Has the time come to ban Mao? Big fan may take action if the people speak decisively...

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He should disappear like Dirk Nowitzki in pressure situations.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

Wouldn't he just become Genghis Khan or some other idiot name and be an idiot all the same.

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Paws Up

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe big fan can ban IP addresses.

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Banning the IP address could potentially ban a valued member, the true identity of Mao, but it's worth it to get rid of that tool.

Well, if Mao is a "respected" member of the board, that board member should be outed by big fan. Hopefully the public embarrassment would end Mao's reign of terror.

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So Keeping Score, Potter, Rooney and Mao are the 4 "no" votes.

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SideshowBob311: "Sadly enough, I think we're the "intelligent" portion of the sports radio fanbase".
"I make fun of whoever sucks, including me"- Harry 11/30/07

well, if you can see the ip address, he would know if mao is really an angry alter ego of another poster..... if that happens, perhaps he would let that regular know that he needs to stop the life that is mao, or face total destruction....

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- Formerly Known As "Chicago Storm"
- I know Brian Bauer

but can one ban oneself?

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OLD MAN POTTER
COACH CRAPOWSKI = MATCH

Posted in the other thread but just as fitting here...

on a side note.... do you think mao ever though to try and pop that thing on his chin? its looks like he could get more yardage than grossman out of it.....

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- Formerly Known As "Chicago Storm"
- I know Brian Bauer

1. That's a sick image...
2. What about andy && Potter? Yeah they don't do buttloads of useless polls, but...

Get a rope!

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

A disciple of Karl Marx trying to ban free speech.

Boy, I didn't see that coming...

Personally, I don't see the idea of banning Mao as a free speech issue.

It's not Mao's opinions--political or otherwise--that are the problem. Rather, it's his conscious decision to make posts lacking any substantive opinion that has damaged the board. Mao's bombardment of the board with nonsense functions as a concerted strategy to undermine discussion by rendering his brand of incoherence as the pervasive, defining feature of the board. Flood the board with nonsense, the logic of this scheme goes, and the board itself becomes nonsensical. Because conversation depends on coherence, an incoherent message board is, ipso facto, an extinct message board.

With the above in mind, I do nevertheless concede that Mao hasn't been particularly tenacious in his tactics. He has, after all, only posted around 325 times. Further, his strategy isn't always successful: Sometimes the board collectively ignores him.

Still, while Mao hasn't destroyed the board, the impact of his tactics has been corrosive and ennervating. His campaign of indecipherability has clearly frustrated a broad range of posters, thereby lowering board morale and motivating some to leave at least temporarily. For instance, Woodridge Ryan, one of the board's most prolific, reasonable and highly regarded posters has explicitly stated that he is taking an extended break from posting due to the frequent trolling of Mao and others. Other posters have expressed similar sentiments. To some degree, then, Mao has realized his objective.

Consequently, while some worry about the effect banning Mao will have on "free speech" in this forum, I worry about the effect failing to take action against Mao will have on free speech here. Indeed, Mao's pattern of willful nonsense clearly identifies itself as a form of anti-communicative discourse that has already constricted the diversity of opinion here and threatens to do so even more in the future.

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Free speech is not restricted on this board at all. There isn't a moderator, as far as I know, who goes around and deletes controversial posts, and I think most of the posters self-police themselves so this isn't a free speech issue. It is about the quality of the board. Mao posts garbage, starts threads about garbage, and it does hurt the board. Everytime I see a post from him, it does make me think about not being on this board as much as I do because I don't want to sift through his garbage. I was the alias thing would just go away, and that would solve the problem, but apparently whoever is posting this thinks that he is funny, and is probably getting a big kick out of this thread as well.

What Midge said....

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SideshowBob311: "Sadly enough, I think we're the "intelligent" portion of the sports radio fanbase".
"I make fun of whoever sucks, including me"- Harry 11/30/07

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/70427/how_to_ban_a_user_from_your_phpbb_forum.html

Here you are, Big Fan.

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

If you haven't voted in this poll yet, please do so.

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Give it up Midget. Didn't you admit that Mao was you a while back?

I hate Mao's posts and find them to be a waste.

But I don't think he should be banned. Slippery slope theory.

As somebody stated, we police ourselves. If the posts are garbage, no one responds and he goes away.

If he gets a reaction, even a negative one, even this one, then he is providing something. Nobody may like what he's providing but that's a decision we make.

Besides, he hasn't really been around much lately has he? I think he is basically gone.

Umm, I think you've been hallucinating again.

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I think you should ban me, I would get more work done, make more money, and leave all the little people I stepped over to get there behind.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I should be banned so I could wait in anticipation for the "Where's Kid Cairo" thread to start.

*Note, I'm aware that no one would start a "Where's Kid Cairo" thread...bastards.*

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

My ban was self imposed.

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

This place is over due for a good douching. I enjoy a funny off the wall post just as much as the next guy but to go into every thread and be nothing more than a pud has no business here. We are all big boy's and girls here and if a person feels the need to act like a child he or she should be treated like one and be banned.

I don't see the humor in sending posts that don't even have a thought and are childish and it's actually pretty pathetic if you think about it. To send a message, I think he should be banned and any other tool like him .

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"NEED a friend...Buy a dog"..

seriously, we should ban him, he doesnt even attempt to post anything relevant to any of the threads, hes a tool and contributes nothing to this board

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

People seem to fundamentally misunderstand "free speech"- just because you have a right to say something eithout being punished doesn't mean you have a right to say something on any particular media at any particular time. Banning Mao (which wouldn't matter, because he'd just come back as "the wrath of Hitler" or whatnot) would be perfectly legitimate from both a legal and moral standpoint. This forum is privately maintained by Bigfan, who therefore acts as the ultimate moderator. He can shape the forum in any way he pleases. Furthermore, Mao wouldn't be banned for what he said- stupid as the posts are- but for the manner in which he has done so; by cluttering up the board repeatedly, Mao has hampered the facilitation of discussion by 1.) chilling discussion in particular threads, as people sort through which they can ignore and which they should continue (for example, I never open a thread in which he is the most recent poster until it has gained "validation" through someone else replying) and 2.) driving away valuable members of the community through his actions.

As for the slippery slope argument, I think that at some point a line must simply be drawn, and you must have enough confidence in the collective judgment of the board to draw distinctions between different situations. There is no topic I can think of where all sides of an argument haven't fully presented themselves, and no one is ostracized because of their stances on anything, from Rex Grossman to DUIs to whatever. The board behaves itself reasonably well, and this should be recognized as a unique situation which deserves a unique response.

I agree with Tall Midget completely and unreservedly. Ban Mao, and ban whoever should come from those IP addresses, regardless of the true identity.

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Fire Phil Emery