Castle

So is he actually permabanned?

If so, seems a bit harsh. Figured he was just being given a vacation to shape up. But it's been, what, nearly a month now? Not that I am desperate to see the douchebag back, but still.

He can ask to come back, something he has so far chosen not to do. If he asks, the answer will likely be yes, once ownership confers and we determine that he can comply with some behavioral requirements.

As an example of how not to come back, I would offer lesbian shoes as an illustrative case. Returning only to engage in the same pattern of disruptive behavior is not likely to be accepted.

Ditto.

We seemed to have gained some posters in his absense. Just sayin'.

Same IP?

No, nor geographic location. Not that either means much.

So, is he permebanned or not then?

Asked and answered.

Castle can post again whenever he feels enough like doing so that he can motivate himself to ask for his account to be reactivated without being a total dick when making his request. He's not really banned at all; he's just on a self-imposed vacation that the board ownership is kind enough to help him adhere to.

Yet to come back he has to beg and crawl? Why not just unlock his account? He keeps posting on Facebook so that tells me and the owners he wants to come back. Basically they just want him to beg like a dog IMO.

How about have him neither beg like a dog nor scream like a nuisance, but just calmly say, hey, I'd like to join in with the discussions on WF? Doesn't seem an unreasonable thing to ask.

AFAIK that's always been how it works. After a couple weeks, you just ask to be let back and unless you're a complete waste of oxygen, you're back.

Why not just unlock his account? Either he's permabanned or not. If not then surely the only issue is whether or not he breaks the rules on coming back? Anything more and you are indeed making him crawl. So from this, we surely can conclude that he is permabanned unless he begs. No?

I got banned a couple times in the earliest days, longest was a week, never had to ask.

This has been the policy since Elwood. If you get banned, you wait your time, and if you want back in, write the owner, ask to come back in, talk it over, agree to terms if necessary (such as if you post X's personal information again, it's an instant vacation), and then person can come back.

Why should exceptions be made for Castle?

I'm with El Chup on this one -- in general, I'd rather have a set term for a ban that's just lifted when the term is up, not a situation where they have to come and petition.

No, not at all. Permabanned and free to post aren't the only options, otherwise all bans would be permabans.

As pointed out by Lanz and Tamar (in the Shelter thread when it came up) this is the way it has been done for most of WFs existence. It's what I had to do when I got banned.

I'm willing to consider other options but it would be a case by case basis, and currently none of the owners are willing to make an exception for Castle.

If he wants back in, he writes us and we talk about it with him. If that is too much to ask then obviously he doesn't want back in that bad.

Personally, I didn't expect Chup to be his lawyer. Did Firemark contract this out?

Yeah, this has been the way Wordforge has handled bans since as far back as I can remember. All he has to do is contact one of the Admins and ask to be let back in. Considering what it takes to get banned, that's not an unreasonable stipulation.

Under Cass' administration? You'd have to ask her about it. Cuz, y'know, she's German and shit.

I thought she was Australian.

Australian, Austrian, German, it's one of those Aryan Ubermensch types.

It was spread out over the Cass and Borgs years.

I could be wrong, but Castle posting the equivalent of "Ahem..." in the WF Facebook group isn't going to get his ban lifted.

No, but it was apparently enough to pull Chup's strings.

Not trying to imply they're duals of his, merely that we seem to have gained more from his expulsion than we lost by it.

I can't really see his absence bringing back all the old crowd. But I sure would like to know what did. Still, whatever it was, it's great that it worked.

Eh.

It's kinda nice to not have to scroll past all of his nonsensical rants and faux meltdowns.

He had the tendency to shit up a lot of interesting threads and debates, and he did it on purpose just to see what kind if reaction he could get.

I don't want anyone permabanned but I think Wordforge needed a break from him. We know he is going to come back eventually, so why not just enjoy this time while it lasts?

If he asks to come back, will it be on condition that he doesn't threaten the board again, or (and this is my preference) that he ceases being such a relentless fuckwit?

Impossible. That would be conditioning his return on his death.

If Castle comes back it should be on the condition that anyone who responds to or "likes" a post of his automatically has Castle's name added to his ignore list. No good comes from participating in and feeding Castle's delusions, either for wordforge or for Castle.