Babe threads.

[Baked]

Originally posted by: Anubis
what i find funny about this is that Offtopic.com is one of the most sexist boards out there and it has 100x the female members we do AND they charge moneys

Sigh... *goes off to sign up w/ offtopic.com*

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: preslove

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Per Derek, there is one and only one babe thread. It's not in OT, it's in L&R. For the past umpteen months, the moderators have generally been just locking them. Recently, we've started issuing official warnings and vacations. At this time, it's felt that just about everyone who posts in here regularly knows that babe threads are against the rules for OT.

If you post a babe thread in OT, you may be warned, you may receive a vacation. If you participate in a babe thread in OT by posting more pictures, you may be warned, you may receive a vacation. We moderators try to address each violation individually. Our response will be based on the member's history as well as the nature of any pictures posted.

At the present time, the goal is to keep OT safer for those surfing from work during their breaks or lunch. There have been suggestions to make a sub-forum for babe threads, or to move the official babe thread (located in L&R) into OT. I don't foresee either happening in the immediate future.

If you don't want to see the topics in L&R on your way to the babe thread, here's a direct link:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2055674&enterthread=y

There is a thread in the suggestion box about moving the babe thread into OT. The suggestion box is the place for such a discussion.
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2258311&enterthread=y

Thanks in advance,
-Anandtech Moderator DrPizza

(10 day sticky)

Your heavy handed stupidity is killing this forum. Are you really this stupid?

Yo, shit for brains, they are not his rules.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Yo, shit for brains, they are not his rules.

He voluntarily enforces them.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Yo, shit for brains, they are not his rules.

He voluntarily enforces them.

And...?

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Yo, shit for brains, they are not his rules.

He voluntarily enforces them.

And...?

And therefore in my opinion it's legitimate to criticise him for enforcing bad rules in a heavy-handed fashion Do I really need to walk you through this?

I have all the respect in the world for DrP, but I think in general the rules here are getting a bit over the top.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Yo, shit for brains, they are not his rules.

He voluntarily enforces them.

And...?

And therefore in my opinion it's legitimate to criticise him for enforcing bad rules in a heavy-handed fashion Do I really need to walk you through this?

I have all the respect in the world for DrP, but I think in general the rules here are getting a bit over the top.

Yes because he didn't make the rules or spell out their enforcement. Since Derek came on, the Mods are basically impotent. It seems to be moderation by committee.
Plenty of people have to enforce rules they don't agree with.
As for him being a volunteer, even if he resigned, the rules would still be the rules.
It's not fair to criticize him for doing his job. The criticisms belong to Derek and especially Anand.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Plenty of people have to enforce rules they don't agree with.

That's sort of my point, he doesn't have to enforce the rules, he chooses to voluntarily.

As for him being a volunteer, even if he resigned, the rules would still be the rules.
It's not fair to criticize him for doing his job. The criticisms belong to Derek and especially Anand.

Which is why I haven't personally attacked any moderators, even though I think the criticisms are legitimate. It is fair to criticise them, because:
a) it's not their "job"
b) they should be passing on the user's concerns and, if needs be, refusing to enforce these ridiculous rules.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Plenty of people have to enforce rules they don't agree with.

That's sort of my point, he doesn't have to enforce the rules, he chooses to voluntarily.

As for him being a volunteer, even if he resigned, the rules would still be the rules.
It's not fair to criticize him for doing his job. The criticisms belong to Derek and especially Anand.

Which is why I haven't personally attacked any moderators, even though I think the criticisms are legitimate. It is fair to criticise them, because:
a) it's not their "job"
b) they should be passing on the user's concerns and, if needs be, refusing to enforce these ridiculous rules.

That is actually shockingly stupid. But then I read my sig.

Well have to agree to disagree.

 

[JJChicken]

Rest in Peace
ATOT
Its last words were pics and ban
1998-2008

 

[sao123]

Just wanted to chime in with my own opinion.
I see where both sides are coming from, and think this needs to be addressed sooner than later.


I *DO* read the forums at work, in fact its nearly the *ONLY* time of the day I read the forums. So I'd like to see a lot less NSFW content, or move it to its own subforum.

however threads about actresses, movies, vote for my sister, should be acceptable in OT as long it is kept SFW, AND some sort of discussion should be maintained. by discussion, I mean the actually posting of thoughts or information.

a forum full of threads with simply dozens of OMG SHES HAWT, VOTED, posts isnt a discussion, and more importantly isnt the point of a forum. If you wanna do that stuff, go back to the 13 years olds on chathouse.com!!

its becoming more and more difficult to find and actual thought provoking topic, that is actually worth responding to... and its NOT because there is a shortage of posters.

 

[Geekbabe]

Originally posted by: sjwaste
[
The mods are volunteers. If they don't like it, they don't have to keep donating their time to do this. Therefore If they're pushing the policy, it's safe to assume that they buy into it. It's their fault too, at this point.

The policies as they stand are policies that have been shaped in large part due to member
complaint and feedback.. people didn't like the old style of moderating here,Anand listened
to your complaints,took them seriously and brought in Derek.. this is the anandtech that the membership
asked for. The Mods are enforcing the rules per those policies.

You are correct on one point..mods who "don't like it"are free to quit and that's exactly what I did,
I didn't feel that giving up my time only to be repaid with constant complaint was worth
anything to me.. I got nothing of any value to myself in the exchange.

You guys screamed for a new leadership, new rules, now you've got both, enjoy!

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: Geekbabe

Originally posted by: sjwaste
[
The mods are volunteers. If they don't like it, they don't have to keep donating their time to do this. Therefore If they're pushing the policy, it's safe to assume that they buy into it. It's their fault too, at this point.

The policies as they stand are policies that have been shaped in large part due to member
complaint and feedback.. people didn't like the old style of moderating here,Anand listened
to your complaints,took them seriously and brought in Derek.. this is the anandtech that the membership asked for.
The Mods are enforcing the rules per the those policies.

You are correct on one point..mods who "don't like it"are free to quit and that's exactly what I did, I didn't feel that giving
up my time only to be repaid with constant complaint was worth
anything to me.. I got nothing of any value to myself in the exchange.

You guys screamed for a new leadership, new rules, now you've got both, enjoy!

QFT

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Geekbabe

Originally posted by: sjwaste
[
The mods are volunteers. If they don't like it, they don't have to keep donating their time to do this. Therefore If they're pushing the policy, it's safe to assume that they buy into it. It's their fault too, at this point.

The policies as they stand are policies that have been shaped in large part due to member
complaint and feedback.. people didn't like the old style of moderating here,Anand listened
to your complaints,took them seriously and brought in Derek.. this is the anandtech that the membership
asked for. The Mods are enforcing the rules per those policies.

You are correct on one point..mods who "don't like it"are free to quit and that's exactly what I did,
I didn't feel that giving up my time only to be repaid with constant complaint was worth
anything to me.. I got nothing of any value to myself in the exchange.

You guys screamed for a new leadership, new rules, now you've got both, enjoy!

You can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time... which is what your new rules and changes have been attempting to do... and failing miserably.

Look, trying to address every complaint is admirable, but it has backfired terribly. There is no doubt that traffic here has plummeted.

It's time to pull back and take a look at what is going on here. This place is a mere shadow of what it was just 5 years ago. Ask yourselves why this happened and be big enough to admit that the admin/moderation of these forums share, in large part, in the blame for the loss of traffic and participation.

People always scream for new rules with no idea of what they're talking about and no appreciation of the consequences. Hell, if every complaint got a new law in a country, it would quickly turn into a police state. Realize that no matter what you do, people will complain.

I dare say that the drop in complaints you saw after implementing the new rules and split the forums was due directly to the sharp drop in participation.

As mods, it may make your job easier, but your ad dollars are directly tied to traffic.

As for my personal opinion? You may have quieted the complaints, but in the process you've made the forums slow, empty, and boring.

No one here would contest the fact that these forums are no where near as fun, interesting and active as they were just a few short years ago.

My advice? Put the OT forums back together. At most, keep a separate P&N (it was created directly after 9-11 and for some reason was never needed before then). This will increase traffic and make OT more active and interesting as it makes all posts of all OT posts more visible to all.

Drop the insanely childish rules. Stop arbitrarily treating posters like children. It's demeaning and just drives away the more mature, intelligent people. The people who are used to being treated this way and expect to be treated like children stay and keep acting childish while the mature folks throw in the towel like I almost did recently. This is why the level of intelligent posters and threads has dropped. It's just not worth it when you stand a strong chance of getting treated like a child every time you try to have an intelligent debate or post an interesting topic.

Keep the rules tied directly to keeping advertisers and nothing more. Try and keep some BASIC civility and PROMOTE common courtesies like NSFW and the like. Don't enforce these things like a spanking parent. It's absurd to do so. Instead act like the mods did five years ago.

In your attempt to tame/nanny/mother the forums you have killed the fire and excitement that made these forums so interesting. The IQ level has dropped because the IQ level of the rules dropped. You've appealed to the lowest common denominator and now, that is all you're left with.

In short, the rules have created nothing more than a day care. Give this place back to the adults and treat us like adults like you USED to do when I first came here. There is no doubt AT forums were more active and more profitable 5-7 years ago than they are today.

I miss the old ATOT and I strongly feel that we can return to that if you'd just ease up a bit.

Like I said before: Sometimes the best way to fix something is to leave it alone and admit you can't fix everything.

oldsmoboat, I am sorry, but you are just flat wrong. And you, more than most should know that these forums are just a mere ghost of what they were when we joined. Please, take a minute to realize WHY this has happened. They may have been a bit wild back then, but they were FAR more interesting, FAR more active and a lot more fun.

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Geekbabe

Originally posted by: sjwaste
[
The mods are volunteers. If they don't like it, they don't have to keep donating their time to do this. Therefore If they're pushing the policy, it's safe to assume that they buy into it. It's their fault too, at this point.

The policies as they stand are policies that have been shaped in large part due to member
complaint and feedback.. people didn't like the old style of moderating here,Anand listened
to your complaints,took them seriously and brought in Derek.. this is the anandtech that the membership
asked for. The Mods are enforcing the rules per those policies.

You are correct on one point..mods who "don't like it"are free to quit and that's exactly what I did,
I didn't feel that giving up my time only to be repaid with constant complaint was worth
anything to me.. I got nothing of any value to myself in the exchange.

You guys screamed for a new leadership, new rules, now you've got both, enjoy!

You can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time... which is what your new rules and changes have been attempting to do... and failing miserably.

Look, trying to address every complaint is admirable, but it has backfired terribly. There is no doubt that traffic here has plummeted.

It's time to pull back and take a look at what is going on here. This place is a mere shadow of what it was just 5 years ago. Ask yourselves why this happened and be big enough to admit that the admin/moderation of these forums share, in large part, in the blame for the loss of traffic and participation.

People always scream for new rules with no idea of what they're talking about and no appreciation of the consequences. Hell, if every complaint got a new law in a country, it would quickly turn into a police state. Realize that no matter what you do, people will complain.

I dare say that the drop in complaints you saw after implementing the new rules and split the forums was due directly to the sharp drop in participation.

As mods, it may make your job easier, but your ad dollars are directly tied to traffic.

As for my personal opinion? You may have quieted the complaints, but in the process you've made the forums slow, empty, and boring.

No one here would contest the fact that these forums are no where near as fun, interesting and active as they were just a few short years ago.

My advice? Put the OT forums back together. At most, keep a separate P&N (it was created directly after 9-11 and for some reason was never needed before then). This will increase traffic and make OT more active and interesting as it makes all posts of all OT posts more visible to all.

Drop the insanely childish rules. Stop arbitrarily treating posters like children. It's demeaning and just drives away the more mature, intelligent people. The people who are used to being treated this way and expect to be treated like children stay and keep acting childish while the mature folks throw in the towel like I almost did recently. This is why the level of intelligent posters and threads has dropped. It's just not worth it when you stand a strong chance of getting treated like a child every time you try to have an intelligent debate or post an interesting topic.

Keep the rules tied directly to keeping advertisers and nothing more. Try and keep some BASIC civility and PROMOTE common courtesies like NSFW and the like. Don't enforce these things like a spanking parent. It's absurd to do so. Instead act like the mods did five years ago.

In your attempt to tame/nanny/mother the forums you have killed the fire and excitement that made these forums so interesting. The IQ level has dropped because the IQ level of the rules dropped. You've appealed to the lowest common denominator and now, that is all you're left with.

In short, the rules have created nothing more than a day care. Give this place back to the adults and treat us like adults like you USED to do when I first came here. There is no doubt AT forums were more active and more profitable 5-7 years ago than they are today.

I miss the old ATOT and I strongly feel that we can return to that if you'd just ease up a bit.

Like I said before: Sometimes the best way to fix something is to leave it alone and admit you can't fix everything.

oldsmoboat, I am sorry, but you are just flat wrong. And you, more than most should know that these forums are just a mere ghost of what they were when we joined. Please, take a minute to realize WHY this has happened. They may have been a bit wild back then, but they were FAR more interesting, FAR more active and a lot more fun.

What do you base this on? New rules are much better and the place is much more civil.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: cliftonite


What do you base this on? New rules are much better and the place is much more civil.

You must not have participated much just a few years ago. At one time OT was hard to keep up with it was so fast. There was as much activity in the middle of the night back then as there is during prime time today. The number of posts per day in OT is mere fraction of what it was 5 years ago.

At what cost is it more civil? How long would an adult want to hang out in a day care and be forced to abide by absurdly childish rules?

Sorry, but I remember the ATOT of five years ago, and like I said, it was bit more wild BUT it was a HELL of a lot more intelligent, engaging, exciting and FAR more active.

The new rules are insanely childish and the forum splits make posting an OT topic so it gets the most number of views and thus responses a pain in the ass and not worth it.

YOU may like the new rules, but obviously the silent majority do not, and have voted with their feet.

The squeeky wheels like you may be the loudest, but they are most often the minority. The greatly diminished activity level of OT proves this.

 

[Koing]

I had to delete a few emails very quickly from my mates sending me scantily clad women...

Koing

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: cliftonite


What do you base this on? New rules are much better and the place is much more civil.

You must not have participated much just a few years ago. At one time OT was hard to keep up with it was so fast. There was as much activity in the middle of the night back then as there is during prime time today. The number of posts per day in OT is mere fraction of what it was 5 years ago.

At what cost is it more civil? How long would an adult want to hang out in a day care and be forced to abide by absurdly childish rules?

Sorry, but I remember the ATOT of five years ago, and like I said, it was bit more wild BUT it was a HELL of a lot more intelligent, engaging, exciting and FAR more active.

The new rules are insanely childish and the forum splits make posting an OT topic so it gets the most number of views and thus responses a pain in the ass and not worth it.

YOU may like the new rules, but obviously the silent majority do not, and have voted with their feet.

The squeeky wheels like you may be the loudest, but they are most often the minority. The greatly diminished activity level of OT proves this.

What is this based on? Please find me atleast one instance where I have complained to the mods about a rule?(I dont ever remember even PMing a mod/derek) You seem to be the wheel that is squeeking the loudest and perhaps should join the silent majority in leaving?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: cliftonite

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: cliftonite


What do you base this on? New rules are much better and the place is much more civil.

You must not have participated much just a few years ago. At one time OT was hard to keep up with it was so fast. There was as much activity in the middle of the night back then as there is during prime time today. The number of posts per day in OT is mere fraction of what it was 5 years ago.

At what cost is it more civil? How long would an adult want to hang out in a day care and be forced to abide by absurdly childish rules?

Sorry, but I remember the ATOT of five years ago, and like I said, it was bit more wild BUT it was a HELL of a lot more intelligent, engaging, exciting and FAR more active.

The new rules are insanely childish and the forum splits make posting an OT topic so it gets the most number of views and thus responses a pain in the ass and not worth it.

YOU may like the new rules, but obviously the silent majority do not, and have voted with their feet.

The squeeky wheels like you may be the loudest, but they are most often the minority. The greatly diminished activity level of OT proves this.

What is this based on? Please find me atleast one instance where I have complained to the mods about a rule?(I dont ever remember even PMing a mod/derek) You seem to be the wheel that is squeeking the loudest and perhaps should join the silent majority in leaving?

Whatever. You supported the rules therefore it was not much of a stretch to assume that you may have asked for them as well.

If not, please excuse my assumption.

And thanks for the invite to leave. How inclusive of you.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: cliftonite

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: cliftonite


What do you base this on? New rules are much better and the place is much more civil.

You must not have participated much just a few years ago. At one time OT was hard to keep up with it was so fast. There was as much activity in the middle of the night back then as there is during prime time today. The number of posts per day in OT is mere fraction of what it was 5 years ago.

At what cost is it more civil? How long would an adult want to hang out in a day care and be forced to abide by absurdly childish rules?

Sorry, but I remember the ATOT of five years ago, and like I said, it was bit more wild BUT it was a HELL of a lot more intelligent, engaging, exciting and FAR more active.

The new rules are insanely childish and the forum splits make posting an OT topic so it gets the most number of views and thus responses a pain in the ass and not worth it.

YOU may like the new rules, but obviously the silent majority do not, and have voted with their feet.

The squeeky wheels like you may be the loudest, but they are most often the minority. The greatly diminished activity level of OT proves this.

What is this based on? Please find me atleast one instance where I have complained to the mods about a rule?(I dont ever remember even PMing a mod/derek) You seem to be the wheel that is squeeking the loudest and perhaps should join the silent majority in leaving?

AT used to have one of the Top 10 forums according to the Big-Boards.com rankings. Now we don't even crack the Top 50.

http://www.big-boards.com/highlight/245/

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: Amused
...

oldsmoboat, I am sorry, but you are just flat wrong. And you, more than most should know that these forums are just a mere ghost of what they were when we joined. Please, take a minute to realize WHY this has happened. They may have been a bit wild back then, but they were FAR more interesting, FAR more active and a lot more fun.

I know why it's happening and I chose to not participate. That's why you don't see "Senior Moderator" under my name any more.

 

[ViviTheMage]

does not make sense, but ok...

 

[Geekbabe]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Geekbabe

Originally posted by: sjwaste
[
The mods are volunteers. If they don't like it, they don't have to keep donating their time to do this. Therefore If they're pushing the policy, it's safe to assume that they buy into it. It's their fault too, at this point.

The policies as they stand are policies that have been shaped in large part due to member
complaint and feedback.. people didn't like the old style of moderating here,Anand listened
to your complaints,took them seriously and brought in Derek.. this is the anandtech that the membership
asked for. The Mods are enforcing the rules per those policies.

You are correct on one point..mods who "don't like it"are free to quit and that's exactly what I did,
I didn't feel that giving up my time only to be repaid with constant complaint was worth
anything to me.. I got nothing of any value to myself in the exchange.

You guys screamed for a new leadership, new rules, now you've got both, enjoy!

You can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time... which is what your new rules and changes have been attempting to do... and failing miserably.

Look, trying to address every complaint is admirable, but it has backfired terribly. There is no doubt that traffic here has plummeted.

It's time to pull back and take a look at what is going on here. This place is a mere shadow of what it was just 5 years ago. Ask yourselves why this happened and be big enough to admit that the admin/moderation of these forums share, in large part, in the blame for the loss of traffic and participation.

People always scream for new rules with no idea of what they're talking about and no appreciation of the consequences. Hell, if every complaint got a new law in a country, it would quickly turn into a police state. Realize that no matter what you do, people will complain.

I dare say that the drop in complaints you saw after implementing the new rules and split the forums was due directly to the sharp drop in participation.

As mods, it may make your job easier, but your ad dollars are directly tied to traffic.

As for my personal opinion? You may have quieted the complaints, but in the process you've made the forums slow, empty, and boring.

No one here would contest the fact that these forums are no where near as fun, interesting and active as they were just a few short years ago.

My advice? Put the OT forums back together. At most, keep a separate P&N (it was created directly after 9-11 and for some reason was never needed before then). This will increase traffic and make OT more active and interesting as it makes all posts of all OT posts more visible to all.

Drop the insanely childish rules. Stop arbitrarily treating posters like children. It's demeaning and just drives away the more mature, intelligent people. The people who are used to being treated this way and expect to be treated like children stay and keep acting childish while the mature folks throw in the towel like I almost did recently. This is why the level of intelligent posters and threads has dropped. It's just not worth it when you stand a strong chance of getting treated like a child every time you try to have an intelligent debate or post an interesting topic.

Keep the rules tied directly to keeping advertisers and nothing more. Try and keep some BASIC civility and PROMOTE common courtesies like NSFW and the like. Don't enforce these things like a spanking parent. It's absurd to do so. Instead act like the mods did five years ago.

In your attempt to tame/nanny/mother the forums you have killed the fire and excitement that made these forums so interesting. The IQ level has dropped because the IQ level of the rules dropped. You've appealed to the lowest common denominator and now, that is all you're left with.

In short, the rules have created nothing more than a day care. Give this place back to the adults and treat us like adults like you USED to do when I first came here. There is no doubt AT forums were more active and more profitable 5-7 years ago than they are today.

I miss the old ATOT and I strongly feel that we can return to that if you'd just ease up a bit.

Like I said before: Sometimes the best way to fix something is to leave it alone and admit you can't fix everything.

oldsmoboat, I am sorry, but you are just flat wrong. And you, more than most should know that these forums are just a mere ghost of what they were when we joined. Please, take a minute to realize WHY this has happened. They may have been a bit wild back then, but they were FAR more interesting, FAR more active and a lot more fun.

Nice long winded rant.. take it to somebody who's paid to pretend they give a fsck.. that person would be Derek Wilson.

 

[yllus]

It's probably about time the administration of this forum realize that the demographic for this forum is what it is - that's not going to change. Neither is their behaviour on the Internet. Instead of trying to enforce rules that just aren't going to take root, go with the flow and try building the population of these forums instead of handing out bans and threats. It's incredibly pointless and damaging to the overall goal - growth.

Edit: This pretty much nails it:

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
The problem is that the rules on this forum don't reflect the members, they reflect the whims of Derek and his cronies and the imaginary users they want to attract.

Stop trying to moderate the forum you wish you had and get to work on moderating the forum you've actually got. Everyone will be much happier for it.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: Geekbabe

Originally posted by: sjwaste
[
The mods are volunteers. If they don't like it, they don't have to keep donating their time to do this. Therefore If they're pushing the policy, it's safe to assume that they buy into it. It's their fault too, at this point.

The policies as they stand are policies that have been shaped in large part due to member
complaint and feedback.. people didn't like the old style of moderating here,Anand listened
to your complaints,took them seriously and brought in Derek.. this is the anandtech that the membership
asked for. The Mods are enforcing the rules per those policies.

You are correct on one point..mods who "don't like it"are free to quit and that's exactly what I did,
I didn't feel that giving up my time only to be repaid with constant complaint was worth
anything to me.. I got nothing of any value to myself in the exchange.

You guys screamed for a new leadership, new rules, now you've got both, enjoy!

Some people don't like the new style of moderation, but to complain is to callout, and there's no real way to close the box now that it has been opened. All we have now is micromanagement, and bans for anyone trying to have fun in OT. Don't nest, don't parody, don't link to anyone attractive, don't poke a mod or it will come back on you later.

I don't really want the hardcore nutso talk that goes on in PN or the creepiness that LR drug up to move back into OT, but so much has gone from OT that it might be worth considering collapsing everything back.

 

[Geekbabe]

Originally posted by: yllus
It's probably about time the administration of this forum realize that the demographic for this forum is what it is - that's not going to change. Neither is their behaviour on the Internet. Instead of trying to enforce rules that just aren't going to take root, go with the flow and try building the population of these forums instead of handing out bans and threats. It's incredibly pointless and damaging to the overall goal - growth.

There are MANY reasons for the slow down in growth of these forums, the number one factor being that over the years a lot of online IT communities have formed.

As to bans.. when I resigned as a Mod and rejected Elite member status it was my observation that changing fedral tax code was probably an easier task than handing somebody a vacation
from these forums. Lengthy communication and discussions on several levels before anybody gets told to take a hike around here.

Another thing to consider,the overwhelming overall tone and complexion to these forums is one of hostile sarcasm that can quite off putting to potential new members. Many people probably scroll thru here and figure that if they want to argue with people or be insulted that they can do that in their real time lives and they decide to become members elsewhere.