[WikiEN-l] forgiveness of bans

[Erik Moeller]

Martin,

in principle, I am not opposed to making bans temporary and have suggested  
doing so in the past. However, in cases where a user continues to be  
obnoxious by creating fake accounts, sending nasty letters etc. *during  
the ban*, I would think that the ban should not be lifted without an  
apology and a promise to improve the behavior. Furthermore, the criteria  
for re-banning a user who has been let back in after a ban has expired  
should be less rigid (it is extremely hard to get a signed in user  
banned); they should instead be considered "on probation".

In the case of Lir and DW at least, I would expect a public apology and an  
admission of what they have done ("I have created the following fake  
accounts: ...") before letting them back in, and I think we should be  
reluctant even then. The handful of people out of 10000 who have been  
banned over the last 2 years are not exactly models of social behavior or  
good candidates for rehabilitation.

Regards,

Erik