PLEASE NOTE: This is not a post meant to insult you, Mr.Borntreger. If so, I apologise.
I read the second warning on the Jack Corbett thread and you mentioned someone. i can't remember who it was, but if they used the different user names of "Travis" and "Bob" then, yes, you are right. He is one of my friends who lives ten minutes away from me, and one of the many that I have told about Bad Movies.org. I think that he didn't know about the multiple user rule.
I spoke to him today and he said that he used one user name first and then switched it. He might have also written some strange posts, but he told me that he was just trying to tell me that he was on the site.
I am just asking if you could give him a second chance (I told him that you can and can't do) and revoke the ban. If you can't, it is fine. Is it alright?
Thank you for your time, Mr. Borntreger.
Andrew
I was on the board when Travis/Bob (bob, BOB) was posting. Other than using several user names he was not being insulting or anything of that nature. We actually had a decent thread running about the TV show AMAZON.
That's just my two cents worth (and probably not worth that much) (:
Seen and heard this pattern too many times. Wouldn't be the first person to try to screw with us, then make excuses when he gets caught. I'm not convinced he isn't having a laugh at our expense.
Kind of an odd mix of trolling behaviour and genuine participation though, so it's hard to say for certain, but my instincts say 'troublemaker' or at least someone who needs to take his participation on this board a bit more seriously. If Jack is sincere, he needs to slow down and take a look at what kind of community this is. We goof around, and discuss some silly things, but I think we maintain a pretty high standard around here, in terms of sincerity, respect and not cluttering up the board unnecessarily by starting a dozen new threads at once or replying to our own posts. This is a fairly orderly board (something that is pretty rare), and I don't think many of us are too forgiving of disruptive behaviour.
Just out of curiosity, what is "trolling"?
I think trolling is just looking around a board for someone to attack, or just posting total nonsense to try and get a response.
Trolling is posting just to cause negative reactions. Either flaming someone to get a response or just general disruptive behavior.
I must say, the lack of trolls on this board and the way they are handled when they do appear really impresses me.
Since I have only been a participant in this board since December, I am a relative newbie and as such cannot claim to be able to recognize the posting behavior of users.
I was online during the time that the posting was taking place. I read most if not all of the posts during that time frame and replied to many of them. Other than using several user names (mostly variations of Bob: Bob, bob, BOB; and Travis), they were not being insulting and were contributary to the conversation on different threads. Of course that only applies to the time that I was online until I stopped getting replies. I do not know if they came back later.
Being that Andrew is so experienced at this, and not to mention polite and even tempered in the manner in which he handled it, I do not question that he recognized a problem and appropriately dealt with it.
Although it was entertaining having that many replies to my posts. That should have clued me in that something was amiss. (:
I have little weight in the discussion, but I think the positive contribution of this perticular person outweighs the negative.
-Ed
Seems more like overeagerness than trolling to me--I have yet to see anything really negative.
blkrider wrote:
> Seems more like overeagerness than trolling to me--I have yet
> to see anything really negative.
That's right, and that's what makes me unsure that he really is trolling. Just an overeager kid from most appearances. But the two things that Andrew has warned him about - switching names, posting nonsense - don't really fit with that so much as with a troll. Not to mention that while this fellow is apologetic toward Andrew, he has sounded almost boastful about annoying people elsewhere. Then there are the changing excuses.
Of course, he does otherwise participate, and he has yet to do anything really wrong, which is why he's been, for the most part, left alone. But my troll alarm is ringing. He might not be a troll, per se, but I do think he gets a bit of fun from jerking people's chains, and Andrew is correct not to turn a blind eye to it.
The user who is the subject of this topic is the person who posted under the names Travis and Bob, not Jack Corbett. Andrew banned the address the following morning.
And you believe it was a different person.
My thinking is that Jack figured out that people could see his IP address the first couple of times he tried switching names, and he tried using somebody else's computer. You're certainly aware he was pulling such tricks, since you made fun of me when I warned him that he wasn't fooling anyone. I'm assuming the IP address for the "other" guy was different, because I don't really remember. The evidence seems to have been removed.
But "please Mr. Borntreger, you banned my friend who lives ten minutes from me" - I don't think so. If you look at Jack's string of excuses, you can see that he gets caught in one lie, then vaguely admits it and alters the story accordingly. We've seen this type before. Anybody remember the name of that guy who kept blaming his cousin?
Post Edited (02-11-05 09:08)
You are correct that the IP address was different. You may well be correct in other regards as well. I was trying to not presume with regard to the subject. I do recognize that you have quite a bit of experience with this board where I do not, and have had to deal with this type of incident before, which makes you a better judge of it than me. I apologize if in any manner I have offended you or gave you reason to believe that I was poking fun at you when I made the joke about refering to you as AndyCSI. It was intended in the spirit of fun, but, if it did not come off that way, then it was inappropriate.
Okay, I am back. Another fatality last night. When that happens, we lock down all communications. This prevents misinformation and also allows the unit assigned casualty call duties to deliver word to the family (before someone sends them an email or phone call that their son/husband/etc has been killed).
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Facts that I have to go on here. Here we go.
The one post that Jack Corbett made with all the spaces, that made you think the page hung on loading, was actually funny in a "why you!" sort of way. Doing it to over half a dozen other posts is annoying and disruptive. I asked him to stop. He used excessive spaces again, on more than one post, after reading my warning and acknowledging.
Jack Corbett started posting as Sendich, sometimes as replies to his own threads. He jumped back and forth between the names a few times, including after it was pointed out he was doing so. He claimed that he had made one post, then forgot to change it back. The multiple flip-flops mean that this is not entirely true.
He does strike me as eager to talk. I think many people have the same reaction when finding a new message board that interests them. I have not noted any striking efforts to be insulting.
The other day, I noted that Jack was posting for a while, then disappeared. 8 minutes later Bob/Travis started posting, picking the most recent post by Jack for his first reply. He never said anything to the effect of, "Hello Jack."
Again, Bob/Travis flip-flopped back and forth between names. Bob/Travis replied to his own posts, as if he were a different person. He started one new thread, but was replying to every thread by Jack Corbett, often multiple times.
15 minutes after I banned the IP address for Bob/Travis, Jack began posting again, from his home.
Jack had 0 postings while Bob/Travis was posting. Again, I do not believe Jack is being truthful with me.
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I am all for new posters on the board, because they bring fresh ideas and create new discussions.
I have never banned someone for disagreeing with me, including over board moderation decisions, so long as the disagreement did not involve a slew of curse words. Doing that is a direct show of disrespect for others.
Changing names and responding to your own posts is attempting to be deceptive and, I am pretty sure, not a good sign.
Quite honestly, I am not going to unblock the other address. My gut instinct was to block both. I do not appreciate games, nor do I appreciate being lied to.
Andrew wrote:
> Okay, I am back. Another fatality last night. When that
> happens, we lock down all communications. This prevents
> misinformation and also allows the unit assigned casualty call
> duties to deliver word to the family (before someone sends them
> an email or phone call that their son/husband/etc has been
> killed).
>
>
Good grief. While I was mildly annoyed at this thread before, now the whole topic just p**ses me off.
Andrew, you have more important things to occupy your attention than the possibly immature behavior of someone on this board.
Isn't it nice {that's sarcasm there, if anyone missed it} that while Andrew, and others, are 1000's of miles from home and family, being threatened and seeing friends die that some of us here have nothing better to do than change names and pull crap on what is a very well run, open and friendly forum?
Andrew, please take care of yourself there and try not to worry about this stuff. I know you don't need me to tell you that, so this message is really for everyone HERE to please, please act with enough responsibility to prevent Andrew from having to step in like this.
In truth, I'd rather see this forum go away for the short term and you (Andrew) not have this crap in the back of your mind while you are there. I know you don't want to do that, and I appreciate that. But if I have the choice to make between badmovies.org and your safety (and those of your colleagues in arms), the choice is a no-brainer.
As I said: good grief. Sorry for the rant.
> In truth, I'd rather see this forum go away for the short term
> and you (Andrew) not have this crap in the back of your mind
> while you are there. I know you don't want to do that, and I
> appreciate that. But if I have the choice to make between
> badmovies.org and your safety (and those of your colleagues in
> arms), the choice is a no-brainer.
This is no big worry for me, just normal moderation work and discussion. Certainly not anything that is going to get me so distracted I get killed. Nothing has distracted me that much. Worrying about Katie and the baby was probably my biggest concern, until little Andy was born.
In total, our reinforced Bn has lost 7 Marines. None of those were from my company. We have even been lucky enough not to have any serious injuries in my company, which is amazing, because I think, overall, we are over 20 or so there.
My Marines are fine. I had one who worried me with obvious signs of stress, but he saw the Chaplain, all of the other Marines kept an eye on him, and he is doing well.
And watching the board is pretty easy. There are a good number of moderators who take care of most trolls before I ever see them. A funny aside to that too: Velvet Brotha dropped in to dump hate posts on the comments system about a week ago, so I banned his address from there (I usually just ban them from the bbs). It was a few months since he was blocked. That dude has issues, if he cannot let it go after this long.
Look, The entire sendich thing WAS a joke that got out of hand. I am sorry about the disruption that I caused on the site. I promise, it won't happen again.
My friend explained that he was trying to tell me that he was on the site by doing all of the strange posts. I couldn't tell that he was on the site as I was doing something important could only get on when it was out of the way.
Now that I have explained to him about the multiple name rule, I think he realised what might have made him get banned. (We both suspected it because he tried to get onto the board and it said "forbidden") If he gets on, he swears he won't do it again.
Thanks for your time, Andrew.
You know Jack kinda reminds me when I first came here. I was fifteen and this was my first message board and I was a little overeager about posting stuff. Not as often as Jack but I guess Jack has some good ideas. (But I never did a bunch of large spaces in between speaking parts)
I think he's not a troll but more like a goblin or an imp with no bad intentions (but I'm a little naive so I dunno just my opinion)
Really? I'm flattered.
Although I was thinking more of a zombie than an imp...