Sometimes I get an email that says "why would you lock my account?" - so this
thread is an attempt to provide
the answer one time. Rather than typing up a whole new email to say the same thing, I'll just send a link to this thread.
The permies.com staff probably lock about 15 accounts per day. Most are for spamming.
The next most popular is that a person sets up an account with a name that does not comply with our naming policy. The staff sends the user a PM (which sends an email to the user) and says "please use a real sounding name." Which usually results in a response "Your psychosis about names is the real problem here - you need to allow clever names" and the account is locked. If a week passes with no attempt by the user to change the name, we lock the account.
Then about two or three times a month, somebody decides to challenge the staff in some way. Usually it boils down to a person that demands that we publish their hate speech. The staff will usually try to convey that these forums are managed a different way and ... the long, dull conversation ends with the account being locked.
These forums are for a very rare person that likes the topics I like and likes to communicate the way I like to communicate. This means that 99% of the people on the internet are not a fit for these forums. So those accounts must be locked.
Oh, and one last thing: About three or four times per year I will email everybody that has registered on these forums - except for locked accounts. And about four people will write back to say "never email me again" or "unsubscribe" - so I lock their account. I guess my feeling is that if getting an email from me once every few months is too much, then I don't want to publish your stuff.
So, what is left are people that like this style of community. Mission accomplished!
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