More people banned, picket lines widen

Okay - this is escalating.

List of the banned: Me, greengrass, and two others (email me at ebren@hotmail.com and you will go on the list).

Those on strike: Offsideintahiti (GG can see the candle), miro, andrewm (possibly others).

I've posted the full talk policy below - but some of the antics from the moderators are beginning to resemble that of a dictator gone bad.

If you treat us like children, we will behave as such.

The moderators and journalists have access to our email addresses, and I know this for a fact.

Once, many moons ago, I posted something on a Paul Doyle thread.

He replied to me, explaining that he recognised his mistake, had changed his article accordingly, and modified my post to reflect this and so as not to make me look silly.

Now - if people are on the verge of being banned could we not have a "yellow card" email? Would that not be common courtesy, especially in light of the fact seani has praised several of those banned/on strike in the past.

Also - if we know WHY people are complaining we can moderate our behaviour accordingly. I'm pretty sure no one is going out to cause offence.

Random bannings don't help. Like Stalinist purges they just seem to result in paranoia, and a jumpy population that doesn't know what's happening and isn't conducive to creating good discussions.

The actual talk policy states there will be a warning before threads are closed down - this is also not being adhered to.

Additionally, and I quote: "We want Guardian Unlimited to be the place on the net where you will always find lively, entertaining and, above all, intelligent discussions. The last thing the net needs is yet another site where any attempt at conversation is drowned out by a few people hurling mindless abuse at each other."

I would add that to delete and ban with no explanation - especially when posts are not obviously "racist, sexist or offensive/threatening language, personal attacks on the writer or other posters, posts that exceed the maximum length, and posts that are off topic [and what does that mean]" is hardly helpful to creating "lively, entertaining and, above all, intelligent discussions".

Any discussion will naturally drift away from the original post - or you would end up with "I thought Rooney's goal was great" posts followed by "I disagree, I think that the build-up play was great, but the goal itself was only very good", which no one wants (and apparently gets you banned).

So that is my request - is it possible to have a "yellow card" email, or an email explanation as to what is causing offence so we can moderate our own behaviour and not be banned?

Cheers,

Ebren