Thanks to @ohmman and @bonnie for doing a great job of explaining how moderation works on TMC. Bruce.
FWIW, I put more blame on admins than mods in this case. I contest the "undiscussability" of the ban, because it creates a strange, paradoxical environment where posts and users can (theoretically) be evaporated without explanation, and nobody can ask questions. I've been a mod in other venues, but the community there has rules and guidelines that more transparent, and the whole community was responsible for decisions. Different environment, I guess. I repeat that the fact that we can here talk about this is different from the earlieast response, where posts about neroden were deleted on sight.
That's happened to me, on a post I spent two hours writing. I've since decreased my participation 90-95%. Other than @neroden, moderators (or admins) also silenced @DaveT with series of unfriendly actions, including closing his thread. Whatever, maybe this site was really becoming too influential for Tesla's own good?
Once in a while I get a post moved or removed. That's okay. I'm certainly not upset because of it. Unless you are a professional writer, it's very hard to think about how other's might see your post. What works in conversation, often doesn't work in print because print has no vocal inflection or body language. I generally assume that this is why I'm reading the post as antagonistic rather than the way it was intended to be read. Very seldom is a post meant to be antagonistic (trolls excepted).
This is the sickening irony of the whole thing: the lack of communication and clarity by the management of this forum business eerily resembles the very lack of communication and clarity that Neroden, me, and others have said is an ongoing problem with Tesla. This site has no clear, up-front process in writing about how the management decides to ban a participant and then when they do, what happens then, what if any recourse exists, what is the term of the ban, and how and where it’s communicated as to why the person was banned. Everything should be out in the open. Any decent online community would have this in place.
Interestingly enough, I find myself in that very situation at work. While I know the details of this person's impending departure, out of respect for the individual's privacy, I am not at liberty to discuss the situation with the rest of the staff. We'll have a meeting afterward talking about how we move forward and reviewing our policies with the rest of the staff.
My anecdote was a much more 'serious business' version of what's going on. We're not employees of this online message board, though if it weren't for some of these issues and others I'm aware of in the past I might just be a paying client.
I've been driving a Tesla since 2011. So yes. Roadster (sold), Signature Model X #2 (sold), driving a Founders Series Model X P100D.
Annnnd I have the folding 2nd row. Annnnd I have the 2.0 wiring harness. It may be the only Founders Series w that config.
@neroden's stats are astonishing, really. This is one of the most prolific participants in this forum. The sudden "disappearing" is just chilling. Compare to the two admins of this site. Just sayin'.
Hey you know, we don't know why he was dismissed but typically one is warned before he was banned. Perhaps he will be back and stick to the posting rules. The Tesla community needs to have some rules for the benefit of all.
As previous Global Mod for a forum of about 7000 members, I'd say that in this sort of case the least I would do is clearly state whether the ban is temporary or permanent and that it breached the terms and conditions / rules of the site (if it didn't they wouldn't have been banned*). The rest of the details would of course be confidential. Moderating is a horrendously difficult job, by the way. It's rare that you can ever win no matter what you do. Transparency, as much as is possible, and communication is the key. * sometimes people do get banned and then the rules updated
I don't know the rules (nobody does, apparently), but if he's permanently banned he probably won't never return. This is what a permanent ban is in other places.