In that case, I’d suggest just putting together a blacklist of all those sites. Then, maybe every six months or once a year—which isn't exactly a frequent task, mind you—you could give that list an update.
So, I decided to start a thread over on the mystery section of CNN about Z. Some users had no clue what I was talking about, so I tried to drop a link to that article from the All the Way Down site. No luck. Then I tried using a TinyURL to make it clickable. Still nothing.
The article itself is actually decent. The site isn't even bad. So why is it impossible to link to them, while we can easily link to Los Angeles, The Washington Post, or news sites? Is it because of a handful of spammers? Look, you can believe they're gone if you want, but here's the deal: The New York Times was blacklisted back when I was still a mod, so this goes way back. How else are you supposed to know they’re still trying every trick in the book to promote the site unless you try to bypass the censorship? Unless we're dealing with actual spambots, it shouldn't be hard to just wipe out a few links and permaban the advertisers. It feels like a waste not being able to link to legitimate news outlets. And honestly, without wanting to offend anyone, unless it's blatant spam, it shouldn't be up to admins and mods to decide which content deserves censorship and which doesn't. What's next? Are we going to ban YouTube? Google? Twitter? The Council? 😉
Which sites are actually censored here—like, what am I not allowed to link to on this forum? I know The New York Times was the first one to get hit by the filters because a bunch of spammers were trying to pump up their traffic. Now I’m honestly a little annoyed to find out that All the Way Down and TinyURL are blocked too. Is there anything else? Does anyone have a master list somewhere?
And since those spammers who caused all this trouble are gone, are you guys even considering lifting some of these bans? It's standard practice for major news outlets to link directly to articles from other media sources, so I don't see why we have to deal with these restrictions here.
Vitamin supplements, herbal teas, and whatever else. 😁
For some people, three days doesn't even feel like enough time because they’ve got that whole "real life" excuse to hide behind. If we follow that logic, we might as well just hand out week-long bans right off the bat just to be safe. (Shoot, I have a feeling someone over there is going to love that idea 😬)
But look, the strike stays. The points stay. So if that troll decides to start up again in a few hours, those points stack up, and they could easily wind up facing a multi-day ban. 🤷
Honestly, even three days is way too much. If the whole point of a suspension is to act as a disciplinary measure for people who can't stop bickering, a few hours should do the trick. 🤷 It’s like when you were a kid in elementary school and your teacher would put you in timeout for a bit. You just cool off, get your head straight, and move on like a civilized human being. So why make it three days?
What’s even the point of a three-day ban? If someone needs a cooling-off period, fine, but three days feels excessive. Most people just need an hour to chill out. Maybe a day at most. Have you guys ever thought about actually adjusting the ban durations? It would be great if more moderators weighed in on this. And the users, too. You could even just throw up a poll or something.
Steven Reed said:I am practically vibrating—mostly because I can't find a single emoji that captures this level of frantic energy (note to self: go on a desperate hunt for an appropriately manic smiley): 😍
mellowraven22 said:I could always ask my boss what he thinks about it, but I'm pretty sure he’s just gonna shut me down.
Just ask him if they're planning on cutting our message limits too. If they are, then we aren't asking for a raise—we're just demanding they give us back what we already had. 😉 And quit messing around! 🙂
Well, admins, I see the mods actually have our backs! 👏 Bigger inboxes, please! 👋 No, but seriously, would increasing that actually crush the servers? A single DM feels about the same as one post on the Forum, except they get deleted constantly anyway, so it shouldn't be a huge deal. But hey, I guess someone actually knows how to run those numbers properly.
ambermason16 said:That’s exactly why I say—be careful what you wish for. I’m out here clearing out my inbox three times a week just to keep up with the clutter.
If everyone on this Forum suddenly jumped to 90... would we even notice the dip?
You know what, I think it was a hundred back in the day too. 😳 I’m guessing they cut it because of server load, but now that our server isn't hosted over in Albania, there’s no reason we can't go back to the old way. 🤷
slywolf45 said:I have a feeling this topic has already surfaced, and frankly, the idea didn't really gain any traction at the time.🤷
Just some prideful sheep...🤣🤣
We should be constantly questioning our decisions. Get a new server, hire some new people—maybe it’ll actually pass this time. Is there any actual reason why it wouldn't work? I seriously doubt that adding 25 more messages is going to crash the server any harder than it is right now.
By the way, why hasn't anyone pulled together 90 bucks yet? 🤔
And seriously, watch out for what you wish for.. 😬
"Just eat cookies," huh? 🤣 Seriously, where else are you going to find better proof that we need a bigger inbox than this? It's like the moderators don't realize that even 70 messages isn't enough to keep us afloat.😢
Ace, I used to have 300, so I know how it feels. 😍 Just give the unlucky crowd at least a third of what you guys get. 🙂
Would it actually crash the server if we had something more useful? I mean, come on—our servers are supposedly indestructible, right? But seriously, would giving us regular users templates with, say, a hundred private messages be too much to ask? Having only 75 is honestly pathetic. It’s just not enough.
slywolf45 said:Are you seriously asking that with a straight face?😕 There are times when even ten of us wouldn't be enough, given how fast troll threads pop up in a single day or the sheer volume of posts flying in every hour.
I don't see any massive surge in post counts or new threads since my days as a moderator over at Reddit, so I really don't think they need three mods there.
Besides... there's the report button (or the option to send a PM). People aren't supposed to tag moderators directly in threads, even in a chat thread.
And as for the Trash forum theme... good grief, that was a hot potato even ages ago. I remember Azriel and I constantly having to brainstorm ways to manage it, almost as if that specific thread were its own separate PDF. It was just constant, constant, constant complaints from people about it.🙄 I'm honestly not surprised it finally reached a breaking point for someone.
Look, I'm not trying to join the whining about missing threads and I have zero interest in fanning the flames here, but seriously—WHY? If you post something on a forum, you have to accept the reality that one person will think it's brilliant, another will think it's stupid or boring, and someone else will find it so hilarious they just want to mock it. There's a massive difference between some user oversharing their private life and then crying because they're worried about being recognized, versus a user who intentionally writes a post and doesn't care which subforum it lives in—only to have everyone start screaming and throwing a tantrum when that post gets crossposted elsewhere. Why do you guys obsess over stuff like that? Why are certain regular users treated like protected wildlife in their own little corners, demanding intervention the second they see their posts show up on Reddit, while the regulars who actually hang out on Reddit get kicked to the curb? Why does one person's complaint carry weight while another's is completely ignored?
Once again, it feels like pure stupidity and forum political correctness are winning out over actual humor. 😢And I'm not even talking about the mods mostly; I'm talking about those ego-driven types who can't even laugh at their own posts.
rustydrifter10 said:Let’s be real: you don't just get a permanent ban for breathing wrong. It takes a massive pile of violations—we're talking someone with a huge reputation score—to trigger that kind of hammer. Or, it could be one single, massive violation, like trying to create a clone account while your main profile is already banned.
Because permanent bans aren't handed out left and right, anyone who follows the activity on this Reddit should probably have a pretty good idea of why it happened, since someone facing that level of discipline likely wasn't exactly following the rules.
Just to be totally clear, I have no idea who Bear is or what he specifically did to get banned.
The second part sounds pretty stupid to me, honestly. I get why you’d permaban an alt if someone created it specifically to dodge a ban and keep arguing (if I recall correctly, that rule was basically made to stop people from doing exactly that during political debates), but banning an existing alt account just because the main account got a three-day or seven-day suspension? That feels pointless. In my opinion, if that happens, the ban duration should just be applied to both accounts equally.
As for the topic at hand, the current admin crew knows exactly how I feel about the way they run this place, and how much of a joke this entire sub-forum is. It serves no real purpose. I’m just glad more of the old-school users and former mods are finally starting to notice the same things I have. Dear admins, it’s exactly like I told you. ☕
🙂