Does anyone understand how things work with the banning?

[_Daniel Peterson]

<snip>

This has nothing to do with anything, but I totally dig the new avatar.

Thanks. It's an old photograph, but still, I think, one of my best.

How do I make it bigger, though? Everybody else seems to have a bigger avatar, and I'm very sad about that.

[_Droopy]

Oh yes, and from time to time DCP drops by to post about his lunch dates, or otherwise impress people with his life as a B-list academic."

"B-list academic." I like that.

It's even better than "intellectual coward," your previous entry.

I think I'll add it to my vast archive of quotations.

Give Chap a cookie and he'll go away.

[_skippy the dead]

How do I make it bigger, though? Everybody else seems to have a bigger avatar, and I'm very sad about that.

I think the size of the avatar is related to the degree of wickedness of a poster. The bigger the more evil.

Wait - my avatar is big.

I take it back.

[_Moniker]

The MAD mods seem to be deliberately trying to turn their board into a place where a few not very bright or well-informed non-LDS are allowed to drift in from time to time to say dumb things....

Which explains why my ability to post is intact.

Of course it's their board and they can choose how to run it. It's just disappointing to see long time posters such as Tarski and The Dude limited in their ability to post. They're both fairly well liked by the community, over there, and are, for the most part, fairly polite to their guests. I was startled when Tarski was banned a while ago and now this seems rather sudden, as well. I certainly hope his posting abilities are just limited in that one thread and not board wide. Tarski has started some interesting threads and it's enjoyable watching him challenge certain notions respectfully and reasonably.

[_TygerFang]

How do I make it bigger, though? Everybody else seems to have a bigger avatar, and I'm very sad about that.

I think the size of the avatar is related to the degree of wickedness of a poster. The bigger the more evil.

Wait - my avatar is big.

I take it back.

Aha! You sinners! And whilst you toil in outer darkness I shall be the one to enjoy the sweet fruit from the tree of life and eternal exaltation!

[_TrashcanMan79]

Whenever I see someone has been banned on MAD, my curiosity is instantly aroused and I immediately click on their profile to view all their recent posts to pinpoint the one that did them in. Nearly as often as not, it is all but impossible to tell what board guideline a given banned person has violated.

I think it's rather clever of the MAD mods to ban posters from single threads or "suspend posting privileges" without actually banning them outright. It effectively marginalizes the poster (and, indeed, might provoke them to post a legitimately ban-worthy outburst), but with the word "Banned" not appearing anywhere, the mods avoid arousing the curiosity of the other posters who might rightfully start to wonder just what in the hell those silly moderators are up to.

Well played, MAD mods. Well played.

[_Tarski]

If DCP wanted Tarski unbanned, he could certainly arrange it. He could at least mention that fact on the thread.

But no. That is the kind of intellectual coward he is.

I've just noticed this thread. (I don't look in here every day.) I didn't know that Tarski was banned. (I haven't posted anything on the board formerly known as FAIR since early last evening, if I'm not mistaken.) I still don't know that he's been banned, actually, and have no idea why he would have been banned, either. If indeed he was.

As Tarski well knows -- and as, in simple fairness to me, he should by now have mentioned -- I intervened privately with the moderators on his behalf just a few weeks ago and persuaded them to unban him..

That's true but I didn't know whether or not you wanted me to mention it publicly. It was a very nice favor. Thanks again.
I did mention that you said that you didn't want to be protected and I gave no indication that I thought you really felt otherwise. But the mods might still feel compelled somehow. Who knows how they think.

Anyway, last I checked I am only banned from that thread.
I don't think I am banned period in the usual sense. That's the reason for this thread-- to find out how it is that one can be banned from just a single topic or thread.

I didn't have much else to say but it just seemed odd that I was banned from that thread.

I am looking forward to your writings and for some more to discuss or debate.

You should send me a preprint and I will give it a friendly pre-criticism so you can see in advance where agnostics or people with some knowledge of physics might have some objections.

Might I also suggest "Beyond the Big Bang: Quantum Cosmologies and God" by Willem B. Drees?
Drees is theologian with a degree in physics. It's not a bad read.

[_Chap]

Oh yes, and from time to time DCP drops by to post about his lunch dates, or otherwise impress people with his life as a B-list academic."

"B-list academic." I like that.

It's even better than "intellectual coward," your previous entry.

I think I'll add it to my vast archive of quotations.

DCP is welcome to do that.

The fact is that what I said is a pretty accurate description of a common feature of DCP's posting. "I have just come back from U, where I met the V cultural attaché, chatted with the Mufti of W, and now I have to finish a paper on X, work on my book MS on Y, and get ready to contribute to a symposium on Z at Poughkeepsie College." And I think people who see my statement in his signature line will recognize that.

For DCP this kind of thing seems to serve the distracting purpose of the cloud of ink emitted by a threatened octopus while it makes its getaway.

[_beastie]

I have a serious suggestion for you, DCP. You keep saying you do not want special protection from the moderators. If you really do not, you need to let them know this. The way things are currently run at MAD makes you look, as I said earlier, like a hot-house flower who can only thrive under carefully maintained and protected conditions. My opinion is that the mods behave this way because they think it is the best way to keep you around. If that is not true, you need to let them know, not only because it results in unfair behavior towards other posters, but because it's also insulting to you.

[_Scottie]

<snip>

This has nothing to do with anything, but I totally dig the new avatar.

I was just going to say that!