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[Morrus]

Originally Posted by S'mon

Mmm, ok so it sounds like the mods are not anti 4e or anti 3e, but anti perceived 'negativity'.

Negativity is fine; it's rudeness that's the problem. Unfortunately, the negativity and the rudeness seem to be firm bedfellows.

However, in the Goodman thread where I got banned for 3 days, it seemed to me that I was perceived as being negative about 4e, because I pointed out that Goodman was saying that 4e had not sold as well as 3e did a year after launch - though he put a positive spin on this. To me, that says nothing about the relative merits of each game.

A poster consequently regarded me as anti-4e, was fairly rude to me and others, and got a ban. I also got a ban. My feeling is that I was more vulnerable to being banned because I was perceived by the mods as a negative poster, and that perception was based on the statements of another poster.

Hmmm? The post you got the 3 day ban for was: "I can't "man up and talk straight" to you, sir, because that would get me a suspension, and you're not worth it."

Admittedly, an incredibly minor infraction which would have ordinarily have gone unnoticed. Unfortunately, it came shortly after a civility warning. But that aside (I won't dispute that it was very minor), the ban reason clearly was "ignoring a mod", not "negativity".

I think this is, perhaps, a perfect example of what I meant above when people see the reasons for a ban as something contrary to the actual, and indded explicitly stated, reasons.

Someone else would be crowing on RPGnet by now about how they got banned for "not liking 4E" or some such nonsense (you, of course, not being that someone else - I can't imagine you acting in such a manner).

So, my advice to mods would be: Before you ban people, stop and think, is this poster really being negative? Are they being disruptive? What's actually going on here?

Sure. I think that goes to the level of the infraction rather than the reason for it, though.

One thing we are imlpementing now is that in the "Reasons for ban" field, the mod in question will be leaving their email addess in addition to the reason. That way you have the ability to actually talk to the mod privately about it; that often resolves things very quickly.*



*I realise you emailed me, but I found that email too late. Sorry about that!