Discussion II about the Suspension List

Quote: MichaelBluejay

Yeah, that's the idea. Public shaming for forum infractions feels awkward to me, like it's grade school or something. It also makes the forum feel policed, even if the police action is completely justified. Suspending members quietly and privately would allow them to save some face and not make the rank-and-file members (the overwhelming majority of whom aren't subject to punishments) constantly feel that someone is watching over what they say..

Ah, a secret police idea. Take people away
and punish them without anybody knowing
about it. An old and very effective idea used
with great success in totalitarian states
such as Germany in the WWII era, and
later in the Soviet Union.

Quote: RS

Then all the nonsense 1BB was always complaining about would not have been as funny. That would have been depriving this whole forum of 99.17% of 1BB's hilarious/psychotic Fanta.

EDIT: rants* not Fanta. Darn phone!

Psychotic Fanta indeed:-)

This would work in two ways.
1) The name would be in red so the people will know anyway
2) If it is a valued member there would be gossip about what or how it happened
3) If it's a newb people won't notice

Quote: MichaelBluejay

Yeah, that's the idea. Public shaming for forum infractions feels awkward to me, like it's grade school or something. It also makes the forum feel policed, even if the police action is completely justified. Suspending members quietly and privately would allow them to save some face and not make the rank-and-file members (the overwhelming majority of whom aren't subject to punishments) constantly feel that someone is watching over what they say.

Quote: Gabes22

This would work in two ways.
1) The name would be in red so the people will know anyway
2) If it is a valued member there would be gossip about what or how it happened
3) If it's a newb people won't notice

First, the forum is supposed to feel policed.

Second, we didn't have a suspension list for the first year or so. What happened is exactly what Gabes wrote, there was all kinds of gossip all over the forum about who was suspended and for what reason. So I created the Suspension List for two reasons:

1. So the mods would have a record of past suspensions, to keep track of habitual offenders.
2. To end the gossip and have a public record of who was being suspended for what and for how long.

I didn't expect this list to get so much attention but it did. There was so much discussion about every new suspension that I created the "discussion" thread to keep it all in one place.

If public shaming smacks of grade school, then so be it. I personally favor public shaming for real crimes.

I dislike the idea of private suspensions with no information. This discussion of suspensions has had a benefit or two...I was once suspended for something someone else said. While being suspended here is not the biggest thing in the world, it does keep you from being part of the discussion here. Someone noticed that I was wrongly suspended based on the reason provided for the suspension, and the Court of Appeals overturned the suspension and allowed me to "bank" a free day. Not sure if I used it yet or not.

Anyway, I like the way we do it.

Okay, fair enough. I guess any way of handling things has its pros and cons, and this one is as good as any.

Oh no, not the hamster!

Time out for you; bad kitty!

Shame!

Quote: EvenBob

Ah, a secret police idea. Take people away
and punish them without anybody knowing
about it. An old and very effective idea used
with great success in totalitarian states
such as Germany in the WWII era, and
later in the Soviet Union.

I guess being deprived of chiming in here because of hostile character assassinations would be some sort of egregious violation of the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, eh? Or is it to be deprived of public floggings? (approaching Godwin's law here...)

Call it discreet police instead of secret police in this case.

Quote: MrV

Oh no, not the hamster!

Time out for you; bad kitty!

Shame!

Why did this make me chuckle. It is not funny. Still laughing damn it.

Quote: GWAE

[Why did this make me chuckle. It is not funny. Still laughing damn it.

Much like Las Vegas itself, it helps underscore the fundamental absurdity of the human condition.