Banning Suggestion

Draupnir

Im sure a few die hards will go on about how "busy" they are but heres my suggestion.

Shouldnt it be a rule of the moderation process, that the moderator PM the user when banning them, informing them of the offence and also the length of the ban.

Upshots:

1. User knows the score and has no need to send PM asking, which will inevitably start a moan.

2. User cant come to Feedback and start a thread saying "why was I banned"

3. Mods will seem more like decent folk rather than taking this "I dont have to tell you why I banned you" approach.

Downsides:

A. Some mods may consider this to "take to much time". My response would be, get outta the modding game if you dont have five seconds to type a stock PM. Dont worry, you wont be inadequate if you arent a boards moderator anymore.

B. PM traffic will increase slightly.

Thoughts?

The Sweeper

My thoughts are that people bitch whether you PM them or not.

[Jackass]

AFAIK to PM them is standard practice anyway....

Funny how the first two upshots always happen anyway. :rolleyes:

But yes, they do take the time, and no, none of the above advantages occur.

therecklessone

Draupnir wrote:

Im sure a few die hards will go on about how "busy" they are but heres my suggestion.

Shouldnt it be a rule of the moderation process, that the moderator PM the user when banning them, informing them of the offence and also the length of the ban.


Thoughts?

I've said it elsewhere, so yes I think its a good idea.

Draupnir

I got banned last week from PI and Beruthiel PM'd me, which I must admit, I appreciated and so, our dealings where amicable and satisfactory.

I have been banned from various places in the past and not had such kind treatment which has left me a bit peeved and with the general notion that the mod in question was a bit of a fecker.

I dont see the harm in trying to extend a little bit more civility to people.

The Troll

The female of the species thankfully do not spit, being far too occupied with being pregnant. Someone ought to tell them that its a womb, not a clown car.

Haha

CuLT

Hmm, I already do this

Stock PM with reason for ban, link to the rules (available to read even if banned from the forum, see my sig), length of the ban, and to PM me when the ban time is up to have access reinstated.

I get quite an amount of messages as a result of this, I actually need the 3000 message limit that being a subscriber provides. I also get a torrent of abuse regularily, but a good percentage of users are level headed and understand the reasons they were banned after reading the rules, I haven't had to ban someone twice yet (though people have been permanently banned from For Sales and then the entire site for entirely unreasonable,arrogant or ignorant replies to me, be warned).

In the end, though it does take more time, I reckon the overall benefits are worth the extra hassle. For Sales has become a lot less troublesome once

a) people are personally informed when banned, and
b) occasionally posting a message on the thread in question that people were banned or posts were deleted. Keeps everyone on their toes.

amp

I don't pm banned users. I usually just stick a note in the thread. It's not that I don't have the time. It's simply that if you're stupid enough to get banned then part of the punishment is to be confused about why you cannot access the forum (or catagory) and then asking yourself what you did that might have caused the banning. I also find that this helps prevent people from re-offending.

As a moderator I have no wish to be seen as a decent person. The more idiots that complain about me and see me as evil the better.

I also find it odd that usually the first thing a banned person asks is "who banned teh me?" as if that's relevant in any way.

therecklessone

amp wrote:

I also find it odd that usually the first thing a banned person asks is "who banned teh me?" as if that's relevant in any way.

Sort of is dahling...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=3242341&postcount=20

Gordon wrote:

Feedback is not to be used for asking to be unbanned from a forum that you have been banned from.

Your first step in being unbanned from a forum is to PM the mod that banned you.

IMO, visiting boards should be a civil and pleasant experience. If making the banning process a little bit clearer (and it ain't just the idiots who have to respect teh authoritah!) means less complaints overall, and helps n00bs learn from their mistakes then thats gotta be a good thing, right?

koneko

I PM banned users and let them know for how long, and to PM me when it's up as it's not automated, but I deal with very very few bans really.

Draupnir

amp wrote:

I don't pm banned users. I usually just stick a note in the thread. It's not that I don't have the time. It's simply that if you're stupid enough to get banned then part of the punishment is to be confused about why you cannot access the forum (or catagory) and then asking yourself what you did that might have caused the banning. I also find that this helps prevent people from re-offending.

As a moderator I have no wish to be seen as a decent person. The more idiots that complain about me and see me as evil the better.

I also find it odd that usually the first thing a banned person asks is "who banned teh me?" as if that's relevant in any way.

Does this have to be the attitude though? It certainly doesnt help anyone or make anyones life easier. It doesnt improve the boards experience for the users involved, yourself included.

Essentially, its just an exercise in e-penis polishing for you, am I right?

CuLT

koneko wrote:

I PM banned users and let them know for how long, and to PM me when it's up as it's not automated, but I deal with very very few bans really.

Mmm, perhaps my attitude is just a carry over from moderating the significantly less taxing forums of Digital Art / Design and Anime / Manga.

I banned perhaps five people in two years there.

Now it's not unusual if I ban five people a week, already banned three or four people today.

amp

therecklessone wrote:

Sort of is dahling...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=3242341&postcount=20

True I suspose. I had sitewide bans in mind when I wrote that. If you're in Prison you can't pm anybody. But true enough when it comes to forum bans.

IMO, visiting boards should be a civil and pleasant experience. If making the banning process a little bit clearer (and it ain't just the idiots who have to respect teh authoritah!) means less complaints overall,

Like I said, I enjoy being complained about. Serves notice on anybody else who thinks they can break the rules and get away with it. Also it, increases traffic to the forum in question and gets more people to read charters. So anybody complaining about me is doing me a favour. Which is nicely ironic considering they were stupid enough to get banned.

and helps n00bs learn from their mistakes then thats gotta be a good thing, right?

I think my method helps increase the chance that they won't re-offend.

That said if somebody pm's me after working out why they were banned and are polite I will probably reduce their sentence if it's a small offence.

amp

Draupnir wrote:

Does this have to be the attitude though? It certainly doesnt help anyone or make anyones life easier. It doesnt improve the boards experience for the users involved, yourself included.

A: I have no obligation make the "boards experience" better for people too stupid to abid by some basic common sense rules.
B: You have no idea what my "boards experience" is like.

Essentially, its just an exercise in e-penis polishing for you, am I right?

Of course you are. I only ban people to make myself feel better about my insecurities. Everytime I ban someone my penis grows a little more. Also I find my hair becomes more shiney and managable.

Giblet

PM's result in replies, replies which need to be read

Tar.Aldarion

write 'do not reply or i will uber bann0r you'?

RuggieBear

Never had to ban anyone yet (cricket and golf not being the hotbed of muppetry). Did unban one user tho

But i'll send a pm stating the reason why, if i do ever manage to ban someone.

therecklessone

amp wrote:

So anybody complaining about me is doing me a favour. Which is nicely ironic considering they were stupid enough to get banned.

But its not always the stupid people who get banned, right? You've been banned from forums before IIRC, right? Other boards elders have got the schmack of a ban hammer as well.

amp wrote:

I think my method helps increase the chance that they won't re-offend.

Or riles them up enough to get a site wide ban due to frustration. Most n00bs won't know how lovable and cuddly you really are, so might mistake your boards lesson as a wind up, and rise to the bait. Yeah, you'll say "so what, if they're stupid enough to do that I don't want to have to listen to them on here", but does that do anyone any favours (apart from yourself)?

I'm fairly sure (can't remember exact details) that DeV was on the verge of f*cking me out on my ear after a row we had in Politics many moons ago, but he didn't. I didn't get a ban for that matter (because I stayed within the charter), but I still learned a lot over the following months of what's expected on boards, and I'd like to think I'm a useful member of the community as a result.

therecklessone

RuggieBear wrote:

Never had to ban anyone yet (cricket and golf not being the hotbed of muppetry). Did unban one user tho

But i'll send a pm stating the reason why, if i do ever manage to ban someone.

Man, I'm sooooooooooooooooo trolling cricket later on this evening......

Baz_

therecklessone wrote:

Yeah, you'll say "so what, if they're stupid enough to do that I don't want to have to listen to them on here", but does that do anyone any favours (apart from yourself)?

I think it does us all a favour personally...

amp

therecklessone wrote:

But its not always the stupid people who get banned, right? You've been banned from forums before IIRC, right? Other boards elders have got the schmack of a ban hammer as well.

I've been banned from Feedback once, sitewide once. In both cases I knew exactly why I was banned. I didn't need to be pm'd either time. Nor was I annoyed when I wasn't. I learned from those lessons however because I am able to think rationally most of the time.

Or riles them up enough to get a site wide ban due to frustration. Most n00bs won't know how lovable and cuddly you really are, so might mistake your boards lesson as a wind up, and rise to the bait. Yeah, you'll say "so what, if they're stupid enough to do that I don't want to have to listen to them on here", but does that do anyone any favours (apart from yourself)?

I've listed the benefits of not pm'ing people already. Sometimes I want people to rise to the bait. If they have the self-control not to then I usually respect them more.

I'm fairly sure (can't remember exact details) that DeV was on the verge of f*cking me out on my ear after a row we had in Politics many moons ago, but he didn't. I didn't get a ban for that matter (because I stayed within the charter), but I still learned a lot over the following months of what's expected on boards, and I'd like to think I'm a useful member of the community as a result.

I don't ban people unless they break charter rules. I certainly wouldn't ban someone if they had a different opinion to me (unless it contravened charter rules). In some forums I warn people on the thread first. I don't pm them because when done publicly it has two benefits:

1. Increases awareness to other newbs about what is/is not acceptable.
2. User more likely not to re-offend.

RuggieBear

therecklessone wrote:

Man, I'm sooooooooooooooooo trolling cricket later on this evening......

\o/


my first potential customer

Gordon

Sometimes it's just not feasible to pm a user as cleaning up after someone can take time. And sometimes it's not worth ones while to do them the decency of telling them they are banned as they have not done decent by causing problems on the board in question.

If someone's going to cause problems on a forum then why should we take time out to pm them a nice "you have been banned, please pm me in a week to remind me when your ban is up mkay?"? I used to pm people when I banned them and then I realised that most of the people I banned didn't deserve it. I've even still got 2 pms that haven't been read by people I've banned.

MicraBoy

Is there such thing as a Moderators Charter? Something that mods agree to abide by when volunteering, that would be publicly available to all users. It could contain info like the OP suggested. Something like that could be handy for new mods.

tbh anything to reduce "why was I banned" threads would be useful.

kaimera

*****_stick*

...there's a wee little link after you ban a user to PM/Email user [using the utils link ecksor did].

it's really not that much effort imo.

Gordon

MicraBoy wrote:

Is there such thing as a Moderators Charter? Something that mods agree to abide by when volunteering, that would be publicly available to all users. It could contain info like the OP suggested. Something like that could be handy for new mods.

tbh anything to reduce "why was I banned" threads would be useful.

No I don't think there is. Nice idea though.

amp

MicraBoy wrote:

Is there such thing as a Moderators Charter? Something that mods agree to abide by when volunteering, that would be publicly available to all users. It could contain info like the OP suggested. Something like that could be handy for new mods.

tbh anything to reduce "why was I banned" threads would be useful.

I can think of a quicker way to reduce those. Close them on sight and ban the OP. That way people would be forced to use the Helpdesk to complain about a moderator.

However I don't agree that reducing those threads would be a good idea. They provide a constant reminder to the small fraction of the population of boards that read Feedback of what can get you banned. Also, making fun of morons is occasionally interesting.

rsynnott

Draupnir wrote:

I dont see the harm in trying to extend a little bit more civility to people.

So, your argument is, be nice to idiots who break the rules? How does that work?

I would think, if anything, be nastier to them; that way some of them may leave in disgust.

Giblet

Gordon wrote:

No I don't think there is. Nice idea though.

Gordon banned for not reading the moderators charter! :eek:

Gordon

You mean the charter ideas thread Gib?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=112292

Giblet

Hey, that's close enough, and I bet you had your eyes closed when posting too.