Burt is gone (?)

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by funkychinaman

If he were just a troll, why would he care if he was permanently banned? I would think it'd be easier just to go troll another board rather than try to get back on everyone's good graces.

Does he insult people? Does he personally attack anyone? (Again, I haven't really follow the Randomness thread, so I don't know.) From what I can tell, he just zealously defends his own unpopular viewpoints in a somewhat rational way. (Viewpoints I don't agree with, mind you.)

I'm not saying Burt is an out-and-out "troll" - but I would say that some of what he does is pretty close to trolling. You are correct that he doesn't go out of his way just to insult people or attack people. But the fact is that he does seem to enjoy baiting people into arguing with him. In some cases, I think this reflects poorly on those people (i.e. Zulu, who got temp-banned again for being pugnacious and responding to Burt by trying to talk like a gangsta). But I think we can't just pretend that he doesn't know what he's doing. That makes him culpable, and the fact that he's been involved in so much shit means we still have to consider him a problem. He may not be malicious, necessarily, but he seems to give in to temptation way too easily.

Originally Posted by funkychinaman

He's at least guilty of having poor social skills.

I don't know the man. I've never interacted with him beyond this board, nor do I wish to. But he never struck me as being a bad egg, just someone who someone doesn't know when to shut up. I'm sure you all know people like that in your life, and you know not all of them are bad people.

You say Burt is guilty of "poor social skills" as if that's a reason we can't ban him. I disagree. In real life, having poor social skills means you have no right to complain about being ostracized if you offend enough people (not getting invited to parties or other group social events). While message boards aren't real life (obviously), a similar idea applies: If someone's annoying enough, they can be excluded from the group. That's why I started this topic - we're deciding, collectively, whether to exclude Burt from the group.

And yes, you're right that having poor social skills doesn't make someone a bad person. Nobody's saying Burt is bad, unless he tries to prove otherwise. That's why I'm not ready to just ban Burt the way that other problematic posters have been banned.

Originally Posted by funkychinaman

I think it IS pretty significant that this thread exists.

I do, too. This is not a decision I can make easily, and it's not one that I'm willing to make without consulting with everyone first. I'm not outright in favor of banning Burt - I'm mostly just divided about it right now.

Originally Posted by funkychinaman

Neither PoI, Sillybunz, ReelViagra4Cheep or any other user looking at a ban ever got this sort of attention. They just got outright banned.

As Predator20 pointed out, POI got a thread. He also had a temp ban before that. Also, for the record, Funkychinaman, didn't you also try to defend PoI in that same thread?

[Excalibur]

Have we talked to him recently and told him about this?

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by Excalibur

Have we talked to him recently and told him about this?

No, not yet. Let's decide first.

[Reach]

final vote: perma-ban

[k9870]

I agree with permanent. And even if it ends up being a temp ban and he came back, the next ban would need to be permanent.

[funkychinaman]

Originally Posted by MT2008

Also, for the record, Funkychinaman, didn't you also try to defend PoI in that same thread?

I really don't remember. I guess I'm just willing to give people the benefit of the doubt.

[funkychinaman]

I looked at my old posts, and I found that thread. I don't think I was trying to defend POI as much as get some clarification. I got all the clarification I needed a few posts later from POI himself.

[Evil Tim]

I'd say permaban, if not because I'm fairly sure he's POI again then because his ratio of causing trouble to actually contributing is so completely skewed toward the former; in the whole time he's been here he's never uploaded a single image. I don't think anything of value will be lost.

[funkychinaman]

Originally Posted by Evil Tim

I'd say permaban, if not because I'm fairly sure he's POI again then because his ratio of causing trouble to actually contributing is so completely skewed toward the former; in the whole time he's been here he's never uploaded a single image. I don't think anything of value will be lost.

Burt actually chime in on the POI banning thread mentioned above, as do several admitted POI sock puppets. That he'd sign in using several obvious sock puppets and one good disguise in one thread seems unlikely. (Or we've been severely underestimating him.) And if you recall, POI tried coming back as himself a few months afterwards.

[Reach]

Person-Of-Intrest
Burt-Reynolds-Moustache
same form of name. same type of person. im convinced they're the same.