I’m sure I’ll get flamed for this, or get accused of being a troll, or a sock, or a trock (or maybe somebody who should be cold cocked), but I’m really not, and it’s just an idea.
But it arises from thoughts of “illegal immigrants” and the notion that it might be wise to offer a path to citizenship.
So, what if (really - it’s just an idea) there was an amnesty period, where previously banned posters were allowed to rejoin the boards.
I suggest it for a few reasons:
I sometimes read laments that the board is trending older, and not as robust as it once was. I, personally, miss some of the old names. I know others don’t, but reinvigorating the board with some renewed memberships wouldn’t be the worst thing.
if there are routine “troll” accounts that have to be cornfielded, is it perhaps because there are people who still read the Dope, but have been prohibited from commenting, perhaps for something they did years ago. Maybe letting the banned readers come out of the shadows would reduce these troubles.
Maybe, just maybe, some people have learned. Sure, once they were “more trouble than they were worth”, or wouldn’t listen to the mods, but maybe they’ve mellowed. Certainly, amongst those banned are people who did, at least occasionally, behave civilly. And many had good things to contribute.
Again: just a thought. I have no ulterior motive, other than I miss some of the more prolific posters who have since been given the heave ho.
Considering how much rope problem posters are given before being banned, I doubt there are enough who have reformed to be worth the trouble with the rest.
I’m trying hard to think of a poster banned in the last 3 years that wasn’t given too many chances if anything.
But I can only recall one. He blew up way out of proportion to a modnote in thread cursing a mod while doing so. Pretty much insta-banned IIRC. I don’t know their history but maybe that was a very dumb post while having a bad day.
But the bulk of the bannings are posters with many, many warnings, modnotes ignored and usually suspensions.
I know of 3 posters banned years ago I would think would be worth a review of their posting history if they asked to return. But it will probably turn out I’m missing a lot of incidents in their posting history as I wasn’t a mod at the time and so didn’t see their transgressions.
I know of at least 2 posters that were nearly banned but did adjust their posting after warnings/suspensions and are still around and contributing and hopefully having fun.
I’ll note that there’s nothing stopping a poster from reapplying to the board after a lengthy cooling down period. Minimum requirement is that they grasp the reason they were banned and express intent to improve behavior.
It happened once years ago, IIRC. It didn’t work out, but it happened.
From what I’ve seen here, people don’t get banned very easily. You generally have to work very hard and show that you’re not willing to abide by the rules over a long period of time. At best, I would say that “bans” should be ten year suspensions. And to not tell people this.
There were, in the past, a few people who begged and pleaded and showed contrition after they were banned, and were let back in. IIRC, none of them lasted more than a few months before they were banned again.
Nowadays, suspensions are a thing. And there have been very, very few posters who have been suspended for a month, who didn’t then go on to be banned very shortly after they came back from suspension.
At most, there have been some posters who were usually good, valuable posters, but who sometimes blow up badly enough that they have to be banned (I think alcohol might be involved with some of them). It’s always a shame to have to ban them, and we really wish they could control those outbursts. But apparently, they can’t.
If sneakily returning banned posters were merely posting about how much they liked puppies, mods would probably whistle and look the other way. “Sock account? What sock account?” But people who are banned for being dickbags and come back usually continue being dickbags.
We just had a one where the poster was doing a fairly good job hiding the fact they were an old hand and then they outed themselves in the Trolls R Us thread. A surprising mistake. I guess they couldn’t help themselves or got tired of the character they were portraying.
The banned are getting older exactly as fast as we are. If you want “young blood” you don’t want bannees. If you want “new blood” you don’t want banees.
If you want tired, tiresome, annoying old blood, that’s where bannees naturally slot right in. I bet you don’t really want that.
The posters we do want back were rarely banned. They left of their own accord. Because of the banned posters. Women, and minorities, and trans posters who just didn’t stick around because the bigots were allowed to stay way past time. And I have no doubt, one or two decent posters who were modded for reacting to the bigots and trolls.
Those are who should come back. Not a bunch of trolls and assholes.
Hell, we haven’t even gotten rid of all of the terrible ones we still have, and you want to bring the rest back? That’s a monumentally ill thought-out idea.
I like the idea of a ban amnesty, however, I’d suspect that most banned folks have long since mentally moved on and wouldn’t be particularly interested in coming back by this point.
I did like some of our bannees such as Budget Player Cadet, Shodan, HurricaneDitka, etc. I felt they were overall an asset to the board.
It is my considered view that with very, very few exceptions, the posters who have been banned were banned for very good reasons, and allowing them to return would represent a net negative by a very wide margin.
I say show mercy and allow banned offenders an avenue to rejoin polite SD society (cough). If not many, at least some rabble-rousers mature over time, and some good posters were banned long ago (maybe most have died from old age by now, but perhaps some survive, matured, and would like to come back).
It’s not like recidivists can do real harm, or go on the lam requiring a posse to hunt them down. If they act up, simply click on their profile and ban them for good.
Sure, safeguards can be implemented: in place of an avatar next to their name, the paroled offender would instead have a live-feed video. That way we can assure that they wear their required probationary shock collar. When a parolee gets a bit testy, other members have the opportunity to click a button next to his name and “ shock” him into an attitude adjustment. Hey, it worked for Skinner…
Kidding aside, banned offenders should be allowed back on a probationary basis. These boards need an injection of fresh blood—too many good posters have wandered off, been banned, been bullied away (I believe a long-term quality poster is currently thinking of leaving due to bullying), or gone to the big squid in the sky.
shock