If Baron or Joe banned someone from this forum, then they probably had a very good reason. It does take a lot to get banned from this site. I will take a guess why your buddies were banned...My guess is that your buddies got mad at Optional777's aggressive posts. They read the posts and, instead of replying back to them in an intelligent civilized manner, they went way beyond the rules of this forum and did something terrible to get Baron's or Joe's attention. They were then banned from the forum. Your buddies might be fine guys, but they do have the option of not reading or replying to Optional777's post. There is an ignore feature they could use. They also have the option of not reading or writing in the Politics and Religion section which appears to be a "no holds barred" area of the site. That site is at the bottom of the board and they can simply ignore it if they like. They can also reply back to his posts in a civilized tone and we as adults can choose which side we want to be on...keep in mind that we are adults and so there is no need for repeated threads. We can read both sides and then make a decision who we want to support. There is no need to constantly reply back to Optional777 for clarification. I can figure out which side I want by the initial posts. The bottomline though is that you have seen some other individuals on this site get away with things. There have been insults and strong language thrown about in the various sections. Baron or Joe did not ban those guys. So whatever your buddies did, they crossed a certain line. Its not easy to get banned from Elitetrader and its usually after warnings and repeated hostile conduct that goes way beyond the rules of the forum. Your buddies probably took it too far in an effort to muscle Optional777 off the site versus ignoring his posts or replying back in a civilized manner. If you dont like someone, then ignore them. Thats the best way of handling people you dont like either in real life or on a message board. When you use hostile conduct against people you dont like, then you will get in trouble in both real life and on message boards. You cant assault someone in real life because they are annoying or spitting out hateful statements just like you can't do that on a message board. Just ignore the guy...
Did you ever think that Baron=zzzz? From what I understand , the owners of message board forums often assume several screen names to help boost traffic. I actually wouldnt be surprised if Baron was zzz and tradernick, hell Baron could also be you Reardon for that matter. Maybe he writes under a 100 different screennames, argues and debates, then bans himself, all in the name of putting on a good show. Hmm maybe a bong hit at 10 am wasnt a good idea
Why not just put him on ignore? Do his opinions and statements really matter to you that much? If some drooling retard starts yelling obscenities at you, do you really care?