Geoff Burling wrote:
What I think I see a number of people get hung up on concerning this point is the nature of "evidence". It's possible a given person can have a history like the one we're hypothesizing, yet is trying to start afresh; but I feel an important step in starting afresh is for that person to acknowledge that she/he did do wrong, rather than to deny or want to exclude it from consideration.
I agree with that. A simple statement by the person that they are legitimately interested in bettering the encyclopedia, and do not desire problems to continue, would go a long way, if it seemed geniuine. They don't even have to necessarily be contrite (depending on the situation), but they also ought not to be confrontational and give the impression that unless we take forceful action, they'll continue causing problems and not make any effort to mitigate them.
-Mark