Should discussion about now-banned users occur?

[webny99]

UnPopular opinion: There's no sense in discussing people who have no ability to rebut their arguments, which leads to merely vacuous and loaded one-sided discussion.
 

FTFY 

[PNWRoadgeek]

Honestly. I disagree with webny99 here(and on a lot of things), it's NOT the popular opinion. Because lots of people argue about this all the time.

[vdeane]

Well, most boards already are (i.e. Fictional Highways and Road-Related Illustrations), so it wouldn't be a bad idea to make this one private too.

I wouldn't say 5 out of 27 boards is "most".

[PNWRoadgeek]

I think Marf deserves a second chance the most. Seriously, what did that guy do? I don't think he did anything wrong AT ALL!

[Max Rockatansky]

He was an ass hat who deliberately targeted a user through numerous sock puppet accounts.  That is a classic example of a person one ought to tell "go fuck yourself" to.

[Roadgeekteen]

What happened with Geek? Didn't see anything egregious that looked ban worthy?

[PNWRoadgeek]

He was an ass hat who deliberately targeted a user through numerous sock puppet accounts.  That is a classic example of a person one ought to tell "go fuck yourself" to.

Oh.

He didn't seem troublesome to me. Guess I didn't look at his posts enough.

[Rothman]

People who weren't around at the time doing posthumous judging on an incomplete record cause me to reach for my revolver.

[Roadgeekteen]

I was around for geek. His posts were strange but nowhere near P13/MMM. And you can still see banned users posts.

[Molandfreak]

It seems that the definitions of what boards are private are inconsistent. It doesn't make much sense for sports to be publicly available, but urban planning isn't. Urban planning seems more on the topic of a board than sports.

if I'm not mistaken, this is specifically to make sure most of the people who are coming here actually are interested in the roads part of the AARoads forum culture.

I used to be on the USENET misc.transport.road newsgroup many years ago and there were times urban planning debates would take over that particular discussion venue like crazy.

Well that's bad news for me then, I've made like one post in the sports board related to the Olympics. I have no idea why anyone would consider sports integral to forum culture, yet not think the same about urban planning—or heck, even fictional highways.

[Alex]

It seems that the definitions of what boards are private are inconsistent. It doesn't make much sense for sports to be publicly available, but urban planning isn't. Urban planning seems more on the topic of a board than sports.

If we don't want someone to join the forum just because they want to participate in that and nothing else, the forum is hidden when logged out. Urban planning is hidden to deter the NUMTOT crowd from taking an interest in the forum, since that's kind of counter to the main topic of interest.

I think geek11111 deserves a second chance as well.

He had ssssssssssseveral.

Geek11111 emailed me recently asking for another chance.

[Rothman]

Oh, this'll be fun.

[webny99]

Honestly. I disagree with webny99 here(and on a lot of things), it's NOT the popular opinion. Because lots of people argue about this all the time.

Well, they do call it a SILENT majority for good reason 

[Roadgeekteen]

PNWroadgeek you are fine now but I'd be careful...

(I'm not a mod just a friendly bystander)

[Roadgeekteen]

I also want to know what exactly happened with geek? Looks like he last logged on a week after his last post, what was he banned for?

[Max Rockatansky]

He did a lot of weird things like post a thread topic that would initially consist of:

s

[Roadgeekteen]

He did a lot of weird things like post a thread topic that would initially consist of:

s

Ah, got it. Probably a lot of that stuff got deleted. I've always wanted to see the AAroads deleted posts archive or wherever those posts go. Probably a lot of funny stuff there.

[formulanone]

UnPopular opinion: There's no sense in discussing people who have no ability to rebut their arguments, which leads to merely vacuous and loaded one-sided discussion.
 

FTFY 

In this case, I'd rather you have used your own words. But I can do it for you:

Personally, the popular opinion is to retread banned users' takes, distort them as time goes on, let them essentially live rent-free on our forum, which creates an echo chamber because it makes them feel morally superior.

Some of us don't care to hear well-worn ideas continuously rehashed inside every thread; it's similarly immature and tiresome as those trolls we were sick of in first place. Let the banned stay genuinely banned. 

[1995hoo]

I think Marf deserves a second chance the most. Seriously, what did that guy do? I don't think he did anything wrong AT ALL!

Had the thread not run farther, I would have assumed your all-caps use of "at all!" was meant to be sarcastic.

As Max notes, Marf—or, as one of the moderators put it, "the Marves"—created a lot of sockpuppet accounts. If I recall correctly, he got suspended on his original account in large part for constant personal attacks on webny99 (there may have been more than that, but I think that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back). He then immediately posted under another preexisting account, Marf207, which got his ban extended and that account banned as well—he more or less said, "Hey, I have this other account, so is it OK if I post here while my main account is banned?" 

He then started creating various other accounts; the ones I remember were "LindaOfGreenGables," "PatTheSplasher," and "ShoppingforFood" (capitalization may be off in those). A couple of times it wasn't immediately obvious who it was but became apparent within a day or two when he criticized webny99; in some other cases, he made it obvious from the start by making a first post saying, essentially, "I'm Marf and I'm here to say 'fuck you' to all of you" (or words to that effect).

It's not a surprise you wouldn't have seen all of those because, for obvious reasons, all the sockpuppet accounts have been deleted. Funny thing about the Marf saga was that my iPhone's autocorrect suggested "Marf" for a while if I typed "mar" (such as for "margin" or whatever).

[webny99]

In this case, I'd rather you have used your own words. But I can do it for you:

Personally, the popular opinion is to retread banned users' takes, distort them as time goes on, let them essentially live rent-free on our forum, which creates an echo chamber because it makes them feel morally superior.

Ha, that does seem like the case at times, but I think you missed my follow up post...

it's NOT the popular opinion. Because lots of people argue about this all the time.

Well, they do call it a SILENT majority for good reason 

[Roadgeekteen]

What about discussions about annoying as heck users that haven't been banned but we all wish left the forum? Particularly one living in Phoenix?

[Molandfreak]

Or users in Michigan who feel the need to call others tyrants, tell others to gouge out their frontal lobes, say that users from outside the Great Lakes/Ohio Valley region shouldn't be allowed to comment in that board, and spread unhelpful conspiracy theories about roundabouts being a government ploy to purposely waste taxpayer money.

[Scott5114]

I've always wanted to see the AAroads deleted posts archive or wherever those posts go. Probably a lot of funny stuff there.

It's mostly people trying to start political fights and spam. If it's genuinely funny, I personally try not to delete it unless there's no way to avoid doing so.

What about discussions about annoying as heck users that haven't been banned but we all wish left the forum? Particularly one living in Phoenix?

We generally only ban someone for violating something on this list. We can't make a rule against people being annoying, because then I'd be banned.

[Roadgeekteen]

It's funny. Despite the discouragement of political content it's very clear how like most of the regular users on the forum voted.

[Max Rockatansky]

It's funny. Despite the discouragement of political content it's very clear how like most of the regular users on the forum voted.

How so?  Would you assume to know how I voted by how I reply to things?