Banning.

[clobberintime]

So you really think that anonymous guy was Meth? I thought it was probably one of the bored coin collectors come down here trying to keep things stirred up. I guess the most excitement we will have here now is the coin guys chatting with each other.

[blowout]

"I guess the most excitement we will have here now is the coin guys chatting with each other. "

 

come on, things can't be THAT bad

 

[keithdagen]

So you really think that anonymous guy was Meth? I thought it was probably one of the bored coin collectors come down here trying to keep things stirred up. I guess the most excitement we will have here now is the coin guys chatting with each other.

 

We don't pay enough attention to make it sound realistic. It's a bored comic collector, one of Meth's defenders, or Meth himself making those posts.

[clobberintime]

Just teasing! I think i know who it was - and it was not Meth. It is kind of like Darth Sidious having a minion. You know every dark lord of the Sith has an apprentice. it took me awhile to figure out who it is - but i know who he is and he is still around but just does not have the testicular fortitude to step forth. I guess we can call him mini-Meth!

[keithdagen]

The only coin guys who post over here (me included) at least to read those little funny books at one point.

 

I guess we can call him mini-Meth!

 

Sounds like a personal title in the making.

[supapimp]

better copyright that right now, before somebody else does and makes mad cash.

[ablue]

TOTALLY WRONG!!! HOW CAN YOU BAN A PERSON FOR SPEAKING HIS MIND? HE HAD BEEN PREVOCKED BY OTHERS AND IN DEFENCE HE HAD BEEN BANNED!!!! NOT A RIGHT THING TO DO AS HE MIGHT KEEP YOU IN BUSINESS ONE DAY. UN CONSTITUTIONAL!!!!!

[keithdagen]

Hey, re-read my posts. I neither defended or condemned the guy, just suggested that the Silver Age Forum troll be given a nickname.

[blowout]

ablue, he wasn't banned for speaking his mind. he was banned because he crossed the line and was dangerously offensive to several board members. specifically in his auto signature line.

[comicartfan]

It's not about censorship....there has to be a line drawn of what's acceptable behavior and what is not. If my ten-year old goes into a profanity laden tirade of why Neal Adam's was a better artist than Todd Mcfaralane, then if I silence him is it censorship ? - AND you can't use the argument that Meth isn't a child

I have often wondered why didn't he just ignore the posts that were negating him ? By responding in a lenthy , long winded, incredibly boring and usually redundent manner about his size of his collection, body, IQ score, talents as a restorer or whatever else that particular moment brought out in him, then the posts wouldn't have continued. People would be bored and move on to something else. -

[CosmicBob]

How do you figure it's unconstitutional? Is the government banning Meth for saying anything?

[Architecht]

Meth was not banned for expressing his opinion. He was banned for his own unique blend of profanity, extreme personal attacks and physical threats. Even more so he was banned for his final move of responding to moderation with more of the same.

 

Opinions are fine. The above mentioned stuff is not.

 

Arch

[braddick]

Keith- what the heck are you doing over here?! Pick up your sand pale and plastic shovel and leave these guys alone!

::Shesh:: Do I have to keep an eye on you ALL the time?!

[Architecht]

(laughing)

 

Sorry man. I don't know what I was thinking.

 

Arch

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Ok, the first thing I want to say is that I have no idea what kind of discussion you and Meth may have had in private if any at all. I have not read every post here, and I'm relatively new to these boards (I'm not up to speed on Meth's history), but as someone that is not one of the "popular" posters, I can somewhat relate to Meth.

 

Architecht: "Meth is banned until... well, I guess until whenever. He's proved incapable of moderating his own posts to avoid personal attacks - primarily because he feels that he has to respond to baiting rather than simply flagging offensive posts for moderation. He has also proved to be incapable of accepting being moderated without feeling like a martyr and lashing out."

 

Moderating his own posts to avoid personal attacks? Who is the moderator here? Flagging? You know this does not always prove to be effective, and people tend to get even more upset when they learn that you went to the moderator. Probably almost everyone at this messageboard is guilty of "personally attacking" another poster at some time or another. Resond to baiting? Come on, you must me joking here Arch, would you sit there and let the "personal attacks" keep on piling up without saying a word? So we are supposed to go "snitch" to the moderator every time we have a problem? Let's get back to reality here, Meth is NOT a fool, and probably had good REASONS for venting his displeasure with a couple of posters (not that he went about it in the right manner). Also, I did get a chance to read his signature, and while I don't appreciate the abuse of profanity, I don't see the words that he used as a "personal attack". If you want to know what I view as a personal attack, then read the exchange of words in Silver/Bronze Marvels on eBay between DarthDiesel and myself. Specifically my intelligence is attacked, and that is what I call a personal attack. I see the words that Meth used in his signature more as his way of expressing his displeasure with a couple of posters. Perhaps he even meant "I don't like you" when he said it, but that would be no different than what Mudbuddha said about me in Opinions? thread. BTW, if you are reading this thank you for coming in and moderating arnoldt. Did you PM Meth and ask him to change his signature? IMO, the best thing would have been to PM Meth and tell him to change his signature or be banned, he should have been give an option, and if you did give him the option, then I guess he made his choice.

 

Architecht: " Personally, I don't have any real issue with Meth other than the fact that he has a temper that owns him rather than him owning his temper - a somewhat regrettable way to go through life. I've given him abundant chances on these boards to bring himself under control. Whatever his other sins or virtues may be in the collecting world, the only thing I happen to care about is his conduct on these boards. And the bottom line is that although many of his posts are interesting and comics-related, far too many others are just plain offensive. The most recent posts that landed him for a brief stay in the penalty box were, in fact, vastly improved from the kind of junk he used to produce. Nonetheless, as is his usual pattern, they got worse over the course of the thread due to his tendency to respond in a constantly escalating manner. That, however, is not what got him banned. What got him banned was the fact that on being given a little penalty box time to check himself, he just went off the deep end with his signature line and profile."

 

Far too many of Meth's posts are offensive? Hmmm...well Arch if you allow topics such as the "Rip Meth" thread (what business did it have in the Genearal Comics forum anyway?) to stay up for days and days (which IMO should have been deleted the moment you noticed it), then that might have an effect on the number of offensive posts, and even make the matter worse. I could be wrong, but from what posts I've read, I don't belive that Meth invites trouble any more than anybody else, yet he is banned as if he were THE troublemaker. What kind of sin is it to defend your position, when a person is picking a fight with you? You mentioned that his posts have improved, and I understand what you are saying about the signature, and he knew better, but obviously some things have been said by other people that have CAUSED him to react that way. Did Meth get out of line with his signature, yes, but Arch, I think he should be given another chance (maybe require some kind of apology), AND you should try to keep his antagonists in check. It takes two to tango in this world.

 

Architecht: "I'm explaining all of this not out of some desire to justify the move. I'm explaining it because I believe that the community should be kept aware of the standards being enforced and have input into them as well as be aware of what each of you are being asked to live up to."

 

Please keep in mind that this is my input...

 

Architecht: "Meth might be back. Who knows. He's a colorful poster who is clearly passionate and informed about comics and capable, when not pissed off, of contributing well to the discussions here. But the bottom line is that you can't keep ignoring the board rules repeatedly and expect there to never be any consequences."

 

I hope he will be back, and when he is NOT PROVOKED to anger, he is a passionate and informed contributer at these forums. I commend you Arch for enforcing the standards, and for accepting input and even criticism, and all that I would say is please don't play favorites (NOT that you are, but as more of a reminder), and try and read more posts to get to the "root" of the issue.

 

Thanks for listening -M.O.S

[snizzenfixit]

Hey MOS ... Guess what? I agree with much of what you posted.

 

Phil

 

 

[Architecht]

 

Various responses:

 

1) He was free to respond to baiting by defending himself all he wanted. And he has in the past without any word from me. Unfortunately, he often managed to escalate things until his responses are extreme personal attacks. It's not the defense of himself that was the problem, it was the nature of defense. Name calling and physical threats, etc.

 

The timeline:

a) Meth is involved in a thread where he gets a bit over the top, calling people racists and generally attacking their physical appearance and a few other choice comments. Multiple people not involved in the dispute report the posts.

 

b) I moved Meth and the posts into the penalty box to end the thread and bring things back into civility. I can't really find the source of the original dispute as it wasn't actually started on that thread. Also, Meth rails about a bunch of alleged emails that he has access to that have ticked him off.

 

c) Meth finds himself there and shoots me about 3 or 4 private messages growing more irate as he gets no answer to each - because it's the weekend and I'm not home. This included some threats about making how-to manuals on breaking open slabs undetectably, threatening legal action, blah blah blah. Still not banned.

 

d) Meth then changes his profile and signature to a whole series of invectives against a number of people as a way to get around the penalty box and continue yelling at people.

 

e) I erase his profile info and replace it with "I've lost the priviledge" in the signature to eliminate the tantrum. I also respond to his private messages telling him to stop the antics or he's not getting out any time soon. Still not banned.

 

f) Meth changes his signature again into an invitation to fight me, a few choice insults, and an implication that I used an alternate identity to start the fight with him.

 

g) Enough is enough. I banned him.

 

2) His detractors have been warned in the past, and threads have been pulled. Although his detractors don't cross the line into extreme combativeness as often or as deeply as he does, so somehow he ends up getting more of the attention.

 

Please note that it is not taboo to discuss Meth or any other legitimate comics topic on these boards. I am not trying now nor have I tried in the past to regulate the content here where it concerns the opinions of the members. It would be impossible to try and prevent people from sharing their opinions on each other and the events around them in the comics world on the boards - sanitizing things to only discussion of non-people-related topics. We can't stop people from discussing issues they feel are pertinent. If it's not here, it will be someplace else. We can only ask that they do it with some reasonable (but not overly restrictive) boundary of civility and productiveness.

 

Most of the rules on this board simply pertain to keeping the discussions relatively civil without draining the passion from discussions. Thus, it's ok to have an issue with other members and to discuss your problems. It's just not ok to let that then descend into extreme combat. It's not ok to let it take over the forum.

 

As for Meth. I have considered commuting his ban to a suspension. I considered making it a suspension as I did it. It might happen. Although who knows if he even wants to come back. Like I said, I don't have any real problem with Meth if he'd just keep his temper to a dull roar.

 

Arch

[keithdagen]

Keith- what the heck are you doing over here?! Pick up your sand pale and plastic shovel and leave these guys alone!

 

Post more on the Coin board and I won't have to slum.

[supapimp]

i was thinking the exact same thing, but didn't post it since i didn't want to offend the coin guys.

[snizzenfixit]

Post more on the Coin board and I won't have to slum.

 

Slum? SLUM??? I will have you know that you are only slumming when you participate in a thread which I am a major participant. Aside from my stoopid and meaningless posts the comics forum contains some of the finest minds ever assembled in one place. The amount of knowledge here would put ANY library to shame. In fact I would be willing to bet that some of the posters here were authors of some of the original books of the Bible. Oh no, you are not slumming among the brilliance that is "The Comic Forums".

 

Phil