[DanielDudley]

There are a lot of people who apparently enjoy the back and forth on a daily basis. Until of course someone manages to push the right button, and then all of a sudden they don't like it.

If you enjoy pushing people's buttons more than contributing to the actual conversation, you could be a troll. If you are asked many times to stop, and you ramp it up to the point where many people are reporting you on a daily basis to the point where you are causing pandemonium in multiple threads, it isn't an accident.

Some people respond to a polite request, other people seem to respond to a minor reminder that they are not immune to the consequences of their actions, and other people rebel against authority. I don't think any moderator here wants to ban anyone, and certainly not permanently. However, if someone gets reported say, over 30 times and then doubles down on their behavior to the point where pages of threads become free for all flame wars, that might be considered grounds for permanent banning.

If everyone else's behavior improves when you are gone, and deteriorates when you participate, that is a serious problem in my book. I like pretty much everyone on this forum. Nobody wants to stop fun back and forth exchanges. But a lot of people forget that what they say to others is often as provoking to the other person as the things that other person says to them that provoked them to respond in kind. That is the time to take a break, and come back tomorrow.

From where I stand, everybody here who is willing to get along and not deliberately provoke people is welcome. You have to really work at it to get more than a slap on the wrist. Nobody just gets banned without some conversation leading up to it. And yeah, you can play the moderators and try to game the system. People do it. But you can't fool everybody all the time. Some of you, if you are honest, will realize I am not the first moderator you have had dealings with. I'm probably not going to be the last.

This is a community, and it is a really good one. We are lucky to have it. In a world where forums are dwindling, this one stays strong because we are a community. That is a pretty cool thing.