I Got Kicked Out of a FB Group

[Rianne]

I resigned from FB.

 

[Chuckanut]

Are you serious? People took offense to that ad? What is the world coming to?

You may remember a few months ago there was a redo of All in the Family and The Jeffersons (same exact script but different actors), complete with a ton of commentary about how the show tackled controversial subjects back in the 70's. I am still a bit amazed that the network top brass, producers and actors did not have to commit ritual suicide in Times Square for allowing it on the air.

 

[Alan]

After discussing this thread, the moderators feel that it would be helpful to speak on the circumstances that have lead to people being banned here in the past. In general, permanent banning is our tool of last resort, which is why (except for obvious spammers) very few members have ever been banned. Just about everyone has something to contribute and we take very seriously the fact that banning someone loses their voice and their ideas.

Almost always when people violate the rules, we first remind them of those rules by PM, warn them of the the consequences of continued violation and ask them nicely to comply. If they continue to break the rules, we may try a temporary (usually 2 weeks) ban to get the point across. It is only when people egregiously and/or repeatedly break the rules, and show no intention to comply with our efforts to rein them in, that we even begin to discuss a ban among the moderator team.

Which leads to another important point - the moderator team acts by consensus of the group, not as individuals. Posts are not deleted and members are not warned or sanctioned unless that action has been discussed among the moderator team. No moderator or administrator can unilaterally ban anyone from this board. Any such decision is made only by consent of the entire moderator team after what is always lengthy, behind the scenes discussion. The message communicating the ban comes from only one of the moderators, but it is the decision of the entire team, not just the one who actually flips the switch to implement the ban.

We do not enjoy banning people and we would be happy if we never did it again. But there will always be those who refuse to play nicely in the sandbox and whose disruptive behavior makes the board a less pleasant and less useful place. One need only refer to Facebook or Twitter to see how truly toxic and unproductive a forum can be without content moderation and clearly enforced community guidelines.