Posted on 06/16/2002 5:32:24 AM PDT by magnum opus dejure
Well, it's been 4 years since I first found Free Republic. I have always felt like I belonged here and have really enjoyed the banter back and forth between us members. I am afraid all this is now over. I am really suprised and shocked at it's suddenness. Before I leave I want to thank a freeper from Michigan who sent me a DVD player last year to give to my kids for Christmas. You reaffirmed my faith in humanity.
I know this thread will be deleted before many people get to read it, but I just can't go without saying a final word. Every since 911 the 'vibe' here at FR has been decidedly hostile. I guess it was a matter of time before the newbie moderator got around to weeding me out for my sometimes unpopular views. So I join the ranks of A+Bert and so many others who gave FR a interesting flavor. I will miss coming here 20 times a day and keeping up on things. But without posting priviledges there is just no point. I must go find another conservative group to try to be a part of.
In the future, when a freeper who has been a loyal member since August 1998 crosses the line, how about a note instead of banning? Would that have been too much? I may have gotten out of line, how is beyond me, but if such a tresspass would have been pointed out I would gladly have refrained from doing so again. It is just not right to just ban an account with no explaination. Especially when the freeper has been here 4 years. I have no idea what I am going to do with my days now that I no longer have FR. Well, I guess I have said my part. It is a sad day when one has to leave family and friends. I feel like some of you were just that. But apparently I am no longer wanted around here. I bid my good day to you all and hope that karma pays it's respects to those who do injustice.
All of the examples I gave above were in the past few days.
Was he just a troubled guy who lost it? Maybe. But we do have some disruptors who literally have dozens of accounts from 1998 or 2000 or 2001 laying around aging, and when one gets banned they start using another. He may have been in that category. No real way to tell. What I do know is that people who think that way should find another online home.
When you sign up, you get a confirmation mail from Jim. If you get banned or suspended and disagree with it, you can mail him at that address using regular email.
Somehow, I doubt Jim banned you for the reasons you gave right there.
OH my goodness! Does this person know that paranoia is a treatable illness? Someone should get this person to a doctor ASAP. UMMM... make sure it isn't a female doctor or anyone of color. On second thought...........he he he he he.
The other day I posted something about our government too. The F-18's were flying all over my house. Oh wait. They do that once a month, I live near a base. Never mind. Hey, where's my FR T-shirt? And where can I buy one?
I got a better idea. Have a mirror forum comprised of nothing but banned FReepers where they could all go at each other. JimRob could then charge admission to the site for non-banned FReepers and voila....we'd probably never have to have another fundraiser around this place again.
Has Jim considered "aging off" old accounts so they can't be used in this way as sleeper accounts? Automatically nuke accounts after X amount of time (and X could be a year or more). IMO, anyone who selects a screen name then doesn't use it for a year or more is simply trying to place a "back door" into the system, and should be discouraged from doing so.
Having worked as a moderator for a major network news chat site in the past, abusers often open 10 or more accounts at a time using the same IP, which is a red flag for trouble. Why not "smarten up" the software so it records when this happens, then follow up with the abuse coordinator at that particular IP when/if disruptive posts spew from those abused accounts?
That just shows you never saw the pic of him sweatin' in that t-shirt while he was choppin' wood!
Whoops! I said t-shirt! hope that ain't a bannin offence!
Here, go and check. You won't see his posts, but in each of these, no one hit abuse. They stayed up on the forum until about 4 hours after he was banned (that is how long it took until Jim woke up for the day and decided to nuke). These are the comments I mentioned above.
That's enough for now. As I was compiling this for you, I noticed something. Nearly all of his replies were made to either himself (so only he would see it unless the thread was loaded) and to JohnHuang2 (who gets so many replies that there is no way he could see them all).
Beyond the software restriction, Jim prefers to handle the banning or nuking of "established" freepers himself. What makes for established? Time and involvement. Would this "wasfree" person have qualified? I say no (which is what I did the ban, asking Jim to look and nuke if he felt appropriate). He was established by time, but by the counters here I can see how much posting he had done, and it wasn't much until the past month. And being a long timer with a good memory, I don't remember him from before the counters went into place back in 2000.
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