Alternative title: "Introducing the Great Purge of 2011".
So as everyone has long gathered, I have deep patience for dickishness. I don't mind a bit of rough and tumble. Politics is a contact sport, and passion and commitment to one's causes and positions can lead to bruising debate. And let's be honest, if we decided to ban all dicks, half the site -- me included -- would be gone. Heck, look at the national scene -- the dicks are winning all the big battles (including 2010).
So being a dick is sometimes okay, within reason, which is why I've never concerned myself with it. But of course, the year-long Obama-rox/Obama-sux flamewar has now dragged me into community moderation, and my patience has run dry. I'm now itching the ban the fuck out of the biggest dicks on the site.
I'm already at about a dozen, with ratings pulled from several more. I'm not done. If you accuse someone of being racist just because they criticize Obama? Zap! If you actually say something that is even borderline racist? Zap! If you advocate for third party? Zap! This is a Democratic site. Advocating primaries is okay. Advocating third party is not. If I see ratings pack behavior or messed up uprates or hides, I won't zap, but I'll pull ratings abilities. Hell, depending on my mood at that moment, I may zap anyway. My dev team is putting together cool reports that identify patterns, so my job will get easier, and I won't be shy in exercising them.
I can't begin to care who started what. And in fact, if two sides are engaged in battle, I'll act the same way I parent -- both sides will get punished. So those are some guidelines, but they are not all inclusive. A lot of my actions will be arbitrary, inconsistent, and sometimes might even seem capricious. I don't care. Some of you want a big set of rules printed and bound, so everyone is clear on the boundaries. Not me. I'll define "bannable dickishness" the way you define pornography or irony -- you know it when you see it.
You dragged me into this thing kicking and screaming, you get me at my very worst.
If you are one of those worst offenders -- and I know you know who you are -- then your best bet now is to lay low and hope I haven't already noticed you (or banned you, for that matter). Or you can leave and go be obnoxious on someone else's site. That works too. Because right now, I have an itchy trigger finger. I'm actually enjoying cleaning things up.
But, to show that I'm not all evil, I have already reinstated several people who had been banned a while ago. I'm always willing to give people a second chance. And if you get caught up in this purge, you can always ask for reinstatement. But I wouldn't ask right now. Now's not a good time for that...