Was being sarcastic. I'm well aware of the site demographics.

To be fair, I never said he wasn't trolling. Inclined to agree with you.

Oh I see. I’m not that good at spotting irony and sarcasm.

trust me noone does when responding towards a written post

True

I should add too, I can see why it was handled as it was. Just felt it may have been a tad harsh. 🦄

I am genuinely surprised to learn that usage of the modified Microsoft abbreviation "M$", is against the forum rules. So, the thought is, that it's usage generally has negative connotations associated with it. Does context matter at all? Does the person making the post factor in?

Would it be possible to get some links to the the posts Double Penetration Sex 7 made that lead to his ban? I mean, if they're readily available. I appreciate the transparency that usually comes with ban notes. There was a link in the original ban note, but it lead to a completely unrelated post where "M$" was not used.

The actually comment was in an article, and not on the forums. We can't link those to my knowledge, so I just linked his most recent post. Should have linked to something more relevant, but my bad.

"That just means they didn't update anything. I mean over all these gens how often did anyone expect an old controller to function 100% on next gen systems? Only M$ would try to paint something silly like this as a plus for their platform." 

That's the quote in question. And here is the conversation we had beforehand (starting at page 12). 

https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread/242921/how-sony-will-respond-game-pass/12/

This shows how I would generally treat this. Since people may simply not know that it's not allowed, and it's not self-evident like calling someone an idiot, I would generally give a gentle warning, as I did here. He argued that "it was fine" to use that, so I explained the rationale for the rule, and explained that it would be moderated going forward. He continued using it, so he was moderated, like he was told he would be.

I don't think there's any context where M$ is acceptable. I don't see any reason why it should be used instead of MS besides the intention to troll. If someone can provide a legitimate reason, we'd reconsider. Like maybe if MS just posted big sales numbers I could see it being ok in that context. Again, as this is kind of a minor thing, and it's not a super obvious rule, we would just give a friendly warning that that isn't allowed here, which I think should be enough. If a user continues to do it, knowing that it will be considered trolling, then that's on them.

You start a discussion with me then suddenly force me to stop as if I'm somehow forcing you to reply. Not cool, but you did say to stop in that thread, so I'ma continue the part about moderation here.

Why can't you just say what it's about exactly? I shouldn't have been so quick to assume, but given I've been modded for being involved in heated discussions in the past, can't say it wasn't a safe bet especially since you quoted me and not Alara. I woulda asked from the get go but I figured if you were willing to divulge that information you woulda done so initially, but well now I'm asking.

As it stands it looks like your involvement was inconsequential and unnecessary, Alara still refused to provide evidence. I've long accepted that no evidence will be brought up, but I'm still curious what it is you said you were gonna get back to us about later, it's been almost a week since then. The discussion was pretty cut and dry, shouldn't take this long to figure out lol.

I appreciate the information, and breakdown. I'm not sure how to word this...Look, it's not a hill I'm going to die on, but to me "M$" is fairly harmless. Older than dirt too. But, if it's bothering some members, and/or the mod team sees it's restriction as a preventative measure, so be it.

Well, like I said in the original conversation, rules can be discussed. I can't really see a reason to use it, and I think the approach we're taking, basically saying that's not cool just use "MS" for the first time, is a fair one. Throwing shade for no reason is not allowed, and that's what I think this does. And, I don't think any user's experience on the board will be really hurt by having to use MS instead of M$. So, that's why I think think the current policy is a good one. 

If you can think of a compelling reason to allow M$, then that's what this thread is for.