Not here to argue my infraction (although I don't really agree) but I was wondering how many infractions it takes before you are banned?
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I was infracted...
- Thread starter eNcrypTioN
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I think when you join the site they mention reading those links though.
lol, so that's where they are hiding it.
Infractions are semi-automated reminders, which the moderators usually use instead of individually written private message to save time, ensure consistency, and to maintain our records. Some forum sites use infractions with associated "points" to ban users when they reach a certain threshold, but we don't. Common sense tells us that warnings and reminders are usually all that's needed when users stray outside the rules (anything from minor issues to major violations).
If a user consistently breaks a rule and ignores warnings then the moderators look at the seriousness of the rule and the violations, the individual circumstances, the user's overall history, and any communications from the user to decide if they think the user can be convinced to observe the rules using further discipline, typically a temporary forum suspension. If the bad habits still don't change then a permanent ban is eventually called for. This path of escalation is necessarily faster for serious problems but is intended to give users a chance to comply as well as to understand what's expected of them under the rules.
If a user consistently breaks a rule and ignores warnings then the moderators look at the seriousness of the rule and the violations, the individual circumstances, the user's overall history, and any communications from the user to decide if they think the user can be convinced to observe the rules using further discipline, typically a temporary forum suspension. If the bad habits still don't change then a permanent ban is eventually called for. This path of escalation is necessarily faster for serious problems but is intended to give users a chance to comply as well as to understand what's expected of them under the rules.
Sometimes sites, like one forum I'm a supermod of, will IP Ban a user if members keep getting banned and they all have the same IP.
It lets them know that their posting habits were not acceptable and that they are no longer welcome. Some of these users leave for good because it's clear that this site doesn't suit them. Some contact us to blame us for their behavior while others contact us to debate the details of their situation.
And yes, some of them re-register. They are often identified to the moderators by users who recognize them, or are spotted by the moderators themselves. The people who get banned, i.e., users who break rules and are uncooperative in the first place, tend not to change personality and as a result often end up getting banned again for the same reason they did the first time. Very few want to play cat-and-mouse this way for long since they aren't able to use the forums as other users do. No doubt there are some re-registrants who haven't been caught, but there's not much we can do about that. There will always be immature users and we'll always need to rely on forum users to report their inappropriate posts, but the job of the moderators is to minimize the problems they cause for other users.