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

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Olas

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Dec 24, 2011
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Basically you just have to remember 2 things

Be respectful to people

and

make your posts longer than a few words.


There's more than to it than that, but those are the things people mainly get in trouble for.

The only issue I really have with the system we have set up is that it makes it easier for people who post a lot to buildup warnings than people who post scarcely, essentially punishing greater participation in the community.

For example, theoretically if you only post once every 6 months it's impossible for you to build up warning's and get banned, even if every single one of your posts receives mod wrath.
 

ninjaRiv

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Aug 25, 2010
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I've seens ome of the posts that have gotten people banned and I have to agree, it's silly. But then I remember they must have used up all of their chances. Some people here are just... I don't know what to say besides dicks. some people are ill mannered and enjoy picking on people and they get banned for what seems like silly reasons in the end, because they already used up all their chances being stupid. That being said, I've had a couple of bullshit warnings so I don't really know the details. I just don't think it's as bad as some say. I figure people should just be nice. HOWEVER, maybe a thread or section where people can go nuts at each other is a decent idea. Then again, that's what PMs are for.

Ramble ramble. Sorry.
 

nathan-dts

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Jun 18, 2008
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I stopped posting frequently because the funny and interesting people on the forum got banned a few years back. The moderators of the Escapist are sensitive and will ban you for having an opinion. Had a warning for insulting Creationism and seen many other unjustified bans. This isn't a place you want to post if you have a strong dissenting opinion on anything.
 

Toilet

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Feb 22, 2012
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thaluikhain said:
EeveeElectro said:
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.
Also you can't discuss or advocate piracy without a swift banning. Most threads here about piracy are very once sided.

Not that it stops me.
 

lacktheknack

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Jan 19, 2009
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nathan-dts said:
I stopped posting frequently because the funny and interesting people on the forum got banned a few years back. The moderators of the Escapist are sensitive and will ban you for having an opinion. Had a warning for insulting Creationism and seen many other unjustified bans. This isn't a place you want to post if you have a strong dissenting opinion on anything.
May I see these unjustified bans, please?

I've stated my strong dissenting opinions many times with absolutely no problems. Heck, I'm gearing up a mega-post that's going to do it again.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Feb 9, 2012
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It can be easy to fuck it up without being troll-ish or inflamatory. I've got 4 warnings for posting an image reaction with no words, posting on CAPSLOCK (as a joke), posting just a few words and posting in a pro-gun thread without really being pro-gun (which ticked a lot of people into thinking I was spamming or trolling). Hey, what you gonna do. You live and you learn. But for the most part you'll be fine as long as you're nice to everyone.
 

nathan-dts

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Jun 18, 2008
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lacktheknack said:
nathan-dts said:
I stopped posting frequently because the funny and interesting people on the forum got banned a few years back. The moderators of the Escapist are sensitive and will ban you for having an opinion. Had a warning for insulting Creationism and seen many other unjustified bans. This isn't a place you want to post if you have a strong dissenting opinion on anything.
May I see these unjustified bans, please?

I've stated my strong dissenting opinions many times with absolutely no problems. Heck, I'm gearing up a mega-post that's going to do it again.
Don't care to go through my post history. Feel free to go through them, though. There's not that many as of late so it can't take too long.
 

Saxnot

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Mar 1, 2010
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Right. so when you know the mods are pretty strict on a site, just don't be an asshole a people. You can go to 4chan for that shit.
 

Imperioratorex Caprae

Henchgoat Emperor
May 15, 2010
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No warnings at all, almost 2000 posts. How do I do it? I don't get into flame wars or personal attacks with people. If I have an opinion I feel I need to toss in the hat, I'll do it and defend my position sensibly. If others choose to get bent out of shape, thats not my problem.
People who get banned are usually ones who go a bit overboard and don't get it.
Words of wisdom my grandfather taught me: "Wisdom is knowledge you earn in life, sometimes with scars. A fuck up is a mistake you refuse to learn from and continue to make over and over, never turning the knowledge gained into wisdom and never letting your scars heal."
Its paraphrased a bit, my own words edited together but the gist of his most important lesson to me is there.
If he lived to see the internet he'd probably say: Don't feed the trolls and don't bait them. Just don't.
Anyway, I've never feared a ban or suspension because I try to respect other folks opinions even if I don't agree. That doesn't mean I won't respectively disagree...
 

LetalisK

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May 5, 2010
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Personally, I think this site has one of the best mod policy/executions around(not perfect, but the best), particularly after they started cracking down more after we started raising hell about it(this is particularly important in reference to R&P). It always confuses me how a site demanding that people act no less than in a way that is a few rungs down from "socially acceptable" is seen as tyranny. Perhaps in comparison to 90% of the internet where it's a free-for-all clusterfuck where you have to do some truly horrendous shit in order to be punished this place looks like a totalitarian state, but compared to real life, to basic human decency, this place is pretty lax.
 

Generic4me

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Oct 10, 2012
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The mods can be a little overzealous, obviously they can't be right 100% of the time, they're only human. Maybe they had a bad day, or maybe they just had a really good day and your post calling the president of Somalia a disgusting piece of worthless trash can slide.

If you don't wanna get banned, don't be a dick. Avoid using harsh language when talking to specific people, don't encourage illegal things, avoid obvious trolls.

What gets people is seeing that little quoted mail in their box, finding an asshole who just shared their wrong opinion in the most condescending way possible, and replying to that in their rage. Don't do that.

Also don't go into hot debates that are past page 3. Nothing intelligent is said past that, nobody intelligent reads past that, and even your most level headed response will be met with assholes. They are just big pissing contests, so avoid them.

As for the low word count, reaction images, especially memes, aren't clever, funny, or useful alone. Ever. Don't do em'.
 

WhitbyDragon

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SquidSponge said:
Sorta-unrelated:
I think the strict moderation is one of the reasons we (thankfully) don't see much txtspk or 13375p34k 'round here. More than 10% of the population of this forum has a primary- (elementary-) school level of literacy and some of us even know the difference between "its" and "it's" or "there", "their" and "they're"! This is, therefore, possibly the best forum on all the interwebs. Which is kinda depressing.
.
I'd never thought of it that way, the low content warnings always upset me, but if it's helping purge LOL's from the ever hallowed forums I'm a convert! Thanks for the insight.

Keep up the good work Moderator's, I think this place is a good example for the rest of the internet.
 

Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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LetalisK said:
Personally, I think this site has one of the best mod policy/executions around(not perfect, but the best), particularly after they started cracking down more after we started raising hell about it(this is particularly important in reference to R&P). It always confuses me how a site demanding that people act no less than in a way that is a few rungs down from "socially acceptable" is seen as tyranny. Perhaps in comparison to 90% of the internet where it's a free-for-all clusterfuck where you have to do some truly horrendous shit in order to be punished this place looks like a totalitarian state, but compared to real life, to basic human decency, this place is pretty lax.
If the only rule on here was "don't be a dick," people would still rage. "How dare they tell me not to intentionally be an ass towards someone? TYRANNY!"

Every board has claims of mod abuse, no matter how loose the rules are. Sometimes they're valid, often they're not. Sometimes it's hard to tell because we don't see the whole story and others.

The internet tends to attract people who are contrary by nature. It's kind of weird in that you can end up with "contrarian" echo chambers. Any attempt at authority in a place where one of the appeals is anonymity is going to be resented.

I'm not saying this place is perfect. I had someone flame me as, among other things, a troll for refusing to engage them, and that was evidently okay because she said it in a PM. Or something.

But one instance? Meh. Overall, moderation seems fair enough. Especially since their standards are so low compared to what should be basic human decency.
 

00slash00

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Dec 29, 2009
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I find the mods here to be pretty lenient. What you're forgetting is this is an internet forum. People who post on internet forums tend to be giant assholes. Don't be an asshole and you won't get banned
 

lacktheknack

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Kaulen Fuhs said:
lacktheknack said:
nathan-dts said:
I stopped posting frequently because the funny and interesting people on the forum got banned a few years back. The moderators of the Escapist are sensitive and will ban you for having an opinion. Had a warning for insulting Creationism and seen many other unjustified bans. This isn't a place you want to post if you have a strong dissenting opinion on anything.
May I see these unjustified bans, please?

I've stated my strong dissenting opinions many times with absolutely no problems. Heck, I'm gearing up a mega-post that's going to do it again.
Katatori-Kun's ban was completely unjustified. That you can pretty much be a Nazi and be safe here, but can't suggest that people who don't seem to be particularly professional might never have been employed in a position where professionalism is expected of you told me all I needed to know about the moderation here.

Any-who, OP, keep your head down, don't call people names, even if they deserve it, and you'll probably be fine. Take it from someone who'll probably be banned a couple weeks from now.
Thread is deleted, so I can't verify your rather vague example.

Although, the fact that they got banned in a thread that was deemed bad enough to be locked and deleted doesn't leave me with a lot of faith in their post quality.
 

DrunkOnEstus

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May 11, 2012
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Maybe the bans were from when you were lurking, but I don't remember a whole bunch of bans happening recently. I don't post a whole bunch, but I've said some fucked up things that had me anticipating some kind of reprimand, but I've got a clean slate. Even if I had gotten a warning, that wouldn't have put me anywhere close to a ban. I'm really not afraid of it happening like I'm walking on glass.

The site is its own domain, with their own set of rules. 95% of the remainder of the internet (outside of quantum physics and theoretical science forums I guess) is a giant clusterfuck where nobody can be sure what is legit, trolling, or people trying to be assholes. I like being here because I respect the kind of environment that the owners/mods want for the site, and the rules make it distinctive from a lot of other sites, especially those strongly about video gaming. And there's a lot of cool people here who have taught me a lot while being chill about it.

Side note: This is generally one of those threads where the title makes me say "oh shit, there's gonna be a lot of warnings/suspensions in there.", and it seems people have been discussing the moderation and feel of the site with relative safety, even when it gets heated. It's just shooting the shit on the Internet, there's bigger things to get stressed and anxious about.
 

Fappy

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Zachary Amaranth said:
LetalisK said:
Personally, I think this site has one of the best mod policy/executions around(not perfect, but the best), particularly after they started cracking down more after we started raising hell about it(this is particularly important in reference to R&P). It always confuses me how a site demanding that people act no less than in a way that is a few rungs down from "socially acceptable" is seen as tyranny. Perhaps in comparison to 90% of the internet where it's a free-for-all clusterfuck where you have to do some truly horrendous shit in order to be punished this place looks like a totalitarian state, but compared to real life, to basic human decency, this place is pretty lax.
If the only rule on here was "don't be a dick," people would still rage. "How dare they tell me not to intentionally be an ass towards someone? TYRANNY!"

Every board has claims of mod abuse, no matter how loose the rules are. Sometimes they're valid, often they're not. Sometimes it's hard to tell because we don't see the whole story and others.

The internet tends to attract people who are contrary by nature. It's kind of weird in that you can end up with "contrarian" echo chambers. Any attempt at authority in a place where one of the appeals is anonymity is going to be resented.

I'm not saying this place is perfect. I had someone flame me as, among other things, a troll for refusing to engage them, and that was evidently okay because she said it in a PM. Or something.

But one instance? Meh. Overall, moderation seems fair enough. Especially since their standards are so low compared to what should be basic human decency.
It's almost as if this site wants to facilitate actual discussion or something. People often get confused when they join here because we expect people to act a little more like they would in real life rather than flinging shit and hiding behind an anonymous username.
 

StriderShinryu

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Dec 8, 2009
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The only issue I have with the moderation here is that it can be a little pick and choosy. I understand that the majority of notice the moderation team gets is via user notification and that's cool. I certainly don't expect the moderators to spend their entire waking lives trolling these boards for violations. It does seem, however, that there are cases where one "offending" post out of a thread of obviously similar posts gets hit with a warning when the others are left untouched. While it's certainly possible that the one post may have received more Reported clicks than the other posts, by simply viewing the context of the post in question it should be obvious that either none of the posts should be cracked down upon or they all should.

In general, though, just not being an ass is generally enough to keep you safe from moderation here, and the warning system prevents all but the most egregious and obvious insta bans.