08-28-2003, 10:13 PM
Temp ban is the best way to go for the more serious cases, anything else just needs a simple llama'ing. (further reading unnecessary)
Most immature people aren't affected by public humiliation like everyone else. If you told them to put on a dress and sing boy band stuff in front of a school (of at least 1400 students) or something, then the number that wouldn't care drops. But when they're safe at home, in a comfy chair, compensating for the power they don't have in real life, people are just text. Complaints at, and requests to cease their actions (polite or not) are just fuel for the humor they find in tormenting others. "Please stop, it's against the rules, and you will be kicked" are just a bunch of words that mean absolutely nothing except to continue. Hence, to ask them to apologize here would be like me saying "I'm sorry I was the sole cause of all death in World War II. I will never do it again.". It makes sense as a sentence, but I don't mean a word of it.
As for what is most likely going to happen, I will classify the main types of offender by letter.
Type A are the ones who do it for pure amusment, knowing it's wrong and knowing there are consequences, and will go the extra mile to keep tormenting. Example: A friend of mine once told me what his friend had done one night. This friend of his had found every attachment-capable forum his attention span would allow, and posted vile pornographic images all over each of them. He repeated the offense a couple times from computers in different schools and in libraries to get around the ban. This was also an attempt to inconvienience a larger number of people with unexplained bans.
This type are most likely to apologize on the forum and offend again, and repeating the process until that perticular avenue of entertainment is no longer viable. In this case, the temp ban is more of a resting period for others, though it is just as effective while maintaining the lowest admin effort rating.
Type B are just trying to mess around. "Horseplay" if you will. They do know it's wrong, and that they will most likely see some kind of administrative retaliatory action, but there are more servers out there. Ex. That guy who was flooding the servers with requests for information. A ban here or there doesn't matter, as long as there's at least one other way to be malicious and in control.
B's are most likely to move on if they can't reconnect and may only return as an act of boredom; seeing if they can get back in at all. Temp bans would be another rest period for the locals, and may be more permanent than expected. Basically out of a "prey on the weakest of the herd" principle. No apology would ever come, since that requires effort that can be spent playing elsewhere. So, there isn't much point in casting a vote for that over B's.
Type C are occasional offenders. They get into a disruptive mood or get hit by a craving to act out, and off they go. This can be because of enjoyment they get from it, and/or any number of things like external affairs, disagreement with enforced poilicy, grudge agaisnt the powers that be, etc. etc.
C's are most likely to be mistaken for A's, since they exist as both a tolerable and intolerable player, and will apologize as Jekyll, then offend again later as Hyde. A temp ban would function as a cool off period, allowing them enough time to return safely to normal, while apologies generaly cause mistrust.
Most immature people aren't affected by public humiliation like everyone else. If you told them to put on a dress and sing boy band stuff in front of a school (of at least 1400 students) or something, then the number that wouldn't care drops. But when they're safe at home, in a comfy chair, compensating for the power they don't have in real life, people are just text. Complaints at, and requests to cease their actions (polite or not) are just fuel for the humor they find in tormenting others. "Please stop, it's against the rules, and you will be kicked" are just a bunch of words that mean absolutely nothing except to continue. Hence, to ask them to apologize here would be like me saying "I'm sorry I was the sole cause of all death in World War II. I will never do it again.". It makes sense as a sentence, but I don't mean a word of it.
As for what is most likely going to happen, I will classify the main types of offender by letter.
Type A are the ones who do it for pure amusment, knowing it's wrong and knowing there are consequences, and will go the extra mile to keep tormenting. Example: A friend of mine once told me what his friend had done one night. This friend of his had found every attachment-capable forum his attention span would allow, and posted vile pornographic images all over each of them. He repeated the offense a couple times from computers in different schools and in libraries to get around the ban. This was also an attempt to inconvienience a larger number of people with unexplained bans.
This type are most likely to apologize on the forum and offend again, and repeating the process until that perticular avenue of entertainment is no longer viable. In this case, the temp ban is more of a resting period for others, though it is just as effective while maintaining the lowest admin effort rating.
Type B are just trying to mess around. "Horseplay" if you will. They do know it's wrong, and that they will most likely see some kind of administrative retaliatory action, but there are more servers out there. Ex. That guy who was flooding the servers with requests for information. A ban here or there doesn't matter, as long as there's at least one other way to be malicious and in control.
B's are most likely to move on if they can't reconnect and may only return as an act of boredom; seeing if they can get back in at all. Temp bans would be another rest period for the locals, and may be more permanent than expected. Basically out of a "prey on the weakest of the herd" principle. No apology would ever come, since that requires effort that can be spent playing elsewhere. So, there isn't much point in casting a vote for that over B's.
Type C are occasional offenders. They get into a disruptive mood or get hit by a craving to act out, and off they go. This can be because of enjoyment they get from it, and/or any number of things like external affairs, disagreement with enforced poilicy, grudge agaisnt the powers that be, etc. etc.
C's are most likely to be mistaken for A's, since they exist as both a tolerable and intolerable player, and will apologize as Jekyll, then offend again later as Hyde. A temp ban would function as a cool off period, allowing them enough time to return safely to normal, while apologies generaly cause mistrust.