This is re: [your comment here](https://www.greaterwrong.com/posts/HbkNAyAoa4gCnuzwa/wei-dai-s-shortform#comment-Z52oS3nMguFakpJbn).

I don’t want to argue about this via PMs, or anything, but just in case your comment was due to not being aware of how DSL works (which I think might be the case, but not sure):

I actually haven’t ever banned anyone from DSL. In fact, DSL’s moderation system is set up such that I (the forum’s administrator) specifically don’t have the right (by explicitly laid-out social compact, that is, not in a technical sense) to ban anyone, with the exception of users who post something that’s illegal for me to host. (That hasn’t ever happened, though.)

The moderators do ban people (temp-bans usually, with perma-bans generally being reserved for obvious trolls, cranks, spammers), but moderation policy is not under my control (again, deliberately so). (Incidentally, we are currently having our annual election for the Moderator-in-Chief position, which is also not within my control. This year, one of the key issues in that election is the widely-held view that one of the moderators sometimes takes moderation actions against participants in discussions in which he also participates, which many of the forum regulars see as improper.)

I’ve gone to considerable lengths, on DSL, to ensure that I, the forum admin, do *not* have any effective means of banning someone who is annoying me in some way, or whom I consider to be a poor contributor, etc. (Of course, in a technical sense, I am capable of banning anyone I like, but as far as the established rules of the forum go—nope.)

Again, this is all just FYI, in the event that you weren’t aware of these things. If you knew all of this already, then carry on.