RDS permanent ban

[wblipp]

Originally Posted by science_man_88

this Mr Silverman is on a ban for right now at very least.

By consensus, the supermods have banned Bob permanently. This is seldom done at MersenneForum, and never done lightly. After extensive discussion, consensus was that this is the appropriate action.

[Dubslow]

Originally Posted by wblipp

By consensus, the supermods have banned Bob permanently. This is seldom done at MersenneForum, and never done lightly. After extensive discussion, consensus was that this is the appropriate action.

Permanently?

Not even a 6 or 12 month ban?

His knowledge (though not his tone) will be missed.

[kladner]

Originally Posted by wblipp

By consensus, the supermods have banned Bob permanently. This is seldom done at MersenneForum, and never done lightly. After extensive discussion, consensus was that this is the appropriate action.

It is a shame that he could not keep some control of all that anger. While he is very abrasive, at times, I appreciate his social and political views, but I never understood why he felt compelled to chastise persons of less knowledge than his who had honest questions.

Still, that last outburst was way over the boundaries of basic social standards, even in this somewhat competitive, and sometimes heated environment.

Nevertheless, I will miss his curmudgeonly presence.

[Primeinator]

Originally Posted by Dubslow

Permanently?

Not even a 6 or 12 month ban?

His knowledge (though not his tone) will be missed.

Originally Posted by kladner

It is a shame that he could not keep some control of all that anger. While he is very abrasive, at times, I appreciate his social and political views, but I never understood why he felt compelled to chastise persons of less knowledge than his who had honest questions.

Still, that last outburst was way over the boundaries of basic social standards, even in this somewhat competitive, and sometimes heated environment.

Nevertheless, I will miss his curmudgeonly presence.

I agree entirely. I have been the recipient of his ...chastisement in the past; however, I feel that his incredible knowledge and willingness to confer it (in a nuclear reaction type of way) is still a wonderful part of this forum. His tendency towards anger is perhaps more understandable given his personal circumstances but still inappropriate. However, I would rather have his vitriol than no input from Dr. Silverman at all.

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by Dubslow

His knowledge (though not his tone) will be missed.

Indeed. I will miss his tone occasionally too. Actually, I don't know what I will miss more, because his knowledge was usually too advanced for my particular need, so not extremely useful for me. But he, when not grumpy, really had a very good input to "real math" things, cryptography, etc. We learned how to live with him, but on the other hand, he was quite detrimental to the new people with honest questions, scaring them off. We are already quite a tough community, with lots of pride/vanity/vainglory.

We hope that the mods will re-consider after some period (like Dubslow said, 6 months, a year, should be quite enough).

[pinhodecarlos]

Originally Posted by LaurV

... he was quite detrimental to the new people with honest questions, scaring them off.

In fact more or less adult bullying...

[kladner]

Originally Posted by pinhodecarlos

In fact more or less adult bullying...

Rather more than less, I'm afraid. I must note that it was not just newcomers who were put off by his "style." He was instrumental in driving away BCP19, Pete, who was a top contributor.

[Dubslow]

May I ask that these posts be moved to a separate thread where we may continue the discussion? For a case like Bob's, where there is a massive upside to go with the massive downside, I'd like to see more than just the supermod's opinions on the matter.

[VBCurtis]

I agree that he was a bully, in a way that was not good for membership in the forum.

He had been warned many times, and refused to change his behavior. It's unfortunate we don't benefit from his occasional wisdom, but the forum overall is a more pleasant place these days. I have surely posted more since my fear of RDSflame ebbed in '16.

If some mods have second thoughts about the permanence after months or a year, I suggest he be banned from certain subforums permanently; there were places his signal-to-anger was higher than others, and I wouldn't resent the gerbils for allowing him to post in those places only.

[Dubslow]

Another option is one once tried on another poster of debatable signal to noise -- my old favorite D. For a while his posts were subject to pre-moderation. What became of that experiment? As I recall, not much unfortunately.

[CRGreathouse]

Originally Posted by VBCurtis

It's unfortunate we don't benefit from his occasional wisdom, but the forum overall is a more pleasant place these days.

It is unfortunate. I benefited from having him on these forums since he could answer some of my harder questions. But in the end he caused too many good people to leave, new and old, that there wasn't much else to do. We could have kicked the can down the road a bit further, but I don't think that would change the eventual outcome.