[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Recon Number 54 [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] cameo_cream [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] zoobkillerninja By posting they are promoting discussion because it bumps the thread. I don't like carpet bans but I understand why they do it. [/quote]Locking the thread solves the problem, and is much easier.[/quote] Sometimes the extra effort is worth it in the collective pissing and moaning that arrives in my PM inbox. If/when the rule enforcers can't "catch everyone and treat each case on an individual basis" it is a common practice to "make a random sweep" and set examples. Is it "fair" in the overall scheme? Probably not. But it reminds people that just because you see other people speeding, or shoplifting, or whatever, the risk to YOU is that if you get caught (either in a sweep or individually) what happened to those "other people" doesn't matter. You could pay for your own actions, or not. The choice and risk is yours to take.[/quote] The only threads I've seen carpet banned are ones resulting in flame wars, or are totally derailed. Im no mod, but a thread being locked because of a flame war is understandable - Your inbox would get more clogged up from the 20+ bans you would give out and would result in far more whining than locking it. Unless people whining at you is your fetish Recon? :p Banning people who caused and fueled the fire is understandable to a certain degree, but banning innocent bystanders in collecteral damage seems immensely unfair and makes some moderators look like waypoint ones...... And no mod wants to be catagorized like that, do they? The analogy you made sounds like this to me- A robber steals some expensive jewerly with people observing him. The Cops catch the crook but also charge the innocent bystanders because they could have stopped the felon and therefore also deserve the blame for not acting on it. Somebody who smashed the window, sure they were involved - but the people watching were not and therefore should not carry the blame. Of course you will never please everybody.