To ban a member or not to ban a member

[Former Member]

When in doubt, ban.

[davey]

Hello, those that may remember this thread from several weeks ago, may not be surprised to see me coming back to it!

The trolls behaviour gradually worsened and was warned twice before being temporarily banned a few days ago. After some abuse via PM they (voluntarily) deleted their account.

Various ructions have followed in the forum in the last few days with a few posters questioning "freedom of speech" etc etc. The situation appears to be (finally) calming down.

On closer inspection the few posters are actually a couple with of people with the same IP address and more than one account. The troll himself also quickly registered an account - with the same IP address as his deleted account - which has rather given things away.

Under their new username they have started (in a minor way) to undermine Admin and generally be a bit of a ****.

Just wondering how best to deal with this situation. Presumably the IP Address should now be banned. Will this give the game away that I realise what this poster is doing? What notification will the poster get that they cannot post on my forum?

Could/should I ban them from even viewing the forum?

Is there anything to stop them registering again under another IP address?

Many thanks for any assistance in advance.

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

I think it's best to ban the Username,  the Global ID, and the IP Address. Banning the Global ID, makes it a bit more difficult for banned members to return since they would also need to create a new global ID account.

And a banned member cannot view the forum.


And to filter out possible returning banned members, "restrict registration" so new accounts must be approved before they can post.

And this plugin prevents specific members' posts from being displayed until approved by a moderator.

[davey]

Thanks, I don't seem to have an option to type anything into the "Global ID" column.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is this? Where can I find the Global ID for a specific member?

Much appreciated.

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

When you ban a member, davey , there are three options for that member that you can include in the ban. You should see that at the time of banning, or in your admin panel, in the Member tab. In the dropdown for "Member", click on "Banned Members". There you'll see your banned member list and the options that you've chosen for their ban. 

[wh40kforum]

I would send the troll (and future ones) a PM saying next time they do it they are banned forever. Oh, and send them their IP address, I'm pretty sure, as admin, you can find it. That ought to freak them out (other than a link to the TrollTrace website).

[davey]

Thanks, the problem is that IP addresses for a given location change every couple of weeks don't they?

The troll has posted from at least 10 different IP addresses, should I ban each one?!

I have a new poster on my site recently who has barely posted, but I suspect he is the same poster as the troll. The difficulty is I can't be sure as he has a different IP address to any of the definite trolls.

The troll has also threatened me via PM and sent an abusive email to members of the community which the forum represents.

In hindsight, I let this matter drift for too long, I am keen to resolve this situation fully now - of course without putting off or banning genuine new posters.

I have restricted registration, which has at least given me some time before my next move.

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

Not all IP addresses change. But if you want to be on the safe side before banning all of the questionable IPs, why not install the plugin I suggested for those particular "suspect" members?

Then, the posts will not show up for other members to read until a moderator/admin has reviewed them.

I would also remove their PM privileges, in the "Staff Options" in their profiles. And in the admin panel's forum settings, you can set PM privileges for all of your members. You can restrict new members from PM'ing one another until at least "x" number of posts (your choice of number). And you can also decide if they can PM staff until they reach that post count, or not.

These precautions will keep your board safe. And you won't be banning anyone you shouldn't. And after awhile, the member loses interest when they realize they aren't getting instant gratification from their posts because they aren't showing until approved, and they can't harass others through PMs. It takes all the fun out of their trolling ways!

[Mandoli]

Dec 8, 2016 8:13:02 GMT -8 wh40kforum said:

I would send the troll (and future ones) a PM saying next time they do it they are banned forever.

That'll just give them more of an incentive to harass through PMs.

Just ban 'em all outright if they've made more than one account. I have this "one account per person" rule on my forum, and I've literally had to reject/ban multiple accounts from the same person - depending on how big of a threat that person poses and if they just didn't understand that I approve users first.

There are IP address lookup sites in case you get confused.

If all else fails, then I'd suggest you start approving users.