A member was banned.

No, instead I'll ask you this.

What is the possibility that phil_r would post from the exact same University science lab as CheekyMonkey, yet he doesn't know her? What is the possibility in addition to that, of phil_r happening to stumble upon the same internet bulletin board that she had, and happen to register two days after her last login to her account, and had completely found this place by accident?

It's statistically impossible.

How many posters have been permabanned from this place? Not many.

How many of the permabanned didn't deserve it? None that I can think of.

It's Elwood's board and he's never, NEVER, given me a reason not to trust his judgement.

Carry on.

I'm kinda disappointed with the lack of an EPIC THREAD that reveals her identity, with the resulting rioters and cadre defenders.

But garamet would have ruined that thread anyway, so oh well.

Makes you wonder, when she was posting her posts as Phil about walking the dog and meeting a hot chick in the park with a dog, etc. Was it:

1. Total fiction?

2. Actually a potential girl on girl encounter in the offing, or;

3. A relatively true story with the genders reversed to maintain the dual's secret ID?

It seems some of you don't understand that this doesn't need to be a democracy for it to be our business. No one said anything about democracy. No one said anything about telling Elwood, the owner, what he can and can't do. Elwood can do whatever the hell he wants since yes he does pay for the board.

However members are free to question any decision Elwood (or the staff) makes. No one has the right to tell any member that it is not their business.

Go back and read my post a little more carefully next time before wasting my time telling me something I've already said.

You might feel a little differently about it if it was your personal information broadcast all over Troll Kingdom.

Just to play Devil's Advocate...

CM had a boss named Phil, IIRC. Perhaps she told him about this place and he was interested in it, but was unwilling to join while she--his employee--was a member, but when she mentioned she got banned, he decided he could join. Or maybe he came here just wanting to read about the shitstorm surrounding her ban and decided to stay. Given the controversy surrounding CM, it's not unreasonable that he wouldn't own up to knowing her.

All the "coincidences" can be true without phil_r being CM.

If true, phil_r is still lying when he said he didn't know her.

Yes, but, as I indicated, if he was someone who wanted to post here, that's not an unreasonable thing to do. How long would a newb last here if they came in the door and said "This RL friend of mine who used to post here as CheekyMonkey told me all about this place...?"

A formerly banned member came back and started a dual while they were banned. Seems like a pretty clear cut case to me. The ban would've happened whether it was Borgs, polarslam, or Hood.

As for it actually being Cheeky Monkey, I'm not so sure the case can be so cut and dried. A university is a big place, and CM could've just left an open computer on Wordforge. Heck, I usually try to do that just to promote Wordforge a bit, whenever I use a public internet terminal. Still, if CM's intentions were to post Elwood's info all over the board, you have to wonder why she hasn't done so already. "She" has been here for months.

In any case, I trust the mods on this one. If the vote was 7-2 on an immediate ban, then this wasn't just a snap decision. It can probably be solved with a phone call.

Yeah, but the difference being that it wasn't personal information, it was a bunch a bullshit.

If there hadn't been the massive overreaction that caused some people to do a double take people could have looked at the 'information' and laughed. I mean the whole claim that EB 'found' this board and started posting that he was a cop, obviously bullshit as he was posting YEARS before WF even started. And then saying that he only became a cop when he met his new girl who was a nurse so could pay his way. Uh, his ex-wife was a nurse!!!

So WTF?!?! If the person is posting obvious lies, why try and keep people from reading it? The only big drama I can see is what the staff made of the whole situation.

Another thing: if phil_r was up to no good here, how long was "he" going to wait to spring it? He's been a member in good standing for quite a while.

If I'm not mistaken (which is quite possible), she HAD posted actually real non-false personal information about Elwood, in addition to all the bizarre BS she was spouting.

That just gets a big 'so what?' from me. Vandy came here and had personal info on me, but I didn't get my knickers in a wad. What little bit she posted that was possibly real was so minuscule from what anyone could see that it was so not worth the shit storm it caused.

And like me, I'm sure most posters saw the couple huge lies and wouldn't believe her if she said the sky was up and the earth down.

Speaking of that, it'd be fun to have a thread where we have a complete list of banned members or members who have been run off.

Kind of like WF's own Hall Of Shame. We can list them in chronological, from the first Cassandra bannings through to today... followed by a brief description of their infamous deeds.

All this talk about Permabanned makes me want to put a multicolored, sans sarif font, huge "Free Polarslam!!!" sig on.

If this had been about you, then this information would be relevant.

Seemed important enough to Elwood. You can claim that it wasn't a big deal all day, but at the end of the day it's not you that was affected.

Maybe. Why take that chance?

Bolded the important bit, if you had objected to her posting any of your RL information and she had still done it and you had let the staff know she would have been banned.

And rightfully so.

Elwood is a LEO. Posting his RL info is dangerous in ways most of us have no hope of comprehending. That's not something you fuck around with.

Unless you file a pitchess motion.

Having some more difficulty reading?

Whose talking about personal information being broadcast all over Troll Kingdom? No one in this thread. Cheekymonkey was banned last year.

I've already said that if Phil_R was Cheekymonkey then Phil_R can go bye-bye.

Devils Advocate Part II:

If true why does it matter to you? Or to the staff?

If Phil_R is not a dual then who he knows or doesn't know on this board in real life doesn't matter. It's his own behavior that matters.

Unless of course moderators and admins plan on using the guilt by association clause.

^

The odds are fantastically, astoundingly, mindbubblingly against Phil_r being someone other than CheekyMonkey. In a world with the microwavable Pork Rind, I am loathe to ignore the chance we could be wrong, but if that were the case Phil_r would have emailed Elwood and rectified the situation.

As so many have said before this, this is Elwood's board, and he is the final word on the subject. I, too, have no reason not to trust his ability to handle this.

Since Elwood can do whatever he likes as long as it is his board, that is practically a tautology.

But if we are going to start passing judgement on his judgement, I'd say banning CM's boyfriend was probably over the top when he hadn't done anything, and if the case against phil is that he's at the same rather large university and therefore might well know her (and not a specific suspicion that he is she), that's more trouble than it's worth.

Maybe...but if Phil_R isn't a dual, wouldn't he have said so right out?

Thinking about it,however, if CM wanted to stir up shit, she could have done so a loooooooong time ago. I don't remember seeing Phil posting until at least three months ago, and the general posting tone is a bit different from the histrionics that littered CM's posts, and she didn't strike me as the type to devote her time an energy to create an effectively deceitful dual a la Rozencrantz.

That said, with Elwood's job, I'm not going to blame him for taking precautions. If Phil did hit the ISP lottery, then a public apology *is* in due order. If not, keep CM banned until and when she shows some maturity.

This isn't a case of the same university, but rather the same small department.

So in that case there is plenty of reasonable suspicion and Elwood is justified to ask for more details.

Given the situation if phil_r was not CM he would have to know her. This isn't a case of guilt by association and it is the denial of knowing her that seems incriminating.

Point of order. When all was said and done that wasn't on the table. CheekyMonkey was banned forever. It didn't matter if she apologized. It didn't matter if she moved to Africa in the Peace Corps and cured tuberculosis, she was banned. Forever. And so was Goldeneye. Because apparently he was dating her when the incident happened.

Of course that is just old skeletons in the WF closet, but if no one had accused Phil_R of being a CheekyMonkey dual, we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we.

(Of course we'd probably be watching Tamar and Garamet have a catfight in a wading pool filled with Spam, so who knows? Maybe banning Phil_R was a good idea after all. )

I think banning Goldeneye forever is way too harsh. He was an outstanding poster and his only crime seems to be dating a looney toon. If he asks to come back, he most certainly should be given a second chance. I doubt he will, however, and I wouldn't blame him.

Honestly, it's rather hard for me to get upset when it comes to CM being banned. She was a nutjob from day one, and we'd have seen it far sooner if it were anyone but Vandy the drama queen she was causing with. If she changes, good for her and all, but I can't say I've lost sleep over her being "wronged".

So if Polarslam and/or Borgs decides to come back under a dual account, should no one out the dual? Elwood may have a bit more personal interest with this particular banned member, but it's not like this rule was pulled out of thin air.

Honestly, if someone came in with a clever enough dual, and someone got wise to it I'd say let 'em have it until they slip up. I wouldn't want to waste someone's efforts.

Actually, it becomes our business when you bring it up here on a public board. I would have PMd the individual before bringing it up here. But I guess you already did that and the poster didn't PM you back or something. But it IS our business when YOU are the one who brings it up on here to begin with.