Postby uc pseudonym » Wed Oct 13, 2004 7:59 am
I sincerely regret (and in this case my regret is genuine) to inform you that Vyse has been temporarily banned. This has been building for a very long time, and is a developed issue, not the cause of any single action, though there was an action that instigated the administration’s discussion and subsequent decision.
We realize that Vyse is hardly a troll, making this banning far from the ordinary. Hence, I intend to do my best to explain to all parties involved why we have made this decision, so we are completely clear. Also, we as an administration do want to be accountable to the general body of Christ for our decisions. It should be understood, however, that this is not the totality of the reasons, nor should it be treated as such.
There are numerous infractions on Vyse’s part. The offense is less that these infractions were made, but that they continued with no obvious signs of attempting to change or of understanding. One of these is the derailment of threads upon certain stock issues: it is acceptable to feel strongly (or differently from the administration) on certain issues, but we cannot permit numerous threads to become arguments on what are at times barely tangential topics.
An issue I feel could be primarily focused on (though I hope it would not) is Vyse’s clashes with various members of the moderation team. We would like to reiterate at this point that it is completely acceptable to clash with administrators, to disagree on stances or to believe and state that they have done wrong. However, putting aside all account differences on these forums, as Christians there is an acceptable and an unacceptable way to go about this. I, personally, would hope that all such things could be acted out in an environment of mutual respect, but such is not always the case, as it has not been relating to Vyse.
Of course, all of us are fallible humans, and we cannot always maintain such lofty ideals (my own regrettable antagonism with Lehn comes to mind). We understand that such will happen, but we feel that Vyse’s attitude has continually been needlessly abrasive.
However, Vyse is not only a member but also a Christian. As Christians, we are reminded that grace is never something that is deserved, but something that is freely given. Also, we would like to give the benefit of the doubt and presume that Vyse somehow did not understand that his offenses were not merely minor or cosmetic. Hence, this is only a temporary ban (spanning seven days from this post), to make our position explicitly clear.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, in this situation or others. These conditions saddens me greatly, as it speaks to the terrible divisions in the body of Christ, and the fallen state of our world. In the days that follow, both before Vyse’s return and after it, I hope that all of us would be able to look at this issue as mature Christians and engage in discussion only under God’s grace.