Is Banning Usernames Effective in Online Forums?

[SlimSalabim]

Does it really make sense to ban a users name for an offense when you can't actually ban the user?

You force the user to come back to the forum with a different name so you don't know who he is until or unless he offends again. You've destroyed the history of that user by disjointing all his threads and posts. You've eliminated that user name from all future use as well as any other names that user takes. Their comments are still on threads but no one can talk to them. Wouldn't it make more sense to just delete offending posts instead of user names? And what sense does it make to ban a user because he sends an offensive personal note to a moderator? Does anyone care about that but the moderator and is that for the best for the forum or the moderator?

There are a couple of old sayings, the evil you know is better than the evil you don't know' and from the Godfather 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'.

I'm not saying I've had other user names that have been banned but I might have and I might have had a lot of them. But if I did what good did it do you? You don't know me from Adam anymore or what I've done or said in the past.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Lol it's often very easy to tell if someone has been banned from the site before. We do it frequently.

 

[Borek]

Feel free to start your own forum and not ban anyone. Come back when you will have 400k users and tell us about your experience.

 

[Enigman]

And what sense does it make to ban a user because he sends an offensive personal note to a moderator?

I would think sending an offensive pm to anyone would lead to infractions, not just mentors.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I would think sending an offensive pm to anyone would lead to infractions, not just mentors.

You're not wrong there. Personally I'm far more lenient on insults directed at me than at others.

 

[phinds]

You force the user to come back to the forum with a different name so you don't know who he is until or unless he offends again.

Fruitcakes are not that hard to spot. Our moderators are pretty good at it. Even sock-puppets get stomped on fairly quickly.

 

[arildno]

And if your IP-adress is banned, the "cookie"-issue is wholly beside the point, isn't it?
Furthermore, it is generally a waste of time to get to "know evil".

 

[Evo]

If a previously banned member returns and behaves so well, and follows our rules that they are now a good member, then we won. It's the member that had to change, not us. The whole point behind infractions is to get the member to follow our rules.

 

[SlimSalabim]

But how does banning a user name help accomplish that? It seems to me that it only hurts the forum to ban a name, not the user. In what way does it help the forum for user names to be displayed slashed on their posts for doing something that had nothing to do with the thread or the post?

I'm on like my 10th user name. You can't keep me from coming back. I was banned each time for pointing out the deficiencies in certain moderators intelligence. So what did you accomplish? Here I am and you don't know who I am because you have effectively erased years of my history here by disconnecting me from it. Good job.

 

[StevieTNZ]

If you feel you've been unfairly punished, I do believe there are revenues in order to sort that out.

 

[Borek]

Now that we know you are a sockupuppet of the banned user, our work is much easier. See you in your next incarnation.

 

[Integral]

Why should I have to but up with abuse from a anonymous web dweller who takes no responsibility for their words? If you are willing even in private to insult and abuse a mentor why would you not do the same thing to any user? I, personally, have turned a blind eye to many abusive PMs, but it is not clear that that is the optimal action. For the sake of the community you should be banned for such PMs, just as a lesson that we do not tolerate abuse directed at ANYONE.

Looking over your posting record I see that you have posted some in homework help, though not actually providing much help. I have recommended that you be banned yet again, just because you are a whiner who does not appreciate the forums and does not make a meaningful contribution.