So I noticed a few people were banned recently and I think I read somewhere, sometime ago that the board prefers not to have some kind of banned list or banned reason list to prevent glorifying these people so I won’t name them. But if one of them came back, are they allowed?
Lets say Mr. Zorn is banned. Can he immediately make up another account and announce he’s back? Or will the mods, knowing it was a recently banned poster, ban him immediately?
If he’s banned immediately, is there a specific time period that he has to wait in order to make another account?
Let’s say Mr. Zorn’s banned but comes back eventually. Is he allowed to hide it? I know the board removes sock accounts (and why is it called “sock” accounts anyway?), but if Mr. Zorn comes back, can he pretend to be someone else? Maybe even comment on his old posts and support them? This is assuming the mods know its the same person
Sometimes its hard to tell exactly what post or series of posts got a person banned, even looking through their history. Do you guys talk to the person to tell them why they’re being banned before doing it, or do they suddenly just log in and find that they’re banned with a mod note: “You’re banned” and that’s it?
Generally, if you’re banned, you’re gone for good. There have been a case or two where someone was banned and allowed to come back, but those are rare. If someone makes another account, and it’s discovered, they’re booted. I think only one person has pulled something like that off where he signed up again, and went for a year or so before he was found out. He got banned then too. They have even went so far as to ban his IP.
ETA: They’re called “socks” because it’s kind of like a sock puppet.
We didn’t make it up. It’s short for sock puppet. It’s a term that apparently started way back on USENET. It’s come to mean an online version of yourself used for deception.
Once you are banned you can not come back. If a sock account is found that will be banned as well.
Usually they’re identified by their IP, at least that’s how it was when I modded a board. And if they’re not then they will always reveal themselves by the same sort of jerkish posts that got them banned in the first place. These people aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer.
If a new account is found to belong to a previously banned poster, it will immediately be banned as well. There is no time limit.
If we have good reason to believe that a banned poster is posting under another name, that name will be banned.
Long-term posters are banned only after they have received a series of warnings and in most cases a suspension. When they are on their last chance they will very likely be informed of it by a mod either by a post or PM. I don’t think it comes as a much of a surprise to anyone who ends up being banned. When they try to log on, they will see a message indicating the reason for the banning.
This goes for long term posters. Short term trolls may be banned without much notice.
Maybe, but this is the first place I ever encountered it. Other than 1 or two other places in the last few years, this is still the main place I’ve seen it. Everywhere else they’re called alts (whether allowed or prohibited).
While there have been a few rare cases of banned posters being allowed to return, those were all under the same name. Moderators have the ability to rescind a ban (and it’s a good thing they do, isn’t it, Miller?). If they wanted to let someone back in, why let them do it under a new name?
And of course, it’s possible for someone to come back without permission, and to avoid getting caught for some amount of time. And logically, there’s no way of knowing if there’s anyone who has continued to avoid getting caught. But once the mods do find out, well, they said to go away, and they didn’t say to come back.
