Dealing with someone you have banned

[admin (no pm's please)]

This seems to crop up quite a bit and get people in a sweat

What happens if you ban someone and they keep returning under different account names?

First a list of Don'ts:

1) Don't respond to their posts.
2) Don't have discussion that members can read and respond to about the issue.
3) Don't ban IP addresses, unless you really know what you are doing, and you know that they don't know what they are doing!

Next the Do's.

1) Quickly delete their posts and disable their account. Disabling will in effect bar the email as the account is still there.
2) If the username itself is abusive then do delete the account and ban the email.
3) Make sure you have user account activation (or possibly admin activation set). This means they need a valid email to join.
4) Use the moderation portal to set a post threshold that stops a new user sending private messages.

Lastly the Maybes.

1) Use the admin IP lookup facility and email the abuse reporting address. Generally futile, but you never know.
2) Use the moderation portal to make new members posts moderated. Only do this if your mods are unable to be on hand to speedily deal with rogue posts.


If you follow this list you are achieving several objectives.

1) You deny the abusive poster the oxygen of publicity. If no one is visibly reacting then there is no buzz in it for them.
2) Your actions in barring the user take a lot less time than the time they need to set up a new account and post. Don't lost this time advantage by endless "staff" discussions.
3) Your forum management looks solid, unrattled and unbullyable.


_________________

Family Friendly Shareware | | Web Design/Services | Free Forums