How to get a Formal Warning

[TeaLeaf]

I thought I would share this afternoon's pertinent experience with you.

I spend a fair amount of time away from these forums, reading, researching and   generally having fun.  One of the sites I visit regularly and browse to do WoW-related theorycrafting is //ElitistJerks.com.  

Today I got a formal warning on their forums.    

I consider myself relatively polite and up to date with current etiquette, so I was more than a little surprised when following a short and innocuous post about the Solarian encounter on the Elitsit Jerks forum I received a 'Warning' from one of the Administrators, Kaubel.

Dear Tealeaf,

You have received a warning at Elitist Jerks.

Reason:
-------
General Idiocy

Are you signing your posts because you're special or because you're incapable of reading our sticky threads?
-------

Original Post:

Since the 2.2 patch this fight is now a total joke.  Al'ar is patched on our server, so we did Solarian after Al'ar last night and Solarian now even manages to make Void Reaver look difficult, which is some considerable achievement.  The bomb mechanism is totally easy to handle and doesn't do any significant damage to the bombed person anyway, the need for resistance gear is zero and the level of coordination needed within the raid group is about zero too.  GG Blizz, this one has completely lost any fun to it and is now just a time sink

TL.

Warnings serve as a reminder to you of the forum's rules, which you are expected to understand and follow.

All the best,
Elitist Jerks

Slightly perturbed I looked up the rules (see bold below) and sure enough it says you should not 'sign' the post - yep, I was being warned for the 'TL' I habitually put at the bottom of my posts.

* If you "sign" your posts, you will be mocked. You have a profile in which you can and should put all relevant information such that it already appears next to every post. Personally I think the mockery itself and the herd mentality that gives rise to it are as stupid as the thing being mocked, but nevertheless, you don't want to type your name or your initials or some fancy symbol at the bottom of every post. People here will probably ignore what you posted and just make fun of you. It's like being a fat kid.

Fair cop, I missed that bit of their rules, but then that kind of compliance is kind of like expecting someone to immediately memorise all of dMw's stickied rules on their first visit, especially when one of the rules is an unusual one.

Anyway, just below the stickied EJ forum rules I noticed a brand new stickied post shouting in loud and rude capitals " STOP SIGNING YOUR POSTS".  It was posted by the same Admin who sent me the forum warning and it said:

You new people suck.

And stop telling us how you're a first time poster. We don't care, and it's probably just tipping people off that your post needs to be reported for either grammar or stupidity.

This seemed to me to be a little over the top espically when the last paragraph of their rules say:

* Above all, treat members of this community like you would a group of your peers and you will have an enjoyable and long stay.

In response to the "STOP SIGNING YOUR POSTS" post by Kaubel an EJ  member who joined in January 2007 posted a reply to this which said:

coffee please!
Sorry but if you worry about this i wish we could change lives.

He got banned.

So I posted a reply back to Kaubel:

Dear Kaubel

Thank you for the warning, I will endeavour to abide by your rules as I find the content interesting and enjoy my time browsing here.  

I help run an online community myself, a not disimilar size to your own (ours is 20,000 threads) and I find it somewhat laughable to be warned for being what I consider to be normal politeness.  However it's your forum, your rules and I will try to remember to not sign my posts.  I am sure you will understand however that it is a hard habit to break when I have 20,000 posts or so on other forums where signing is polite and the norm and then infrequent posts here to which non-standard rules apply.

As for reading the stickies, sure, I try to read them and I admit I must have missed that small and unusual rule buried within all the other stickies in the forum.  I cannot think of another where this unusual request is a rule, but clearly it works for EJ and that's fine.  

May I also politely remind you to read the forum rules yourself please?  Like the bit where the rules say "Above all, treat members of this community like you would a group of your peers and you will have an enjoyable and long stay." but you then post up a stickied thread saying "You new people suck.  And stop telling us how you're a first time poster. We don't care..." etc.  The two don't seem to align particularly well.  

Finally, I see lots of graphical signatures on your forum which also re-state the name of the user.  Is this the same as signing or not?

TL. (not sure if this bit is allowed now?)

I'm now waiting to see if I get banned too.

Thank goodness for dMw and it's sensible approach to life, the universe and everything...... :dmw:

TL.

PS:  To see the formal warning and others by the busy Admins at EJ, just go take a peek at The Banhammer section of their forums.

[DuVeL]

:haha: :lmfao:
 
Paul you Rebel!!!
Good read though. Made me laugh...
So, banned yet?
 
Signed,
DuVeL
 
Lol, from that link; Infraction for Tritone: Useless E-Peen post

[Doorman]

:doh: Wrong forum, sorry.

[Gone_Away]

I'd ban you..

[0ni0n]

wow that looks like a really friendly community i would just love to be part of!:rolleyes:
 
0ni0n

[Bastet]

It kinda worries me your allready on the second page of that forum you linked TL. Harsh.

[saori]

Maybe we can Hack down their server and replace the main htm file with a message like "Kaubel, you suck" :roflmao:

[Jamoe]

:roflmao: thebanhammer

tbh it's all in the name.. Elite Jerks. hehe

i think with my grammar record id be banned on my first post.

[sheepy]

jerks is a good name for them if they behave like that!

[Lucian]

That forum is full of arseholes. Bloody grammar bandits, let me get at them!

[Gorion]

i wonder why the members of that forum suffer that crap and continue using it..

[TeaLeaf]

Attitude aside there is some exceptional theorycrafting and encounter discussion on it.

TL.

[DogMeat]

Someone needs to get laid...

:lmfao:

[Penfold]

It's pathetic... no two ways about it.

He's either:

1. Very young and gets sexually aroused by having such powers as being able to ban someone.

or

2. A complete dick with no life, no friends, one who rarely sees sunlight and feels that only online will be find true friends.

(For those of you that came from AokCC - remind you of Punching Bag anyone??).

What a spud. He deserves a slap.

Jerks is right

PEN

[Bastet]

Jerks is right
 
PEN

You get what is advertised, job well done there i suppose...