Surviving an Accidental Ban

[Athanasius]

Hi Everyone-

I had the oddest thing happen to me. In attempting to respond to a thread, I received the message every poster most deads:



<< You have been forbidden to post/reply or edit a message in these forums >>



I tried several times and got the same response every time. Then, a soul wrenching thought dawned on me: the benevolent mods of Anandtech had for some reason banned me from the promised cyber-land of milk and honey. This land has been named many names by the wandering human hearts of history. But in the 21st Century many had found that the name "Anandtech" most resonated with their cyber-hearts.

When the thought crossed my mind that I had been banned from the promised land and cast into the outer darkness of cyber-hades, I sought out the gracious moderators for some understanding of my plight. Had I offended them in some way? Was it possib;le that there had been a mistake? Was there a problem with the forums?

Alas, I was forbidden even to send a p.m. I tried a series of emails, but received no response.

So, I sought the mediation of a fellow member: the faithful Netopia. Surely he would plead my case. Through Netopia's p.m.'s, the moderators assured me that I had not been banned in name, account, or range of internet addresses. The moderators asked if I had been trying to post from a banned IP, such as AOHell. But I was innocent of such transgression.

Finally, I considered that perhaps the problem was with my IP, even though to my knowledge, this IP is not the banned. So, I downloaded a free IP (Juno) that is not on the current list of banned IP's and tried again.

And here I am.

So, has erols been added to the list of banned IP's or is this just some weird glitch with my computer? If it is a glitch, does anyone have any clue as to how to straighten it out? I am thrilled to be back in the land of milk and honey but hate to think that I might have to sneak in through the Juno back door or switch IP's just to abide in this great place.

At least I am relieved of the stigmatism of apparent banning

---

Our logs do not show any clear reason why you should not have been able to post. YGPM with more information.

AnandTech Moderator

 

[MajesticMoose]

If i was at home, i could try connecting, but I'm not so sorry. I hope erols hasn't been banned, that would suck for me when i'm not at school

 

[Robert01]

How did you survive Brother Athanasius, your story is so inspiring for nefs.

 

[Optimus]

Wow - glad to see you are back, friend! I was wondering if you'd given up on this place....


Don't worry, unless one certain member was made a mod, you would not likely get banned here!



Robert01 - LOL, I think that Athanasius would be the LAST member labelled a NEF here at AT. People might not always agree with his views (although I sure do), no one would accuse him of neffing!

 

[Viper GTS]

What IP do you get when you're connected via your original ISP?

Viper GTS

 

[Kev]

now i think you deserve to be banned just for saying "promised cyber-land of milk and honey"

 

[Robert01]

Opps, I was afraid my previous post my come across as calling him a nef. Of course he isn't. But, I think it shows nefs that there is more to life than being Anand's biatch; and it's actually possible to not post.

 

[Athanasius]

Hi Everyone:

I also posted a similar thread in "Forum Issues" to help me get to the bottom of this. I just didn't think "Forum Issues" was the place for my "land of milk and honey" poetical waxing.

ViperGTS:

well, I don't remember the actual "call numbers." I'll have to try from erol's again and see. I asked in "Forum Issues" if there was an easy way to track down all banned ranges of IP addresses but maybe someone here can answer that question as well. If I knew all of the ranges that had been banned, it would have saved me some time.

 

[kranky]

Optimus wrote:

<< I think that Athanasius would be the LAST member labelled a NEF here at AT. >>



Yep! And I can't imagine that he would ever get banned, either.

Welcome back, Athanasius. Always enjoy your posts.

Note to nefs: Notice that he is Elite with under 1000 posts? Quality, not quantity.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Welcome back from Purgatory! All that talk of milk and honey made me a little hungery.

 

[Athanasius]

Well,

I am now posting from my erols account, so the problem seems solved. A mod p.m'ed and said that a small range of erols IP addresses had been banned for a season because of a blitz that had to be dealt with.

Erols' doesn't guarantee static IP addresses. One often has the same address for an extended period, but it is in fact dynamic and will change from time to time. My best guess is that my address fell for a season within the banned range.

However, the mods have intervened and it seems everything is fine now. Thanks for the encouragement and the "welcome back's"

 

[Stark]

So the mods finally uncovered that you're Nick Caputo in disguise...

good to see you're back.

 

[notfred]

you need to learn the difference between IP and ISP.

 

[Athanasius]

notfred:


Is there some legitimate reason for your comment?

I can see where my first post was sloppy. Apparently the final answer was that a small range of IP's from my ISP were banned. I thought that perhaps the entire ISP had been banned. Since i was assurred that such was not the case, I was perplexed. Since my ISP gives dynamic IP's instead of static IP's, it appears that I temporarily fell under a banned range of IP's.

IP = internet protocol
ISP = internet service provider

Happy now?

 

[Miramonti]

Maybe a mod typed the wrong key or something and instead of banning someone else you got the boot....that means...there's an AT felon lurking around here on thin ice who's number should be up! :Q:Q:Q

 

[busmaster11]

Welcome back!

We missed you!!!


er... who are you again?

 

[linuxboy]

We missed you!!!



Cheers !

 

[Stark]

NEF = Non Elite Fred

busmaster11, Athanasius is the one member that truly deserves his Elite status. He usually only posts when he has something insightful to say.