Actually, I think most of IRC has stopped caring in general. We just want an IRC channel to fart around in.

That's why DRL taught Blackbear to hate Kelas.

This just popped into my head, and I don't think it warrants another thread, so I'll put it here. I say we make a FPesque refugee camp sorta place, where people who are banned can be allowed to post in, and maybe people who bought the support edition of the game, or people who have contributed to the community in significant amounts, can gaze into the refugee camp. Just an idea, feel free to tear it down piece by piece.

The banned subforum is rather boring. It already exists, but only for banned members to appeal or ask for clarification about their bans.

Ehh, but then it would kind of defeat the point of being banned. Well, it would in FP anyway. Banhammers, everywhere.

I think people are unclear on the disciplinary system here, because no one ever bothered to explain it.

Allow me to elaborate:

there are board warnings. these are meant as official "do not do this in future" messages, but they are not directly correlated to bannings. three warnings does not necessarily equal a banning, and by no means are you only banned after X number of warns. they are simply meant as an intermediate level of action (after PMs but before banning)

when banned, as in grey username, you have full viewing rights in any forum. you can PM other users, but not post, nor can you report. you can post in the Banned subforum, which is private, to appeal your ban. your ban expiration date is clearly posted, in a thread made by the moderator responsible.

if you really ♥♥♥♥ up, you get IP banned, which works inside phpBB channels and tries (as well as possible) to remove you entirely. obviously, not proxy-proof, but, again, the best it can be.

The real life correlation is clearly discretionary sentencing. Needs more mandatory minimum sentencing.

So even if someone just flames someone, barely, over one thing, they still a three day ban, or whatever the minimum is? I don't have a problem with that personally since I'm the perfect member, but others might.

Yeah, the people who violate the rules.

Forum needs an official set of rules (ie, updating and re-evaluating the current ones, as Kelas pointed out), and official steps of punishment. A lot of what goes on is arbitrary.