Black hole observed!

[Dave Hicks]

I think it's possible that Ray is a separate person who got swept up in a fracas so I have reinstated him. He would, of course, be wise to avoid this and other brouhahas (no offense Eric!), as would everyone else. Possibly Ray may not be happy here as currently about half of his posts are complaining about the forum, rather than talking about the actual subject matter, but we can all give it another chance and see how things work out.

Oddly enough I got whipped up in a fracas like this when I was fairly new to a forum (on an entirely different subject.) I too got banned for a while. In thinking back, I realize that one of the reasons I got whipped up into that was because I really wasn't that interested in the real subject matter of the forum, so this meta-subject matter caught my attention. Meanwhile most of the people on the forum didn't know me that well, and got suspicious about some stranger's apparent support of another guy. (Who I later learned was banned from nearly all the forums on this subject.)

Switching from Ray to someone else, we've had multiple post reports today from multiple people, about one member's posts in multiple threads. One of the reporters said it's time for a permanent ban, and I do understand the sentiment (and may even agree with it at some point in the future if things don't improve) but I have only applied a warning which will automatically result in a short vacation.

Edit: I am now convinced that Ray is a separate person who got caught up in something.