[WikiEN-l] forgiveness of bans

[Daniel Ehrenberg]

That's a great plan, but I think one or two months
would be more appropriate (3 months is a long time!).
Perhaps we should reffer our banned users to something
like Usemod or c2 wiki. They would probably embrace
Lir  for the valuable information he provides (and he
does), unlike we, who shun him. Those sites don't have
NPOV policies (afaik).

--- martin at myreddice.freeserve.co.uk wrote:
> I muttered to myself here:
> http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/bans_and_blocks
> 
> about unbanning people who've been "hard banned".
> "Hard bans" would include Lir, 
> DW, Helga, "142", possibly Zog, and no doubt others.
> I suggested that the best 
> option is to say that bans are forgiven after three
> consecutive months of good 
> behaviour - good behaviour in this case means:
> 
> * no coming back to Wikipedia under new pseudonyms,
> etc
> * no threatening Wikipedia contributors
> 
> It's a simple strategy, with many benefits:
> * If a banned user ignores the option of attaining
> forgiveness, then we're no worse 
> off. In fact we're better off, because the ban will
> be respected by people who would 
> not respect a ban with no possibility of reprieve.
> * If a banned user is forgiven, and then immediately
> channels Satan and has to be 
> banned again, then we're better off, because we at
> least had three months of peace 
> and quiet.
> * If a banned user is forgiven and turns into a
> model contributor, then we're much 
> better off - plus one good contributor, minus one
> soure of conflict.
> * If a banned user stops trying to come back for
> three months, in order to be 
> forgiven, and finds a much better site than
> Wikipedia, decides Wikipedia is actually 
> irrelevant, and moves on, then everyone's better
> off, including the banned user.
> 
> I fail to see the benefit of requiring an apology.
> Such an apology, given under 
> duress, has no value. Only a freely given and
> sincerely meant apology can aid in 
> healing the wounds of conflicts past.
> 
> Three months seems a sufficient length of time for
> non-dwarfs to bear grudges, so I 
> commend this simple policy to the house. Or, failing
> that, the list.
> 
> -Martin "MyRedDice" Harper


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com