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Every site gets it's fair share of trolls, unfortunately on this particular website, the mods can only ban accounts rather than IP addresses. This of course means that as soon as a person gets banned, they can just make a new account and come back straight away. And this happens... A lot.

Most of the time you can't really tell it's a troll since they use a different name and act like a normal, non-trolly person for awhile before going back to their old, trolly ways. On the other hand, some people will come back to the site and openly admit that they're the troll that just got banned. Some (or at least one) will even use the same name over and over so you know exactly who they are.

Still, returning trolls don't usually seem to get banned unless they start trolling again. I remember when I joined the site, at least a couple of people admitting that they got banned for trolling on the site when they were younger, but since they got more mature, nobody's bothered by them anymore because they stopped trolling and started contributing. That being said though, the reason trolls can return to the site isn't because we're secretly hoping they'll come back and change their ways, it's because of a flawed website where the mods don't have the ability to ban an individual from the site for good.

So I guess what I'm asking is... Should we wait for a banned person to start trolling before we ban them again? If we know that this person isn't supposed to be on the site, why do we wait for them to do something wrong before banning them a second time? Does it matter if they pinky swear they're going to stop trolling now? Should we wait around and leave them to it and only ban them if they actually start trolling again, or should we just ban them straight away on account of... They're already banned?

... Jesus, Briar, not you, too. *sigh* 

Lol. I didn't realized anybody else had mentioned it. 

I'm actually one of those people that believe that trolls are allowed to return if they stop trolling and, you know, start behaving themselves on a public forum. There are a few people I know of that were, lets say, less than enjoyable people when they first joined, but have turned into relatively productive members of the site since then. 

That being said, I do think that there should be a period of time between when a person gets banned, and their public return on the forums, be it under a different name or not. 

Yeah, I think that's a good point. If, for instance, somebody admits to getting banned on the site a few years ago, but they've matured and haven't caused any problems since, I don't think they should be banned again just for admitting they got banned the first time.

Then again, if somebody gets banned and then just comes back the next day with an alt account, complaining about how they got banned... I really don't think you need to wait for an excuse to ban them again. 

I think there might be an appropriate period of time between a day and a few years :p But I agree with the rest.

Really? I didn't know that. Figured that accounts only got banned for trolling, regardless of whether or not they'd been banned before.

I don't really have time to talk right now, but Killa is correct. "Banned for being banned" is the rule, not the exception, and it's been exercised recently. 

Damn...but I guess. ^_^

Sorry, my bad. 

What rules? Nobody takes the time to write them down anywhere, aside from maybe a brief initial announcement that mirrors something said on Berka's fucking RP site beforehand.

I mean, what the fuck is up with that? When someone becomes a moderator, it gets mentioned there first. When someone gets banned, it gets mentioned there first. For God's sake, Malkalack was the one who told us the mods decided to ban Beardon.

No one gives a fuck, also, you whine about the mods like, a lot.

They have enough time to talk about it there, so why not here, where it's actually relevant?

The 'once banned is enough to stay banned' thing? I've known about that for about two years. So no. It wasn't from some mod talk. Why do people like to assume?

I think you missed it, but you'll never guess what he said. He said he'll message Alex and get his old accounts back ^_^.

Good for him ^_^

I literally just fucking quoted Hamlet. How did I miss this?! 9-9

Well, I agree that if they immediately come back after being banned, they should be banned again. But, I also agree that they should be allowed to come back after a period of time. Maybe a few months, maybe a year or two, maybe even under a different name.

So... eh?

Can we stop with these threads?

I'd like that. 

Ban everyone, delete all threads (except in storygames) and send personalized warning messages to anyone who signs up to the site. That'll solve a lot of problems, pre-emptively! That's the name of the game, right?

... I could swear this is supposed to be funny.

I wish it was funny too, and not a 'response' I've seen before, in varying amounts.

._. I don't want to know how magical cartoon sex ponies play, nice or otherwise.

Damnit, Kiel, you've put the image in my head.

Hmmm.

/mlp/ can show you the mechanics of that

They should roll in the 'must get manually approved to join' method of troll control, nothing like that 1-3 month waiting period to make eventual members appreciate their forum privileges all the more once they're finally allowed in.

To seriously respond to the OP though, yes there are annoying security issues with the site, but aside from alex popping in out of the blue to patch them up, the best solution possible is to have active mods removing the most flagrant idiocy when it appears. Which they're already doing. 

I admit I don't really care much about the troll debate, IMO if they come back after awhile and can manage to not be idiots, great, and if they don't, no big loss. Very few people would be damaged and obsessive enough to hang around actively attempting to troll for any length of time, with so many other writing sites on the internet. And it's so hard to get banned in the first place, when the community's pretty willing to step in and call the more obnoxious posters out on their shit long before it gets to that level.  

Or we could force all new members to take an IQ test before creating their accounts.

... I think you're seriously underestimating the persistence of certain trolls. 

If it wasn't for the flawed way of handling banned people who make accounts, I wouldn't be here. And no one would want that, right?

... Right?

In all seriousness though, I honestly couldn't care less. Trolls are always gonna be here, whether they've been banned or not. If the mods COULD IP ban them, it'd only be a matter of time before new ones come along and then rinse and repeat.