that or not.

I'm also not a huge fan of the banned .gif, but whatever. Direct all complaints to the mods etc etc.

Edit: Other than that, it's actually a pretty cool community. I wish people would get along a bit more, but it's the Internet. What are you going to do?
It's rather tight-knit as communities go. And if you stick around, although you might have already lurked for ages, you'll begin to notice the same people popping up around the place. So yeah, welcome.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Why? If you don't post, then you're not posting. If you get banned, you're not posting. Seems pretty similar to me.

But seriously, it's not that bad, you get umm...6, or is it 8, strikes before a permaban. The only changes I'd make would be to make the cooldown time on warnings 3 instead of 6 months. A lot of longtime posters with huge post counts who otherwise contribute a lot get banned for the few occasional slips that constitute about 1/1000th of their post content.

 

[EeveeElectro]

Not really.

Have you been looking through really old threads? There's been a lot of necro threads recently. Find a thread that's a few years old (but don't post in it, they don't like necroing threads here ) and take a drink for every person you see banned, you might get alcohol poisoning though.
There hasn't been much banning/suspending recently although there's plenty of warnings being handed out.
People have been banned for reasons, they don't hand them out willy nilly. We have forum health bars and some people have made too many infractions on theirs. The users fault, not the moderators. They give them 4 chances to improve their behaviour (warnings) and if they don't listen then it's their fault when they get suspended.
Some people request a ban or in some cases they're not banned for that typical post but they make a habit of being hostile and it all just adds up.

Check out the CoC or PM a moderator if you're ever unsure about why a person was punished. Hopefully there's talks about making the CoC a bit clearer which I think is what needed for new users like yourself.

It's not too bad here, it's stricter because they want to keep this site a pleasant place to visit rather than some boards which are overrun with people calling each other cunts over conflicting opinions or stupid and pointless threads with little moderation.

Get to know the site a bit more, you don't really know much after a day of joining and one post.
Hope you enjoy your stay, if you do decide to stay!

Er, it's not really that big of a deal.

OTOH, I could post something deliberately inflammatory, such as "people who are on unemployment benefits for more than 5 years should have their organs harvested", and the people who call me a terrible person would be the ones getting modded.

And the low content rules strikes me as foolish, as simply adding more words without more information gets around it.

You would also get moderated, possibly more so than them but they might for taking the bait.

From the Coc:
Flaming
Calling people names (or groups who may visit The Escapist), this includes calling others a troll
Trolling
Posting inflammatory, extraneous or off-topic messages with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion
Offensive Posts
Please read what you wrote before you post it and think if anyone else could find it offensive

I think saying that would more or less cover all three. Saying "Well it's just my opinion, man" typically doesn't cover you when your opinion is "I want a large group of people to die because I said so."

EDIT: I'm certain the "low content" rule is just an automatic thing. If you just post a few words, you get an automatic warning, it has nothing to do with the mods because they deal with reports.

 

[Thaluikhain]

You would also get moderated, possibly more so than them but they might for taking the bait.

From the Coc:
Flaming
Calling people names (or groups who may visit The Escapist), this includes calling others a troll
Trolling
Posting inflammatory, extraneous or off-topic messages with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion
Offensive Posts
Please read what you wrote before you post it and think if anyone else could find it offensive

I think saying that would more or less cover all three. Saying "Well it's just my opinion, man" typically doesn't cover you when your opinion is "I want a large group of people to die because I said so."

In theory, sure. In practice there seems to be a few problems with this.

 

[Quaxar]

I notice you guys are banning an awful lot of people. I've just joined, though at times I've lurked topics that catch my eye, and upon reading the User's Guide to the Forums, apparently titled very aptly from what I've seen, the mods' word is law, and they're... they're called the Red Guards? You mean like those guys who ran around China beating up intellectuals under Mao?

Um, no. Red guards like those guarding the Emperor in Return of the Jedi.

Also, the mods are primarily an executive power, not a legislative one. And they are a voluntary group supervised by actual Escapist staff that you can complain to, like a Supreme Court.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

What bans?

There's a lot of people getting suspended, but I've hardly seen any bans.

They don't just come out of nowhere you know, you have to build up to them, which means those people have broken the rules several times in the past.

 

[Tiger King]

I think one of the reasons that people are getting into trouble is the topics that descend into shouting matches.
There was a lot of transexual posts recently where a few users just had to go the distance instead of agreeing to disagree.
Rape and feminism ones all tend to go the same way and oh god the gun threads, they always get messy.

I think it a shame because I don't know about anyone else here, but you can sometimes feel intimidated to post an opinion or point for fear of getting your head bitten off.

 

[Legion]

One thing to bear in mind is how the moderating system works. People get a certain amount of infractions and as they gain them they become more "serious".

Warnings - You get four of these and they do not affect your ability to post. They are simple letting you know how you broke the rules.

Probation - If you break the rules again after your fourth warning you are put on this. Again, your posting rights are not affected but now you are on it permanently, from now on any rule breaking will have a punishment.

Suspensions - You get two of these, the first is for three days and the second is for two weeks. You cannot post during this time.

Ban - If you break the rules after having been suspended for two weeks you are banned permanently.

If you do not break the rules for six months you go down a notch on the list. So if you were on the last chance you'd be back to the level had you only been suspended once.

The reason for why some people are banned for posts that "Don't seem that bad" is because they have already racked up four warnings, a probation as well as two suspensions. It's not like it's the first time they did something bad.

If a person cannot post without breaking the rules after 7 notifications then that's really their problem, seeing as it's not that difficult to stick to them. More often than not even if the post they got banned for isn't that bad, it's the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak.

After all, if they didn't get banned after that many chances, just because the rule breaking wasn't extreme, then the system would be pointless. It'd just give people a free pass to keep breaking the rules as long as they kept it minor.

I think it a shame because I don't know about anyone else here, but you can sometimes feel intimidated to post an opinion or point for fear of getting your head bitten off.

Funnily enough that bothers me more than any fear of punishment. I write out posts and then delete them before posting almost every time I visit here because the hassle I will get for giving my opinion just isn't worth the stress. Especially considering I always try and remain civil when I post anyway.

 

[Caiphus]

Funnily enough that bothers me more than any fear of punishment. I write out posts and then delete them before posting almost every time I visit here because the hassle I will get for giving my opinion just isn't worth the stress. Especially considering I always try and remain civil when I post anyway.

I get that a lot too. And I'm sure we aren't the only ones.

When I first started posting, I thought it'd be all "Look, he has a low post count! Jump on him!". Now it's more "I don't know if I can be bothered defending/clarifying this post if the little envelope goes yellow at the top of the screen."

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

As a general rule if you are not going out of your way to be a dick you should be fine avoiding the mod wrath. Always helps to just take a second to think before you post as well. Oh and it does go without saying really but it is best to avoid the hot issue threads like the plague. Sometimes you feel like contributing to those "discussions" with a well though out post but believe me it is hardly ever worth the time and energy to post in when the thread has devolved into a 7 page shouting match. That is another thing if you end up involved in a discussion that is going down the shouting match route, best just walking away before the it starts raining warnings.

 

[shrekfan246]

Funnily enough that bothers me more than any fear of punishment. I write out posts and then delete them before posting almost every time I visit here because the hassle I will get for giving my opinion just isn't worth the stress. Especially considering I always try and remain civil when I post anyway.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's just what many of us do. I'm the same way.

There's an interesting dynamic around here in that the strict rules often rout out the aggressive posts, but people start becoming more passive-aggressive to skirt around it. They still get smacked down every so often when they go too far, but it makes the moderators' jobs a lot more difficult because it's a lot more difficult to determine whether or not they're breaking Da Rulez.

But seriously, so long as you avoid getting into all of the flame wars, it's really not that bad around here. Don't post images or videos without explaining why you're posting them and what relevance they have to your post/the topic at hand, don't quote people just to say "I agree", don't bring year+ old threads back up to the front page, and don't call other people idiots (or other such derogatory terms) and you'll probably be fine.

 

[Tiger King]

Funnily enough that bothers me more than any fear of punishment. I write out posts and then delete them before posting almost every time I visit here because the hassle I will get for giving my opinion just isn't worth the stress. Especially considering I always try and remain civil when I post anyway.

i hear you on that, done it plenty of times myself. ha ha look at us, scared to post on an internet forum incase the baddies shout at us.

 

[Wraith]

I actually lurked on the forum for a few years before posting because I thought that people would be mean and yell at me D:. Not really because of the mods though.

Right? I lurked for years and was afraid to comment on anything, because most of the people here seemed very hostile when it came to responding. Though, my perception of that has changed. I mean, people here can still get pretty damn aggressive, but it's usually about passionate topics, which is fine.

But yeah, OP, you don't have to worry about being banned for a differing opinion. Just harassment, name calling, and low word content, as well as NSFW stuff.

 

[Heronblade]

Cause trouble and you, after some warnings and possibly a suspension or two, get banned

Don't and you won't

it really is that simple. There are a lot of us here, myself included, that post quite often and have never received so much as a dirty look from the mods. Furthermore, I can personally attest that posting about one's highly unpopular opinions will not incur mod wrath either, at least, not on its own.

The only common but relatively benign mistake people make is low content. Take the time to write out a complete thought in order to contribute to the discussion and you'll be fine. It doesn't have to be an incredibly long post, just more than "nah, I don't think so" Oh, and pictures may be worth a thousand words, but the mods here are using a different exchange rate, so don't just post a .GIF in place of your thoughts either (in addition to is fine)

 

[Elfgore]

Just don't insult others, don't post nudity, don't threaten others, and don't post five word responses. You are food to go.

You may say it is strict, but the strict mods keep this place under control. I recently ventured to another forum purely based on anime. The forum is a madhouse, people derail threads all the time, people insult, threaten, etc. each other. It's a damn mess. And where are the mods? Nowhere to be found, they just spoiler tag spoilers, that is it.

 

[Angie7F]

As long as you post stuff you would be ok to say to people around you in real life, you wont get banned.
Just dont take the anonymity for granted and you should be ok

 

[Lionsfan]

I notice you guys are banning an awful lot of people. I've just joined, though at times I've lurked topics that catch my eye, and upon reading the User's Guide to the Forums, apparently titled very aptly from what I've seen, the mods' word is law, and they're... they're called the Red Guards? You mean like those guys who ran around China beating up intellectuals under Mao?

I had to check myself to see if I wasn't back in 2010-era 4chan. Haven't been back there since the Great Crisis of Boxxy, so my memory is a little foggy, but I see a lot of similarities, moderation-wise. I see people getting banned for completely random posts, and the classic "user was banned for this post" and accompanying gif. I saw people get banned for implying that certain kinds of music would be hard to dance to, and another banned for saying that a person prejudiced their target audience.


Well, their word is law. User will probably be banned for this post, but while we're still here, talk to me about whether or not this is actually as bad as it looks.

Spoiler: I've just joined

I've just joined

I really really doubt that. I mean, if you're gonna complain about the mods, just use your normal account.

That being said, I don't think there's been too many bans. There's quite a few problems with the CoC and the enforcement, but too many bannings isn't one of them

 

[carnex]

I have problem with "short post" arbitrary rule. Got warning for saying "Jones in the Fast Lane" on realistic games thread. It's a name of really realistic game I enjoyed over a decade ago. And I get warning. And it's not the first time, but last time it was revoked when I contacted admins. This time I was completely ignored.