Banned question again.

Why is it that we are not allowed to discuss banned members?
I have noticed that quite a few people that were posting quite a bit are now banned. I'm not completely dumb, I know things go on behind the scenes that we are not privy to (Thank God) but if you are going to keep their profiles active rather than deleting them, why not add a little something like you do when you erase someones post?
If they were banned for being horribly insulting, a little hint on their profile?

Just wondering because I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering.

Also, why are their profiles still kept after they are banned? Is this to beef up the membership #'s?

reply to post by superman2012


I think they are kept because getting rid of them altogether would likely break all the threads they posted on. Also would add to conspiritorial thoughts if people just disappeared into an abyss. I know a whole lot of forum engines break when a post is removed completly, not positive ATS runs on one of those though.

reply to post by superman2012

Why is it that we are not allowed to discuss banned members?

Uh oh, can of worms time.

reply to post by TKDRL


That makes a lot of sense. I'm not even close to computer savvy so I had no idea.

Thanks!

intrptr
reply to post by superman2012

 

Why is it that we are not allowed to discuss banned members?

Uh oh, can of worms time.

Nope, just honestly wondering.

reply to post by superman2012


Because the bigger boys wont let us.

reply to post by superman2012


It's just from experience moderating on other forums, it's possible that I am completely wrong in this case lol. It had something to do with post number, and how the engine used those numbers to divide up the pages. The thread would freak out when numbers went missing.

reply to post by TKDRL


That makes the most sense. The most simple answer is usually the right one, right?

This is one of the things i really do hate about ATS, the way that banned members are handled it could be done much better.

This current system of ban them and never talk about them again but by all means keep all their old threads active is rather silly in my view.

I think that we should be aloud to discuss them where it is appropriate. I noticed this when i first joined up actually, I was having a debate with a member then he was banned I asked why and got a "off-topic" caution from the mods. Stuck me as very strange I wonder if members who do get banned get more info than us, for example a U2U explaining the decision of if its just that you try to post and get a 404 or whatever.

Thankfully i have never been so much a temporary banned (long may that continue), but sometimes I do find it infuriating when a member i like gets banned and we get no explanation.

I think the mods need to realize that as sad as this may be, many of us form friendships on ATS, to log on one day and find that member you have been swapping U2U's with for months or debating topics with for ages has been banned can be really annoying. More than once I have regretted not getting someones email address.

letting us discuss banned members when appropriate should be permitted. Like on a thread and the OP becomes banned, we should be aloud to ask why

reply to post by OtherSideOfTheCoin


Be careful
you dont want to upset the bigger boys

reply to post by OtherSideOfTheCoin


You have to understand that it's the member's conduct that leads them to being banned. Not the staff. This has been discussed ad nauseum. We don't discuss banned members because of our privacy policy. That is not going to change. And I believe TKDRL is right. Removal of accounts would leave gaps. Members can be banned but accounts are not deleted.

Hi, as an ex Administrator on a site,,(not this one I may add) it is always dealt with privately and not discussed with anyone else, that way it prevents flaming on the site,and trust me that really does go on,if you really want to know the reason for a person who is banned please feel free to ask them, and it also stops people passing silly and sarcastic remarks about banned members when they cant really defend themselves,,,hope this helps and i,m not steppping on toes here

reply to post by intrepid

After a tiny bit of digging I uncovered Crakeur's answer to my question.

Thanks!

if I may be so bold as to take a stab at this.

First, it's not just threads/discussions about banned members; we don't allow threads/discussions about any ATS members. It just end up with hurt feelings somewhere along the line, and obviously the issue of privacy.

When it comes to banned members... It is simply more drama than it's worth. We've learned from experience that mentioning and explaining the banning of a member result in more staff time being invested. Some members will defend the banned member and then mods have to deal with additional discussions, communication, etc. etc. It snowballs and it's a headache.

Generally speaking a lot of discussion go on behind the scenes before someone is permanently banned. (With the exception of obvious violations such as porn, hoaxing or death threats.) A ten page thread on a member before they're banned isn't unheard off. So once the decision has been made to ban a person, then there really isn't much more left to be said. A banning always comes down to several/repeat T&C violations.

As for the rest of the question, as has been explained above: Removing posts/threads of banned members leaves gaps in discussions...

Edit: I see while I was typing that the same answer was also given. But there you have it, again.

reply to post by intrepid


I think it was more when i joined that it annoyed me I noticed quite a few folk getting banned and didn't know why.

I have to say that on the other side of often being infuriated finding that a friend has been banned recently the mods banned two members who had been annoying me (like really annoying me) for months, one of them kept popping up on all my threads for example just to have a go. So it was good to see them banned.

Most of the time i would have to say that the mods really do a fantastic job and I am sure most folk that get banned deserve it.

reply to post by Gemwolf


That's true and I didn't think of that. A missing mod thread was closed. That is no different than someone who is banned (privacy wise anyways).

Thanks


Edit: you can close this thread if you are done with it, my questions have been answered.

I'm curious if the ATS staff sends warnings to any member which may be unintentionally breaking a rule so they have an opportunity to correct their actions or is the ban just given with no prior notification?

reply to post by Spookybelle


Yup...multiple posts removed, U2U's and then finally a post ban of a week for me before I caught on.

Spookybelle
I'm curious if the ATS staff sends warnings to any member which may be unintentionally breaking a rule so they have an opportunity to correct their actions...

Absolutely. Banning is a last resort 95% of the time. Unless it's Bernie.

The reason accounts are left is that it takes skill with msql/sql data bases to remove all traces and not corupt the board.

Not saying the skill is not here, just taht time and I mean lots of time is needed to do it right. That and if you mess up...poof board down.

Not worth the risk as I see it...