it was just like that, except regarding Class D amplification and DACs. This sort of harassment flies under the radar of most Mods because it essentially follows forum rules and guidelines, but the persistence is infuriating and I've lost my temper and have been reprimanded for it, when I'm the one being harassed.
I know it's not easy to remain calm when being sealioned, but that's the best way to handle it, remain calm. Don't rise to the bait, instead report the contentious posts so we can build a case against the aggressor VS you yourself ending up lashing back at the sealion and being the one censured. As Heather mentioned with the "Keep an eye on the troublemakers" statement, there is a tiered process of discipline that goes like this; Spammers, scammers, sock puppets, and people who have complete meltdowns get tossed out right then and there, zero tolerance. Regular members who do contribute factual audio content that push the boundaries repeatedly but not egregiously get a succession of written warnings, basically being counseled that their posting behavior needs modification as it's causing friction and will lead to further action. Once the warnings and counseling appear to be failing, temporary bans come into play, 3 day, 5 day, and after that if the undesired behavior continues that's when the full on "permaban" is applied, "Boots to Glutes" time.
As to Retro Pete, I personally counseled him on at least two occasions and in our first discussion he tried to explain away his needling behavior as being due to him being an engineer and non native English speaker, trying to use that as his excuse for repeatedly requesting "proof" for what were basically opinion based statements. And you know what? After each counseling session he did come back seeming to have lost the 'tude for a while, long enough to fade into the background till of course the reports started coming back in on him, and that's when the temporary bans started. He did serve the 3 day then the 5 day, and there might have even been a 7 day too, after which he always came back seeming to have learned his lesson, for a while. We all know how that ended up, Pete went bye bye.
In all of this, the most important point to be made here is to please don't be hesitant to use the reporting system. We mods do get around, but we can't possibly be everywhere all at once and we may not happen to be reading the thread where the sealion is plying his trade, incessantly needling his targets till the boiling point is reached. We need you all to be our extra eyes & ears, alerting us to the Retro Pete's and their antics in case we haven't happened to have seen that thread yet. Remember, it ain't "tattling" or "running to the teacher about the schoolyard bully" , it's properly using the system that's in place to keep AK a pleasant and stress free place for not only you, but for all of the rest of your fellow AK members too. At the end of the day we're all here for our love of audio first and foremost, and anything that adds stress to that (beyond a fried output transformer, damnit
) really don't fit with our "All Audio / No Attitude" ethos.
Thank You all for reading my long winded post, I figured you all were owed an explanation of how the discipline systems works and how you can use it to keep AK a friendly & happy hangout
