And who doesn't like a vacation? ;)

No. I can't figure out why the mods put up with your asinine petulance but I certainly wouldn't attribute love to it. A lack of consistency certainly but why they put up with someone who so openly thrives on being a troll I do not know.

Someone made sense in this thread!

I dunno... It seems to me that if you need to use a music discussion forum as a place to insult other people on the internet, you need to grow up. I'm sure there are other forums that probably specifically cater to that. Why not go fulfill the urge elsewhere?
I can understand occasional spats, but some things do need to be addressed, and whether you think this place would still be as successful as it is if it was filled with people throwing shit at each other all day is irrelevant. On a website where curse words are filtered and disturbing content is not allowed, it's pretty safe to assume the owners of this site don't want people going "crazy" on it. That's why it has moderators. If you don't like how someone runs their business, there are plenty of other places out on the internet that may accommodate your preferences.

i average less than two posts a day. i'd say i'm more of a tortoise than a troll.

You're a troll that only needs feeding now and again. You're a troll who attends slimming world.


^ This was the main point of the thread, this was what Eric was basically saying. Permabans are too harsh IMO, because some people (other than Boo Boo) will take their week/month/whatever off and change their ways because they like the forum.

I see boo boo's banned again ("No Rest For The Wicked")!
I miss all the good stuff..(dang)..

Boo Boo doesn't have a posting problem, he has some demons he needs to sort out IRL.

For one thing, he can't leave this sight of his own volition. He has to be banned in order to not post here.

Secondly, he can't handle things he finds illogical. I think he tries to be rational about things. Imagine the Feminism thread. He starts off rational, but he can't grasp when other people either willingly or unwillingly don't get it. And then its like a looped-error on a computer. Or feedback. The rage just continues to build until its an overload and he's anything but rational. You get the idea that he believes we're all committing to irrational hate-mongering so he returns volley. In short, "no one can think this way reasonably, so therefore their being *******s so I will be an ******* too."

One of my first interactions with Boo Boo was about Sting. I said he was a great bassist, Boo Boo told me I was daft. If you know my posting style, I forgot about that fight about 5 mins later. But a week later Ethan (former poster) IM's me and in the course of a conversation its comes up that "Boo Boo thinks you hate him because of the Sting fight."

I mention this to point out that there are some emotional concerns there, that in no way condone his postings nor should they be excuses that alleviate his sentence, but I don't think we should look at Boo Boo in the same light as our traditional ****-head trolls because I don't think its the same syndrome. Trolls tend to be the alchemy-ed outcome of dead boredom and the intoxicating anonymity of the internet.

This is not Boo Boo. I think he contributes quite well when he does, and I think that if he stayed the **** out of the Lounge he'd be fine. He should also make a large, well reasoned argument and let the chips fall where they may but you can't teach people patience.

To those questioning his Ban I would say this; Don't assume the Mods are ever being unfair. A great deal of deliberation is put into most decisions with regard to bannings. The default position is often to let it be sorted by the posters themselves or maybe with a response from the mods such as: "hey guys, cut the ****."

But there comes a point where you've discussed a poster long enough, and at some point you need to salvage the quality of the community. With all due respect to Yac, I've spoken with him before and the owners of these boards see us as the least-lucrative black-sheep. In essence, we're on our own for better or worse, and that means our currency must be quality. If we can't make this place great with our actions, no one will come along and prop us up because they like the place. I am Constantly lobbying my friends to join these boards. I sing its praises and owe much of my musical rearing to this place and I think there isn't a group of people out there who would do this better than we, in this community do, but thats not a product of us sitting here. We need to actively make this forum a quality place to be. I don't always agree with the mods now, and I didn't when I was wearing Blue either. But at the end of the day, we've got a better site than most out there. We didn't get here overnight.

This, all of it.

I agree with your basic assessment of the situation with Boo Boo, Big3, just like SATCHMO...and I also feel what you said was fair and well written, esp. that part about trolls being the alchemy-ed outcome of "dead boredom and intoxicating anonymity."

I think one issue here, though, is that people at the site may not agree on what makes the website have high quality...is it the interesting music posts, interesting people, the debates, the friendships?

I am sorry to see Boo Boo banned, even as I recognize the reasons and that mods try to stand by the rule of no personal insults while still having some leniency. I don't want the people Boo Boo slighted to feel he was able to do so without any repercussion, but I also felt he added to the community here. And, like Crash, I want anyone calling anyone an idiot, etc., to be held to the same standards and have the same number of strike-outs, because then there is more consistency.

But while I support the banning of obvious "trolls" who join to break the rules, I don't like bannings of long-term members...probably because I value the friendships and acquaintances here a lot, and also the relatively high level of free speech. Even if every poster I knew disappeared, I'd still stay for the music comments and information...but I'd miss the people.

So, for me community is probably most important at MB...and in my dream "High Quality" community, no one gets ejected! We just haggle out our conflicts, go to sleep a little angry or indignant, then wake up to a new day together with a chance to try again, day after day after day after day. It's like marriage! :D