rustydrifter10
Regular
693 messages
joined Apr 2011
Aaron Jones87, I actually got the notification for that chat last week, so I decided to take some time to really dive in and scroll through everything—reading almost every single post, including yours. Even though you aren’t exactly a regular on the main subforums, you are by far the most active person in those chat threads. Just to give some context on how we handle things: every individual PDF has its own dedicated chat because they're designed for the core group of users there to have a more relaxed space to hang out without cluttering up the main discussion topics. It’s basically a spot for the "locals" to socialize, usually staying somewhat related to the main subject of the board. Occasionally, people who don't normally post on the boards will pop into the chat, though sometimes folks join without the best intentions. I won't sit here and question your motives, but what I can say is that your presence tends to dominate in a pretty negative way.
I did a little digging into the numbers: on the Recreation board, you have 1,522 posts, and an incredible 1,499 of those are in the chat threads. Looking at your total history on the forum, you've written 57,489 posts (though many were likely deleted, and some were in sections that don't count toward the tally, like the Off-topic areas, given that the number next to your username sits at 47,046). I went through manually to see how much of that was in chats and similar threads, and I landed on roughly 46,500—it’s probably even higher since I wasn't being hyper-precise and skipped the boards where you barely post. All this just goes to show that, fundamentally, you aren't really a constructive member of the community; your entire base is centered around chats and lighthearted threads that are generally loosely moderated, where conversations are freer and people tend to push boundaries more often.
What I noticed in the Recreation chat is your classic *modus operandi*: you quote someone else, start throwing shade, act difficult, and lean into being provocatively unpleasant just to ramp up the tension. You sort of poison the well, and then, once someone finally snaps and gets blunt or insults you, you come running to complain about how you're being unfairly attacked for no reason at all. But there *is* a reason; it’s just subtle, and you really have to read more than two posts to see the full picture and understand the context.
I’ve gone through and pulled your posts that I believe the supermoderators and moderators should essentially issue warnings for. Look, a little bit of poking and prodding in a chat might slide, but when you drop fifteen instances of that kind of behavior in just a few days, we have a serious problem. I agree that we need to penalize those who end up insulting you in response, but at some point, we have to draw a line to prevent these cycles from continuing.
I've lost track of which board this is or how many times you've tried to play the victim. Theoretically, it’s impossible for you to be right every single time while everyone else around you is inexplicably attacking you and acting poorly. It isn't like that; we’ve proven that every time we take a closer look at an appeal. You’ve developed a reputation for this behavior, and anyone who has encountered you in one corner of the site knows exactly what to expect when they see you popping up somewhere else.
The supermoderator and I have agreed on a partial ban, and the moderator is on board with it too. Honestly, a permanent ban wouldn't even sound bad to me, but this decision is well-earned and isn't just some spiteful move on our part to get back at you. Within this year alone, you've racked up enough points to justify a permanent ban, regardless of whether current warnings are still active. I am almost always willing to give someone another chance, but for that to be an option for you, you have to be self-aware enough to realize how toxic your style of interaction is, and you have to be willing to change it quickly and thoroughly. I'm not sure how realistic that expectation is, especially after all the appeals and explanations right here on the Natural Science board, which clearly haven't made an impact. Even us mods in this section were discussing a partial ban for you before the whole Recreation situation even broke out. Handing out partial bans and fighting the same battles over and over again makes no sense, and it certainly isn't fair to the rest of the community.
