To be fair there were a few of us who did want spexvet banned. Not just because of what he called jinx in that one thread but because of his habit of stirring the shit and posting in that manner. For some people using that one word set them off, for me it was just one more piece of the puzzle.

tw is an annoying petty little liar. his posts don't add a hell of a lot around here because they are generally opinion presented as fact BUT he has been a consistent (if not respected) member for a long time and I see no reason to change that unless he chooses to ignore the moderator warnings. This is classic tw. When pressed for answers he gets nasty. Back when I challenged him to support his views on investing he chose instead to insult me about my wife leaving me. I laughed it off because the words of a man I don't respect don't really mean much to me. He attacks people in a personal manner if they challenge his opinions. Not much value in the poster if you ask me.

Merc as near as I can tell isn't a liar. His politics are a bit off from mine and I don't really care for how he presents his case quite often. I don't like the way he treated Ibram - and I said so. I don't like what he said to Shawnee - and people challenged him. his changing of words (demoncrat) is annoying and petty but really pretty insignificant. Importantly, for me, when a mod stepped in and said XXXX is unacceptable - he stopped. That keeps him inside the lines for the banning rules in my book.

Personally I think pissing matches are fun at times. I've had my share with tw and some of them got pretty nasty. I still smile at some of them. BUT if any mod had told me to cease or be banned I would have stopped because that's why we elect the mods. If tw crosses the line after bruce's time stamped warning he should be shown the door.

Gotcha. Thanks.

classicman was fairly well rounded until election season rolled around and he lost his shit. elections do that to people. Last time it was mr noodle and he never came back around the bend. I think Classic will be just fine though.

I agree with that Lookout, but personally I'd prefer mods to use temporary bans or suspensions first.

I'm rarely in favour of bans. Mostly I think people should just grow a thicker skin or learn to use the ignore button. That said, like Lookout pointed out, there's no point in electing moderators if we then ignore them or disallow them from doing their job as they think it should be done. If a moderator gives someone a warning and tells them XXXX has to stop, then said mod must be able to enforce that.

And I made a personal public appology on that one as well within a week or so. I made peace with it and am done with the issue on that one. I am moving on with this issue as well.

MoveOn.org :P

Unless someone comes out with an all out attack on the community, perma-banning is probably unnecessary. I like the 30 day warning ban idea if an established member crosses the line and is judged worthy of a time out.

but in all honesty the cellar is the cellar and these things have a way of working themselves out. even if tw isn't banned does anyone actually read his posts anyway?

***************
sorry merc, i was just using that as an example - i wasn't expecting you to bow and scrape at this point in time.

I used to but then they started frightening me.

why? you think crazy is contagious? you're already a manc tart and a commie... how much worse do you think it can get?

You forgot socialist-anti-American-Bush-hater.. but I still like her. She's cool. :D

Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence - I think.

dude, i like you and we are fairly similar in our views for the most part, but you're shit got a little unstuck in the months leading up to the election. don't fight it - embrace your craziness. ;)

thanks - I know what I did and why I did it, but I don't wanna rehash all that. Those who know me well enough, understand and those who don't can kiss my ass. :)

You forgot living in an Islamo-apologist state and also a supporter of genocide. I say burn the witch (Blackadder rather than Python).
Do you use moist wipes? No way am I going there unless you trim, otherwise.

Back to the grown up world of the Cellar.
I am very much in favour of time-outs for long term Dwellars.
Step one - warn
Step two - take (temporary) action
Step three - welcome back, all issues forgiven and forgotten
Step four - warn
Step five - take (temporary) action
Step six - welcome back, all issues forgiven and forgotten
Step seven - get Elspode and Wolf to summon up Herne the Hunter and lay a deathly chase of hounds on their arse. Oh and ban them.

I don't think these 2 terms go together.
I do think that UT has done a fantastic job on his own of deciding who needed to be banned and when (extremely rarely) and don't understand why that would change just because tw flipped out.

If you find yourself freaking out about the words on the screen, give yourself a time out.