OT - Banned from PM

[Mike Amick]

Sad that its an American manufacturing forum with a definite anti-American socialist tone.

Jezz dude .. you just cant leave it alone can you.

If you would rather be an anti worker capitalist fascist .. so be it.

[Black Forest]

I don't think you can call being banned from PM a badge of honor. Too many get banned. Now if you get banned by GB here on HSM that my friend is something. You have to really screw up here to get booted.

[Doc Nickel]

I got a four-month ban once... for not having my location entered.

As noted, several of the moderators, Metlmucnher in particular, are very vocal Democrats. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but he, and some of the others, are clearly very upset over the recent election, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if they've been banning people outright who have the temerity to disagree with them.

I would suggest dropping Don a line directly. If the banning was not his doing, and enough people complain, perhaps he might tell the banners to tone it down a bit.

Personally, I specifically stay away from the "Manufacturing" section, because it hasn't had anything to do with actual manufacturing in years- it's just the moderators' personal soapbox. MM is the moderator for the Manufacturing section, and Manufacturing is the only section that regularly and frequently devolves into political arguments.

Doc.

[MichaelP]

Well, Challenger... You can (and should) contact Don directly as the others suggested, but you were banned for your last post. It's pretty obvious. Here it is, #137: http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb...ml#post2884406

I'd say, you provided the moderator with a good opportunity to get rid of you. He made it look like you were banned for pasting a bunch of the yellow press "evidence" about one of the candidates. (Just for the record, I am not one of her supporters. Quite the opposite). IMHO, posting this "evidence" was not only a weak argument, poor practice and waste of the forum bandwidth, but, mainly, a slap in the face of the very sensitive moderator. The one who is well known for banning people who happened to disagree with his personal views.

Doc described the culture of the subforum very well, and I have nothing to add. Just stay away from The Danish-Scottish Troll Habitat if you want to keep sanity and not waste your time. The rest of the site is excellent.

I think Don will help you reverse the ban. He is a reasonable guy.

[Doc Nickel]

Yeah, Challenger, if that's the post that earned you a ban, I hate to say it- and I'm by no means any sort of Clinton supporter- but even I found that a little annoying.

I'm sorry but Munchr and Miguels are fiercely partisan, heavily opinionated, and I suspect both are also long retired, as they seem to have many, many hours of the day to post responses and fan flames. Arguing with them is quite literally pointless. It's worse than yelling at a brick wall. You will not, and can not change their opinions.

Contact Milacron, ask to be reinstated, and if he agrees, just stay out of the Manufacturing section. There hasn't been anything worthwhile posted in there in years, even if you did own a plant big enough to be a concern. If he doesn't agree, walk away with a smile. It's his sandbox, you follow his rules.

Doc.

[PStechPaul]

Wow! Didn't see that one. Actually I enjoyed wading through those pages of political banter on PM, but it doesn't seem to do much good. People seem to be very polarized and I don't see anybody taking a moderate position or changing their opinions. I can understand why George forbids political discussions here. They really do seem to consume a lot of wasted time that could be better spent making swarf.

[flylo]

I was banned from The Hobby-Machinist - The FRIENDLY Machinist Forum for according to them for being a spy for George but I think a member from here caused it. Didn't send FRIENDLY to me

[Doc Nickel]

People seem to be very polarized and I don't see anybody taking a moderate position or changing their opinions.

-That's because the moderates are berated by both sides, and thus have stopped participating or left entirely.

I can understand why George forbids political discussions here.

-I'm surprised Don allows it, especially since he professes to be so worried about appearing "professional"- which is the stated reason he bans discussion about the cheap Chinese machines, the little Craftsman lathes, etc. He supposedly doesn't want to clog the site with "home shop" fluff which might turn off or turn away the professionals.

Except that, if I were a professional, "Manufacturing in America and Europe" would likely be one of my preferred topics- and yet it's the most divisive and unfriendly page on the site.

Doc.

[polaraligned]

It has always amazes me how much the favorite commies, like Welden over there get away with. Many of the "working professionals" over there seem to have nothing better to do than post crap all day long.
I read over there, but rarely post any more. Every board has it's good and bad- it is no different here.
A good rule of thumb is to stay away from politics on every board you may be on. You will never change anybody's mind, so why even bring it up.

[GNM109]

Yeah, Challenger, if that's the post that earned you a ban, I hate to say it- and I'm by no means any sort of Clinton supporter- but even I found that a little annoying.

I'm sorry but Munchr and Miguels are fiercely partisan, heavily opinionated, and I suspect both are also long retired, as they seem to have many, many hours of the day to post responses and fan flames. Arguing with them is quite literally pointless. It's worse than yelling at a brick wall. You will not, and can not change their opinions.

Contact Milacron, ask to be reinstated, and if he agrees, just stay out of the Manufacturing section. There hasn't been anything worthwhile posted in there in years, even if you did own a plant big enough to be a concern. If he doesn't agree, walk away with a smile. It's his sandbox, you follow his rules.

Doc.

I've been on PM for about ten years under another ID. Metalmunchr is the moderator of the Manufacturing in America and Europe section. During the recent buildup to the election, he banned several people whose political views differered from his own. In recent years, PM has been taken over by some extremely left-wing people, Metalmunchr, Miguels and Gordon B. Clarke to name three.

In fact, the atmosphere has become so politically charged over there, that it's become rather annoying. So annoying that I quit posting there anymore, preferring just to read for technical issues and stay out of the fray. Suffice it to say, that if you cross either Metalmunchr or Milacron (Don, the owner) it's really easy to get banned there.

In that regard, I much prefer the way that this site is moderated. Political discussions on the Internet should not be permitted on a machining site. (Thanks George!)

[George Bulliss]

Speaking as a moderator who has banned a few, I almost never give an explanation. I used to, but found the multiple emails or PMs that resulted to be a huge waste of time and they really didn't help. No reasoning or explanations ever seem to get through to a guy pissed off about the banning. In the end he was still banned and mad and I was an hour behind at work.

As I eventually do with all threads about other forums, I'm closing this one.