Bitcoin Forum

As theymos suggested, here is my case about a member of the forum who got his account permanently banned for plagiarism.
It is ChiBitCTy. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=904524)

Yes, he broke some forum rules, and has been banned for ~10 months now.
However, I believe that this user is very different from most of the profiles that are permanently banned for plagiarism.

Here is why I think that, and also why I think that having him back would be a good action for the forum, in a few point.

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1) ChiBitCTy is a trusted trader

His trust feedbacks speak for themselves.
No matter what, you cannot deny that once he pockets some coins for items he sells, the buyers will get the said items.
It goes the same when he bids or purchases an item : he will always fulfill his commitments.

Personally, I don't need escrow when engaging in a trade with him and going first. I am rather confident that we will never see a scam accusation against ChiBitCTy.
I doubt that we can say the same about the majority of banned members.

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2) ChiBitCTy is still active

This wasn't just a quick hobby that ended once he was denied access to the forum.
There are a few chat rooms, composed exclusively of forum members, that we use among collectors.
ChiBitCTy has stayed there and keeps on collecting and trading bitcoin related items.

A few very selected quotes :
https://i.imgur.com/rcxapLO.png?1
https://i.imgur.com/SiYFjsf.png

His business would a nice and beneficial addition to the Collectibles sub-section.

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3) ChiBitCTy organized charity events

Not one, but two.

[Charity Auctions] Random Lots/ Charity Auctions -Haven Project-Save The Bees! (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3248727)
[Charity Auctions] Random Lots/ Charity Auctions -HAVEN -Save The Bees2! (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3378087)

I do nothing for the bees, nor would I have time or know what to do. I think it's cool that somebody tries to.
It's a nice way to do good while promoting bitcoin, and ChiBitCTy was conducting those events on the forum.

There is not many people doing this, giving time, to help such causes.
Maybe he would have done more since then ?

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4) ChiBitCTy helped bust scams and warn users

Being an amateur of various physical crypto-related items, he started threads where he shared his concerns about some items and shops :

Infinitum Coins - is this "company" a scam? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3276594)
allthingsdecentral.com warning / heads up (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2859480)

This helped to make users aware of scams, and so people from the forum are less likely to fall into those traps.

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5) ChiBitCTy didn't break any more forum rule

Basically, he accepted the forum staff ban decision. He did not make another account, except for the legitimate one he used in Meta to appeal his ban.
He remained whole, and managed to keep in touch with the forum community without even using the forum.
To me, this show how passionate he is about what he does, that this represents a lot for him, and that he wants to play square.

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For all the reasons above, I believe that pros outweight cons in that case, and allowing ChiBitCTy back would be beneficial to the forum.
His trades and events will certainly help strengthen the Collectibles sub-forum economy.
We could also use one more vigilant eye regarding scams.

We all do mistakes at some point, in various context, in different times of our lives, which triggers consequences not thought of.
Well, this was clearly one for ChiBitCTy.
I am certain that this 10 months of exile have already taught him a good life lesson.
From now on he should assess what he can or cannot do, in what context, with much more care.

Thank you for reading that thread and for considering to lift his ban, please.

I hear your concerns, and history has shown that this was a slippery slope.
If we don't want him to wear a sig because he could advertise; let's do something to mark the hit while not necessarily preventing ChiBitCTy to interact on the forum.

Why not a permanent signature ban instead of a full permanent ban, if technically doable ?

I think it has been newely implemented:

Not much changed. Most users banned for plagiarism will remain banned and new ones will still get a permaban.

I’ve found ChiBitCty to be a positive contributor to my Slack group and he is genuinely disappointed that he cannnot actively participate here. I think he would be a good candidate for reinstating without the use of a signature.

I'll copy myself here:

Maybe for some special Users that deserve it realy or get the chance to be get unbanned , conditions should be imposed !

- 6 Months or 1 year  a kind of probation , or something like this !
- If they doing something against the Rules in this Time they get perma banned forever !

Just an Idea !

Also i would say ,someone who realy deserve an unban should be unbanned to make an example of !

 ChiBitCTy was a great member of this forum and still is active with many forum members on other social platforms.

 He was a great member of the  collectable community and always honest and reliable.

 I agree with Yogg, please allow to come back BUT issue a permanent signature ban.

 

Unban the man - no sig, and a custom title....  Copy Pasta Punk

Like his fight for the Bees and Charity 8)

Permanent ban is somewhat harsh and permanent sig ban is good choice.
Though I am not in support of unban of the users because it will open the case for hoards of shit poster but someone like ChiBitCty who is not doing any ban evasion and following forum decision might deserve a  chance.

I'd say unban the guy. He actually made a good addition to the collectibles board.

I don't know if I get a vote or not, and I'm not partial to allowing plagiarists any slack.  However, I've posted I don't know how many gifs and memes here without citing the source.  Hell, most of the time the source is as elusive as the memes are plentiful.  I guess if one is going to assume the moral high horse when it comes to plagiarism then he's got to go all the way.

I don't see much risk in repealing the ban for ChiBitCTy.  By accepting his ban it appears he's acknowledged the seriousness of his crime.  The bee charity thing is also a huge factor in my favoring clemency.

If the ban is repealed I'd like to suggest his signature is fixed with this link (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3432369.msg36030624#msg36030624) for a minimum of 3 years.

I've only had positive results when dealing with ChiBitCTy. I believe him to be a very genuine contributor to the forum and would love to see him back in action.

thanks!

also endorsing this member as a valued and trusted trader, would like to see this permaban revoked.

he is a great member and i think most of us trust him..
would love to see him back on the forum, am sure he won't repeat the same thing ever again

Just sig ban him for a couple of years.

If he is a good member and just made some sloppy mistakes and got lazy on referencing then not really worth losing a good member (if he is one i don't know him myself). We need all the REAL enthusiasts we can get for this movement.

Only financially motivated shit posters should be banned perm. Even then if you just take away their sigs for a few years it will likely have the same outcome.

I would rather see Yogg banned (from DT and merit source) for trust abuse and collusion with other known bad eggs on DT.

I'm not in favour of perm banning any person that really is true fan of building an end to end trustless decentralised arena unless they really do not care at all about damaging this board for their own personal and selfish financial gain.

Bump.

At first thought I will straightaway say no to this kind of permaban changes as I will always look at how it will open up avenues for the abusive plagiarizers to get back in the forum. But then theymos speak up and said that "everything is case-by-case (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5113767.msg49896676#msg49896676)" so definitely no one who do not deserve to be back in the forum won't make the exceptions theymos will make. Permaban should definitely stay but should be awarded to people who really abuses the forum and has no contributions to the forum but the shitty posts they make if not plagiarized. ChiBitCTy is still active in the forum he can only read threads but cannot post anything, if he was one of those plagiarizers who got permabanned he won't be using his account anymore to use the forum.

Thank you for your comment.
This isn't the only thing.
If he was able to post, there would be more business in the particular section ChiBitCTy was active.
And, he just only reads. He didn't make another account and try to go "under the radar".

Thank you minifrij and Theb for bringing this thread at the top.
Not sure if :
- This went unnoticed and if it should be "bumped" until there is a reply from a member of the staff ?
- Or just, if the people with power won't do a thing and wish not to comment further on the matter ?

I can only echo the sentiments of many in here that ChiBitCTy deserves a second chance. Not only because he is a close friend of mine but I know how much this forum means to him, it truly does. He is a vivid collector that has helped out a lot in that section while also being a valued member. You could probably not find a single veteran there that wouldn't vouch for Ty.

We can all make mistakes when we are at our lowest and that is exactly what happened here. Ty has stressed many times that he is willing to have his signature removed indefinitely if only he could come back and that is what makes the difference for me. We have to look at the background, the value of the member in question as well as what they mean to the community as a whole.

I'd be willing to put my name on a list and if Ty were to get his account unbanned and then break a rule, any rule, you can ban my account as well as his. That's how confident and appreciative I am in him/of him.

I plead to theymos or any global mod who has the powers here. He's been unable to post or send/respond to PM's for a year now, the punishment has been served. We should show that we can forgive a crime where nobody was hurt or suffered financial loss. It's time.

I'm interested to hear suchmoons view on this case actually. Where is she? probably panting away replying to me somewhere else. I mean it was her that snitched him in right in the first place? he probably does not send mining gear up front or something.
Let's hear her views. I mean if she says it's okay now then you have a good chance of it happening I would guess.

Like i said i think just take away his sig and give him another go. A real member does not care too much about a sig anyway.

But suchmoon ...you know she is a stickler for these financially motivated ones.

Anyone who actually provides real services in crypto should be given one more chance without a sig.

I've seen others though that get less support for similar.... the old excuses bingo card and such... shows its who you know around here not what you do.

I messaged theymos about it but didn't get a response. I even asked if the sig ban feature can be extended to Globals as I would much rather issue them instead of permanent bans, especially in cases like this. I would suggest that ChiBitCTy PM theymos and state his case and maybe a sig ban will be given instead of the perma one. Maybe collecting some vouches from established members on why he should be allowed back would help his case.


It doesn't really matter who "stitched" them up but he has made several comments about the possibility of alternatives to plagiarism in the thread I created about the possibility of them:

I said snitched not stitched but yes it is pretty much the same in her case.

Well, why not take some initiative. Create a list put those copy and pasters on it with a date and tell them they will not be allowed to have a sig for 2 years or whatever.

 If they are caught with one on. We have plenty of snitchers like suchmoon for that (give them those new shiny snitcher badges they are begging for). They then put a sig on in that time frame...boom they are banned.

There will not be a huge amount of those that can prove net positive achievements and were not financial copy and pasting so will not be a massive list.

I guess most arguments have already been given around here, so I will just give my general opinion on this.

As has been pointed out, every case is unique and is dealt with on a case by case basis.

That being said all the "he plagiarized he won't be unbanned" are by definition not valid.

I have always found the permaban decision over plagiarism a bit too harsh for the main reason most people who actually deserve it will keep creating new accounts and escape the ban. Finding these is difficult if the user doesn't have fixed ip and isn't a complete moron.
In the end the one that are hit hardest are the ones actually accepting their punishment and NOT coming back with another account. This appears to be the case here.

I think that same as with the legal justice system in most countries positive actions should be weighted against bad ones. While I never dealt with the guy or met him, I trust yogg's judgement and I am leaning towards leniency.

Also the real justice systems allows for "early release" when someone is send to prison, say for a lifetime.
He is gone for 10 months here, and plagiarism or not, you can't deny that he is in fact part of the community.

If I had the keys, my course of action would be let him back him for time served banned, and give him a nice title like TMAN suggested. Making him wear a useful non paid signature could also be beneficial as he might become a regarded member of the forum again if given a chance.

Also, without the possibility to wear advertisement, there is no risk for recidivism.

I would love to see his case reconsidered. Everyone makes mistakes at some point. Does that mean everyone is bad? Or only the ones you catch red handed?

I dont visit here often but in my opinion chibit should be allowed back on the forum.  Yeah he might have had a lapse in judgement with the plagiarism post but he is healthy overall for the community.  I am in other groups with him on them and has been super helpful to me.  I mainly hang in the goods section and he always goes out of his way to link me to to potential cool little oddities I otherwise would never know about.  I've chatted with him over the course of a couple years and is always cordial and polite.  I know there is a rule against it but a permanent ban for this and blatant scammers (which are rampant here) dont even get a week ban or anything seems a bit harsh.  I think he has served his time and we need more people like chibit in this forum.  My 2 cents  :)

Edit: if a sig ban on some level is impossible, maybe a global mod neg trust pointing this out so chi cant use sig campaigns for a period of time might be something to look at.  Once they show they aren't going to plagerise again let him back in without the red account?  Just an idea if an open invitation back isn't on the table.

He is unbanned by the way.  ;)

That's good to know. Set's kind of precedent doesn't it. Since I notice his were financially motivated after looking more closely. Although clearly he is net positive for the forum being a larger scale trader. Than a couple of errors of judgement. Still that should me that anyone NOT copy and pasting for money should get back on with perhaps a sig ban too.

What were the terms?

2 year sig ban?

It says "banned from displaying signatures until March 09, 2020, 10:24:44 PM"  I suppose theymos took into account time served already. Usually, accounts that come with a sig ban are for 2 years.

I'm probably the last person to try to speak in favor of people who have committed plagiarism, but on the other hand, I'm glad that cases are looked at individually, and judging by all the posts above, he appears to be a worthy member deserving a second chance.

Oh I did not know that either, that is good news.  He definately is a net positive for the forum, good to hear this  :)

I am happy this case has been reconsidered too.
As for the net positive, only future will tell. If not, swinging the ban hammer again remains possible anyway. Not like this was a risky move!

I think the bees are convinced he's a net positive.  ;D

No, not much risk in this move, and I'm glad he's been given a second chance.

@ChiBitCTy, welcome back.  Don't fuck it up.

Thank you, and I can promise you and everyone else I'll never fck up again.  That's one of the easiest promises I'll ever make.  I have many of you to thank. From those of you whom are often in Meta helping (that I don't personally know), to many of my buddies here...I can't thank you all enough. Month after month seeing people fight for me here meant a lot. For those that didn't want to see me come back, all I can say is I hope you'll see me in a different light after a while. I'm here to help, clean up, and not be the cause.

I am extremely thankful to Hilarious and Theymos for considering me for, & ultimately giving me the 2nd chance...it feels good to be back!

Finally, took way too long.

It looks like the sig spammers are out in force with their “agree” posts. Perhaps they are trying to win favor with the DT powerful.

It also looks like a certain group of people think they can do whatever they want without consequences. The unbanning only reenforces that.