draconian KGS admins

[sobriquet]

Yesterday I got banned from KGS temporarily, because I 'discussed
drugs' in the EGR (English Game Room).
My crime was to inadvertently mention the word 'peyote' once in
the EGR. Without any warning of any sort, I got kicked from KGS
and it seems I'm banned for at least 48 hours.

What bothers me about this kind of rude behavior by the admins
is that it seems a bit of an overreaction and fairly arbitrary.

If they just tell people to cease any conversation about the
topic, I would be happy to comply and continue the conversation
in private and refrain from mentioning any 'drugs', though it's
not entirely clear what concept of 'drugs' they deem off-limits
for even casually mentioning in the chatroom.

They don't seem to be very rational in their decision to
regard certain substances as drugs and other substances as being
ok to mention or even discuss and whether such discussions
might be appropriate in a chatroom like EGR.

For instance, if people would casually mention coffee or beer
in the EGR, I don't think it's likely they would get a
temporary ban without any warning.

But when you mention peyote, in response to some pictures
someone else showed that involved native American art with peyote
motifs, it's treated like some kind of heinous crime like
verbally promoting child abuse or terrorism which would
be totally inappropriate for obvious reasons in a chatroom
where they try to maintain a family-friendly atmosphere.

http://www.indigoarts.com/gallery_huicholart1.html

[Rainer Rosenthal]

Post by sobriquet
What bothers me about this kind of rude behavior by the admins
is that it seems a bit of an overreaction and fairly arbitrary.

Hi dohduhdah,

take it with humour - they have komi :-)

Cheers,
Rainer / GoRoGoRo
(GoChild: GoRo, where GoChild = http://gochild2009.appspot.com/ )

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Post by Rainer Rosenthal
take it with humour - they have komi :-)

LOL

[Robert Jasiek]

https://www.gokgs.com/tos.jsp

These KGS terms of service are not enforced consistently. E.g., there
are yearly ad games by Chinese professionals to promote their teaching
schools and no admin intervenes, violating the TOS. Over the years,
KGS admins have become less and less tolerant. Yes, they are helpful
concerning escapers. However, whenever it becomes go-off-topic, admin
actions are unpredictable and inconsistent. There is a tendency to
protect children from adult language, but admins can sometimes act
like a keywords alarm detector, issuing warnings or penalties without
assessment of context, like NSA watching me for writing "How to
prevent a <keyword>terrorist attack</keyword> with
<keyword>bombs<keyword>?". I guess this is so because some admins are
not educated lawyers but young players without enough experience of
interpreting speech carefully. As a consequence, KGS has become a less
friendly place because fewer users dare to make good jokes during
kibitzing. There is too much admin joy of exercising power and making
"stick comments to the game" statements. Soon kibitzes like "nuclear
tesuji" will result in KGS bans?!

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Post by Robert Jasiek
There is too much admin joy of exercising power

That is a general observation. If you give ordinary people
power, they become arrogant.

Hans-Georg

[alex]

made me think of this recent article:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150130-the-man-who-studies-evil?ocid=fbfut

Post by Hans-Georg Michna

Post by Robert Jasiek
There is too much admin joy of exercising power

That is a general observation. If you give ordinary people
power, they become arrogant.
Hans-Georg

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Post by alex
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150130-the-man-who-studies-evil?ocid=fbfut
...

Thanks for this link! Very interesting.

Hans-Georg