Softbans

4 Likes

A couple weeks ago I had the composer open with a long comment I was working on. The thread was shut down due to many flags before I could send my comment. When I went to post a comment about what happened in the lounge, the other unsent comment was sent with my new comment. Not sure if it was a glitch or user error but it looked like I was trying to carry on an argument across threads. Thankfully I edited all of that away before it was noticed.

3 Likes

I’ve definitely seen odd behavior when working within threads that have been locked or deleted before my browser session caught up.

3 Likes

I know at least one person who was banned from boingboing for assuming that “Falcor” was a bug. Maybe a heads up?

“Some of your posts in this thread have been flagged as offtopic. Please don’t repost them.”

If the user has been here for a while, you could suggest a thread fork.

It’s depressing to learn that banned people now occupy a good many of ones “Most replied to, most liked by, and most liked” slots.

16 Likes

I was just hoping that the reason we’ve seen so many good reliable contributors banned is that the tools available are too presently too coarse. The other explanations are too much of a downer.

11 Likes

9 posts were split to a new topic: @hecep’s Modusoperandi thread

I dunno. I’m just trying to think of constructive ways to ask for a lighter touch on the moderation front. If that’s verboten then it’ll inform my opinion on BoingBoing

12 Likes

Discourse does save a draft of your currently composed reply, once it is above a minimum length. You can see this via the “saved” indicator at the bottom right of the editor. There is one reply draft per user per topic.

These are saved server side. To re-load the draft, close your browser (or go to a different device) and re-enter the topic. You can also cancel a draft, minimize the composer and there’s an X there at the bottom right.

(The primary use case is switching devices, or composing on a different topic to come back to “later”.)

So if you were writing a reply and the topic got closed, that reply draft would be saved for you on that topic only. But you’d have no place to put the reply, either. Old drafts eventually get auto-deleted, so no worries.

4 Likes

If the topic is locked, could this be getting mixed up with the “new topic” draft?

I know that when I’ve tried starting a new topic in one window, that quotes an old (locked) topic that I have open in another windows (or multiple locked topics), the attempt to quote the old topic ends up causing trouble, to the point where, in the scenario where I’m quoting locked topics, I now generally prefer to just construct the quote tag manually.

New topics have their own draft, exactly one, ever. There is only one New Topic draft per user for all time.

I’m beginning to suspect it’s a rave of some kind.

15 Likes

draft 2, go:

Yeah. It sucks to look and see that pillars of community are disposable. I once was a pillar at a forum. And now, I am nothing. Like the one above me on the scoreboards. Depressing. But at least I have the words I’ve written. (And also, root control over the domain that forum uses - if I wanted to, I could redirect it to mine and go full Kaz Miller)

3 Likes

To danegeld -

Does your Softbans post exist due to the banning of M-O? Is your post here related in some way to yesterday’s discussion regarding that ban, titled ‘Banning of modusoperandi’? Thank you.

The issue is that four decidedly/typically ‘non-troll’ people including ModusOperandi got banned yesterday. It’d be cool if the editors here had a way of telling someone ‘leave my thread alone’ without also needing to ban whoever’s annoyed them outright. It would preserve the community and allow de-escalation, was my thought.

13 Likes

They did just that.

2 Likes

I tend to agree. This applies to other members as much as the Authors, in fact, as we’ve mediated more than a few discussions between BBS members where the mutual decision of “don’t post in my topics” had been agreed to. I can see a definite use case for preventing certain replies in certain topics.

I’d also advocate for a “block” option where you simply do not see replies from those on your list, though that’s probably a thorny issue (what about direct replies? Or quoted ones?)

6 Likes

Guys, let’s not …

4 Likes

I assumed “Softbans” were some kind of padded sunglasses.

10 Likes

Yup. Except the discussion here is obviously about degrees of freedom to operate under that aegis. Which is most welcome.


That’s not fair. He’s obviously interjecting with some humour in an attempt to soften the rhetoric here and remind everyone we are friends attempting to design and build a community from inside itself.

The spirit of cooperation can’t be rules-lawyered into existence.

10 Likes

Just sarcasm, boys!

Sarcasm.

4 Likes