We told you so....

[Steel Maniac]

I dont understand why people are getting so bent out of shape about what he says.

He owns the site; he’s a grown man who has his views and ways of saying things. And ..... he’s not going to stop saying what he wants to say or how he says it.

So why keep complaining? If it bothers anyone, they are free to go to another website.

[steelz09]

It's a temporary ban. Not sure for how long yet.

Ruthless, did you provide reasons for the entire board to see when you've banned dozens upon dozens of people over the years? I didn't think so.

You have a bad habit of trying to put me on report like you have some sort of authority.

That started when you gave me an ultimatum and tried to put me on blast publicly. As everyone knows, I took a stand that some may not agree with. Ive addressed your concerns and took action. Your ultimatum backfired on you. Our views are different and that's ok. Such is life.

However, you could have been a professional and address your concerns in a PM or email.
You chose not to do so. I don't care about it quite honestly. However, it was pointed out by many other members to me that they thought it would have been much more appropriate to use a PM or email.

Bottom line is... it's not your or anyone elses business to know what conduct got member(s) banned regardless of who the members were.

It's not something done in the past. It won't be done now. And it won't be done in the future.

[Northern_Blitz]

It's a temporary ban. Not sure for how long yet.

Ruthless, did you provide reasons for the entire board to see when you've banned dozens upon dozens of people over the years? I didn't think so.

You have a bad habit of trying to put me on report like you have some sort of authority.

That started when you gave me an ultimatum and tried to put me on blast publicly. As everyone knows, I took a stand that some may not agree with. Ive addressed your concerns and took action. Your ultimatum backfired on you. Our views are different and that's ok. Such is life.

However, you could have been a professional and address your concerns in a PM or email.
You chose not to do so. I don't care about it quite honestly. However, it was pointed out by many other members to me that they thought it would have been much more appropriate to use a PM or email.

Bottom line is... it's not your or anyone elses business to know what conduct got member(s) banned regardless of who the members were.

It's not something done in the past. It won't be done now. And it won't be done in the future.

For whatever it's worth (probably not much), I think the question is reasonable.

We've recently seen a fairly significant change in the Code of Conduct.

Now, we see two regular posters banned without an obvious reason (which doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't justified). It's unclear if these bans are related to changes in the CoC or if there are more changes coming.

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for at least a general explanation of what happened (even if it doesn't get into specifics).

I could see Felt's comments calling you "drunk or high" as being insulting and potentially worthy of discipline.

But in your next post, you called him "retarded".

To me, these insults seem to be similar in magnitude. I don't think they're all that bad, but I could understand disciplining them if the objective is to get a more civil discourse on the board. But that seems to be contrary to the previous change in the CoC which was made to allow more provocative discussion.

But maybe the offending posts were deleted before anyone else saw them? If that were the case, I think it would still be helpful for the rest of us to have a least a basic understand of how they broke the new Code of Conduct (or if your intention is to further modify the CoC to improve the discourse on the board). If the purpose of the ban was to promote change in the community, it would be helpful if we understood what the desired change was.

Obviously, you don't have to tell us what happened. But I do think it's a reasonable ask. But I'm not the one who keeps the site running, so my opinion isn't the one that's most important here.

I hope that you'll agree.

[Flasteel]

I don't want to get into this argument yet again, but since you asked, I'll try to provide the major points. You've been around here and the Trib board long enough to remember the racist trolls whose only contribution to our discussions was the introduction of the term "overpaid janitor" in reference to our head coach. Well, before this season even started, the owner of this board, steelz09, began referring to Tomlin as an overpaid janitor about 8-10 times within 24 hour period. I felt the need to respond that while I have no problem with members of this board critizing Tomlin's time management, his coach's challenges, his decisions whether or not to go for 2 points, etc., it was a really bad look for the owner of a Steeler board to continually be implying that our black head coach, who is very successful at his job by any objective measure, is capable of only menial, unskilled, cleaning jobs (several posters here have been adamently opposed to coaches like Dick LeBeau and Todd Haley in the last several years, but the worst insults they would face were being called old or a golf coach). He declined to stop using it, called anyone who objected to it as snowflakes, and I told him that I was no longer interested in volunteering my time to assist someone with such views. So here we are. Snowflake feltdizz and snowflake slapstick aren't here anymore. And several of the members left, snowflake and non, are now wondering about what aspects of the Code of Conduct are now bannable offenses.

Thanks bro. Looks like it's a temporary ban, but I'm no fan of that type of action towards long-time posters. I don't like the thinly-veiled pejoratives tossed at Tomlin either, but I just think it ultimately reflects on those, who want to use the term. Especially when Tomlin continues to win and make these individuals look like they are ragging on him for reasons other than his coaching. Weak stuff all the way around.

[Ernie]

I can honestly say there were times when you could find common ground with Slapstick. Feltdizz... on the other hand... would argue for the sake of arguing.. he was the ultimate Troll if I've ever seen one... and spent most of his life on here.
I put him on ignore a month or so ago. He won't missed around here as far as im concerned.

[Steel Maniac]

I can honestly say there were times when you could find common ground with Slapstick. Feltdizz... on the other hand... would argue for the sake of arguing.. he was the ultimate Troll if I've ever seen one... and spent most of his life on here.
I put him on ignore a month or so ago. He won't missed around here as far as im concerned.

I've had Slap and Feltz on ignore for a while now and that's worked out for me. I got tired of their personal insults when you gave them hard facts and when they can't argue with it, they personally insult / attack you. So I'm not surprised at them getting banned. But If you just ignore them that should suffice. I don't see why anyone would stand up for them; who cares how long they've been here..what they do is not right and they deserved the ban. But they also deserve a second chance so I hope when they come back, they are better then they were before.

[flippy]

Wow, this place feels like a bit of a ghost town without Slappy and Dizzy around stirring up the pot and people's emotions.

Message boards are a strange place sometimes. We all come off pompous, annoying, trolly, and insensitive some of the time if we're lucky...probably most of the time if we're not. The most annoying arguments I have on this board are the ones I have in my head with myself. I try to talk myself off the ledge sometimes, but I just go bonkers irrational when it comes to this team. After all, we're fans (fanatics) and isn't being fanatical a major part of being a fan?

I can get down for a loss just as easily as I can get up for a win. I get both sides of every argument even when I'm the most likely to find the silver lining long before most others. I think some of the problems come down to most message board posters are on the spectrum. We tend to have problems with our behavior, communication, and social interaction. It's why we spend time on a message board instead of living life.

Some of us like to hide it. Others like to deny it. But bring together a generally anti social bunch of people and what do you expect to happen?

Collectively our social skills are like a child's. We're learning. We're adapting. We're coping with people that think differently.

On the other hand, some of us are just crazy fans who probably drive the real people in our lives nuts with our obsession with football. So we found an outlet here with other like minded individuals. I tend to think no matter how different we are or how we react or deal with wins and losses, we're all a lot more alike that any of us would ever want to admit. We're obsessed with the Steelers. We want success. We want Lombardis. When we don't get what we want, most of deal with it like a petulant child who is told he can't have a cookie for the first time.

Wherever you fall on the spectrum, I don't care. I still like you. I am hopeful for you and I believe it can all get better. I feel like I'm the most guilty party of all around here. I can't find the rational path to being irrationally fixated on a SuperBowl victory this year. I will try to find that spark of hope again.

If I can find it. And you can find it. Then we all kind find it. (said in the Rocky Everyone Can Change monologue after defeating Ivan Drago - It felt inspirational as I typed it in my head )

[Steel Maniac]

I enjoy talking to people who give their opinions based on facts or personal insite because of similar situations. Not guys who argue with no logic, with no facts, no nothing. Guys who argue on, " I feel". Battering others based on " I feel"; really? Because that's what they did most of the time.

I actually like Ruth (he may not think so) because he'll come with numbers, or insite that gives him reason to feel the way he does. And everyone else too but those two guys.

To me, basing their longevity as a reason for them not to be banned isn't logical. They start s*** and do it with vigor because they can. How many people have came forward and said they had them on ignore other then me? I last counted 3.