A way for banned members to say goodbye

[baltoist 303]

As most already know when someone is banned you never notice until there inactive for so long that you try to get on there profile. (unless your staff of course) So I was thinking that maybe we could have something in peoples settings where they can type something that would be send as a pm to there friends after the ban or maybe an automated message from mailmare to tell people that a friend has been banned. And before people ask no I don't have anywhere near 900 points

[Commander Frost 731]

I think this would be a great thing to have. You have the justice of knowing your friends won't freak out or get depressed if your banned. I vote Yes.

[Shanks 10,817]

I suppose one good thing about it is it might cut down a lot of the drama that happens when some popular members end up getting banned.

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

It could be a very useful thing, as it would curb alot of the "were did so and so go" threads and status updates, and would allow members to keep track of their close friends. Ofcourse if it was a message, then it would of course, not contain the reason/s for the banning (as quite a bit of drama can be involved in long term bans). But it would be nice to stay informed, and would help light up some of the shadowy reputation that banning carries.

[Jeric 46,892]

I'll play the contrarian here. I assume we are talking about a permaban here.

 

Bad idea. It allows subjectivity to enter something that is usually a relatively cut and dry process. If someone constantly posts something illegal or inappropriate that opens the forum to risk, should they get a farewell speech? What if someone else doesn't? Aggressive bullying? Blatant Racism? Where do you draw the line?

 

No, this would just open the door for more complaints about inconsistency. It's a nice gesture, but I see it causing more problems than it's worth.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Jeric

[The Crimson Cross 7,533]

Although this sounds like a good idea as for some people many bans seem to go unexplained for the user's friends, it may end up being more trouble than it's worth though, we also have to consider the nonsense and drama that goes on with banned members behind the scenes.. 

 

A suggestion if this feature was to be implemented, to me would be some kind of mod/admin approval for short or brief messages first.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

That doesn't sound like a bad idea. It could get people aware on who's banned especially if someone is banned out of nowhere.

[Banul 3,831]

A notification when a friend gets banned might be in order but in don't think a last message is a good idea, considering the banned individual might potentially be very upset and use the opportunity to lash out. If the banned person is really good friends with somebody on the forums, I imagine they would have worked out another way of communicating with each other by then anyway.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Banul

[baltoist 303]

I'll play the contrarian here. I assume we are talking about a permaban here.

 

Bad idea. It allows subjectivity to enter something that is usually a relatively cut and dry process. If someone constantly posts something illegal or inappropriate that opens the forum to risk, should they get a farewell speech? What if someone else doesn't? Aggressive bullying? Blatant Racism? Where do you draw the line?

 

No, this would just open the door for more complaints about inconsistency. It's a nice gesture, but I see it causing more problems than it's worth.

I'm pretty it couldn't cause THAT much trouble if any. 

 

A notification when a friend gets banned might be in order but in don't think a last message is a good idea, considering the banned individual might potentially be very upset and use the opportunity to lash out. If the banned person is really good friends with somebody on the forums, I imagine they would have worked out another way of communicating with each other by then anyway.

I ment as in type it out way before a ban. (like when you first edit your account as a new member)

[The Soldier 2,044]

A notification when a friend gets banned might be in order but in don't think a last message is a good idea, considering the banned individual might potentially be very upset and use the opportunity to lash out. If the banned person is really good friends with somebody on the forums, I imagine they would have worked out another way of communicating with each other by then anyway.

But what if it's ever too late to get that friend's contact now? Once a person is banned and they didn't share something like another way to communicate to their friends, chances are you're mostly likely never gonna see them again.

[Magical Anarchy 177]

Yeah. I support this. They shouldn't/wouldn't talk about WHY they got banned, but just say bye to us as a forum. I like this idea

[Simon 4,557]

This is great in theory, but being someone who has ran a forum before, I can tell you that it would cause way too many issues.  When it gets to the point that someone is permanently banned, it's because they're causing a disruption to the community.  Giving them a chance to say goodbye is giving them one more chance to cause a disruption..

 

Even if the admin's had to approve whatever they said it still creates issues.  First of all there's the chance something can slip by... like a subtle jab at a member that the admin didn't realize was an insult.  And plus that opens up every ban to a forum-wide discussion.  Instead of disruptive members just fading away into the dark it's putting a big spotlight on them which draws unwanted and unnecessary attention to a member that's probably better off forgotten.

And there's some practical issues too... on my forum at least, when we banned a member they received a complete IP ban.  Even if they were logged out they wouldn't be able to even view any topics from that IP address so that they couldn't cause any issues.  Assuming the same is done here, giving that opportunity to reply would require that IP address to still have access to at least part of the forum including the login system, and since the login system wouldn't be blocked, that would mean they would have the ability to register for a new account.

 

Plus you have to remember that there are very, very few instances where a ban comes as a complete shock to the member.  Usually this is a person who has received a number of warns, a few temp bans,  and probably most people can tell that a ban is probably coming.  The only time someone would get banned that has no history of warns is if they did something huge like spam porn all over the forum, in which case they definitely don't need to be allowed to say goodbye... so I just really don't see all these instances where there's a completely shocking ban nobody expected.

 

And quite honestly, any good friend I've had on a forum has always had some other way to contact me, whether by email, skype, or through another website.  I think there are probably relatively few instances where two close friends are suddenly cut off completely from each other from a forum ban, so I really just don't see this as an important thing.

 

So yeah that's my opinion... I think it's just going to cause more issues, it's going to be impossible to implement without putting the community at risk, and I don't think there's that much of a benefit.

[baltoist 303]

This is great in theory, but being someone who has ran a forum before, I can tell you that it would cause way too many issues.  When it gets to the point that someone is permanently banned, it's because they're causing a disruption to the community.  Giving them a chance to say goodbye is giving them one more chance to cause a disruption..

 

Even if the admin's had to approve whatever they said it still creates issues.  First of all there's the chance something can slip by... like a subtle jab at a member that the admin didn't realize was an insult.  And plus that opens up every ban to a forum-wide discussion.  Instead of disruptive members just fading away into the dark it's putting a big spotlight on them which draws unwanted and unnecessary attention to a member that's probably better off forgotten.

And there's some practical issues too... on my forum at least, when we banned a member they received a complete IP ban.  Even if they were logged out they wouldn't be able to even view any topics from that IP address so that they couldn't cause any issues.  Assuming the same is done here, giving that opportunity to reply would require that IP address to still have access to at least part of the forum including the login system, and since the login system wouldn't be blocked, that would mean they would have the ability to register for a new account.

 

Plus you have to remember that there are very, very few instances where a ban comes as a complete shock to the member.  Usually this is a person who has received a number of warns, a few temp bans,  and probably most people can tell that a ban is probably coming.  The only time someone would get banned that has no history of warns is if they did something huge like spam porn all over the forum, in which case they definitely don't need to be allowed to say goodbye... so I just really don't see all these instances where there's a completely shocking ban nobody expected.

 

And quite honestly, any good friend I've had on a forum has always had some other way to contact me, whether by email, skype, or through another website.  I think there are probably relatively few instances where two close friends are suddenly cut off completely from each other from a forum ban, so I really just don't see this as an important thing.

 

So yeah that's my opinion... I think it's just going to cause more issues, it's going to be impossible to implement without putting the community at risk, and I don't think there's that much of a benefit.

From experiences on another forum duplicate accounts are easily found. and also note that another thing I suggested was that the bot of the site (mailmare) to send an automated message so no approval would be necessary because I don't see the admins making a bot say something that would cause trouble. So maybe the thing where the member says bye is bad but I don't see a problem with an automated message.

[mars 4,863]

Oh Celestia, I can already see it now...

"I WAS BANNED BECAUSE THIS SITE SUCKS!!!! AVENGE MEEEEE!!"
Well, maybe not exactly like that, but I'm sure that system will be abused so quickly it's not even funny.

[baltoist 303]

Oh Celestia, I can already see it now...

 

"I WAS BANNED BECAUSE THIS SITE SUCKS!!!! AVENGE MEEEEE!!"

Well, maybe not exactly like that, but I'm sure that system will be abused so quickly it's not even funny.

1 I'm sure that would not be approved. 2 I would laugh if I got something like that (i'm sure a lot would)

[Pastel 7,630]

1 I'm sure that would not be approved. 2 I would laugh if I got something like that (i'm sure a lot would)

Oh that can easily be more vulgar than that.

 

Unless their last post has to be appeoved by a mod indeed.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Blobulle

[baltoist 303]

This honestly isn't worth the trouble.

If a member is permabanned, like others have already said, they probably saw it coming (and should have prepared accordingly.) For example, if you have more than 500 warning points, you're probably going to want to get your friend's email or skype name if you really value talking to them.

 

This will also just create more work for the moderators. We're already short on moderators as it is, and they have enough work already. Adding approving banned member's "goodbyes" will just make the situation worse.

With that, keep in mind that these are permabanned members. Are they really going to have something nice to say? Chances are, no.

 

Furthermore, if a member really needs to talk to their friends, they can always contact them outside of the forums on Skype or another messaging service. I don't really see the need to send a "goodbye" out via the forums when the member in question can just go to a messaging service to talk with their friends.

 

 

not everyone has Skype or another chat thing to use it's probably better to have a message from mailmare or something

[TheDarkMysteryMan 670]

No. Plain and simple. There are reasons why they are banned and those reasons will keep them from being talking to this site.

 

We actually tried that over at KC:MM and they almost immediately started spamming the site with pictures of sonic Ocs (in our site, we count that as sense of disgust because most of the OCs are just recolors).

 

Look they're reasons why people are banned, and I can understand this request gov let them have one more goodbye from a freinds perspective, but there IS a reason why a user is banned in the first place; They're a liability and needed to be removed to keep the site a peaceful place for everyone.

Edited July 30, 2014 by TheDarkMysteryMan

[baltoist 303]

No. Plain and simple. There are reasons why they are banned and those reasons will keep them from being talking to this site.

 

We actually tried that over at KC:MM and they almost immediately started spamming the site with pictures of sonic Ocs (in our site, we count that as sense of disgust because most of the OCs are just recolors).

 

Look they're reasons why people are banned, and I can understand this request gov let them have one more goodbye from a freinds perspective, but there IS a reason why a user is banned in the first place; They're a liability and needed to be removed to keep the site a peaceful place for everyone.

I think you all are forgetting that I also suggested an automated message.

[Azure Envy 1,093]

I imagine if it got to that point, they were given more than enough chances to say what they wanted to say.

 

Not to mention they'd still be able to view the site and presumably get other contact info from profile pages.

[Jeric 46,892]

An automated message stating what exactly? That a user is banned? Forwarding Skype and email addresses of banned users?

 

Again that is an idea that is more dangerous than helpful. Relaying personal identifiable data or contact info through this sort of automation can (again) leave the forum at risk.

 

Also, the tech admins shouldn't be asked to manage exceptions, which is what this does. There is an opportunity cost for developing the system you are talking about since I do not believe it exists in IPB right now.

 

X hours Dev + Y hours testing all because a user can't use the forum due to their own behavior.

 

I just don't see this happening.

[Luna 831 468]

Automated message is better.

[TheDarkMysteryMan 670]

Automated message is better.

What would be the point of it if they're banned and can't look at the automated message in the first place?

[Luna 831 468]

It is not for them for there friends

[Yellow Diamond 7,579]

No.

 

I know I'm being blunt, but there's next to no debate in my mind about whether to implement such a function. Why? First, we, the staff, would have to go out of our way to implement some sort of system that sends out automated messages to members about a banning. The sheer effort involved isn't worth the follow through; furthermore, consider how logistically straining and inconvenient it would be to have Mailmare contact everyone on someone's friends list. Not everyone marked on a friends list is a close contact, and so a large number of members would be receiving PMs from near total strangers informing them of how they were banned.

 

Second, Skype and other messaging programs largely cover the communication gap on the forums. Most members have their online contact information publicly available on their profiles. If someone is curious why a forum member isn't online anymore, they are more than able to use other contact functions.

 

Finally, we don't need a system which is likely prone to abuse and drama. The staff should have the last word -- not because we want or need our egos stroked, but because we are supposed to be the points of communal stability. Once banned members are allowed to begin making public statements, it defeats the purpose of the ban and undermines its permanence. I personally don't want to get a slew of potential farewell messages -- assuming we could screen them prior to having Mailmare send mass PMs -- that boil down to badmouthing the staff, engaging in passive-aggressive behavior, or milking sympathy from other members. They would serve little purpose other than to irritate everyone involved. Even without a personalized message, the potential for drama is too great.

 

In sum, this is not happening for logistical and social reasons.