Just to add, I remember finding your other early account as well, but can't remember why I didn't ban that (probably a mistake - we're all human!).
"And do a real, IP ban, not a username ban." - Most ISPs pool their IPs, so turning your rooter off overnight you could well find yourself getting a new IP. Imagine how cross you'd be if you got one that had previously been banned!

Ignore in PMs - not a bad idea.

"And while we're on the topic of forum renovations, would it really be that difficult to create a tabbed forum" Not at all. This comes up all the time, and I've often supported it. That said, if you follow the forum you won't miss stuff, and this does a good job of keeping the place feeling 'alive'. A risk of split boards is of them dying of underuse, or stagnating.

Well no one ever told me I was caught. I think I told the mods about my second account when I realized it was a problem and asked them to ban it. They never did though.

I actually emailed figlesquidge about this back in August.

I knew I never should have told you, ava. :-P It was too great though, to not gloat over my victory.

And, also, for the record, while we're exposing people, ava's a multi too. He confessed so to me in PM. :-P

Yeah but figles deleted the other account years ago!

So the only difference is that Figle is incompetent and forgot to delete mine? :-P

Well so long as you did use more than one account in a game, I don't think any harm was done.

Typo...so long as you *didn't use more than one account in a game

No, I most definitely didn't.

That really wasn't what that post was supposed to be about though...

The forum should be moderated?

Some small degree of moderation would be a good idea. People have been banned in the past for missing the forum. Diplomat1984 was banned for example. So banning people for particularly bad behavior would be fine by me.

It would certainly seem that way :/

Lots of people had two accounts when they first joined. Apparently this is always because people didn't realise it wasn't allowed, something I'm rather suspicious of.

I made another typo... *misusing the forum

I think spyman should be banned for his repeated and insistent typos. :-P

re forum moderation: Just in case you hadn't got the message there's no forum moderation and its not going to happen any time soon.
Whatever anyone may think of this, that's the way it is.

@☺&ava - case closed

Really? Then why was diplomat banned? Sicarius was banned at one point and there have been a couple of others. Surely there is some precedent.
I am not saying that every post should be read or that harsh language should banned, but blatant harassment, which is so frequent that it amounts to spam, I don't think should be accepted.

Diplomat was banned for multiaccounting. I don't recall Sic being banned, but if he was, I would bet it was for multiaccounting (Not because I think Sic would do that, but iths the reason for 99.9% of bans, so...)

There is definitely precedent. Depth charges? You're saying that if, for a month, I depth charged every thread I don't like, I wouldn't be banned? That's somewhat preposterous.

And I think Diplo was actually a multi too spyman, but I could be wrong.

I did not realize diplomat was a multi. I do recall he was warned on several occasions about starting too many threads. I assumed that was the reason he was banned.
The fact he was warned that he might be banned about starting threads is a precedent. If the mods had the right to ban players for extreme bad behaviour, then probably all that would be needed would be a warning to cut it out, and no one would need to be banned. The forum could still be largely unmoderated.

Dip was told off for being an idiot, but the ban was for multi-ing.
As far as I'm aware, the only person to be banned for anything *other* than multi-accounting was Tarablus for completely flooding the forum.

"Orathic, I think we'd best throw in the towel...clearly our "psuedo-intellectual ramblings" are no match for truly petulant trolling!

Maple, I concede--in the battle of wits, you have cleverly bested orathic and I by even more cleverly not having any about you! BRAVISIMO!"

-The old adage, "the only way to win is to deny it battle", no wait, that's a famous quote from Oma Desala...

I find myself supporting Kestas.

I believe we do not NEED moderators to have the power to ban/edit/delete posts; i believe that the community itself can act as forum moderators (as distinct from game moderators)

We do need some sort of code of conduct, something which people agree to. Like a universal declaration of forum rights and responsibilities - IMHO it should be fairly simple and brief.

I believe that the community can police itself. This requires those of us who want the forum to be a place for measured discussion and NOT flagrant bitching to state as much.

This might mean less derailing of threads (though they often veer off by themselves...) I think we could implement a 'split thread' function for every users (split threads could link back, and you could limit people to splitting their own posts) - or better still make the default to have a post be a new thread (but linked to the old one) and hence allow multiple people to reply to a single post (so the trolls can be ignored as much as you like and people who want to talk can have their conversations...)

That said simplicity is best. I'm not sure of the best and simplest implementation of a 'multi-threaded' forum - but remember you would still be able to do EVERYTHING you can do at present.

A new post is made and when you open it there is a list of all previous posts it is replying to. (which does not neccesarily include those posts which no-one has replied to...)

That said, I don't see a problem with Maple creating his own thread and spitting his vitriol there. I would ask him as a personal favour to do so. (not as a moderator, just as a forum user... because the moderators are GAME mods, NOT forum mods)

Just ban everyone in the forum and be done with it.

Smiley is rlumley???? YES! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!

Anyway. I am tentatively going to agree with you rlum... i mean :).

Perhaps it is better to completely ignore them, and perhaps it is better for moderation.

I am still uneasy about tabs but you make a seriously good point about the users having outgrown this forum system. Great though it once was..... it has indeed gone downhill. Or maybe I've just seen it all too many times.

Lol.

Whatever.

Happy new years!

lol check this old thread on the topic of the good old days.... the thread is now more than 2 years old:

http://webdiplomacy.net/forum.php?viewthread=325809#325809

its a testament to the population of this site now versus then that a 100+ post thread was a big deal

What's all this talk about changing the forums about???

What's wrong with them? A couple of annoying people, but I'm no saint--ask anyone--and really no one is (not even the folks in the stained-glass walss, I'd venture...)

The forums are great! Always active! One of the more active forums I know!

One of the things that first impressed me about the phpdiplomacy forum was how interesting and yet civil it was. I hope it can retain that quality, always. I am not concerned with whether or not it has extra features. I like it as it is.