How To Get Banned At TTAC, In 10 Seconds Or Less

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

My friend Goto, a former Japanese judo national champion who somehow got caught up in the Summer of Love as an exchange student in Berkeley, and who never looked or went back, once told me: “My father say, some people have death wish, and you have to glant it to them.“

There are some people who are just dying to lose posting privileges on TTAC. It’s fast and easy. Simply do what some commenters did. Hidden behind Gmail and Hotmail accounts, but posting from IPs located in Moscow, they sent threatening messages, and some involving the oral contact with male genitalia. The messages did not even make it on-line, they were caught by TTAC’s generally unpredictable “bad word” filter. The unpredictability of said filter makes it necessary to patrol the detritus and to rescue innocent messages from banishment (if your message does not show up, don’t post it twice. Someone will look at it and release it – or not, as they say around here.)

The story that triggered the threats and invitations to perform fellatio on some commenters was the SAAB story. Whenever we write one, we get those love letters from Russia. However, we have this nifty function here. It’s called “Blacklist” and puts the commenter into a virtual Gulag. We can do that faster than a comment is written. It’s kind of one-sided, so don’t even try. Or remember what my friend Goto likes to say.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • TheMitsuzuki TheMitsuzuki on Mar 28, 2011

    I was driving a friends' Saab 9000 turbo when I was in high-school. Awesome car, even with an automatic....and snow tires. Parked for a little scooty-poo-poo in the dark section of a Perkins parking lot, and subsequently blew the head gasket. That's my only experience with Saab.

  • Jellodyne Jellodyne on Mar 28, 2011

    I've been posting here for a while, had no idea there was any sort of auto-moderation in place. Must have misspelled all my profanity. Just keep in mind that not all fellatio offers are bad.

    • See 3 previous
    • Highdesertcat Highdesertcat on Mar 28, 2011

      LOL! Just stringing you guys along. It's called 'double entendre' or something like that. Don't want to offend anyone, especially Bertel or Edward Niedermeyer, but there are all sorts of ways to get around filters, if you really, really want to get your point across. I'm not one to push the envelope. I don't comment very often, and when I do it is only on threads that I have either a vested interest in or something that I have personally experienced. I can't stand the fools who talk out of their as s even though their mouth knows better. And, by golly, we have an overabundance of them here, concentrated on the automotive sites. Lord have mercy!

  • Tedward Tedward on Mar 28, 2011

    I love the comment policy here, it's the main selling point of the website as far as I'm concerned and features prominently whenever I bring up TTAC at work or with friends. For what it's worth I've gotten in some obnoxious arguments here without ever getting banned, and my comments only get delayed when I throw in curses or mention certain body parts, fair enough in my book. Of those delayed comments I don't believe any have been outright rejected, and no one has ever emailed me to change my "tone". Even when RF ruled the roost it seemed pretty liberal to me. I made something of a sport of contrarily disagreeing with him at times, and I never felt like my stance or approach was unwelcome (possibly annoying yes, but unwelcome no).

  • Bertel Schmitt Bertel Schmitt on Mar 28, 2011

    FYI, someone who called someone a female hygiene bag was just banned.

    The comment had been caught by the bad word filter. Nonetheless, there is zero tolerance to name calling, attacks and threats. I recommend a reading of the Terms Of Use,, especially the part where it says "You may not use the Web Site to post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, provincial, national or international law."

    Further down, there is also a part that disallows soliciting anyone "to visit another competing Web Site," so please go easy on hawking other sites, unless it's done in agreement with TTAC.

    • Domestic Hearse Domestic Hearse on Mar 28, 2011

      Not hawking, but this is for Wert. Since I know he's trolling this thread, seeing as he's one swing of the banhammer away from getting the Bertel whack... Your redesign, Ray. It's not good. Go back to work over there. So is it a fight when one website, like actually works, and the commentary of the one that, like works, actually causes the readership to smile because of the mutual respect and insight?

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