# A proposed policy on the reasons for banning members **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 19, 2019, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-proposed-policy-on-the-reasons-for-banning-members/840525 "2019-09-19T21:11:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-proposed-policy-on-the-reasons-for-banning-members/840525/1 "2019-09-19T21:11:51Z")
To the members of the board and the administration thereof, I suggest the administration adopt an official policy of making the general reasons why a member is banned promptly available after such banning takes place. The rationale need not necessarily be listed in a new thread within this subforum; it could also be in a public response to the offending post, or in case of new members who have contributed little it could be a note on their profile page. Neither must the rationale give too much explicit detail for all bannable offenses: I do not need to know which member is a sock of, only that they were banned for being a sock. Neither is any sort of rationale necessary for a member who has made absolutely no contribution to the board, nor a member whose only contributions have been removed pursuant to other rules and common sense. I ask for such changes because as a relatively new member and a skeptical person in general, I would like to know why one of the people I debate with suddenly disappears, as with **kirkpatrick**. If he committed some sort of offense, I should hope to learn why so as to avoid the same fate; if he committed no offense, I should raise my own voice on his behalf and possibly leave the board if I fail; if he committed a silent offense such as _socking_, as was actually the case, I should hope to learn the same to quell my own conscience. Being a new member, and perhaps due to my own personality, I simply do not trust the administration to be fair without some form of public oversight as to its actions. ~Max --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-proposed-policy-on-the-reasons-for-banning-members/840525)._