I just hope that he is okay. I know that you say that there are many social clubs, but today I tried to join art groups in the local library where I have moved to and, I was turned away because they were oversubscribed. All, I could do after joining the library, was get out books and found myself looking at the philosophy section, as if I don't have enough books. So, many of us are thrown back alone, with nothing more than online interaction. I am sure that Agent Smith would not wish for a lengthy postmortem on his future, but l just hope that he doesn't just see this banning as 'failure' and finds new openings for his expression of ideas, online, or in real life. It is likely that many here will remember his presence and I certainly valued his contributions.

Is the banning of Agent Smith permanent?

(No implicit criticism intended by this question.)

The policy is that bans are permanent. There has been only one exception that I can recall. If you’re asking if the platform allows a ban to be reversed, yes it does, because bans do not actually delete the user account.

We introduced temporary suspensions about a year ago. Agent Smith was suspended for a week, then again for two weeks, and lastly for three weeks, the reasons being explained to him at length in private messages. He was told that the third suspension would be the last and that the same posting behaviour thereafter would result in a ban.

many users on the site are alone in rooms — Jack Cummins

One of the basic building blocks of human experience is loneliness. It is common and it is painful.

What good is sitting
Alone in your room?
Come hear the music play
Life is a cabaret, old chum
Come to the cabaret

I've done that often enough -- if one can call a run of the mill gay bar a "cabaret". It can help for a while, unless the bar's atmosphere is condensed alienation -- in which case, flee.

I didn't think Smith was a problem -- he didn't bother me.

I didn't think Smith was a problem -- he didn't bother me — BC

Note that the majority of his posts and discussions were deleted, so most people never saw them.

Thanks for the info. :up:

In the spirit of tradition, I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

@green flag was banned for being returning banned member @Hoo.

green flag was banned for being returning banned member Hoo. — Baden

That's a surprise. I would have guessed someone more recent.

Well, Inspector @Wayfarer worked it out. I had no idea.

Well, Inspector Wayfarer worked it out. I had no idea — Baden

Kudos to the man down under. :cool:

I would have guessed someone more recent. — jgill

This member has joined numerous times under different IDs. 'Hoo' was one I could remember, so I looked up the member info for that name and found he had been banned. As a Mod, I was then duty bound to act - which I took no joy in. But rules are rules.

What surprises me is the person I have in mind has a graduate degree in physics and has reappeared on several occasions in various lively personas. Not a math person like me. Oh well. Good work, Inspector.

FWIW I was enjoying green flag's contributions but bans are permanent so while mere sockpuppetry might not result in an immediate ban, rejoining after being banned will.

Yeh I was bummed upon reading that one.

We had a really good conversation on something I hardly ever get to really think about here.

the person I have in mind has a graduate degree in physics and has reappeared on several occasions in various lively personas — jgill

You know just from the style of writing or?

Yeah, he had some interesting angles going, so it is a pity.

Personal correspondence. I was convinced of his credentials. But I could have been mistaken. He was from the Netherlands.

Oh, ok.

Different guy. American.

I’m upset about this because they gave my posts several approving replies and thumbs-up.

Looks like the original @Hoo was banned seven years ago, in our first year, but I see no problems with their posts and can’t see any mod discussion about banning them.

Mysterious and unfortunate.

Hoo had over 20 sockpuppets though. Some of them are probably mentioned somewhere.

I’m curious about the original crime.

Well, that is mysterious. Hoo was the first to be banned and I don't know how many of the rest were banned just for sockpuppetry.

That's what I was looking for and saw nothing, but I'm lazy.

I'll just say I would be fine with un-banning the member for now? Unless?

@Wayfarer Are IDs generated by the email account used to sign-up with? If so, cannot email accounts be automatically blocked? In any case, banned IDs could be blocked, right? Or at least, there could be an automatic detection of the IDs?

Not knowing why he was banned isn't a justification in itself for unbanning.

E.g. Banworthy posts may have been deleted. It may have been due to objectionable pms or some other reason. In fact, just having so many sockpuppets could get someone banned.

Fair.

I'll accept the decision either way, of course. I don't want the responsibility.

Only mentioning thoughts.

So far, as far as I'm concerned there's no issue over the decision, returning banned members get rebanned. Otherwise, why ban anyone? The fact we both liked his present incarnation is irrelevant. Having said that, I am also curious because none of his sockpuppets I've checked so far seem to have written anything objectionable either.

I'm done sleuthing though. If someone else wants to look for evidence he was originally banned by mistake or whatever, feel free.