Why do people get banned

By following the terms and conditions. Just as you'd follow the terms and conditions of any forum or store if you don't want to get kicked out.

Most common way people get banned is by sharing certain personal info they can't (like facebook, twitter, tumblr, any way that'll link you to someone here and somewhere else and they can find you, basically). Although, the mods never specify (nor should they) on who they banned and why. I know some forums that do it, but not many.

 

I never really understood that myself. I'm not sure how it's harmful to explain the reasoning for a ban, especially if a majority of bans are minor violations of the COC like accidentally giving offsite contact. It just gives clarity to friends of the guilty member plus it provides a firsthand example of how/why the rules are enforced and the consequences for breaking them. I wouldn't know if there's a specific reason for it cause even discussion about this kinda stuff seems frowned upon. It's very different here from my last forum where member/staff transparency was considered a priority. I always assumed the reason or at least part of it is EC's large memberbase requires more strict security policies to keep it in check. Dunno why that means we can't know if someone's banned though.

 

People get banned for eating too many sweets so eat your greens!! ^.^


Its because of breaking rules which you agreed too when you signed up :3 And i guess they dont say reasons of bans because its private~

 

Well I've been banned once in the past and personally I'd be pretty upset if the mods had taken it upon themselves to tell everyone in the community what I did wrong.

In my case I completely misunderstood how tinyURL worked and ended up sharing a link to my photobucket account. That was an accident on my part but I did break the CoC so I got banned. I'M happy to talk about it because hell, I did it, but it would irritate me to think that the mods would tell other people that since is points out I'm too stupid to read a simple link!

But imagine if I'd done something else, like getting banned for being offensive or mean and I STILL didn't realise I'd done it. I would HATE to get back online at some point and find out every person who knew me knows exactly what happened and turned against me, wouldn't you?

 

Might just be me but I'd rather people knew I made a harmless slip up than wonder if I'm a pedophile or something dreadful like that. I don't mean to say bans should get broadcast through a loudspeaker, just that it's not a big deal to let someone know why a friend disappeared without a trace one day.

In the event someone was banned for offensive comments, perhaps they deserve to be held accountable if they return, therefore allowing the person a chance to apologize and learn from their behavior? I feel like alot of us on EC aren't the type to condemn someone for one mistake. If it's really that bad they can't be forgiven, they probably wouldn't be allowed back anyway =o

 

True, but let's say you get banned over a comment made towards ME for some reason, something mean.

Now if I go and tell a handful of people that your comment upsets me that is to be expected, and maybe those people will be upset with you, but the point is that it has come from ME and the only reason people have to take it seriously is if they like me enough to care.

Now keep in mind if you see someone has been banned, it usually doesn't matter if you know them well or not, you tend to want to know why, and the admins do not and CAN NOT know who everyone is good friends with on this site. So if someone asks why so and so is banned, they don't know if it's a good friend or random curiosity.

Problem is if the admins then go and tell people why the ban was made, then you take it seriously, because an admin told you, and they have implied importance because of their position. So now instead of caring because someone you like got hurt, you care because someone with power told you about it.

Which then leads to the idea that it's been OK'ed by the staff to shun someone who gets banned for something that most people would never have learned about otherwise.

Now you raise a good point about accountability, but lets be honest, the majority of people aren't going around saying things to be needlessly offensive to people, are they? And if they were as you rightly say they probably wouldn't be allowed back anyway. Which means we are left with the people who do things by accident or get caught in the heat of the moment and say something completely wrong that they didn't mean or they went too far with something.

It's a hell of a lot easier to come back and apologise and reintegrate with what is supposed to be a useful and supportive forum if the only people who know why you are gone are the admins. If everyone has the potential to know suddenely there is a lot of negative pressure. I know I wouldn't feel very good if I'd slipped up, offended someone, really wanted to apologise and came back to find that half the forum hates me because an admin told them what I did.

 

Keep in mind that there are also members who's accounts have been banned at their own request as well. I know of a couple people who had the mods ban their existing account because it had been compromised (say a family member they didn't want in it getting in) and then set up a totally different account. In this case, though, the person may tell other members that they know via PM (or possibly have a willing mod do it for them) once they gain full member status from their new username.

 

We used to have a 'no longer a member' usergroup for people who requested their own bans, which I think is a good way to go.

It'd also be good to impliment an indication of "temporarily banned" or "permanently banned" so that members are kept in the loop a bit more.

 

I'm reasonable sure that I have caused at least two people to be suspended (which was not my intention, but whatever). Other than posting personal information, people get suspended or banned because they undermine Empty Closets' purpose as a support community.

That is, they say hurtful and bigoted things, and that gets them into trouble.

 

Okay...so are "Guests" people who have been banned? Or people who deleted their own account?

 

Guests are people who deleted their account.

 

Ah. Okay. Thanks. I was wondering where the guest button was.

 

If you're asking me/us to speculate on recent bans, I respectfully refuse. A lot of the above posters have hit the nail on the head. However the incredibly exponential number of bans compared to every other forum I'm on is because the forum is moderated heavier. Unfortunately that's the by-product of a major security breach a few years back that was before my time.

I will say that on a different forum I'm on that's completely unrelated to the topic of this forum, they do have a thread about who's been banned and why to make an example of them. Most of the bans there are for making sock puppet accounts and trolling. While the members are allowed to discuss bans, the mods make it quite clear that it is not a democracy but a dictatorship, and that one person who was quite controversially banned is never coming back despite broad support for his return. However what I like about that forum is that the mods, though argument is futile, still justify to the members why their friend has been banned, and if there's any chance of a permanent ban ever being lifted.

 

I kind of like The Escapist's model where they have things like "user was suspended for this post." "User was banned for this post." etc

 

I'm guessing it's because people like to share their personal info. That, and flame wars. :/

---------- Post added 20th Apr 2014 at 10:47 AM ----------

Yeah, I think that's a better idea. It would clear up a lot of confusion.

 

There are multiple sides to this situation. First, temporary and permanent bans are not something that the staff dish out frivolously. Permanent or very long bans are often a result of the staff having to confront a member on infractions on multiple occasions. Besides sharing inappropriate information, there is nearly never cases of members being banned for "this post" or "that instance" alone.

Aside from the level of confidentiality that we prefer to maintain surrounding interactions between members and staff, the reason why we still wouldn't have a reason to reveal information sounding member infractions is because there isn't a need to make an example out of anyone. There are very few ways that we can make the rules of this site more blatant; some people might originally view this site as just another that you can ignore outlined policy and do whatever you wish without repercussion, but they will soon learn otherwise.

 

I've always found sites that list bans or suspensions to be distasteful. Also, this unnamed site I'm referring to has gestapo-like moderation. EC has very fair moderation considering the topics here and the purpose of the community.