Banning posters

Philosophy Explorer · February 18th, 2014, 7:53 am

Note: I'm not talking about banning posters from this forum.

I'm referring to banning, upon request, certain posters from certain threads. Certain posters are known to post off-topic posts which additionally, for some posters, try to divert the thread to the poster's own agenda. May I suggest in addition that criteria be applied towards the culprit poster before banning the culprit poster from ever posting to the thread again. Also before banning the culprit poster, may I suggest a warning be issued to that poster about possible banning.

February 18th, 2014, 10:15 pm

It's against the forum rules to make off-topic posts and derail topics. If a poster refuses to follow these rules to the point of needing to be banned from a particular thread/topic or forum category, I would just ban them from the forums entirely. What I usually do before outright banning is temporary probation in which a poster's posts will be held in the moderation queue for approval before being displayed. That gives them a chance to adjust their posting to adhere to the rules and have the probation lifted as opposed to being prevented from posting all-together. In short, I don't see the usefulness in banning a poster from just a certain topic as opposed to banning them from posting at all.

In any case, I appreciate the suggestion. Please keep suggestions, feedback and ideas coming. Thank you.

Philosophy Explorer · February 18th, 2014, 10:32 pm

Scott,

You brought up something I want to inquire further about.

You mentioned that those that are on temporary probation are given the opportunity to adjust their posts before being taken off probation. Those that receive board warnings aren't given the same opportunity.

Why the difference?

February 19th, 2014, 2:37 pm

This 'temporary probation' is something I use because someone has received board warnings. Whenever I delete or edit a post for violation of the forum rules, I issue a warning. If a user repeatedly violates the forum rules as such, then I may put the user on temporary probation in which case all their new posts will be held for moderation before being publicly displayed. If they start consistently following the rules, I will take them off of this probation so they can use the forum like normal again. If they continue to disregard the forum rules, I will leave them on probation and potentially ban them.