Suspended for Otter Nonsense

[Senn]

I do not think there is favoritism. However, it would be nice to receive a warning with the offending post shown first before you are suspended. I think the moderators have been doing a fine job in general. Since a lot of people who get suspended violated the forum ToS, I think the suspension is justified. However, sometimes I feel the rules are not very clear and other times too strict. Well, I haven't been suspended, so I must be doing something right lol

[SturmChurro]

I do not think there is favoritism. However, it would be nice to receive a warning with the offending post shown first before you are suspended. I think the moderators have been doing a fine job in general. Since a lot of people who get suspended violated the forum ToS, I think the suspension is justified. However, sometimes I feel the rules are not very clear and other times too strict. Well, I haven't been suspended, so I must be doing something right lol

I could scour this forum and report dozens of post that were equal in context to the post I was banned for, and my "violation" of the ToS, and others that are far more severe. There doesn't seem to be any consistency at all to the bans here. You are right, if you take a very broad interpretation of the ToS, the bans are in fact justified. The problem is when some users get banned for, in my opinion, very minor "violations", and others who post things that could definitely be considered more severe, or equally severe, don't have any action taken against them, sometimes the post(s) don't get deleted.

I think there are either multiple mods with very different interpretations of the ToS, or they are handing out biased reports. The only thing that is consistent is NO "profanity".

[Senn]

...

Eh I don't know. My rule of thumb is it's ok to have disagreements, but if your post comes across as intentionally petty/condescending/inflammatory, then you have a higher chance of getting suspended. It helps not to use profanity, either. If you don't do any of these things, you're not going to be suspended. Some people may find this too stifling though.

I don't really think the moderators are hugely biased. All we can do as forum users is to manage our own behavior.

Otter pictures don't really seem like it should be cause for a suspension, but I suppose that could be considered spam. It seems like posting pictures in topics is ok as long as it's related to the topic at hand. However, otters were so out of left field lol

[Joven]

Eh I don't know. My rule of thumb is it's ok to have disagreements, but if your post comes across as intentionally petty/condescending/inflammatory, then you have a higher chance of getting suspended. It helps not to use profanity, either. If you don't do any of these things, you're not going to be suspended. Some people may find this too stifling though.

I don't really think the moderators are hugely biased. All we can do as forum users is to manage our own behavior.

Otter pictures don't really seem like it should be cause for a suspension, but I suppose that could be considered spam. It seems like posting pictures in topics is ok as long as it's related to the topic at hand. However, otters were so out of left field lol

The otters came from Otter Space, not Left Field. (Couldn't help myself. Sorry/not sorry)

Back on topic: you can manage your behavior all you want, but that won't stop someone that disagrees with you from reporting you out of spite. If the mods really only look at reports and not the situation at large then it would lead to seemingly unfair suspensions or bans. That's why having some kind of active warning system in place would allow people to course correct more frequently. If a mod could drop you a PM about your behavior (suspected or otherwise) then a lot of people would pay more attention to their actions.

As I've said, this is my first suspension on here since I started posting in 2013 and I felt like what I was posting was in line with previous posts I've made, so I was confused as to the reaction.