All points are valid, but is it really viable just to keep one or two trolls off the boards?

Your point is well taken.
I will say though that the parasites have no shame.

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All points are valid, but is it really viable just to keep one or two trolls off the boards?

Your point is well taken.
I will say though that the parasites have no shame.

Thats why I say. When they post do not respond. Dont even give them the satisfaction of looking at what they post. Let the views say O and the replys be 0.

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[/quote]

Old James

Exclusive clubs always start with a "modest proposal".

I really don't care if I'm permitted to use the forums or not.
I joined SETI@Home with the express intent of allowing my computing resources to be used by the project. The forums were a pleasant surprise to me after getting everything up and running.

If my opinion were to be asked, the answer would surprise no one because my socialist views are well known. Leave the forums as they are. Egalitarian.

The odd lunatic does take advantage of the freedoms afforded here and they pay with banishment.
The odd lunatic believes he/she owns the forums due to his/her RAC numbers and length of involvement, but that same odd lunatic finds themselves banned anyway.

Keep the forums as open and free as possible with no restrictions.

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I do not fight fascists because I think I can win.
I fight them because they are fascists.
Chris Hedges

A riot is the language of the unheard. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

To get back on topic this thread is not about banishment. My original point is that one should contribute to the project, credits or money in order to be a part of the project and posting on all the threads is currently an earned privilege, a min RAC of one is the current standard.
Our favorite presently banned chronic troll regularly has a single digit RAC, that person is not contributing, they have another agenda and it does not involve science as most here know it.

So? Then why raise the bar to over a hundred RAC? If the chronic problem has only a single digit why not raise it to ten? Or fifteen? Once you start raising it up to a hundred, a lot of people who are not trolls will be affected as well. This seems like a perfect example of the cure being worse than the disease.

Also, why can't you guys ban someone permanently? Doesn't SETI have a permaban option?

Ah, but you miss the point Chris - there is a minimum requirement, a RAC of ONE, so there is an entry level.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

A few very vocal individuals have expressed their repeated desire to post unfettered on the SETI@Home forum as if it were an absolute right, whereas, as has been said on more than one occasion, it is a privilege granted to those who contribute to the project by crunching data.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

A few very vocal individuals have expressed their repeated desire to post unfettered on the SETI@Home forum as if it were an absolute right, whereas, as has been said on more than one occasion, it is a privilege granted to those who contribute to the project by crunching data.

I say AMEN!
With that said as has been previously noted the cost of clearing out the offenders is probably not worth it.

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Back when I was a mod I had to go back in the archives a few times to the very begining of the cafe. Im my search I found that the politcal forum was created to keep politics and its resulting often heated exchanges out of the cafe. And that is why this forum also has a higher tolerance before moderation is used.

Is it the perfect setup? No, But I think it works very well for all the Setizens that use it.

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[/quote]

Old James

Back when I was a mod I had to go back in the archives a few times to the very begining of the cafe. Im my search I found that the politcal forum was created to keep politics and its resulting often heated exchanges out of the cafe. And that is why this forum also has a higher tolerance before moderation is used.

Is it the perfect setup? No, But I think it works very well for all the Setizens that use it.

yes, there used to be two threads back then. One for politics and one for religion. The flames did spread, although back then there was little to no moderation at all which was part of the problem too.

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Reality Internet Personality

Back when I was a mod I had to go back in the archives a few times to the very begining of the cafe. Im my search I found that the politcal forum was created to keep politics and its resulting often heated exchanges out of the cafe. And that is why this forum also has a higher tolerance before moderation is used.

Is it the perfect setup? No, But I think it works very well for all the Setizens that use it.

yes, there used to be two threads back then. One for politics and one for religion. The flames did spread, although back then there was little to no moderation at all which was part of the problem too.

I found the moderation was harsh and most often unwarranted. It all depended if you were in the clique.
To put it nicley back then mods were jerks.
But that is way off topic.

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[/quote]

Old James

Back when I was a mod I had to go back in the archives a few times to the very begining of the cafe. Im my search I found that the politcal forum was created to keep politics and its resulting often heated exchanges out of the cafe. And that is why this forum also has a higher tolerance before moderation is used.

Is it the perfect setup? No, But I think it works very well for all the Setizens that use it.

yes, there used to be two threads back then. One for politics and one for religion. The flames did spread, although back then there was little to no moderation at all which was part of the problem too.

I found the moderation was harsh and most often unwarranted. It all depended if you were in the clique.
To put it nicley back then mods were jerks.
But that is way off topic.

It was all over the place. There would be nothing for a while, then if you knew enough to email Matt you could get random threads deleted if things weren't going as you wanted. Those of us who weren't in the know would get hit with this one. There were some attempts to appoint new moderators after that.

Then there were the famous mod wars of 2007 and Eric's diabolical auto mod plan.

The current system however flawed seems to be the best one so far.

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Reality Internet Personality

Back when I was a mod I had to go back in the archives a few times to the very begining of the cafe. Im my search I found that the politcal forum was created to keep politics and its resulting often heated exchanges out of the cafe. And that is why this forum also has a higher tolerance before moderation is used.

Is it the perfect setup? No, But I think it works very well for all the Setizens that use it.

yes, there used to be two threads back then. One for politics and one for religion. The flames did spread, although back then there was little to no moderation at all which was part of the problem too.

I found the moderation was harsh and most often unwarranted. It all depended if you were in the clique.
To put it nicley back then mods were jerks.
But that is way off topic.

It was all over the place. There would be nothing for a while, then if you knew enough to email Matt you could get random threads deleted if things weren't going as you wanted. Those of us who weren't in the know would get hit with this one. There were some attempts to appoint new moderators after that.

Then there were the famous mod wars of 2007 and Eric's diabolical auto mod plan.

The current system however flawed seems to be the best one so far.

As I didnt even know about the boards until late 08 Im glad I missed all that. Sometimes being the run and forget type has its advantages.

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[/quote]

Old James

for like minded individuals who have joined in a common goal, to socialise together, and also discuss technical(or scientific) matters relating to the project.

And all that with mutual respect.

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

A requirement of 1 RAC seems a bit pointless. I recall having machines in the past that haven't crunched for months and their RAC was no where near 1.

If my memory serves me correct, a trouble maker in the politics forum would copy and paste random argument bait every other day. He sported an impressive RAC of 6, and even wrote on the forums about his disinterest in the goal of the project.

The people in this thread have good points. You wouldn't want the RAC requirement to be too high. And I don't think a green star should be a requirement for anything. But surely something can be adjusted such that someone who crunches 1 work unit every 3 months isn't allowed to post nonsense and create a divide among the members of the forum.

Well stated.

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Well stated.

Why, thank you!

But surely something can be adjusted such that someone who crunches 1 work unit every 3 months isn't allowed to post nonsense and create a divide among the members of the forum.

That something is stronger Moderation and longer bans which seems to be the wish of the majority here.

It wasn't your wish before when you were on the receiving end. What's the difference now?

No messages intended to annoy or antagonize other people, or to hijack a thread.
No messages that are deliberately hostile or insulting.

Perhaps we need one that says deliberate trolling to incite argument will be removed.

and who judges what is a deliberate troll?

How do you quantify that? Lots of people think the opinions I actually hold are trolling. They're not, but people who don't agree with me see it like that. I am sure there is an argument to made that some of the things you post could be seen as deliberate trolling.

A lot of the time it seems to me that trolling is in the eye of the beholder and it isn't that easy to prove what the intentions of the person posting are.

To change the rules to exclude one particular poster that you don't like is wrong and will have unforeseen consequences.

I've not seen anyone here posting advertising spam or porn or anything that bad. In fact the one person who is repeatedly banned for being offensive has one of the highest RACs.

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Reality Internet Personality

Es, you may have missed the worst of porn and advertising spam because we jump on it pretty rapidly.
As to trolling, its a hard call, and is more the persistence of posting of abusive comments, multiple statements that are known to inflame others, repeated posting exactly the same material that has already been taken down and not being prepared to listen to another's side in a debate. You may have strong views on a number of subjects, but in general you, an most other posters, manage to put those views over without abusing others.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

But surely something can be adjusted such that someone who crunches 1 work unit every 3 months isn't allowed to post nonsense and create a divide among the members of the forum.

That something is stronger Moderation and longer bans which seems to be the wish of the majority here.

No messages intended to annoy or antagonize other people, or to hijack a thread.
No messages that are deliberately hostile or insulting.

Perhaps we need one that says deliberate trolling to incite argument will be removed.

I for one generally do not favor banishment, but I advocate contributing to the projects that one uses. I say crunch and or donate then you have earned the right to use the resources of the project.

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and who judges what is a deliberate troll?
Oh c'mon, you telling me you can't see one when usually they are as blatant as day?

In that case your days seem to be much darker than what they are for the rest of us.

You have accused me of being a troll especially on Friday nights......

..but as they were nights......

....hmmn, must've been full moons them Fridays :)

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