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Journal Hanna's Goblin Toys's Journal: Are you banned from Slashdot? Excessive Bad Posting. 41

Journal by Hanna's Goblin Toys

Due to excessive bad posting from this IP or Subnet, comment posting has temporarily been disabled. If it's you, consider this a chance to sit in the timeout corner . If it's someone else, this is a chance to hunt them down. If you think this is unfair, please email moderation@slashdot.org...

http://slashdot.org/faq/com-mod.shtml#cm1400: Is this censorship?

I don't think so. Nothing is deleted: if you want to read the raw, uncut Slashdot, simply set your threshold to -1 and go crazy! This system is simply a method for us to try to work together to categorize the thousands of comments that are posted each day in such a way that we can benefit from the wisdom contained in the discussions. It's in there! It just takes some work to find it.

Answered by: CmdrTaco

How many of you out there reading this have gotten the error message above? It sounds like you've done something pretty seriously bad to get it, right? Personally I don't think this is the case. Maybe it's because I got it for posting one comment someone didn't like. I was banned for 6 weeks! Now I can post again, but I'm afraid to say something that a moderator won't like. Should I be afraid? And more importantly, if being banned for posting comments that a moderator doesn't like isn't censorship (as CmdrTaco says) then what is it? Should we be afraid to post on Slashdot? Is this censorship and if not what is it?

I'd like to foster a grassroots discussion by other Slashdot readers on this topic. How is it implemented... how many moderators does it take to ban an entire network? Maybe we can get the developers involved to find out what the motivation was. Most importantly I've noticed that when I can't post comments, I can still post journals, so I'd like to form a sort of victim's network for people who feel they've been unfairly banned from the site. Maybe we all have a viewpoint in common? Maybe we share the same view that's being unilaterally suppressed? Who knows. I know that if you put the phrase "excessive bad posting" in your journal title, I will be able to search and find you. So let's get together and share our stories.

Here is a small list of users I've found who are in the same boat as me. Maybe there are more! If you can't post a reply, post a journal with the title "excessive bad posting" and I will find you and link to you. Thanks and Good Luck!

http://slashdot.org/~Sanity/journal/77469
http://slashdot.org/~Chess_the_cat/journal/80677
http://slashdot.org/~Togakure/journal/80284
http://slashdot.org/~Pave%20Low/journal/80329
http://slashdot.org/~TheRealMindChild/journal/80184
http://slashdot.org/~VT_hawkeye/journal/80685
http://slashdot.org/~MacBrave/journal/79989
http://slashdot.org/~nizo/journal/77248
http://slashdot.org/~Quattro%20Vezina/journal/79826
http://slashdot.org/~bfg9000/journal/78451
http://slashdot.org/~FortKnox/journal/77121
http://slashdot.org/~southpolesammy/journal/76905
http://slashdot.org/~ScottKin/journal/76688
http://slashdot.org/~arb/journal/76493
http://slashdot.org/~the_mad_poster/journal/76313
http://slashdot.org/~Qrlx/journal/75179
http://slashdot.org/~sulli/journal/73647
http://slashdot.org/~buffer-overflowed/journal/76533
http://slashdot.org/~grub/journal/74593
http://slashdot.org/~illuminata/journal/73910
http://slashdot.org/~October_30th/journal/71105
http://slashdot.org/~mirko/journal/73428
http://slashdot.org/~Bajanman/journal/69642
http://slashdot.org/~benna/journal/73521
http://slashdot.org/~Cryofan/journal/73609
http://slashdot.org/~wheany/journal/71318
http://slashdot.org/~Kethinov/journal/70984
http://slashdot.org/~monstroyer/journal/70561
http://slashdot.org/~atheists/journal/69513
http://slashdot.org/~metlin/journal/59800

Who knows how many this has silenced? And if they are silenced how can we know? Any ideas? This whole thing of silencing the unpopular seems very un-Slashdot. Isn't that what Columbine High School's guidance counselors did? Wasn't that the whole problem?

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Are you banned from Slashdot? Excessive Bad Posting. More

Are you banned from Slashdot? Excessive Bad Posting.

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  • Yep. (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I got one of those every time I tried to post for almost two full months. I have cable, but my IP address has been the same for a very long time. I live alone and nobody else accesses my computers, let alone my connection and certainly not slashdot through them.

    Further, I hadn't posted a message to slashdot in WEEKS so it made no sense that I would be banned from posting (especially since nothing I posted should have been considered unacceptable here).

    I emailed the "moderator@slashdot.org" address to ask
    • Write a journal documenting your experience and your conclusions and title it "excessive bad posting"? I don't believe any problem is insurmountable as long as we can act together as a community.

      • Even the /. admins have admitted at one time or another that the moderation system has some serious problems.

        I can't find it now, but I was on a thread awhile back that showed a number of suggestions about improving things. Some might even have worked.

        I don't think we'll ever find out. /. has reached a critical mass where the admins simply don't have the time and/or inclination to do any significant changes. I wish this weren't the case but it is.

        Slashcode is available, so perhaps it's time to make the c
        • A better improved slash always sounds good ... however, I suspect that only a few of the members would go to the trouble of switching unless the reasons were clear and compelling.

          On this note, I'm not sure which would be easier, recreating slash with differences, or convincing the slash overlords that they should make changes.

          The changing the exist slash part sounds easier until you consider the changes would be of the type which would lessen these same overlords' control. Your basically asking them to ta
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Which people? I can see banning crackers, but what about people who are unpopular? Read the user Sanity, who was banned for criticizing the iPod. Should people who critcize the iPod be silenced? Is this censorship? Didn't Cmdrtaco criticize the iPod [slashdot.org]? Should he be banned from Slashdot for this?

      These are the kind of questions this new system makes me want to ask.

    • Funny you should mention him. A few months ago he flamed me in a thread and I shot right back at him and got banned for the effort. He is as big a jerk in real life as he is online (hi Chris! .|... ). I am glad he is gone.

      Slashdot is broken. Look at my comments from June 22 [slashdot.org] my last postings prior to this.

      I like posting and have 'excellent karma' but too many moderators are pushing a political agenda these days. As a response I am going to meta-moderate all political moderations as unfair. If more of
  • Seemed fine to me. Seemed more than fine, even the -1 flamebait seemed insightful. You are a new +1 friend!
  • I didn't see anything bad so you're a friend now too. Being somewhat of a karma whore, I'll put your journal in my sig as well to get some more attention. I minimally believe there should be a bit more openness in a public forum of this nature about said bans (you should be notified of exactly what you were banned for and who (not necessarily personally (creates vandettas and causes bias), but what group) banned you). And I used triple nested parentheses in the last sentence. Too much Lisp.

  • One question (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    And, yes, I am totally going to A/C this.

    Did you, at any time, question the editorial validity or in any way seem to dampen the enthusiasm of any story posted by Michael?

    I had to change usernames because he was seek-and-destroying everything I posted.

  • (Please note: When I say "moderator" I'm not refering to users with mod points, I mean dedicated moderators who can ban IPs and delete posts and the like; dedicated Slashdot moderators)

    Perhaps if your ban was unfair you should e-mail Taco or someone else high up the chain? Are you sharing an IP with someone else (college dorm NAT, for example)? Could you IP have possibly been spoofed or something,a nd the ban was a result of activity you wern't even aware of? What exactly did you post that the moderators d

    • Re:For what, exactly? (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The problem is that the mods/admins don't care. As I mention in my other post here, I'm the only one with access from this IP or that posts from it and I was banned for something like two months without any explanation other than the standard error notice when you try submitting a comment. I couldn't even get anything more from an admin via email other than someone anonymous posting from my IP had been downmodded too many times.

      Whoever is doing the Anon posting from this IP is the one who has been downmodd
    • The people who ban networks, as far as I can tell are the users who moderate - you and me! While I was banned, actually, I could still moderate. This created an interesting irony in that while my entire network was banned, I could still network ban other people. This seems strange. It appears that just two or three negative moderations can ban a network. This means it just takes one user-moderator to down moderate a few of your posts, or a few user-moderators disagreeing about the threshold of your post. If
      • Your journal raises some excellent points, I like it.
      • because I just got modded down twice in 2 posts on the GOP hackers story playing right now. But I just posted in another thread. Gee, I hope I don't get banned again.

        Leftwing political posts are what get you downmodded and banned. There are a lot of libertarians around /.
        Nice open minded types, those Libertarians.

        Or, maybe (pulls down tinfoil cap), maybe the rightwing think tanks and foundations have hired people to post on /. and get mod points and then mod down leftwingers. They have the money and the
        • Libertarians did it?!!

          Aside from editor Timothy, I know of no /. libertarians in ANY positions of power (in fact, Slashdot has a long history of avoiding hacking/playing-with the gold-backed, privately-issued currency I happen to sell, even though I and others would subscribe right-away if they just tried it, but the 'hackers' apparently refuse to experiment!).

          The truth is, libertarians may be to-blame for a lot, but not for the state of Slashdot. I'm libertarian, and for some reason I no-longer get modpo
          • Say, whatever happened to Jim Davidson? Is he still into that egold stuff?
            • He's around, I believe his URL is www.ezez.com and he does sell the currency there. He thinks my moderation of the e-gold list is unfair (I stand by all of my moderation activities, or the e-gold list would turn into something like cypherpunks -- but with more traffic!).

              He had a run-in with Houston's cops a while back, but he tells that tale better than I can...
              JMR

  • http://slashdot.org/faq/com-mod.shtml#cm1400: Is this censorship?

    I don't think so. Nothing is deleted: if you want to read the raw, uncut Slashdot, simply set your threshold to -1 and go crazy! This system is simply a method for us to try to work together to categorize the thousands of comments that are posted each day in such a way that we can benefit from the wisdom contained in the discussions. It's in there! It just takes some work to find it.

    Answered by: CmdrTaco


    I don't see how this answers the question of IP level banning of posts. Yes ... the mod system isn't censorship, but when you stop "undesirable" people from posting, you're goddamn right that's censorship!! Anyone who doesn't think so should buy a fucking dictionary. The only people who should be stopped from posting would be spammers and trolls (ie the NGAA, fuck I hate those guys) and even that is censorship ... I harbor no illusions. Just my two lines of code.

    Kleedrac
    • And you disagree with the FAQ or feel it is incomplete, perhaps you should ask? The answer might surprise you?

      • And you disagree with the FAQ or feel it is incomplete, perhaps you should ask?
        Well, I'd have to say it's incomplete. I don't think it's wrong cause in the right context (being the moderation system) what he says is true, but in our context (being IP-banned posts) it is most certainly false and I agree that a re-write of the FAQ would be appreciated so maybe they can shed some light on this.

        Kleedrac
  • To this day I have no idea why I was banned. When I (finally) got a response to my email it was essentially "sucks to be you". I think that either the autoban scripts are seriously broken, or else someone "higher up" hates my posts. I really don't care either way, but I am looking forward to the site FortKnox is working on (hurrrrry up already! :-) Check his journal for updates). If the powers that be continue to piss folks off, especially paying customers, well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figur
    • Maybe you should politely tell them that banning you for no reason has caused you some concerns, and that you would like them to add it to the FAQ? It does not seem to be well answered there. There is the famous "this is not censorship" blurb, but it does not appear to apply. Maybe they will respond to you?

  • Nick Berg's Head (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Take a look... Nick Berg's Head account [slashdot.org]. Tons of posts were there with +4 and +5 moderations. Soon thereafter, someone decided to mod-bomb it and now all posts have been moderated as troll. The highest score for any post is now +1 Troll. In disgust, the account owner basically gave away the account, as you can read in his journal [slashdot.org].
  • I was banned too, but not for my comments... I just went to view slashdot one day, and I found my account had been banned. I bothered the "tech support" (*snort*) weenies, and they do nothing, eventually ignoring me completely. So I made another account, and here I am. WTF is up with slashdot these days? When did it start being run by monkeys? All this banning, then the error messages...

  • Like you, after years of positive posts, I posted a message that a couple of people didn't like. Boom, baby, instantly banned.

    The funny part? I had mod points no fewer than four times while I was waiting for my ban to expire. It was like they were telling me "We don't trust you to post messages, but we'd love your opinion on what other people have posted."

    steve
  • Because I have been banned twice, and both times it was for leftist-oriented political posts.

    Also, see my post above for tinfoil speculations on this.....
  • I seem to get it quite often but I'm on dial up.. if you look at my posts you can see I'm clearly not the troll type (most are good, theres a coupleof bad but I always blame bad moderation for that. Givea monkey a hammer to put a picture on a wall and he'll hit someone with it).

    I don't know if it's censorship or if it's just Slashdot is such a messy place no one really cares any more and mods everything "funny" "insightful" (which it hardly is) or Troll/off topic.

    Makes me feel like anon cowarding trolling

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