Banned members

[Anachiwo]

Sounds logical to me, I was given a second chance on the ZetaBoards official support board after mass spamming users' inboxes due to a staff member severely ticking me off. I'm 32 now and this was like in my younger 20's. I certainly proved myself worthy of an unban because I contributed so much to that community, in front and back of the scenes.

That's what I'm talking about. It's a practical example which when you look at it, there's a good reason to consider the member.

All of us have our breaking point, be it that we are old or young. When you're pushed to the wall on the extreme, you're supposed to have an outburst. But it's bringing out an olive branch when things calms down that matters.

 

[Cory]

I agree with you, people just muck up sometimes, whether minimally or severely. People may be going through hardships in their life that cause them to do certain things on forums that they may later regret. I'm generally all for second chances, but there's also a fine line to giving second chances, like if a member cracked/hacked my forum, they may very well be gone for good. But, if it's just the general things you see on some forums every day such as spamming, trolling, flaming, etc. then I may very well give them a second chance down the road and if they prove themselves worthy after that second chance, then they may remain apart of my community. Otherwise, if they continue to muck up multiple times, they may very well not have any chances left.

 

[Heatman]

I agree with you, people just muck up sometimes, whether minimally or severely. People may be going through hardships in their life that cause them to do certain things on forums that they may later regret. I'm generally all for second chances, but there's also a fine line to giving second chances, like if a member cracked/hacked my forum, they may very well be gone for good. But, if it's just the general things you see on some forums every day such as spamming, trolling, flaming, etc. then I may very well give them a second chance down the road and if they prove themselves worthy after that second chance, then they may remain apart of my community. Otherwise, if they continue to muck up multiple times, they may very well not have any chances left.

There's no way I can overlook who tried to hack and hijack my forum. There's nothing to forgive about it. If it's possible to get him arrested, I would go to that extent. It's a criminal act trying to hack one's forum.

 

[Kale]

I did that on a TCG message board in the past. I don't remember what I was originally banned for, but they knew I re-joined years later and they didn't re-ban me, so I can understand people can change over time for the better.

Yes, agree. I think people can change too and why I don't hold past infractions or so against members who have shown change. Some people with a 'past history' sometimes have even become moderators of forums I've been a part of over the years.

 

[Kyng]

Annoying, but as long as they make themselves identifiable (which they almost always do), it's easy enough to just ban them again .

 

[Anachiwo]

Yes, agree. I think people can change too and why I don't hold past infractions or so against members who have shown change. Some people with a 'past history' sometimes have even become moderators of forums I've been a part of over the years.

Although some people don't change no matter how long it takes. I hate having anything to do with such kind of people because they can be a pain.
But whenever change is accepted, it's a good thing to let it take hold.

 

[Niko]

It really depends on the reason of the ban...
If it was for serious reasons I just re-ban email/ip/everything without anything else.. while if it was for a minor thing, I may close an eye (unless he comes back after 1 day)

 

[Cory]

There's no way I can overlook who tried to hack and hijack my forum.

Thankfully, forums are generally much more secure than they used to be. I remember in the days of InvisionFree forums were being cracked left and right.

 

[BLACKBIRD]

There's no way I can overlook who tried to hack and hijack my forum. There's nothing to forgive about it. If it's possible to get him arrested, I would go to that extent. It's a criminal act trying to hack one's forum.

Respectfully, I think that is a very shortsighted way of seeing it.

If someone attempted to exploit a vulnerability in my software that I had failed to properly test/patch, I would be interested in speaking to that person. If someone successfully exploited a vulnerability in software I am responsible for, I would hire them on the spot.

Proper backups and use of secure password hashing functions (PBKDF2, among others) is mandatory. Unless one fails completely at their job as the administrator, no successful exploitation of a vulnerability should be community-ending. Then again, if the administrator was doing their job in the first place, these vulnerabilities would have been discovered during a routine penetration test/code review anyhow. It is highly unlikely your community would be subject to a zero day exploit. So the real question is, why are you sitting on security patches?

Most federal government agencies run a bug bounty program. I encourage my users to find and report bugs, sans DDOS. We already know that will work.

 

[Anachiwo]

It really depends on the reason of the ban...
If it was for serious reasons I just re-ban email/ip/everything without anything else.. while if it was for a minor thing, I may close an eye (unless he comes back after 1 day)

Isn't it a fool that's going to be banned in a forum today and he tries to join back the next day..? Some even try to join back almost immediately after they ban and I'm like, what do you guys smoke .

 

[Henrywrites]

I would appreciate it if a banned member come to me and ask to be given a second chance than trying to get back in with another identity. It makes no sense why they should think it's an act that's going to overlooked.

But how would they come back when they can't reach the admin since they are banned. It is better a member doesn't do anything that will get them banned in the first place.

 

[Cory]

But how would they come back when they can't reach the admin since they are banned.

Hopefully, most boards have a 'contact us' option, generally an HTML form.

 

[Reverie]

How do you react when banned members try to come back through a new account? Does it irritate you and respond harshly?

How do you send them off forever?

It depends on how quickly they attempt to make a new account. If they return the next day in attempt to make a new account I would be pretty darn annoyed. I wouldn't respond harshly though - I would just ban and ensure to IP ban them as well.

If a person came to me on another forum or managed to contact me through the forum, I would hear them out if they at least give it a month. Most bans that are permanent are with real reason though and I doubt I would unban. I have done 48 hour bans before and I think it was a good way to have a short term ban that would allow both parties a break and to be able to try again.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I never had this happen to me, however I'd IP ban the user and hope that they don't come back via registering with a VPN. I'd be upset if I did figure out that a banned member made their way back on the board.

 

[Ken]

How do you react when banned members try to come back through a new account? Does it irritate you and respond harshly?

How do you send them off forever?

At anytime they try to tell me to run my forum or even boss me around telling me what not to have on my forum, I ban them on the spot. In the past 4 years I banned 3 members, including one who like to post nonsensical crap such as off-key singing audio clips that no one wants nothing to do with and the other who spew racist stuff and pick fights with one of my members.