I just wrote a article for the blog called Better Alternatives to the Ban Hammer. I, personally believe things like mod queue are a much better alternative to a permanent ban, in almost every situation. I do not think permanent bans should even be used aside spammers and scammers. With moderator queue, you can literally control everything the user says on your forum. Do you agree? Should the hammer ever drop for anything except spammers and scammers?
Is banning ever necessary?
- Thread starter John
- Start date
Quacker Jack
Madly Diligent
I agree that Mod Que is a much better way in dealing with "problematic" members. It generally allows them to still participate in the community more. However, there is still a place for temporary/permanent bans. I generally believe obvious spammers should be banned, as we don't want them loading up Mod Que that members are on. Additionally, Permanent Bans should be used on members who can't even behave on Mod Que or compromise the security of your forum.
I think most cases involving troublesome members can be best solved with the mod queue, but bans are still necessary, I think, for dealing with scammers and cases of extremely abusive remarks. Temporary bans are a good answer to duplicate accounts, because it serves as an incentive to stop creating them.
I agree with the above. To me, bans are necessary for scamming, illegal/warez/etc.. content/promotion, racism (one time and you're out on my forum), repeated abuse, stalking/harassment, and repeated sexual content posting (especially things like making sexual remarks about children).
Agent_Zero
Reputable
I think having alternatives to banning is good. I have a lot of options like quarantining them to one hidden forum if they break rules or just suspending them or removing privileges they are abusing like photo posting for nudity and stuff. My mods stated using the warning system and that seems to be working also. Some users won't back down from causing trouble without a forced break though. That's just how some people live.
D
Deleted member 25872
I agree. Banning Should not be used unless necessary. You should try the Friendly Reminder, Mod Que, Official boarding warning. They you bring out the ban hammer.
I am 100% for banning within reason. I think if a person does not have enough respect for the owner/staff members where they consistently are break rule after rule with no regards to the warning(s) they are given for being obnoxious then they do not deserve to be part of the community - that's my opinion on the manner. For the most part though I think people don't want to be marked as the troll. I think it's great that one is able to ban a particular IP to prevent users from signing up with different accounts in order to continue the havoc.
D
Deleted member 7467
It all depends on the type of activity you want. If you want activity just for the post count, don't ban. If you want quality people, cut out those who are only there to cause issues.
Sharon said:
Aside from what Sharon said, if someone is consistently a trouble maker and refuses to conform to the rules as other members have, they have no place on that forum. My forum, or any forum, should only have members that want to be there and be a productive part of said community.
During my time helping FP around, I realized that those who are banned could actually "escape" the ban with proxy or any other technical methods I don't understand to return to the forum using different name and address. It becomes almost impossible to do prevention method. So while permanent bans solve this kind of problem at one go, few users who are more rebellious than others can still return, making the ban rather useless. So normally it helps, but don't forget to also consider other moderation tools to keep the forum clean and safe.
So banning is still necessary, but now I realize that other moderation tools (even the 'user discouragement' feature discussed in another thread here) are useful in their own ways.
So banning is still necessary, but now I realize that other moderation tools (even the 'user discouragement' feature discussed in another thread here) are useful in their own ways.
Reverse Flash
Paragon
Well, since my forum doesn't really even have any rules, it's kinda hard to break them
The only thing I've ever had to do was delete one user's account
A huge drama mess from another forum
The only thing I've ever had to do was delete one user's account
A huge drama mess from another forum
If you spam links around, I'm not using any other methods, you're being banned from my forum forever. Same thing if you launch personal attacks against other users or staff members. I'm not a huge fan of using alternative things to banning.
flash_drive
Acquaintance
I've owned a gaming forum before & i seriously only gave my admins the moderator cp access. I don't think that people should need to be perm ban unless their doing things like spamming , scamming, racism , etc.
Forces of Steel
Resident
At Forces of Steel, the administrators and moderators have hardly ever banned anyone. That's because we have a very nonexistent spam rate, and most of our members are well-mannered.
Warnings? What are those?
Warnings? What are those?
So many admins use bans to get rid of members they hate and I feel that is a bit unprofessional.
I only ban if I have to...We had a pervert who joined our site(He is actually here on FP still LOL) while he wasn't causing any issues on our forums aside from being a bit weird and dumb....He was known on several other forums for his creepy and perverted behavior towards females and my then admin decided to perma-ban him as a safety precaution.
In that case, I agree and support a ban if someone is possibly negative and a direct possibility of being inappropriate with users.
But most of the time I don't ban.
I only ban if I have to...We had a pervert who joined our site(He is actually here on FP still LOL) while he wasn't causing any issues on our forums aside from being a bit weird and dumb....He was known on several other forums for his creepy and perverted behavior towards females and my then admin decided to perma-ban him as a safety precaution.
In that case, I agree and support a ban if someone is possibly negative and a direct possibility of being inappropriate with users.
But most of the time I don't ban.
Nogitsune said:
Won't that feel rather unfair to the banned member, though? I can understand the logic, but since he has not caused problem at your forum perhaps he can still be given a chance. Would you still ban someone for a mistake they did outside the forum?
Poultryghost
Familiar Face
Have a time out subforum and promote offenders to a group that can only post in that one subforum for a limited time or permanent.
That way other members have the choice to see / interact with them or not.
That way other members have the choice to see / interact with them or not.
davidwhite
Acquaintance
Yes I totally agreed. Banning should be lift for sometime not forever.
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