On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:53:06 +0000, "Thomas Dalton" thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
Firstly, I'm not redefining anything. Secondly, we don't punish people to teach them a lesson, bans (and blocks) are preventative, they are there to stop people doing more damage. Thirdly, there is a possibility for redemption, there just needs to be strong evidence that they've changed their ways. Just as strong evidence of bad faith can overcome an assumption of good faith, strong evidence of good faith can overcome an assumption of bad faith.
Amen to that.
If a banned user considers they are ready now to contribute in a way that is not going to cause friction, they can appeal the ban to ArbCom.
Something tells me that the ones who use sockpuppets and launch offsite attacks and harassment are not at that stage yet, but we seem to be trying to define our response to the latter by reference to the former.
Guy (JzG)