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I'm having an issue committing to proposal because I'm suspended. Is my suspension from Area 51 supposed to block my entrance into a beta that I've been following for months now? When I try to commit I get:

Suspended users cannot vote
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closed as too localized by animuson, Toon Krijthe, Rory, jonsca, Bo Persson Oct 29 '12 at 9:40


I would hope this is status-bydesign. If you have been suspended from area 51, you are probably going to damage the chances of a beta succeeding if you participate in it. –  HAL 9000 Jul 7 '10 at 22:39
I'd like to point out this is an honest question, with a problem poignantly highlighted.. And, I'm still getting downvotes. –  Evan Carroll Jul 7 '10 at 22:57
wow. I thought it was only Meta you were suspended from. –  Earlz Jul 7 '10 at 23:16
I'm not suspended from meta. Apparently, they decided to test the suspend functionality out without reason on Area51. –  Evan Carroll Jul 7 '10 at 23:25
I don't understand it... I am not saying you are right or wrong in the issues you have had with this website, but if it was me, that is, if I had been banned, suspended, down-voted, etc, that many times, I would simply not use the website anymore! You are certainly persistent! Is this a love-hate relationship? –  Vivi Jul 7 '10 at 23:47
...and this is a problem because...? –  dmckee Jul 8 '10 at 1:37
@Vivi No, I'm a lover. Always. The oppressive establishment on other hand is not. –  Evan Carroll Jul 8 '10 at 1:37
@Evan, I don't know what your definition of love is, but calling the StackOverflow team "The oppressive establishment" is usually not what I could consider to be love. At least, not conventional love. –  devinb Jul 8 '10 at 11:03
@Evan Think calling the people who own and run the site "The oppressive establishment" might have anything to do with your suspension. The sites are their property they get to do with it what they want. The content is CC and you can do with that what the license allows. If this isn't clear enough, read the legal page. –  C. Ross Jul 8 '10 at 12:55
@C. Ross - I doubt his comments had much to do with the suspension. Then again, ICBW. –  Tim Post Jul 8 '10 at 14:23
@DavidFullerton Is the message saying "cannot vote" instead of "cannot commit" bydesign as well? Is fine if it is, but just checking. –  Grace Note Jul 21 '10 at 16:10
@Grace I don't think he can hear you –  devinb Jul 21 '10 at 16:25
@devin He edited the question, and he has a display name on his profile, so it should work. –  Grace Note Jul 21 '10 at 16:28

4 Answers 4

What would "suspended" mean if you could still participate?

Oddly, most of the rest of us don't seem to be afflicted with "wrongful suspensions". Perhaps you might consider refraining from the behaviour that consistently results in your suspensions?

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I was suspended from Area51, the same day I was earning badges on StackOverflow.... What does suspended from one Stack Exchange site mean if the suspension prohibits activities on all of them... –  Evan Carroll Jul 7 '10 at 22:51
So you are saying that you want to be suspended from all of the sites not just one? :P –  Earlz Jul 7 '10 at 23:41

It definitely should have a more correct message, such as

SUSPENDED Users cannot commit.
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I agree fully, if this is true, and it is intended. Would you please speculate as to why I'm receiving such downvotes when this is "definitely" incorrect behavior? –  Evan Carroll Jul 7 '10 at 23:10
@Evan, Some people don't see the words, they see the user. Why don't you try to be the user that doesn't obstruct the words? –  Lance Roberts Jul 7 '10 at 23:22
It's not a problem with the user, but in fact the words. Twice, a legitimate bug has been masked by wording sculpted around something else. The fact that the message is wrong in the post is clouded by how the majority of the post is complaining that suspended users cannot commit. –  Grace Note Jul 8 '10 at 0:21
@Grace Note - re-read and redacted. –  Tim Post Jul 8 '10 at 14:27
I was one of the downvotes -- I completely missed the single word mistake in the error message until I read this. The entire question including the title is focused on "suspended users can't commit, and that's wrong", which I patently disagree with –  Michael Mrozek Jul 14 '10 at 5:21

In laymans terms, a suspension forbids you from doing anything on the site that would generate a 'user history item'. So, committing, voting, commenting, proposing, questioning, following, referring, editing, tagging, possibly flagging (you should check, flag my proposal or comments).

All of those things are not allowed because the purpose of the suspension is to remove you from the site for the duration of your suspension. This means that although you are free to contribute to other sites in the StackExchange family, you are not permitted any contributions to that one.

Once your suspension ends, you can commit to it. Alternately, if the proposal goes into beta before you were allowed to commit, then I would recommend emailing the guys at "team@stackoverflow.com". Although, your repeatedly antagonistic attitude towards "The oppressive establishment" may not endear them to you.

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I really don't think they care much about his comments, I think they just want him to not be (deliberately?) disruptive on sites that they must look after. –  Tim Post Jul 8 '10 at 14:17
But, i'm not, thanks to catching webapps beta before the suspension, I've already got 212 REPS! (EDITED) webapps.stackexchange.com/users/1066/evan-carroll –  Evan Carroll Jul 8 '10 at 15:33

... I would think that this is the point of suspension, to prevent suspended users from engaging in any activity. As an analogy, a bank robber is imprisoned and similarly prevented from engaging in activities, even those unrelated to the robbery.

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That not a suspension, that's imprisonment. Clearly that isn't the intention of a suspension or it would overtly affect all StackExchange accounts.. And, if that was the case, there would be no incentive to link the accounts to begin with. And, I didn't rob a bank -- in fact, I'm not even sure what I did -- I never got an E-mail, a trial, or even reprimand. BTW, I had positive EXP on area51, up until my suspension. –  Evan Carroll Jul 7 '10 at 22:53
Can we EXPunge that word? :) –  uɐɯsO uɐɥʇɐN Jul 7 '10 at 23:41

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