I deal with alot of people on my forum that dont follow rules, I always try to give warnings since im a nice guy. I hate banning people so I try my best to give friendly warnings. How often do you give warnings before actually banning someone?
I give quite a few as I dont want to see anyone get banned as that just creates more problems. But im human, and I do reach a boiling point
Warning first; infraction for repeated or severe offenses; ban if necessary due to extremely severe consequences or repeated infractions. With my XenForo forum, though, I just send them a message and only plan to ban (haven't had to yet) for severe offenses or lack of respect for the rules.
Not that often at all to be honest. We're a pretty laid-back forum so we don't have too many rules to where the slightest ordeal will give you a warning. We have some strict rules but we are good about not enforcing them to the limit.
I hate banning, but it is a necessary evil and sometimes the swifter the better. I prefer however to take a more convivial approach and try to reason with people first. I have a lot of patience and give people a lot of rope, but sometimes getting them off your forums becomes inevitable. The one problem with letting disruptive people stay is that they usually put off more than a few other members, and in keeping the one idiot you can end up losing a handful of regulars. It's definitely a fine art and a balancing act, but one that you get better at over the years. Cheers, Shaun
