What goes through your mind when you ban someone?

[Trublu]

I think as a forum admin, you can't really worry about it. So long as you are banning based on repeated and malicious infractions to your rules, then you are justified. Admins can't not ban people because they are afraid of what the banned member is going to do in turn.

It's crucial that an admin have a secure password, and know how to quickly and efficiently deal with spammers (something they should have anyway, not in just a banning circumstance).

But, also, an admin should know when not to ban as well. Technically, one can ban anyone they please without reason, but it is a feature that shouldn't be abused to ban people who don't share the same ideas, who speak out, etc. I don't ever ban anyone when I'm feeling emotional, or when I think that I wouldn't have the support of the rest of my team. More often than not, banning is a long term process that starts long before the actual banning happens. If I see a member who is causing lots of problems, I'll talk to the rest of my staff about them, and talk about the course of action I want to take. It usually involves verbal warnings, bar warnings, and then a ban if all else fails.

When I was first starting out, I had a pair of members, and I didn't like the way they were acting around my board. I made the mistake of commenting on the issue in a private journal, but not doing anything officially on my board because technically, they weren't breaking my current rules. The situation exploded, they left the board in a huff, and then they started spamming. A lot. I had to get real strict about my rules, very fast. That's why I'm not afraid to call people out now early and often, so that I can avoid a situation in the future that has stewed to the point of explosion.

[Pipamonium]

I've been an admin for going on 6 years and I've only banned three people.

The first person was banned for verbally attacking myself and several other members. I might have given this person more than a day but it was fairly obvious they did not join the forum to participate but to flame a certain member.

The second person was banned for similar reasons but were given several weeks to get their stuff together. They didn't and they had to go.

The third person I banned was a joint decision between myself and the entire staff. The decision came over several months. It was really hard because he was very annoying and skirted the rules. He broke them several times and knew he would be safe because his sister was also a member and she was a very productive member who was well liked and followed every rule. If we banned him, IP banned, we'd lose her as well and that was the LAST thing we wanted to happen. In the end we had to choose to lose them both since his antics was starting to lose other members.

[Viper ™]

Ive been an admin for just over 4 years now and ive only ever banned around 3 members

It is very rare i will ban a member for breaking the rules of my forum i will hand out warnings and then i will begin the removal process

Which starts with a friendly PM then i will start issuing warning percentages based on the seriousness of the rule they are breaking then i will send out warning PMs keeping them polite at all times if then they continue with the rule breaks i will disable there account for 24 hours then once this expires and they continue they will then recieve a 3 month Ban accompanied with a email explaining why they have been banned and when the ban will expire and also explain that there kind of behaviour wont be tolerated they are simply spoiling the fun for everyone else and then if they continue once the 3 Month ban is over they will be banned permanently

[rachel]

I have only banned one person, and that was a bot, that signed up, so nothing big there.

[Cliff]

I only banned a very few people, and that's because they were all bots which all happened in my Advertising board, so all I know was the IP address.

I think for me, I would make use of the warning percentages. Which resulting in the rarity to ban members. For example, my board is PG-13 rated and a member just made a post that seems R-rated (which happened once in a blue moon), I'll PM the member as a minor warning to either designated the Thread as R or M, or modify the post to make it more PG-13. If that continues, it would lead to suspension, then temporary ban, and then eventually permanent ban (all with a description to the member why their account has been suspended/ or banned).

When it comes to the temporary or permanent ban, it would depend on how severe the offense is. If it was something like countless members reported to the staff members or myself about a trouble making member, it would probably a group decision to temporary suspend or ban the person. However, if the person did something that puts the board in danger for deletion, then a permanent ban would be enforced. Plus I would state it in the Rules about certain offense that cause immediate deletion.