I think that it would be a good idea to have a sort of Org noteboard, I know the forums are it but I mean a different one, with ONLY statements about people leaving, changing username or being banned allowed, for the benefit of everybody so that we don't have to make the threads that go "Why the hell did Natisse leave?" or "Why was SoAndSo banned?" and "Who the hell is this BlahBlah person, it's an alter ego but whose". I REALLY REALLY cannot see the harm in letting people know who's been banned and why, because the only reason I can think of NOT to let it be common knowledge is that the mods aren't confident they did the right thing. What I'm thinking is something like this:

Teacher has deleted their account on 1-1-01

Teacher was banned on 1-1-01 for breaking the site rules as follows; Flaming another Org user.

Teacher changes username to Teach


I can't see why not? If a mod tries to explain the reason for not letting people know why mods have done something and you're grinding the same old tune, don't bother cos it's not flying anymore.

Thanks

Steps down from the soap box

sounds like a good idea but will it be considered too much?

Nahh too much work.

luv4u said:

I think it can tie in with, for example, the act of banning someone. As you click, a post is automagically put in that forum.
Auto-lock the post, because no replies are necessary.

Where's the extra work? Besides for Ben scripting it all in

I've seen it before on other boards (big ones) so it prolly is pratical.

Teacher said:

Illustrator was banned because we've all simply have had just about enough.

I've always liked the idea of an "introductory forum" where new members could greet everyone. I guess the same could be said for those leaving, but... to give the reasons for a banning or locking, etc... might violate some privacy issues. Overall, I'm sure we could say something to the effect of what happened without giving exact reasons, but why do people feel the need to know everyone's business unless you're directly involved.

But, like Luv said, it is a lot of work.

June7 said:

It's almost like a community ! eerrrr, wait

I'm sure you remember (and locking) threads like, why was such and such banned, including the sometimes long list of arguments pro and con.


Here, a few example of another board:
user X has 2 weeks vacation for starting flame-war

user Z has a permaban for repeatedly violating site-rules

On that board the mods post messages like this in a thread in a site-discussion forum like this one. They rigged that thread so only mods can post on it. Everyone can read it though.

my

luv4u said:

and why would it be


"too much work" i dont see the problem in ben implenting some kind of code to create it. and it wouldnt need any kind of maint. so you wouldnt have to worry about it being "too much work" it would be an autoscript.

but then no one would be able to have alter egos!

JasmineFire said:

EXACTLY!

Oh and June... it's not knowing people's business, it's what Alf said and also that it's not fun to go to orgnote somebody and they're suddenly not there anymore, and discussing where they went in the forums are not allowed and orgnoting a mod will get you the same old bullshit. That's it.

it's nobody's business unless the user wants to make it people's business.

if this happened, i wouldn't like it. if i delete my account or get banned or whatever, it's really none of your business. sorry to be so blunt about it, but i don't see why anyone (other than mods) is entitled to that kind of account information.

Anx said:

I'm in agreement here. If I wanna tell people where I've been or where I'm going, I will. Everyone else can too.

CarrieMpls said:

the bush administration likely has records of every single post by every single account and alter ego

XxAxX said:

well then, if orgers wanna know my business, they should go be republicans.

Anx said:

Can't we just kidnap you, lock you up illegally and then release you after three years, without charges filed, saying, well, nothing?

I know a cool place. Somewhere warm, preferably an island...

HamsterHuey said:

so okay, my privacy is negotiable.

CarrieMpls said:

I'm curious... if you get banned and don't have any way to contact your orgers except org notes or email addys kept in orgnotes that you can't access, how will you tell them?

Anx said:

Why would we want to know YOUR business?

Teacher said:

it's not like the org is the exclusive hub of interacting online...people find ways in those situations, and if nothing else: if you don't want to lose those lines of communication, don't get banned!

Anx said:

It's not always a choice you know...

Teacher said:

getting banned is rarely a "choice", is it?

i know some people "try" to get banned in order to curb an org addiction or to make a statement or just to be a badass, but in general, isn't banning a decision that doesn't really involve the banned person's consent?
[Edited 5/13/06 12:28pm]

Just my opinion here....

I think something like this is a good idea. For one thing, as Teacher suggested, a brief "official statement" on why someone was banned might stop rumors, speculation, etc., before they start.

As for the privacy concerns, I don't see how disclosing the simple fact that "User X deleted his/her account on May/13/2006 at 15:02" is a privacy issue. If User X has an account, you can ascertain that fact by viewing his/her profile, which then gives you the account creation date. To me, they're two sides of the same coin.

Furthermore, a "User X deleted his/her account...." statement doesn't say why User X did it, where User X might be going, how to contact User X, who User X is, etc. It certainly isn't "personally identifiable information," which is what the prince.org Privacy Policy protects. And in any event, users who violate the User Agreement / Terms of Service -- which includes banned users -- lose the protection of the Privacy Policy.

matt said:

So if we make ban information public record on the org, then on the other hand if someone gets a warning, should we change their avatar to a scarlet "A" so everyone will know they did something naughty?

If someone's banned and there's an indicator that their account is currently inactive, I can see the use in that. But to state that the user is banned just seems vindictive and in bad form.


[Edited 5/14/06 6:07am]

matt said:

so teacher, what other personal information would you like us to have exposed?

if we gotta post our SSN and phone numbers, i'm outta here.

Anx said:

It's not personal, Matt said so

How about bank statements to straight men? Or, for you, for gay men... hell, for everybody!!

Anx said:

matt said:

Yeah, but... how you gonna keep up with all the drama here when we can't even make the members happy with the current moderating going on in the first place. We get several complaints that the moderating efforts don't give proper notices of locks, hiding, moved threads etc... now, you expect a brief 'official statement' on why someone had action taken against them for the other orgers to see?

I'm all for being open. I personally orgnote or note every action I take on a thread. But to now offer a forum or area to officially register such action (or beyond) is somehow more than should be expected...

If it's just a "note" of "user banned for abusing account rules" etc... then that's okay. But if it's "this orger was banned for excessive obscene posts", then that's a post of a different color.

my