RDS permanent ban

[science_man_88]

Originally Posted by Mysticial

Stackoverflow employees decide to manually freeze the account for 20+ years and put the IP address on an internal watch list in case the user comes back with another account.

I almost got sued for getting around IP bans at one point ( username bans aren't really effective either if done alone at least) the hard part is if they are smart enough to ban the router IP, otherwise it's like 2 commands to change your computer IP to get around it in theory ( can't remember them right now but that's not the point).

[Mysticial]

Originally Posted by science_man_88

I almost got sued for getting around IP bans at one point ( username bans are really effective either if done alone at least) the hard part is if they are smart enough to ban the router IP, otherwise it's like 2 commands to change your computer IP to get around it in theory.

Stackoverflow doesn't reveal how to do it, but they are actually really good at blocking users who come back with different ip addresses. There's a lot of AI involved, and often times, it (unintentionally) results in entire dorms or university blocks getting banned because of one or two bad apples.

IP and geolocation are only inputs to a larger formula. And they largely apply only to newly created accounts. Established accounts that are in good standing aren't affected.

Going back a few years, there was a period of time where they had issues with trolls coming in through Tor. I don't remember how that got resolved, but I think it eventually became a full block of all new accounts from Tor ips.

-----

This "trolling problem" is a huge issue on SO. There are lot of disgruntled people who get flamed for posting crappy content and getting "moderated" for it. And a lot of them want to get revenge - thus becoming a troll. So not only is SO a huge target of trolls, they also get DDOS'ed a lot.

Buried among the "pure" trolls are the users who contribute a lot, but can't do it without attacking everyone. (just like the user being discussed in this thread) While I'm not a moderator on SO (and I've turned down multiple requests to run for moderator - due to the insane workload), I've had to deal with both types of trolls.

The "pure" trolls are easy to deal with. Just ping a moderator, and ban/delete the account. So it's the latter is much more infuriating. There's a point where you just lose your patience and you want the person perma-banned regardless of their contributions.

[Batalov]

There is nothing new under the sun, apparently. That's exactly what happened.

There are some other grounds for permabans: outright spam, sock puppetry, matheism... oh, wait... maybe not

[xilman]

Originally Posted by jnml

Why should I care for a single millisecond about a couple of bad words from a person I have never seen? And you know what? I guess, if I'd actually ever meet RDS, it'll be probably a rather nicely spent time.

I can vouch for that. I spent a pleasant evening with Bob, drinking beer and talking about math and politics. All that despite having kept him waiting around in the lobby of the hotel at which I was staying because my flight had been delayed by over an hour.

[Mark Rose]

If the big problem is attacks on newbies, there's always the option of putting something in the field below the user name.

I enjoyed his positive contributions, at least the ones that weren't over my head. He encouraged me to do my homework.

[ewmayer]

Heh, completely missed the several-days-old post eruption in this thread. Alex, thanks for the notes about the culture at Stackoverflow, that is quite useful, though as you note very different scale of venue there.

Originally Posted by xilman

Sounds like a threat to me: behave or get banned.

Your "behave or get banned" sounds like a threat to me...

[xilman]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Heh, completely missed the several-days-old post eruption in this thread. Alex, thanks for the notes about the culture at Stackoverflow, that is quite useful, though as you note very different scale of venue there.



Your "behave or get banned" sounds like a threat to me...

I'm pleased that you agree with my summary jnml's post.

[Dubslow]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Your "behave or get banned" sounds like a threat to me...

Not only is it such, but it was duly carried out (after repeated violations of the condition).

Honestly I'm slightly surprised at the relative discord in this thread -- most notably, a lot of people who weren't active in the months before he was banned offering their thoughts, but... honestly there was so much that going back and finding it all, much less reading it all, would be a monumental chunk of time... and without that context, without the live experience watching the effects of it on the forum, I find it hard to take the opinions of the bystanders all that seriously (I mean that with all respect). I also suspect there's a pretty strong correlation between the "unban/forgive" and "what's done is done" camps. (Not perfect of course, but significantly better than random I believe.)

Yes his contributions were extremely valuable, which is why it took so long in the first place for the ban to happen -- but rest assured, those extremely valuable contributions were weighed long and hard in the balance of that final decision.

[LaurV]

Hey guys, what is this? You all behave or get banned!

[kladner]

Since this thread revived I have been seeing RDS in the oddest places.

Recently, it was on the side of a construction dumpster, and stood for "Ravenswood Disposal Service." Ravenswood is a Chicago neighborhood, and a street name.

Then, just today, I was troubleshooting a co-worker's computer and got the attached error dialog. When I tried to track the problem further, most online texts shortened Remote Desktop Service to.....

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by kladner

Since this thread revived I have been seeing RDS in the oddest places. [....]

Other occurrences may be found here, here, here, and any number of similar sites...