Banning users and normal behavior
 

I realized that I don't really read that many message boards or forums (with my pretty much daily reading of GC, where would I find the time?), so I was wondering if those of you who do could clear something up for me.

I am not trying to start a negative thread about BA, so please don't take it in that direction if you can avoid it.

But I was wondering this: is it kind of normal, in the message board/forum world only of course, for people who get banned under one user name to hang around and create others, especially when the new ones are NOT variants of the old name?

My personal instinct, because I try just to have pretty much one user identity (albeit with 900 officially-made-by-John name changes), is that if I were banned, I'd quit reading and posting, I think.
I'd take it as an official "you are not wanted here" from the host of the party.

But contrary to my own instincts, I think being banned and returning is kind of accepted in forum-world, based on some of the comments from some of the funnier users/ sock puppets of users here. Some people seem, I guess, to take banning as more of a "you went too far under that user name" kind of message.

And I'm pretty much fine with that thinking for other people who get banned but are willing to make the change in style or go through the trouble of re-registering. I'm not passing any judgment on the practice.

What do you all think? Is there a limit to the number of times that you creating user names before you clearly have a problem? Is it as normal as I think it is?

I'm a moderator on a site that has over 600,000 registered users. (Not all use the discussion board area, but they have the ability to.) I can say without equivocation that the vast majority of people who are banned come back at least once. The only exception are those who are banned because they come to the site for the sole purpose of commercial promotion. Those users usually spam and take off, without causing any commotion.

I do think that at some point there's signs of a problem. I don't know that there's some sort of limit to this, but it shows a pretty desperate need for attention, obsession, and a lot of times the delusion that the "man" is keeping you down and that the "people" support you (via PM usually).

I'd agree that most people come back at least once... to have their last word as it were. Some people reinvent themselves, straighten up and are no problem. The obsessive though.... no one really accepts that in forums... it's all down to the IP ban if it's available.

The IP ban is definitely in order and some people tip their hands that they are nuts, no doubt, but I think most accomplish that with one user name if they are going in that direction.

I was personally thinking of banning coming down from on high, so it never occurred to me that people could expect to be vindicated with additional posts, but again, my perspective is GC. We can fight amongst ourselves almost as much as we want it seems to me. Banning sort of seems impersonal and unrelated to any particular position on an issue here: you've got to violate the TOS repeatedly, right?

I have NEVER heard of this practice. :eek: Why would you think about such a thing? :confused: Don't give people ideas. :rolleyes:

I know. It's so hard to imagine why anyone would do ever it ;), especially on a site as important as GreekChat.

Maybe there was a very good reason for someone to come back on site and have the right to express themselves for being harrassed or falsely accussed of certain things.

Greek Chat is a very good site, but it is not the end of the world especially if they are being lied about or accussed and belittled of different things.

Just maybe, they want to set the record straight!

Let us just see how the feelings are on this post!:( I am sure there will be hell to pay!:rolleyes:

Please don't quote me (just because I just quoted you), but I think I heard somewhere that you can't ban a single IP address, but rather have to ban a block of them.

That could be bad for users who obey the TOS and don't cause any trouble.

If that's not true, please let me know.

I think, and I'm not sure on this, that you can block one IP, however it is not complicated to release your IP address and gain a new one generally speaking. Most people don't know how to do it, nor would they to dodge a forum ban, but it can be gotten around unless you block multiple IPs from the ISP in that area.

AOL uses dynamic IPs so those are essentially unblockable because they don't reference any one person. If you're ever on AOL log on to a wiki page and see all the notes that pop up because of you IP address. Apparently all the vandals use AOL.

I'm pretty sure I feel the same way.

It's one thing to squabble with other users or whatever, but if the folks with the power to ban you, ban you, it's hard for me to imagine wanting to stay.

And I although I really do enjoy GreekChat and have genuine affection for some of the users who I've known in real life, I can't say that I would find vindication important if I were banned. I don't think I'd care that much, but maybe I'm wrong.

But I'm glad to know more about how other sites work and it's interesting to learn how different kind of bans work.

UGAalum94, my question to you is why you created this post in the first place?

I seriously doubt it was to "find out why people come back after being banned."

Instead, it seems like a clear cut example of passive aggressive behavior to me. You were unhappy the mods locked the other thread. It's obvious you are simply stirring the pot again to reignite this very old, tired drama.

True to form, the usual suspects have appeared to fight old battles. Give it a break, 'k?

Nope. I wanted to hear from people with more generalized forum experience because it only recently occurred to me that coming back after being banned wasn't really that weird.

And it sounds like it's not.

I don't really consider myself particularly involved in either of the cases connected to the locked thread (that I think you mean; there are a ton of them after all). I don't have a dog in that fight, as far as I'm concerned.

It's hard to see anyone as having entirely clean hands, but I'm not really interested in passing judgment either.

ETA: And I don't tend to fall prey to engaging in passive aggressive behavior. I've got no problem directly addressing issues, and I think that's clear from my posts.

You know, in hindsight ThirdParty really may have a point.

Will someone lock this baby?