theGuardian and BobCJ are the only two I know of that were banned and I only know about that through you. Are you still in touch with them by other means? If so, ask them if they did anything to cause them to get banned, they may have some idea of something they said or did on the site that maybe was against some rules of conduct or something.

No clues here. I am laying low these days just b/c of exhaustion....

Dread Pirate has "thrown in the towel",& has moved on! tG tried to returnunder various names & got banned anyways but claimed didn't know why..... I think someone had it in for him & kept discovering WHO he really was!! I miss them both - they were both on DS forever until now.
I am aware of an individual who makes it "their business" to get others banned if they just plain don't like them. It's a shamethat ds gives them so much credence & somehow hasn't caughton to what they're all about & banned THEM!!
NDY

It does seem a real shame that those who have been around for a while (assuming they did nothing to warrant being booted) would suddenly get banned... you would think there would maybe be a sort of three strikes rule or something or at least a one time warning to not do whatever offense was committed again and only ban the person if they continue to do something that goes against the sites rules or whatever. I do know of people who have been openly harassed on the site and lodged complaints on people and those folks don't get banned so I cannot imagine what Bob or tG could've done to get the boot. But at least we are aware of why they are no longer on the site (and it wasn't that something happened to them health-wise or that they chose to abandon us!)

Regular chatters on the site who have been forced off are definitely missed though - groups like this one suffer greatly when some of our most loyal members and frequent commenters can't come around anymore!

I just run out of energy so much these days....

Speaking as a survivor of the Troll Wars we had a few months ago on one of the groups i visit.... DS has to give equal weight to all sides, I've seen both compainer and complained about banned, or suspended, etc., and there's rules for reasons.... And we don't know what folks do in PMs, for example. The usual routine from what I was told is warning, suspension, then if the person doesn't repeat offend, business as usual. Banning is the last and final step.

I am around, I just don't know what to say.

B/c I'm tired, not b/c of DS, sorry.

Sheesh.

A lot of people have left DS. It's sad, but in some cases, people were making threats of harm, were abusive, etc., and it's shaken many into leaving for their own peace of mind. I tokk off a month myself, came back, so who knows?

The whole "banned" thing is confusing and I agree a lot of people that were "banned" were mostly good posters. I think people get weary and worry that a "big brother" mentality is the climate at times here at DS and is scares people or limits to what they want to say especially when a few of the group their in get the "boot".

Others that I have known that were banned, tried in vain to contact DS to try to discover what the problem was or, in one of those cases, what they could do to avoid the ban, and had great difficultiesin making connections and just gave up.

IMHO, I really appreciate the efforts of DS to "police" the site I agree it is a necessary measure to observe standards. I just wish the process was not so "presumptive" in that some who were banned felt there was no opportunity for appeal.

I also feel it should seem, at the least, suspicious when the same individual seems to be behind the initiation of it all!

just sayin!
NDY