I know that banned posters are ‘banned for life’. But people change. If a banned poster wanted to come back after a long period (as opposed to a 30-day suspension, a year’s banning, etc.) could he be reinstated?
I don’t know Satan, but he was a long-time poster. Based on his posting style, and that the Boards have become ‘kinder and gentler’ over the years, I doubt that he’d even want to come back. But what if he did? He’s been gone for… what? Three years or so? Maybe he’s calmed down. I’d understand if a reinstatement application by him were declined, at least the first time.
Or there was another one who faked a disappearance, causing much concern amongst people on the Boards. I don’t remember why he did it. Maybe, as President Muffley said, ‘Well, he went a little funny.’ AFAICR this poster didn’t cause any trouble until he pretended he had been abducted or killed. If he’s gotten over whatever emotional (or psychological or medical) problems that prompted his actions, would he be accepted?
Is banning really a ‘death sentence’? Or is there hope of parole after enough time for a person to have rehabilitated himself?
Do you even need to ask this question when lissener has been recently reinstated? There’s been a few other banned posters come back over the years. Trouble is, whatever got them banned originally usually reoccurs, which is why there’s not too many of them around.
As for the dude who faked his disappearence (Sqrlcub), he had a sock her for a long while after that he eventually outed when the boards went pay to post. Remember Dorkusmalorkusmafia? So I don’t think he’s coming back!
There have been a few cases of banned posters being reinstated after convincing the Staff that they have learned the error of their ways. Collounsbury is a recent example. More often than not, they return to the behavior which got them banned in the first place. Again, Collounsbury is a recent example. I can’t immediately think of any others, but there have been a few. So, there appears that there can be a second chance. To my knowledge, there has never been a third.
I agree with Johnny’s OP, that people can change. The question is whether they have, and what it was that needed to be changed. Sadly, most of our past experience with re-admitting banned folks has been negative, and they wind up re-banned fairly quickly. Of course, we now have suspension as a temporary ban (so to speak,) so anyone banned nowadays would already have blown a second chance.
How about folks banned some time back, before there were suspensions? First, it would depend on the offense. Threat of violence, for instance, is a different order of magnitude from personal insults. And some fairly mild trait (like, say, posting drunk once too often) might be overcome in a way that some more basic personality traits (nasty, aggressive, rude, and uncompromising) might not. Second, it would depend on what the person says and what evidence is offered of change. And third, it would depend on how the person accepted the news of banning – someone who reacted by threatening lawsuits and screaming and ranting on other boards, or who tried to sneak back in with socks and false identity, for instance, would have pretty much blown their second chance already.
So, we’re not closed to the idea, but it would be an uphill struggle.
Whoa, thanks for that link. I’d known that HTML used to be allowed, and that something had been done to cause it to be removed, but I had no idea what. Now I know.
Inneresting, thanks for sharing that Denis, I either didn’t know or didn’t remember. That was probably a one-time offense, rather than a repeated string?
Once we instituted payment, we also formalized some guidelines about bannings, so it would probably take more than a single incident nowadays.
Not that I really want to get into any specific personalities here, but we had several staff discussions (back when I was a mod) about reinstating Satan. Unless opinions among the staff have changed drastically, he ain’t ever gonna be back. This here sock puppet, Mock Suds, belonged to Satan. Not that there are any too terrible posts under that name, but a not-so-well-disguised anagram, eh?
Well, we have banee (masc), banshe (fem), so I figured the banner was the doer and …
OK, this thread has gone on long enough. The basic rule is: banning is forever. There are a very, very few, specific cases where we might reconsider after some time has passed, but anyone trying to sneak back in as a sock, or bad-mouthing the SDMB on other online sites, ain’t gonna have a ghostuva chance.
So, we’ve answered the question, and now we’re rambling. (Yeah, ok, I sorta stated it, so it’s only fitting I end it.)
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