Often been accused of being a troll.
Never banned
~BCX~
Added: Welcome back Saltyspitoon, good to see you're still alive!
Thanks, been alive, just busy. You were one of those often accused never banned due to witty and constructive insults that I almost mentioned, but since you weren't involved in the conversation, figured I wouldn't call names.
Trolling isn't against the forum rules. In fact, there aren't any rules to begin with. I've seen the moderators be quite rude to people continuously, and also be extremely bi-polar, confusing, and careless. I've never seen such unprofessional behavior, but we have to keep in mind that this is the internet, and behavior like this flies pretty well. If I was a moderator here, I would be getting paid to actually make a positive difference here. (That is, if moderators actually get paid).
I'm assuming you are being facetious, but in case you aren't, there are indeed rules here. If you check out the unofficial rules thread stickied here in Meta, you will see Bitcointalk's rules (
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/unofficial-list-of-official-bitcointalkorg-rules-guidelines-faq-703657). The only reason they are considered unofficial rules even though they have been thoroughly discussed by the staff members in the thread, as well as lots of community members, is because ultimately,
as long as moderators act in good faith and don't deliberately violate any rules that make sense in the situation, they have discretion.
An example of what actually happened here where moderators took action even though it would have been unacceptable by the official rules. Someone under the age of 18 was attempting to sell illicit photos/videos of themselves from a country that allowed it. By the marketplace rules, you are allowed to buy/sell whatever you want, as long as its legal in your jurisdiction. Had that rule been steadfast, removing the thread wouldn't have happened, and it would have been OK as long as buyers from countries that didn't allow it didn't take part. That's an example of why "there aren't any rules to begin with." Moderators are welcome to be as rude and unprofessional as they like, however Theymos has a vested interest in not having those sort of people be moderators for long.
If you are going to accuse mods of trolling you should post evidence of that. Do not think it is a easy job dealing with so many quirky personalities, myself included.
I'm sure it happens, and you are exactly right. Keep in mind the population of Bitcointalk tends to skew anarcho-libertarianism. Most people here aren't 100% thrilled with the concept of moderators or limiting of their right to unlimited free speech (aka Spam/unnecessary disruptive behavior/etc) sometimes dealing with individuals, even kindly and with logic doesn't work. Sometimes you just have to give up and deal with the demanding pms asking why their thread on Bitcoin's doom due to secret lizardman affiliation was moved from the marketplace section to off topic. After an attempt or two, I personally would probably harass the person a little bit, rather than blowing up and calling them a moron. Each moderator deals with things differently.