I think it is up to the majority of moderators.

Just a note I've been meaning to make for a while -- more than one person has posted with the assumption that Stompy Feet are like elected officials with a judicial kind of role, that they are some kind of final arbiters, that their vote or their say counts for more than that of others.

Is this the case?

I mean, I'm a stompy, but I figure I'm a stompy because I know a bit about HTML and am available at odd hours because I'm in Australia. I don't consider that I've got the right to decide on action, just the power to take action.

I mean, stompies tend to be people who've been around a while, just because. But I don't think that I've got more power to vote on someone's exclusion or suspension, have I? My opinion doesn't count for more than, say, Rebecca's, who isn't a stompy foot.

I think that's a very good question, John.

BTW, I'm for Stomping With Extreme Prejudice. m. does not have the emotional maturity of a blueberry scone, and he needs to stop bringing the bad vibes around.

I don't consider that I've got the right to decide on action, just the power to take action.

To play something of a Devil's Advocate, at this point, waiting the three weeks it would take to poll the entire board would be like slowly pulling fingernails.

It's a discussion that the community has been involved in to a great extent (speaking only as a community member here), and pretty much with a large "spork please" call to feet. BUT, where and when do you stop discussing and start acting? Because at some point, decision making of some sort is called for.

(Active trolls are easier to deal with, and give me less in the way of belly rumblins.)

waiting the three weeks it would take to poll the entire board would be like slowly pulling fingernails

I never suggested that, though, you know, put it on the features list -- all I meant was there are people who've joined who might have a different view of what a stompy foot is.

I was thinking specifically of a poster, who has a long relationship with an online community elsewhere and came here. She seemed to think that having Stompy status implied some kind of authority, rather than just being the holder of a different set of keys to the regular users.

I mean with great power comes great responsibility and all that, and if we want him stomped, then I'm happy to do it -- how do we do it? -- but I think what's going on is, as previously stated, we've got a policy that says something like:

We know what 'it' is and we know who 'we' are.

It might just be noted that "we", the people whose opinions are respected around here, aren't necessarily stompy feet, though there's a lot of crossover. Stompy feet are people who've said they wouldn't mind holding certain keys for the community, that's all.

Stompy feet are people who've said they wouldn't mind holding certain keys for the community, that's all.

That could go as-is into the FAQ. I've always seen Stompy Feet as people who take care of the administratrivia (deleting nattery posts from Beep Me, closing tags, whiting out spoilers, etc.) They aren't so much the decision makers as they are the ones who check the locks, unplug the coffee pot, replace the TP when it runs out, and scoop out the litterbox.

BTW, when someone gets sporked, is this fact announced somewhere other than Bureaucracy? I think it would be a good idea, especially since many of the warnings were given in public. Given that this person has only posted in the FF thread, I'd suggest making the announcement there rather than in Beep Me.

John-- I was the one who said that, and I had actually thought we decided that a poll would be unweildly and that the stompy feet would know when someone needed to be stomped. Which has been pretty much true. But you are the people who are actually posting, so I think you would have to agree.

Of course, now all I remember was a really long discussion of rotating stompy feet, etc, etc in which we never actually made a final decision.

I mean with great power comes great responsibility and all that, and if we want him stomped, then I'm happy to do it -- how do we do it?

IIRC, uncheck active (toddles back to bed)

To suspend or ban a poster, you uncheck the "active" box on the Maintain User page, then send them an e-mail informing of same. Which I will do as soon as I draft the e-mail and send it.

To me, the stompy feet are members of the community that the community trusts to do our business, regardless of how or why they got stompy status in the first place.

If a stompy foot became a stompy foot (as John says he did) because he has technical ability, I've always assumed that there was still consideration given to the stompy's temperment and character. From what I've seen of John's posts here (and those of all the stompy feet), I have no reason to change that opinion. He (and all) are the bonus-plan Buffistas - technically and/or administratively inclined as well as trusted and respected. Somehow I doubt the Buffistas would let a technical genius have keys to the kingdom, if s/he were an ass. This is my way of saying that the stompy feet have my confidence and gratitude, regardless of how and why they got their stomp on.

how do we do it

Is this a question on process, or is it a which box do I click type of question?

Okay, it's done. I stomped him.