Wielding the banhammer

[Pielorinho]

Inspired by a recent discussion about some books that I dearly love, a discussion that was closed due to predictable and regrettable religion-bashing (and subsequent poster-bashing) that came into the thread, I want to ask the moderators: have y'all considered wielding your banhammers a little more forcefully?

I only remember one person ever being banned from the boards, and that was several years ago. Doubtless I've missed other bannings; still and all, I sometimes wonder whether the boards would benefit from kicking people off of them more often. It might allow certain interesting discussions to occur if people knew that destroying the discussion would carry serious consequences for them.

Would y'all be willing to share your thoughts on this issue? I'm sure you've thought about it; I was just curious why you've decided to ban people so rarely.

Daniel

 

[Cheiromancer]

I've wondered about the ban, too. Is it (and need it be) permanent?

Folks sometimes acquire some common sense with time. I wonder if a six month ban might be a good enough. If not, how about a year or two?

I guess I'm thinking of Dragoth the Destroyer. He was a prolific contributor, and quite entertaining. If he were to behave in a more sensitive manner he would be a valuable member of the community.

Let's see... Bugaboo, perhaps? Has he been banned?

 

[Darkness]

Is it (and need it be) permanent?

It can be lifted. Come to think of it, we've had some temp bans, actually. (Generally a week or two, IIRC. A few perma-banned people also were pardoned in time.)

Let's see... Bugaboo, perhaps? Has he been banned?

Not to my knowledge. Maybe for a short time, once. Don't think so, though.

 

[Darkness]

I want to ask the moderators: have y'all considered wielding your banhammers a little more forcefully?

That's generally an admin-level decision.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I just like the word banhammer.

The rest of this post is personal message board theory, and may be ignored, if desired.

I'm not sure how much banning is really an effective method of punishment, as compared to just deleting comments and threads.

The problem with a ban is that it can be circumvented relatively easily, so that if someone really wants to get back on the boards they can, fairly easily. Sure, you can bind a ban to an IP address, but even that can be circumvented simply by using another computer or even with a dynamic IP addy, which is not uncommon. If someone seriously wants to troll, they're going to be able to.

On the other hand, boards that are policed well (such as this one, and a few others come to mind) generally seem to have less trolls overall. If someone is really getting out of line and spamming, perhaps then bans are called for. Otherwise, I think warnings and deletions are sufficient enough to deal with most trolls.

 

[Morrus]

It's funny - EN World has, in some places, a reputation for being ban-heavy. And yet, we've banned fewer people than any messageboard I know!

Since I took over the boards, there have been two bans - and one was rescinded. I believe Eric banned two or three people, total.

So, yeah, we're *very* reluctant to ban. Most of the time, a quiet word will sort out a problem, and that, I believe, is always the best solution. Bans in the past have been for things that went so far over the line that people drew a collective breath in disbelief.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Most of the time, a quiet word will sort out a problem...

... or maybe several quiet words

-Hyp.

 

[Piratecat]

Actually, Morrus refers to "old time" users that were members for a while before they fell over the line. There are currently 23 people on the banned list, almost all of whom danced in, immediately posted rubbish, and then quickly got shut down while their posts were purged. I doubt that more than a handful of them would be back if we unbanned them.

As Morrus said, I'd much rather solve a problem than boot it, unless there's a real pattern of problems. I think it usually makes for a better community.

 

[Silver Moon]

boards that are policed well (such as this one, and a few others come to mind) generally seem to have less trolls overall.

There was a conversation about this at the last Boston ENWorld Game Day. The concensus was that if somebody wants to be a jerk online there are much easier places to do that than ENWorld, so they will go there instead. While the Mods were given much of the credit for keeping this place fun, it was also pointed out that the readership also does a good job of self-policing.

 

[Darrin Drader]

I'm a fan of random temporary bannings myself. If someone's being a jerk, ban them! If someone's the the victim of a troll, ban them! If someone is just minding their own business posting on topic stuff and behaving themselves - banhammer them for a week and then make them write a haikuu to get back in. I think the moderators would get more respect if they were constantly, and unpredictably, exercising their power.