help, I've been unjustly kicked out of the chatroom

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ecstasia, for some reason, banned me from the chat room for no apparent reason. can someone please restore me there?

Maybe he was messing around with the settings and did it by accident. The chat rooms are sorta hard to figure out, going by what little experience I've had with them.

actually, she did it because she's biased against emos and transsexuals, both of which I unfortunately happen to be.

I hate power abusers.

I've had run ins with moderators at just about every forum i've been registered at. Don't waste your time there if you get kicked for no real reason.

There's also the possibility he was just being obnoxious. I wasn't there though so I couldn't say.

I don't use chatrooms, so I can't really say as to what happened. I do know this, however, that you are the third person to be banned from a chatroom. There are probably more that I don't know about. And I also know that one person that spoke up in your favor was involved in the banning of one person.

Really, though, maybe we should think about banning the person doing the banning. Banning someone for having a different lifestyle is ill-conceived.

- Ray M -

I have looked at the logs from the chat and here is what I noticed:

1) Again, this is a case where someone is banned without notice or warning (and without even being quieted first). I cannot even fathom that we are simply banning people like this without warning, and have the gall to accuse them of ban evasion when they do not even realize that or probably know that they are being banned purposely in the first place.

2) I did not see any issues with what Morlock (otherwise known as Lena in the chatroom) was saying. Yes, it was a little melodramatic but the ops have to be willing to consider other peoples opinions too. On top of that, another user was enjoying the conversation and when he started to question what was happening, he was threatened by 2 ops for questioning their actions.

Sounds like more of the WP big brother stuff if you ask me. Unless there is something I am missing, I see this as more of a power trip by the ops than something that is legitimate.

But then, what else is new

Actually I think you were banned for a reason. Maybe you showed your self as some I don't know how to say this but what they call people a troll. Everyone doesn't have to agree with you. I'm against everything you stand for. People have their own thoughts and feeling on what they think is right or wrong. One can't change that. Either you were bring up a harsh or long debate about it and she didn't want to continue it. Be aware that a lot of people there don't consider you side good. Some people there are NT parents with children that have AS or there sometimes NT's get there and raise an unreally fight. So be very afraid and take heed when some people want you to stop. Thank you and this is all from me.

Wrong Planet's channel operator ecstasia is known for being a bit highstrung and prone to take a shoot-first-ask-questions-later approach to channel moderation. She's banned me once or twice before and kicked me out of the channel on numerous occasions seemingly out on a whim, her personal preference alone.

It seems to me that the operators on #wrongplanet have grown too comfortable in their position of granted authority and are no longer responsive to the users of the channel. Some of them seem to see their operator status as a personal privilege that lets them control the flow of conversation to match their preferences and attitudes and to ban those they don't personally agree with or like. The kernel of the problem is that some of these channel operators do not distinguish between their personal role as a regular on the channel and their managing role as channel operator.

I would like to suggest some new policies for a more effective moderation of #wrongplanet:

• Operatorships are assigned on a rotating basis. Operating the channel is more than a personal privilege: It is a service to the community and a responsibility as well. Restricting a person's time as operator to a period of, say, two or three weeks at a time will reinforce this idea and curtail abuse of power.
• Bans are temporary and a tool of last resort. Before a person is banned, an operator should notify the offending party that his or her behavior conflicts with the channel, which shall need to be more clearly defined and enumerated hereafter, and give him or her the opportunity to explain his or her point of view. If someone continues the offending behavior, a kick may be used. After the user returns and does not cease the behavior, a temporary quieting (+q) is recommended. As a last resort, an operator may ban and remove the offending party from the channel. This ban shall last no more than two hours and is designed to allow a cooling-down period before the user may return again. Longer term bans must be decided from three or more operators after review of the relevant logs, preferably with the input of other channel regulars.
• Speedy bans are only for channel abuse. Immediate bans are only appropriate for the most flagrant of channel abuses: bot takeovers, unknown people who pop in to spam, and people who flood the channel with irrelevant messages or notices. Channel regulars should be talked to before such a ban is put in effect, however.
• Disagreement over opinions, attitudes, and points of view are not in themselves sufficient reason to remove a user. People of many ages, cultures, and outlooks visit #wrongplanet, but we are united by our place on the autism spectrum. Visitors are encouraged to be respectful of others and, if worse comes to worst, agree to disagree. Since there is no universal standard for what constitutes ofensive or conflict-seeking behavior, the operators are instructed to err far on the side of caution and free speech.
• Operators must maintain a sharp distinction between their role as channel participant and channel operator. Although we are only human, channel operators are expected to minimize the amount their personal opinions influence their use of power. Their duty is to foster an environment where active and interesting discussion occurs by discouraging insults, harrassment, intimidation, and intellectual stiffling.
• Abusive operators are subject to having their status revoked. Operators who use their status to silence others, enforce their point of view, and remove those they personally dislike are subject to revocation of their operatorship.
• Operators shall obey the heuristic of live and let live (laissez-faire) and use their powers sparingly and thoughtfully. All operators must hereon are bound to these terms on condition of revocation of their operatorship.
• The rules all channel visitors are bound to shall be defined and enumerated. These shall be developed with the consensus of the regulars on #wrongplanet.
  

dammit, this isn't right. She had not informed me of what I was doing wrong, and that continuing this behaviour would result in me being banned.

You were banned for trolling. You made up a character and caused trouble, that is a clear-cut case of trolling.

The ban is not a permanent ban. It will last a day or two.

I was not there to witness the banning of Morlock so I cannot comment on that specific incident, however I have noticed that certain ops tend to let emotions and their own person prefrences guide their decisions. They are quick to yell "troll" to someone who is simply making jokes without intent to offend.

NeantHumain has some good ideas that I believe should be considered. He addresses the root problem: "Operators must maintain a sharp distinction between their role as channel participant and channel operator."

Neant- IIRC, even you considered him to be trolling. I believe you gave him a 7 out of 10.

Let me make this clear for you: Lena is not made up. Lena is me. I am Lena. If you cannot accept that (it'd be foolish optimism to hope you would), at least leave me be.

As for trolling, please outline what acts qualify as trolling, and append to it specifically what I had said which you consider to be trolling. Otherwise, my behaviour will remain unchanged, as I will be unaware of what you expect me to change.

And next time you consider banning someone, please give some warning. though I don't really expect you'll do this, even though it seems to me to be a common-sense act of decency.

Mortlock

I don't know what you did or wrote in the chat. I'm providing you with the slashdot.org definition of trolling and adding some comments of my own. Hopefully ecstasia will add her comments on the subject.

Slashdot definition of a troll:

So Mortlock - does any of that fit? Were you posting specifically to stir things up? Were you posting lots of abuse (flaming)? Were you posting stuff that wasn't relevant to the conversation in progress? Were you contradicting everybody else's stuff? - just for your fun (playing devil's advocate). Were you posting while you were annoyed, upset or angry? (angry posts are often misunderstood) Were lots of people including ecstasia asking you to stop, shut up, leave it be, tone it down, stay on topic, quit arguing or otherwise modify your posting?

Or were you politely contributing to an online debate on a conversational level and allowing everyone else to have their opinion?