Member Bans

[coloradocat]

@kmax @SonomaCat @rtb

Rather than deleting posts, and those related to the offender, maybe it's time to just institute a straight ban on someone who egregiously gets a thread off track. Deleting their post and replacing it with a ban announcement would be even better.

[kmax]

I appreciate the feedback. It's definitely a balancing act. Member bans are something that are used pretty rarely here. The number of members banned from this board (outside of spam accounts) is pretty small for a board that is almost two decades old. That said it is a tool that is used when needed. Usually it is for folks that just can't quite get the hint when warned, but I give quite a lot of rope first in most cases. As for ban announcements, that isn't going to happen. If someone has pushed it far enough to actually warrant a ban from this board, I am in no way going to give them even further attention by publicly announcing it or otherwise calling attention to them.

[coloradocat]

That's fair. I think most of us appreciate the light touch overall. More moderation is not really needed and is often detrimental on other sites.

[kmax]

I will also note that recently I have begun leveraging more of a temp ban model for some issues. In the past when folks started going off the rails a bit I would suggest they take a little time away and actually come back fresh. Hopefully recognizing that the value here is in discussing and supporting MSU with other alumni and fans, not in the arguing, childish name calling, political posturing, etc. A few have taken that suggestion, most are unable to do so themselves. So I have played with forcing that a bit using temp bans of a few weeks or more. Jury is still out on effectiveness.