[WikiEN-l] Reverting banned users, and users who engage banned users

[Fastfission]

On 3/21/07, Denny Colt <wikidenny at gmail.com> wrote:
> * 1. Reverting banned users: may vs will
>
> The banning policy says, "Any edits made in defiance of a ban may be
> reverted to enforce the ban, regardless of the merits of the edits
> themselves". As the policy gives no leeway for them to post on Wikipedia
> pages anyway, shouldn't this language not contridict the rest of it and say
> "will be reverted" instead? Why indulge trolls and troublemakers?

Imagine a banned user sneaks in and reverts a vandalism. Or fixes a
misspelling. OK, it's annoying, and deliberately defiant, sure, but
reverting it, then reverting the vandalism, all that would be extra
hassle and is rather procedurally silly. So some slack is useful
there, and creating a definite mandate is always a bit difficult to
work out (does it get enforced? how?). "May" vs. "Shall" makes our
lives easier in that sense. "Should" might make a bit stronger, but in
any case I think that is implied.

FF