Is permanent banning worth it?

Question

First, some perspective: I was a member of a community about 5 years ago. At that time, I violated community rules and was issued a permanent ban. When this occurred, it took some time to get over, but I eventually moved on. A few months ago, I had a bout of nostalgia and visited the community again. Several of the members I was closer to were still members. I decided to see if "permanent" was "permanent". In this case, I was still banned.

I approached the moderation team, off site. There are only a few moderators that I recognize. Most are "new" since my original ban. I plead my case to be allowed back. My argument boiled down to "It was 5 years ago and I have changed. I understand the rules and will not violate them again." After a few days, I was told that my ban would not be lifted because it was "permanent". When I asked if there was any recourse, the moderator I was talking with said that there wasn't because they didn't have a record of what had happened, but their policy was that "permanent was permanent".

So, my question to leaders of communities, does a permanent ban get you any benefits? From my point of view, five years is quiet a long time and I feel that plenty could have changed in that time period. Is there a risk to allowing a ban to expire after a "long" period of time instead of lasting forever?

Answer 1

I won't speak to your own particular situation; there's not enough information to make any kind of judgement on whether the moderators are right or not. But as a general rule, I can think of at least one situation where a permanent ban is indeed the right thing to do. In the case of harassment, allowing a harasser back onto the site will often make the victim feel unsafe again. The victim doesn't know for sure whether the perpetrator has changed or has simply learned to say the right things to con the moderators into thinking that they have done so.

There's also the simple issue that if the moderators don't hold by the rules for one person, you'll get others complaining that, "if X was let back in, why shouldn't Y be?" regardless of how similar the situations may or may not be. It opens up a can of worms that the moderators may not want to deal with.

I do agree with Chris F that any site with moderation should keep a record of moderation decisions.

Answer 2

Ultimately bans, permanent or otherwise, are there to send a message to the users of the site. The length of the ban indicates the seriousness of the offence, so a permanent ban says "this person did something so bad we don't want them around any more". It, hopefully, reminds other users to behave themselves.

Unless the developers/administrators of the site go to a lot of effort it is possible to get round any ban by creating new accounts, using proxies etc. However, you may well find yourself in much more trouble if you try to circumvent the ban and get caught. This isn't to say that bans are useless - the initial shock of being denied access may just be what the user needs to mend their ways.

A permanent or long term ban is only useful to the site if they keep a record of why the ban was put in place in the first place. Without that information a multi-year ban isn't helpful to anyone. As a moderator you can't review the ban if or when new evidence comes to light and you can't say "sorry, because of what you did you're still banned".

Given that no one can remember why you were banned in the first place and there are no records I say that you should be given a second chance. However, if I were moderating the site I would be keeping an eye on your behaviour to make sure that you had learnt your lesson and were now behaving.

Answer 3

There are a few different reason why permanent bans can make sense and it depends on the situation and community. The first thing to figure out is what kind of permanent ban is being talked about. Is it a ban on your account or a ban on your person?

A permanent ban on an account is a penalty issued against an account that takes time and effort to build up. Banning against such an account can be a disciplinary measure to take away the result of that effort for a serious offense or series of offenses. In such a case, the individual behind the account may be allowed back, even immediately, but they have to start from scratch and re-establish themselves as a valuable member of the community.

A permanent ban on an individual only really makes sense if if is a community where it is possible to show that they are a permanent problem. Examples of this can include many things such as severe harassment or attempting to harm the community in some serious way. The exact reasons that make sense depend on the site, but generally, if it is something behavioral that could legitimately change and not leave a lasting bad taste in the community, then a permanent ban is probably overkill.

A permanent ban may also be issued with criteria for review. They can make sense when the user shows no sign of becoming a valuable member of the community, however there is room for them to prove they should be allowed back after some unknown period of time.

Either way, it is a really good idea to take note of why a permanent ban was issued. Even in the relatively rare cases where it is extreme enough to merit a true permanent removal of the user, it is worth knowing why that was in the future and it shouldn't be that hard to keep record of as they shouldn't be getting handed out like candy.

Answer 4

If you allow people to come back after a time that produces extra work for you. You have to create a policy for that purpose and have to argue with people who want to come back.

On the other hand there are also benefits. If you allow people to request being unbanned they might use that channel instead of registering a new account. You can put the unbanned account under extra scrutiny which you can't with a random newly registered account.

Answer 5

When it comes to permanent bans, it's more about banning your persona rather than banning the real you. They can ban your account, but unless they do something ridiculous like verify everyone's government ID, they can never ban the real you. You can never come back under that username again (and if you came back as ThatName#2 you'd probably just get re-banned), but you could come back under a new name to get a fresh start.

And I think that fresh start is the purpose of permanent bans. Coming back as the same persona would bring back old feuds, and would probably end up in another banning situation.

Answer 6

It depends on the moderator who bans you, really.

Sometimes it's a very good thing to ban someone permanently, but that depends on: what did you do? Sometimes it's a very bad thing to ban someone permanently, because the user may be a valuable user or become one in the community.

So, advantages:

• If the user was annoying you won't have to deal with him again

Disadvantages:

• The user may be or become a valuable user in the community

But most important of all, it's about the character of the moderator. Does he give people new chances? Or is he very strict?

Nobody can say for sure if permanent banning is the right solution...

Answer 7

One use of a permanent ban is to require users who do come back to create a new account. This can be done openly or secretly. Doing it secretly avoids people who were affected by the ban immediately recognizing that the banned person has returned, giving them a chance to start fresh.

Of course it won't work if the forum involves things like posting photos or information that would identify the banned person.