To all forum members:
There seems to be some confusion over who can ban - or be banned - from a thread. Please note the following guidelines:
If you are caught breaking the rules of a thread ban, you will be moderated, receive infraction points as necessary, and all of your subsequent responses in the thread may be deleted. Of course, you may appeal to a moderator for reconsideration if you can prove your case, but we ask that you do so via private message and not in the thread. You may also start your own thread to respond if you choose.
There seems to be some confusion over who can ban - or be banned - from a thread. Please note the following guidelines:
1. The thread owner can limit who can participate in the first post. They can say "Only Christians" or "Only people who wear blue jeans" "no spamming" or whatever. IF they have a history of problems with certain posters, they may request that those people not participate. But this is not to be taken to extremes and can be denied by moderator decision if we believe it is being abused. In other words, you can't just use this power to keep any critics out of your thread so you can "win".
2. If the thread owner wishes to remove somebody from the thread because they are being disruptive or breaking the rules, he/she can ask them to stop, or leave the thread.
If the person who is asked to leave believes the request to be unreasonable, he can report the request for review. Otherwise, he/she should leave the thread.
If the person does not leave the thread, the thread owner can report the offender for moderator review.
(The ability to remove somebody from a thread should not be abused. It is for cases where the person is being disruptive, uncivil, trolling, or off topic. This is a debate forum. We want debate. This is not a blog site. All OP rules must apply equally to everyone in a thread. For example, if you say "no spam" and you let everyone spam but try to enforce it on only one person, then that will not be allowed.)
3. When a thread owner asks someone to leave, that person is entitled to ONE response, for the express purpose of acknowledging they are leaving - no other commentary or argument. If the thread owner mentions them or responds to that post, or even an earlier post by them, then the person banned can respond to that post and is no longer banned.
2. If the thread owner wishes to remove somebody from the thread because they are being disruptive or breaking the rules, he/she can ask them to stop, or leave the thread.
If the person who is asked to leave believes the request to be unreasonable, he can report the request for review. Otherwise, he/she should leave the thread.
If the person does not leave the thread, the thread owner can report the offender for moderator review.
(The ability to remove somebody from a thread should not be abused. It is for cases where the person is being disruptive, uncivil, trolling, or off topic. This is a debate forum. We want debate. This is not a blog site. All OP rules must apply equally to everyone in a thread. For example, if you say "no spam" and you let everyone spam but try to enforce it on only one person, then that will not be allowed.)
3. When a thread owner asks someone to leave, that person is entitled to ONE response, for the express purpose of acknowledging they are leaving - no other commentary or argument. If the thread owner mentions them or responds to that post, or even an earlier post by them, then the person banned can respond to that post and is no longer banned.
If you are caught breaking the rules of a thread ban, you will be moderated, receive infraction points as necessary, and all of your subsequent responses in the thread may be deleted. Of course, you may appeal to a moderator for reconsideration if you can prove your case, but we ask that you do so via private message and not in the thread. You may also start your own thread to respond if you choose.