I’m still new here and trying to learn, but I don’t know where to ask this question.
If someone is banned, are they allowed to come back under another name after a certain amount of time has passed? Or are they banned for good?
Just wondering - not planning on starting anything (promise!)
Generally speaking, banned users are not permitted to return. There are, however, a very few who have made amends and been permitted to rejoin the boards, but only under their original name. There are also a number of folks we’ve banned who attempt to return by means of subterfuge. Those we find doing that and we think we catch most of 'em, are immediately banned again and I can say they will never be allowed back. I will also add that there is probably a very small number of people we’ve banned that have surreptitiously returned and been successful in hiding their past identity from us. When, or if, we identify one of these folks, we toss their asses, too.
Well, it sure seems odd to answer your post given that you’ve registered before me. All those hours of lurking in the pit are finally paying off!
What I’ve learned over there is that a user can ask to be unbanned by e-mailing the mods. If he asks nicely and the mods are convinced of his sincerity of playing by the rules, he can be reinstated. A guy named Collounsbury just had this happen. A couple of weeks ago people were discussing this about an older poster called Satan in the pit.
If you want to discuss this further, I believe that the rules of the SDMB require you to go to the pit.
I should have know you can’t beat a moderator to the punch. 
Even if you could, they would just ‘edit’ out your post and put theirs ahead of your post.
'Tis an evil injustice that is perpetrated all the time…
Especially if it’s been spiked.
Thanks!
Didn’t Contestant #3 come back legitimately as Krispy Original?
Possibly he/she had a name change after returning. Recently one guy with an impossible, kind of prehistoric dinosaur-like name (Pterodactyl or so?) was briefly banned, reinstated, and then got his name changed to Spectre of (something).
Sorry about all the guesses. Ross Geller I ain’t.
Ya know, I think you’re correct. That may have been before we had the one registration per user rule in effect.
When banned users come back, do they bring pie?
The conditions under which a banned user can be re-admitted are narrow and strict, and depends on the behavior that caused banning. There have been inadvertent errors, for example, or a case of someone innocently misunderstanding. Those are the easy ones, the person can be quickly reinstored and most folks won’t even know they were gone.
The severity of the offense and the honesty of the repentence are also factors; agreed, these are quite subjective, but that’s the breaks. We recently had a banned poster applying to return, whose apology dripped with insincerity – and we had outside evidence of this person making very nasty comments elsewhere. So no dice.
Our experience has been that most bannings are for the good reasons that the person doesn’t really understand what’s going on here… and the flow of time doesn’t much change their understanding (or lack thereof).
[churchlady] Who could it be? who who who? I just don’t know… could it be perhaps _______[/churchlady]
I tried to resist, really
Haven’t there been cases where a user’s username is particularly offensive and thus banned, while the user him/herself is encouraged to re-register with a different name? (I’m really not sure and perhaps just making an unfounded assumption based on what I saw). I’m thinking of Shut the Fuck up Donny or something like that.
Kat thanks for the chuckle.
Usually we email people with offensive usernames and ask them to change it, if the poster strikes us as a decent guy who just happens to have a juvenile sense of humor. However, some trolls pick a offensive username as part of their general trollish behavior, and then they get banned with the name as a contributing cause. We’re pretty liberal in terms of what we allow for usernames, though.
Yes, it is possible for people who have been banned to return under different names. It keeps the Moderators busy trying to track them down and blast them. We would rather spend our time doing other things.
The operative word is “jerk.” People who think it’s funny to shit on someone else’s doorstep, or to throw their empty beer bottles in someone else’s yard. Children who think it’s funny to “get away” with self-masturbating, childish, disruptive behavior.
The rest of us all think that they are jerks. Making a nuisance of yourself, bummer, Dude, probably gives you lots of kicks. Childish thrills, to make up for your lack of brains, socialization skills, talent, or life.
Sorry, I should take this to the Pit, shouldn’t I?
There was at least one case of a banned person coming back under a new username, eventually being discovered but being allowed to stay. His first moniker and entry to the board was as a malicious troll, who just thought it was fun to rain on the parade here. After being banned (under several similar identities), he had conversations with members outside the board, and changed attitude. The new name was completely different, and he made no allusions to his past identity, and actually participated as a valuable member. When it was finally discovered his identity, he was allowed to stay. I presume it was based upon his change in attitude and demonstrated ability to behave.
He was subsequently banned again under that identity, but it was much later and under different circumstances, not the previous juvenile behavior.
However, I do not state the above as any recommendation for how to reenter the boards (other than the change in attitude part), and do not suggest that the admins would allow a person now to reenter that way. I only state it for historical accuracy.
Banned. Disappeared. Switched identities. Rumors. Secrets. Trolls. Self-maturbators .
Good grief this is great stuff.
Is this a cult?
Well, back in the AOL days…
upon preview:
self-masturbators.
Irishman, if you’re referring to the person to whom I think you’re referring, I’m pretty sure that he did ask permission, and I’m certain that he made allusions to his previous identity (rather inevitable, since his original username was his actual name).
I also recall another user who was fairly recently banned, but with express authorization to seek reinstatement after a few weeks by e-mailing an administrator. He had a user name that was confusingly similar to another user, though hadn’t really caused conflicts in the past.
When he applied, he was reinstated, though he changed his user name to something that wouldn’t be confused with the name of the other user. I don’t know whose suggestion the name change was, but I’m sure it was the concurrance of the administration.