Unhappy about moderation/other issues with a particular board -banning oneself

I swindled the NSA

Is it possible to ban oneself from a particular forum if one has an issue with the manner in which moderators or individual users on that board conduct themselves ?

Im aware there is the option to exclude oneself from the entire site by closing ones account but such an action would be tantamount to throwing the baby out with the bathwater when the option to exclude oneself from a particular forum would be a more appropriate way to register ones disapproval of said forum.

A user choosing to exclude themselves in such a manner should be tagged as something other than "banned" to make it clear that their absence is down to action on their own part rather than the moderators.

nesf

A long time ago (read: 10 years) I remember giving people bans during exam time and similar from AH. I think one or two people got temp sitebans, but again, a long time ago. I'm not sure if it's still a done thing, the numbers have grown quite a bit.

Dades

A ban request would always have been as a favour to a poster for a reason such as mentioned by nesf.

In your case you have two options, contact a relevant CMod to discuss moderation in that forum, or just avoid the forum. You're not going to be banned for the reasons you have given.

zombieHanalei

I know this is a bit out there but I think you should try it out; just don't visit or view that forum anymore.

You could request a permanent ban from that forum from one of it's mods, they can attach a note to the ban just saying "poster requested to be banned" or something.

But that (along with your own suggestion) would be kind of ridiculous, so I'm going to reiterate the "just don't visit the forum anymore" option.

I swindled the NSA

Dades wrote: »

A ban request would always have been as a favour to a poster for a reason such as mentioned by nesf.

In your case you have two options, contact a relevant CMod to discuss moderation in that forum, or just avoid the forum. You're not going to be banned for the reasons you have given.

Yes but none of the options on offer are particularly ideal.

Avoiding a forum simply suggests a lack of interest and If ones issue is with the moderation why should they feel they have to appeal to the mods in question for anything ? Taking it up with a CMod is would, I strongly suspect be a well worn* path to nowhere and closing ones account in protest amounts to a nuclear option which excludes one from participating in the genuinely interesting and useful specialist forums.

So what I'm advocating/enquiring about is a method whereby one can register ones disapproval (rather than lack of interest) at a particular forum by voting with ones feet and excluding oneself without getting oneself banned (by request or otherwise) with all the connotations of "troublemaker" that a "banned" status suggests (even if a ban from the forum in question is more akin to a badge of honour)

* (I strongly suspect I'm far from only one who feels this way about the forum in question)

colm_mcm

Can't how your being banned from a forum that you've been on since march would bother/affect anybody (no offence intended) or spark some sort of revolution within that forum where everybody misses you so much that they overthrow the evil mods. If you avoided a forum, I can't see anyone questioning you on it.
Looking for a ban seems a bit childish IMO, as does needing to be banned so you won't post there.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

I swindled the NSA

colm_mcm wrote: »

Looking for a ban seems a bit childish IMO, as does needing to be banned so you won't post there.

I certainly do not need to be banned from a forum in order not to post there I was merely looking for a mechanism in which to register ones disapproval/disgust at a particular forum in the same manner as one can do so at boards in its entirety using the "Close account" facility.

And inciting the posters to rise up and overthrow the evil mods is not the objective -more the reverse.

As for taking it up with CMods, Admins . Uncle Tom Cobley and all I've already indicated I suspect to be a well worn and fruitless path.

But for the record the forum in question is Stormfront Ireland After Hours.

Dades

Feedback is not for complaining about moderation issues. This is exactly the thing we have CMods (and subsequently Admins) for. There are many things that happen in a forum/thread that cannot be seen by Feedback watchers (deleted posts, etc,) which make it impossible to see the full story.

It becomes mob justice based on incomplete facts, or whoever wins the crowd.

I swindled the NSA wrote: »

Taking it up with a CMod is would, I strongly suspect be a well worn* path to nowhere

Mods can and have been demodded/spoken to when issues have been brought to our attention. If your attitude is that nothing will happen, so why bother, then we can't help you. However without even attempting to see the issues resolved before throwing in the towel achieves nothing for anyone.

Tilly

I dont see why you cant just avoid After Hours if you dont like how it's run? There are 100's who do like\love it.

I swindled the NSA

Tilly wrote: »

I dont see why you cant just avoid After Hours if you dont like how it's run? There are 100's who do like\love it.

By the same token there are hundreds who enjoy Stormfront or even the Daily Express.

And rest assured I have every intention of forthwith avoiding the xenophobic cesspit that is AH However if my issue was with boards in general I am offered the option to close my account. To turn your question around why is the "close account" offered -can people not just avoid boards ?

Spear

I swindled the NSA wrote: »

By the same token there are hundreds who enjoy Stormfront or even the Daily Express.

And rest assured I have every intention of forthwith avoiding the xenophobic cesspit that is AH However if my issue was with boards in general I am offered the option to close my account. To turn your question around why is the "close account" offered -can people not just avoid boards ?

It's a Data Protection requirement, not a choice by boards.ie.

I swindled the NSA

Spear wrote: »

It's a Data Protection requirement, not a choice by boards.ie.

But I am also given the option of an ignore list for particularly obnoxious posters.

So I can either block an individual user (via said ignore list) or the entire site (via the close account option) but not a specific forum

Alternatively I can as you suggest just avoid the forum but doing so suggests nothing more than lack of interest.

Tilly

How do you have such a huge problem with AH after only two months on the site?

I swindled the NSA

I have already indicated my issue with AH is the lack of moderator action at the proliferation of xenophobic (and particularly Islamophobic) threads.

I was merely suggesting that posters who felt the same way (of which I suspect there are many) would have a mechanism to register their disapproval other than merely avoiding the forum in question.

Having resolved to avoid said forum in future stated my reasons and made a point of unfollowing any threads I was on there Ive done all I can in this regard seeing as I don't seem to be making much progress here

[/Thread]

Dades

I swindled the NSA wrote: »

Alternatively I can as you suggest just avoid the forum but doing so suggests nothing more than lack of interest.

Suggests to who? Whether you just avoid AH, or use some custom feature to bar you from it, either way nobody is likely to care.

Sorry, but that's the reality in a forum busy as After Hours.

I swindled the NSA wrote: »

Having resolved to avoid said forum in future stated my reasons and made a point of unfollowing any threads I was on there Ive done all I can in this regard seeing as I don't seem to be making much progress here

All you can do except the one thing you're supposed to do.

Zaph

I swindled the NSA wrote: »

Alternatively I can as you suggest just avoid the forum but doing so suggests nothing more than lack of interest.

I fail to see how. If you don't post in a forum nobody but you knows for sure why you don't post there. And I don't mean to sound harsh, but nobody cares why either. There are lots of forums I don't post in, and I sincerely doubt that my absence from them has even registered with the regular posters in them.

Overheal

I swindled the NSA wrote: »

By the same token there are hundreds who enjoy Stormfront or even the Daily Express.

Well unlike Stormfront you won't be banned in the first 15 minutes - go look up Overheal on there, I don't think they believed I was in any way possibly an American so they had me banned for trolling.

I swindled the NSA wrote: »

But I am also given the option of an ignore list for particularly obnoxious posters.

So I can either block an individual user (via said ignore list) or the entire site (via the close account option) but not a specific forum

Alternatively I can as you suggest just avoid the forum but doing so suggests nothing more than lack of interest.

Because that's exactly what it is? A lack of interest in reading content that you do not enjoy reading. While not as bad as the youtube comments section, I for one don't have any further interest in ad nauseum threads about America's "exceptional" gun culture problems, the stereotype that we're all a bunch of fat cowboys (Not fcuking helped by the Double Down or the brand-spanking-new All-American Thickburger) so I don't generally post in AH as the only thing I would be driven to do by reading that diatribe is to refute the arguments - x1000 posters who enjoy making the throwaway comments while giving themselves pats on the back for having such low-hanging wit. Short version: do the same thing as everyone else, and ignore the place if you don't like it; you may as well go to a Metal concert and complain that they aren't playing Hip Hop just to suit you. AH likes their humor fast, politically incorrect, and in large quantity. /shrug

Using the Subscribe to Forum option you can keep a shortlist of "My Forums" that you are interested in keeping tabs on. Tag the ones you want to read regularly, and in this example if AH was on that list and you've given all of your fcuks away to charity, just unsubscribe from the forum and you will find yourself visiting AH far less often.

KomradeBishop

On requesting a ban: I've considered the same myself, but the problem is, that if you request a ban, and then later request an unban, it's possible for mods to arbitrarily decide to keep it permanent (where they put you in a position of having to justify being allowed back, rather than them having to justify keeping the ban).

I know mods and such will protest this, and ensure that that wouldn't happen, but well - mod decisions can be extremely arbitrary, when it comes to things like this - especially if they view you as a problem poster that they'd just like to get rid of anyway; so, benefit of the doubt isn't warranted here, in my view.

It would be nice to have an 'Ignore Forum' feature though. It can be difficult to ignore a forum sometimes, when threads for it pop up on the main Boards.ie page (often I just see the thread title, and am not conscious of the forum I'm posting in) - so an ignore feature that stops forums showing up there, would be good.
It should be pretty easy to implement too - just make ignoring a forum, work technically, in the same way as being banned from a forum does.

I swindled the NSA

Overheal wrote: »

Well unlike Stormfront you won't be banned in the first 15 minutes - go look up Overheal on there, I don't think they believed I was in any way possibly an American so they had me banned for trolling..

Now there's a badge of honour

Overheal wrote: »

Because that's exactly what it is? A lack of interest in reading content that you do not enjoy reading..

Its more than just a lack of interest in fairness.

Lack of interest is why I avoid (say) the gardening forum or the GAA forum or the computer games forum.

When it comes to AH the moderation (or more accurately the lack of moderation) on threads like this are what would make any right thinking person avoid such a forum.

Dismiss it as politically incorrect humour if you like but the hate speech appears to be deadly serious (not to mention legally questionable) from where I'm standing.

Having decided that a forum where such hate speech is tolerated is best avoided the question arises whether a website hosting such a forum should be dealt with in the same manner -even if it does mean also missing out on some of the more interesting and enjoyable forums

Insect Overlord

How very odd...

Zaph

As the OP has closed their account, I'm going to lock this up as it serves no further useful purpose.