Bans
For the most part I've been staying quiet about this to see how things would go. But with vB and the infraction system coming it's a good time to have this discussion.
Each of you bans in your own forum(s) for your own reasons, and you guys generally know what's up where you're assigned. It's safe to say you're all trying to do what you think is best when it matters. What you don't see, though, is the entire picture of exactly how many users are being banned for how long and for what reasons. I could try to spin this, but... some of it is starting to seem ridiculous to me and I hope for better with 2+2.
I'm unhappy with what I perceive to be a rush to use bans. Part of this is probably due to a lack of other available options right now. So my intent here is to start a discussion about what else we could be doing rather than just say, "Ban less."
My ideas involve the infraction system and talking to people. For instance, often I'll see a ban with a personal message from mod to user in the ban reason. In many cases I don't get it. If you're going to take the time, issue that same warning to the member privately without the ban. More often than not you'll find that's appreciated and works better than going to war with them, although I do understand that some forums benefit from more public methods.
The infraction system shouldn't start out like I had planned before. Those auto temp bans would cause more problems than they're worth. So how about we make it all straight points and custom reasons? It would basically be:
infraction for x -- x points -- expires x
Along with that we set a maximum level (50?) that results in an admin permanent ban. Additionally, we could add a level just below which strips you of the ability to start new threads. Not looking to end temp bans entirely. I just think they've become overused.
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