Many forums I visit don't have the banlog available to registered members but a few I do visit have it in the view of the registered members. Do any of you have let your members view the banlog? Personally, I don't have it to be viewed to registered members. To be completely frank, what business it is of theirs?
I am not sure how to make it viewable either, but I do know for a fact it is possible. Maybe the modification is custom, but I know on NoNewbs, the banlog is viewable to registered users. You can see here.
No, there is no reason to display banned members. And it sets a bad example for new members. New members start wondering what people did to get banned. Then they think - "its not worth it, if that guy was banned, I will probably be banned as well. So I'am just gonna go somewhere else and post." And then you just lost a member.
Valid point, Kevin. However, after a well reputable member has been banned, rather than you being asked a million times why he or she has been banned, wouldn't it be better to just direct them to the log? I mean, I would reply saying it's none of their concern, but on the same note, I don't ban too often. I can only see fit for it on a general community. By the way, for any who is interested in adding the banlog, go here.
Regardless of why the person was banned, I do not want my name on the ban wall. So it better to play it safe and just leave. There have been lots of forums that I have not posted in because of the banned members being displayed, or seeing members with 15,000 banned, or admins posting not so clear rules and saying - you will be banned.
As said on another thread.... which I think is about the same topic... it's degrading for the banned members and NOT good, IMO newaiz.
It's best to take care of most problems, including banning, quietly. You don't want newbies thinking the place is full of strife, and you don't want to make enemies.
You're correct - I was the one who created that thread, as well. While members who have been banned/are banned have obviously caused a certain level of disruption to the community, publicly announcing them and/or allowing members to view who has been "taken care of" is not only embarrassing, but demeaning - don't sink to an all-time low by doing so.
I wouldn't make a banlog publicly viewable, but I do have a modification installed so that I can make the banlog available to my moderators (who aren't super moderators or administrators and therefore do not have access to the CP ban log). Afterall, they are the forum staff, so they should be able to know who's banned and why. (This is the one I use for vB if anybody is interested: http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=195054 )
I'm not sure, actually. I can't recall which moderators (regular or super, or both) can see the ModCP. I just provided it because I know my moderators dont use the ModCP (and probably wouldn't know how to if they did) so a Banlog was the easiest solution to provide them with a list.
Hey, noticed we got a couple of viewers from here Anyways, we have a couple of reasons for having our banlog public: 1) People like it 2) It greatly slows down the posting and PMs of "why is so and so banned?!" and public moderation callouts As Savage X mentioned, it's mostly off topic forums that implement this; I have not had it public on actual topic-driven or niche forums.
I once saw a forum that had a locked sticky listing people who owed $ to the site owner for advertising. In one of the entries he said "___ did not pay for 3 months, and his wifes cancer situation should not have prevented him from taking 3 minutes and sending me a check". Pretty sad.
Just the good members were lost as far as I can tell, there were many others still on the site. Yes there were several advertising slots available to purchase. It was a niche site with little competition so there really was no where else to go.
I generally don't ban members, so it'll be pretty hard for me to have one. If I did, I don't see the point of listing them. If someone wants to know, they'll ask.
