Banned Usergroup
Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 1:33 pm
I thought of an idea today around setting up of a Banned Usergroup to place people in when they reach 3rd, 6th, etc warnings.
We see quite often that when someone reaches a warning that results in a ban that they receive the warning and then usually get banned immediately. Now the issue we have seen with this many times before is that because the user has been banned they can't see the PM informing them of the reason for the warning. The fact that it will still be there when your ban is over is not really a good excuse.
Now I admit that when someone has reached a warning that results in a ban then there's a very good chance they know what they've been banned for anyway, but that would be speculation as they wouldn't be able to see the PM to confirm it.
They also can't contact the Ombudsman on forums about any issues or concerns without asking someone else to post on their behalf.
Now, i know Admins and Mods have claimed in the past that they have been on MSN when someone's complained about being banned but they didn't bother to contact a Mod on MSN. I don't agree that it should be expected, because MSN is not an official GW communication tool, whereas the forum is.
Also considering the fact that when you are banned you can't login so what you actually see on the forums is what non registered (or not logged in) users can see, and that's pretty much all the forum, but they just can't post. That seems to be what the punishment mainly is, the inability to post.
My suggestion is to set up a usergroup for banned users, set the permissions on this usergroup so that they cannot see any section of the forum besides the Ombudsman section. if they want to read other parts they just have to view it not logged in. This then gives the banned user the ability to view their PM that contained the warning that resulted in the ban, and also gives them the opportunity to raise any concerns with the Ombudsman.
The punishment of not being able to post on the forums (besides Ombudsman section) still stands.
Now there are a few draw-backs that I considered.
1) Keeping tabs on how long a user has been in the banned group, although i'm not sure if the bans currently lift automatically or not after 14 days?
2) The user would still have access to PMs.
I can't provide a solution to point 1 because i'd need to know more about current bans.
For number 2, a possible solution is to set up a small section on forums that is only viewable to Admins, possibly Mods, possibly Ombudsman and the banned usergroup. The banned usergroup permissions could be set to prevent use of PMs, but because they have access to this little section of the forums they could use that to ask the Admins or Mods the reason for the ban so atleast they can find out that way. If any issues then arise they can go to the Ombudsman section.
There may be other draw-backs to my ideas that I have not considered, which i'm happy to hear from other peoples thoughts.
But i thought mainly that having a banned usergroup preventing them from doing anything besides post in Ombudsman section and contact staff about their warnings/bans is pretty much the same as banning someone now in regards to not being able to post or use PMs, but gives them the opportunity to speak about their ban.
Any thoughts on this? Good idea? Bad idea? Have I overlooked anything?
And if it's not even going to be considered right from the start then it might as well be locked.
We see quite often that when someone reaches a warning that results in a ban that they receive the warning and then usually get banned immediately. Now the issue we have seen with this many times before is that because the user has been banned they can't see the PM informing them of the reason for the warning. The fact that it will still be there when your ban is over is not really a good excuse.
Now I admit that when someone has reached a warning that results in a ban then there's a very good chance they know what they've been banned for anyway, but that would be speculation as they wouldn't be able to see the PM to confirm it.
They also can't contact the Ombudsman on forums about any issues or concerns without asking someone else to post on their behalf.
Now, i know Admins and Mods have claimed in the past that they have been on MSN when someone's complained about being banned but they didn't bother to contact a Mod on MSN. I don't agree that it should be expected, because MSN is not an official GW communication tool, whereas the forum is.
Also considering the fact that when you are banned you can't login so what you actually see on the forums is what non registered (or not logged in) users can see, and that's pretty much all the forum, but they just can't post. That seems to be what the punishment mainly is, the inability to post.
My suggestion is to set up a usergroup for banned users, set the permissions on this usergroup so that they cannot see any section of the forum besides the Ombudsman section. if they want to read other parts they just have to view it not logged in. This then gives the banned user the ability to view their PM that contained the warning that resulted in the ban, and also gives them the opportunity to raise any concerns with the Ombudsman.
The punishment of not being able to post on the forums (besides Ombudsman section) still stands.
Now there are a few draw-backs that I considered.
1) Keeping tabs on how long a user has been in the banned group, although i'm not sure if the bans currently lift automatically or not after 14 days?
2) The user would still have access to PMs.
I can't provide a solution to point 1 because i'd need to know more about current bans.
For number 2, a possible solution is to set up a small section on forums that is only viewable to Admins, possibly Mods, possibly Ombudsman and the banned usergroup. The banned usergroup permissions could be set to prevent use of PMs, but because they have access to this little section of the forums they could use that to ask the Admins or Mods the reason for the ban so atleast they can find out that way. If any issues then arise they can go to the Ombudsman section.
There may be other draw-backs to my ideas that I have not considered, which i'm happy to hear from other peoples thoughts.
But i thought mainly that having a banned usergroup preventing them from doing anything besides post in Ombudsman section and contact staff about their warnings/bans is pretty much the same as banning someone now in regards to not being able to post or use PMs, but gives them the opportunity to speak about their ban.
Any thoughts on this? Good idea? Bad idea? Have I overlooked anything?
And if it's not even going to be considered right from the start then it might as well be locked.
](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
