We normally discuss bannings like that, but there's enough mutual respect that if someone pulls the hammer, the rest of us support it.

No disrespect to Phobia, (or any other mods), btw. I guess I'm just trying to understand what happened.

No, I haven't participated in every single why was he banned thread, that's just a lie. I only recall disagreeing with a ban one time, I said my piece about it and moved on. Just like this.

Well, that's just crazy.

No. I don't think Hootie was banned because "Phobia is just being Phobia". Read my responses to the thread.

For what it's worth, I was probably the one who lobbied the most on Hootie's behalf. His original ban was more than warranted, but I felt he needed another chance based on good behavior. He quickly ended up getting banned again, and I honestly don't even remember why. We let him back once again, with a strong warning that he was on a short leash and would be held to a higher standard until he proved he could play nice. One week later, he's being an ass again.

Anyway, point is... I was the most on Hootie's side, and even I was growing tired of him.. There's a point where "loose moderation " becomes "let everyone be an ass to each other all day long," and frankly that gets old.

Your responses to the thread don't say anything beyond "trust me, it's a process, it wasn't any one thing". In other words, it was nothing. It was just you being you.

I've read every post in this damn thread. To be honest, I really just want that 30 min's back. LMAO

Honestly, if what Flopnuts says is true, then I see no reason why this matter should be discussed any further. If a mod feels that someone warrants a ban, and the other mods concur, (either before or after the banning), that's it. Plain and simple.

I know my opinion doesn't mean much but for what it is worth there is a lot more worthless posters than Hootie.

And just from reading this thread it seems people take things way too seriously on the Internet. I am glad I am not like that. :D

:facepalm: Settle down, Brock.

how come?

My problem with it is that mods encourage posters to be pricks to each other in the douche contest, but Hootie gets run for something this trivial. Why should the board lose members because other members can't see fit to use the ignore function?

Short of threats, spam, and porn, who cares? What can some random dude on the Internet really say that is so terrible that people can't deal with it?

I've never felt compelled to rep anyone, ignore anyone, give an infraction, or supported a ban, and I'm still alive. The people who are most vocal about calling out Hootie sure don't have problems dishing it out.

I agree on the DOTY thing. I personally think it's one of the worst ideas we've ever had around here.

And this is another thing that was discussed at length in the mod forum. There were several mods all for the idea and DaFace wasn't a fan of it. He let his feelings be known and the consensus was go forward this year and see how it goes. He got outvoted this time. I've been outvoted sometimes. It is a team effort.

I respect all that, but I from what I saw he seemed to be trying to play nice (granted I don't actively seek out hootie posts since I'm actually not a fan of his, so I might have missed a lot of douchery)

But when people have been asking what he did we are only told he was on a short leash and pointed to a thread where his one post expresses a great attitude to the site with only a mild disagreeing opinion.

If we were pointed to something recent (relative to the post in question) in his "body of work" that justified his banning, then I feel most questions and disagreements would be nullified and everyone could go on with their life sans hootie (or follow him to hootieplanet).