ANNOUNCEMENT - TFM ban

[Gryzor]

Hello guys,


Many of you have noticed that, for the past several months or so, TFM has been giving us lots of trouble with his behavior. Offensive posts, derogatory remarks, disparaging comments on others' work. Several of you have reached out to me, one time or the other, in an effort to get TFM off your backs, or to voice frustration with his practices.


For some time we have tried to reason with him. Every time, after a lengthy argument, the result would be a temporary ban and TFM would go back to normal (our normal) mode. And then he'd start again. After a while I felt I just couldn't keep up with that, spending so much time on each occurrence on an effort that would ultimately go down the same path, over and over again. The culmination was last summer, when while on vacation I was forced to try to moderate things with the whole 16k compo results brouhaha (over a crappy 3G connection, instead of enjoying my drinks. That made me feel like an idiot). That was when I decided that, instead of trying to argue and give warnings every time, I would start deleting his offensive posts outright in the hope that he would see the light. Those posts varied from the usual TFM fare to calling us/me "fascists" etc, and lately... "homophobic". No matter, I kept deleting them without much discussion so as to cause as little disturbance as possible.


A couple of days ago, though, TFM attacked one of our members through a PM, out of the blue. And I now feel we have reached a point where a line must be drawn.


The problem is, as several of you have pointed out in the past, publicly or privately, this is a small, friendly community. TFM has been souring things for too long, intimidating others and spoiling the overwhelmingly pleasant atmosphere. At least three members have either left the community or greatly diminished their input because they thought it wasn't worth it any more (that is, three members have actually told me that much).


So, what we're doing is this:
-TFM is now banned for a couple of weeks. That was strike one.
-If he wants to come back and sit tight, all's well. If he relapses, then it's a month-long ban. Strike two.
-Strike three, permban.


I feel that banning someone is the very last resort. We've only done this in the past for a couple of persons, and only after lots of deliberation. What's more, TFM has offered some valuable knowledge and work to the community, so I'd hate to lose that, and that's a major factor why he hasn't been banned up to now.


But I think we can't put up with his behavior any more. Hence the policy I outlined above.


I'm not opening this thread because I don't think that'd be very productive. You can, however, reach the mods through PMs -and I guarantee I will discuss any and all points with you.


Thanks for listening,
Gryzor