When Should I Lift a Temporary Ban Early?

photo credit: me and the sysop

When I called out to you for topics to write about, Alex asked me to touch on “the liberation of banned users before the appointed time.” If they have an appointed time, it has to be a temporary ban. I’m not a huge fan of those, but I already got that out of my system.

First and foremost, thank you for asking, Alex. I would suggest that you are using temporary bans for a reason: you want to be able to ban people for a fixed period without banning them forever. So, the ban was given for a reason, but will expire. In order to ensure that the temporary bans have meaning, you probably want to allow most of them to last for the expected period.

That said, if you are considering whether or not to lift it early, I would weigh these factors:

• What the member did to deserve it. Exactly how did they earn this ban? If it was something severe, which it quite possibly was, that’s a good reason not to lift it.
• How long has it been? Is it just the next day? You may want to allow some time to pass for the ban to have some sort of effect.
• Has the member taken responsibility for their actions? If the member blames you for their handiwork, you shouldn’t lift the ban. That should be reserved for people who accept responsibility and apologize without absurd “buts.”

I place a heavy emphasis on that third point. I don’t do temporary bans, but the only times that I’ve ever unbanned anyone period were when the person took responsibility and apologized.

By examining those three factors, you should be able to come to a decision about whether or not to let the full temporary ban period expire. Good luck.