All jokes aside regarding my username, I’m reaching out because, by some miracle🙄, I read that my permanent ban could be lifted in four months if I actually requested it.
In the spirit of showing some good faith, I’ve decided to be upfront and admit that those two alt accounts are mine. By the way, I know I haven't been "caught" via my IP address since I'm typing from yet another account (this one is for regular posting, while those other two were just for trolling in the political subreddits, which is how I got exposed 😁). I use an easy-to-use IP masking program, so you won't be able to track me through my IP address regardless.
@fashion, you know how much we went back and forth in my DMs about lifting my permanent ban. We exchanged a ton of messages.
After everything, I even suggested to you that you just lift the permanent ban but keep my partial bans active on fashion and the politics board, but you wouldn't even consider that. You were incredibly cold about it, and honestly, that just fueled my resentment, which is why I ended up making those two new alts.
Anyway, I was recently reading this thread
http://www.reddit.com/showthread.php?t=810690 and, lo and behold, I found a link that mirrors my exact situation. You might wonder which link. Well, look—just like in my case, certain neutral observers noticed things that the moderators clearly wanted to overlook, such as
http://www.reddit.com/showpost.php?p=44979274&postcount=3 and so on.
I’d say that I, much like Mr. fearful eater, have been a model user—constructive, respectful, etc. The mods in the subreddits where I used to hang out know that; I don't even need to say it. However, when you feel a certain level of bias on a forum, like what fearful eater, myself, or others felt before us (and there will undoubtedly be more people after us given this moderation style), you start acting out purely out of spite. Either you're smarter than me, like fearful eater, and you don't come back with alts to act out (hopefully he's smarter than me, though maybe he'll come back with alts too, who knows 😬), or you react the way I did.
I was actually quite pleasantly surprised by Master Lock's post, specifically the last one in that first link. It was an excellent post that should serve as a North Star for all of you in "management." Once you finally realize that users aren't here for you, but rather you are here for them, you'll see positive shifts in how the site is run, and this will become a much more pleasant place for discussion.Look, fashion, I found myself reflected perfectly in one part of Master Lock's post, right here:
fearful eater is undeniably a noble and decent person; some of you know him better than I do. From what we are reading here, however, it is undeniable that Reddit has recently failed to encourage nobility and decency in him, instead bringing out other sides of his character. I'm not going to claim I'm noble or decent; let others say that. All I know is that before these messy situations, I was what a typical user should be—normal, respectful in debates, constructive, and so on. Unfortunately, due to certain actions on this site and the mounting frustration of feeling like I can't change anything, I've had a total character shift. Dammit.
Now, I'm being told I have to wait four months for my permanent ban to be lifted. No. I will not, and cannot, agree to that. I find such a proposal to be a form of humiliation and a degradation of who I am as a user—or rather, who I was before this character shift occurred.
My proposal is this: lift the permanent ban, and if you want, keep the partial bans on fashion and the politics board; take them off whenever you feel like it. But as for these humiliating offers like "we'll lift your permanent ban in four months, just come ask for it"... sorry, I can't do it. My pride won't allow it.
As for the forum itself, it isn't hard to change things. But I don't want to. I want to post here because I actually like this place. If you refuse to lift my permanent ban, then unfortunately, I'll just keep posting from my currently active account. Don't bother trying to find me; you won't be able to track me via IP, as my proxy is set to launch automatically whenever Windows starts up.😁 (I was posting under a burner account after dropping about 30 comments already, but I totally forgot to toggle my proxy. The moderator, Fashion Barbie, sniffed me out instantly—honestly, I think these women have IP addresses memorized lol)
I’d really appreciate it if this thread doesn't get nuked immediately like everything else has been lately. At least give me a heads-up if you aren't going to ban me so we're on the same page. And if you do decide to pull the plug, I highly recommend adding Master Lock's post to your favorites and giving it a read every now and then. It might actually change your perspective.🙂
Cheers to everyone on Reddit,
Grandpa's Banjo