Bans and unbans

[Snarky]

As some of you may know, the moderators occasionally have to ban users who (deliberately or otherwise) cause disruption on the forums. Unless they're obvious spambots or aggressively abusive trolls, these bans usually only last for a while to let the poster cool off. However, if that doesn't work, we may eventually put them under a permanent ban. That is really only as a last resort, though, and only if we don't think there's any way for them to participate meaningfully in the forum.

A certain user whom we've had to deal with a number of times in the past was recently banned. However, he has assured us that he has learned his lesson and will post more sensibly in the future. We are therefore letting him back, on a trial basis. If he goes back to his old ways, the trial ends. But since we don't like to ban people permanently, that also means that we won't look kindly on anyone baiting him or otherwise trying to get him kicked. Actually, that's probably good advice in general. So don't.

In hope that we can all get along,
Snarky (wearing mod-hat)