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

[Hero of Lime]

I prefer it like this, I hate to think what this place would be like without our kind(and good looking might I add) mods. We are free to say lots of stuff on here and we can be allowed to be a bit combative without being reprimanded. Of course I come here to talk about games, post on forum games, and just have some fun replying to threads. Do that, and the mods will never bother you.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

**snip**

I actually can't think of any offense that can get you instantly banned (aside from ban-jumping, but you have to have been banned first to do that). With no warnings, I mean - if you're on your last strike (3 warnings and 3 suspensions, if I recall properly) then yeah it is super easy to get banned. But you already had all those warnings and suspensions to, well, warn you first, so... yeah.

You get three Warnings before your first Suspension, and if a certain amount of time passes (I think it's six months) one of your warnings goes away. I've had two or three posts Warned since I've been here, but if you look at my profile, I have a clean warning record because I've been here long enough for them to fade away.

Oh - and the Mods are really nice people. They're here to protect the forum from flaming, trolling, and other unpleasant things, not to squash people for no reason.

So yeah, I'm not sure what you're so frightened about.

 

[McMullen]

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.

Seriously? I've never felt anything of the sort here. Why would you feel intimidated by angry people on the Internet? Especially if they're angry at your opinions? Those people don't matter.

OT: I've had a few warnings, some for legitimate reasons, some for things I didn't actually do. The most recent was something that other people did not get warnings for, and judging from the response to my appeal it was probably just a new-ish mod enjoying his little taste of power.

It's true that some of the modding decisions are pretty shameful, but it's not really that hard to stay out of trouble. Don't make posts that are less than 10 words (they don't care about the content, just the word count; you can post a meaningless essay and it'll be fine), don't be a jerk, and don't advocate piracy or adblockers.

 

[babinro]

I have 2002 posts and have never even received a warning.
Express your opinion respectfully. It's not hard to do.

Getting banned is hard because you have to deliberately be hateful to people you don't even know.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

I've been here since 2007 and I've been given only one warning. And I deserved the warning too. I don't think what I had done was all that bad, but it was listed in the Code of Conduct as a no-no and I'd forgotten. Any way you slice it, that's my fault. Warning given, lesson learned.

I'm not sure what bans or suspensions you're talking about specifically, but I find that if you're generally respectful and keep your wits about you then there shouldn't be any issues.

As a general rule of thumb, I'd say preview any post you make before you click "POST". Ask yourself how you would feel if a stranger walked up and said those things to you. If the answer is "That would tick me off", maybe reword your thoughts. If the answer is "I'd be ok with this being said to me", then you shouldn't run into too many problems. Again, that's just a generalized thought rather than a rule, but it's worked well for me.

 

[drummond13]

Follow the rather reasonable rules and you won't get banned. It's really not that big a deal.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Not sure what you're talking about. The only threads I've seen with a lot of bans are recently necro'd threads from like 2009. Even then, the people in the threads were acting like dicks like the one about an escapist app where someone kept posting and flaming iphone users huge walls of text

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?

If only to prove your theory right, while I would like some sort of feedback to find out whether or not people liked or agreed with my posts, I've heard that other forums have a problem with users clogging up threads by quoting one person's post just to say "^this" and that would be annoying for anyone browsing a thread and wants to gauge other people's opinions only to find half the thread is ^this. The only other alternative I could see would be an upvote/downvote system but then every debate would just turn into a battle of karma and it would discourage people from posting if they thought they were going to get bombed by downvotes

I do totally agree though. Sometimes I look at that yellow quote message with regret cause I may have posted something flame worthy recently and its rare that people reply to say "hey that's pretty true and I think..."

 

[Pinkamena]

You gotta live life on the wild side.

 

[Vhite]

It's monastery strict but I'm not complaining. I was once one step from ban but then I got more careful and survived. Just don't be an asshole, check the length of your posts and if you ever get reported for something stupid there is always the health meter to act as a buffer.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I've only ever been given one warning, and that was for an all-caps post.

Just be polite, don't directly insult someone (what's the point in personal insults? We're anonymous posters, you don't know anything about the other person's life so cut them some slack)

And don't make any low content or all caps posts, and never call a poster a troll, even if it's the most trollingist troll to ever troll. Simple.

 

[Atmos Duality]

I have over 7600 posts and not a single infraction.
It's not hard to avoid the wrath as long as you keep things civil, and try to never make anything personal.
(and should the anger bug ever bite, type it all out to get it out of your system, then delete it. Unless you make a habit of being a jerk, most topics will fade from memory.)

Relax a bit and welcome to the forums.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

They're called Red Guard mostly as a joke. I never made that connection about Cultural Revolution China until you just mentioned it, and I've been on these forums for four years now.

It's the same as other forums. Don't post spam links, don't post entirely hostile messages (or shitposts), refrain from posting NSFW stuff unless it's with fair warning and behind a link. The only thing The Escapist does different, rule-wise, is take action against low content posts (less than ten words), confessions of ad-blockers, and better worded hostile posts.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

You mean like those guys who ran around China beating up intellectuals under Mao?

Hey, look, what I did during my communist years is none of your concern, ugh, I mean, move along citizens! Nothing to see here!

OT: No, but in all seriousness, we're very lenient when it comes to punishing people. For me, it seems that most of the people I actually have to write warnings for are being deliberately insulting or offensive. Additionally, its not all that hard to avoid punishment here. Before being offered godhood mod powers, I was a user here for 2 years and never once incurred any mod wrath.

As for the low-content, again, its not that hard and its put in place to encourage people to talk and get to the root of their opinions.

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

I really haven't seen that many bans here that weren't really obvious trolls or bots. And I haven't seen that many suspensions either.
The mods are fair and as long as you think about what you are posting you'll be fine. I've never had any issues, and most/if not all of my posts are terrible.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

...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?

Well, I've never been handed a Little Red Book...

Nor have I seen anyone been beating with bamboo sticks (for being intellectual, at least)

OT: Honestly, it's REALLY easy to not get banned; just follow the rules and you'll be fine

We should pass out flyers or something that has them all...

Yeah, like that!

 

[Souplex]

It's really easy to not get banned. Most people who've been banned have brought it upon themselves.
Just ask yourself before you post; "Will this get me in trouble?" If the answer is yes; don't post it, or edit it slightly.