Originally posted by stocken
I disagree (of course). If the ban was a punishment as such it would hinder me from using this site at all. The ban is supposed to deter you from breaking the rules in the public forums. Since no such rules apply in the private I don't see it as a problem if you could still participate there while being banned from the public.
People who break forum rules are banned from the forums. Private forums are one type of forum on this site and people are therefore banned from them as well.
IMO, the reason this who kerfuffle has come about is becuase people do not seem to realise that there is not a legal set of rules here, anything for Russ and Chris to abide by. They may do as they please as it is their site, and if they feel it necessary to ban people for things which may, in our eyes, seem trivial, then so be it. They delegate this job to 5 or 6 people on this site who they trust to make correct and reasonable decisions. Of course this cannot be expected 100% of the time as everyone makes mistakes.
Sometimes I disagree with decisions the mods make, and I think everyone does at one point of another, but always about the same thing. And this is the crux of the matter; the mods cannot please everyone. What may seem objectionable to one person is not to another. The mods have a very difficult job trying to find the right line through all of this and I think they have a very difficult job. Give them a break and realise that forum moderation will never be totally perfect, so we just have to live with the imperfections.
If you have a problem with any of the moderation, instead of telling your clan members to start a lynching thread in the forums, just quietly message the mods and see what they have to say. You and I both know full well that there is no way the mods are going to ban you just becuase they don't like you or they feel like it. There will always be a reason. It is best for you to just find out what that reason is and then, if you feel that it is unfair, discuss it with them and if that does not work, take it up with Russ. This does work as I have done it before. The mods are not unreasonable, they are just trying to do a difficult job.