I wanted to discuss the banning system here on TP.

First off: Is banning necessary? The answer to that is yes. Some people more than deserve to be banned by posting things that aren't only against the ToS but are also illegal. For these people there is only one option and that is to ban them from the site by removing their account.

Second: Does TP have the right to ban people? Again yes. It's their site, their rules and if they feel that you should be removed there is nothing you can do about it.

Having said that I must point out that banning is, and always should be, the final option that is to be used. Everyone should get the chance to correct what s/he did (except in the cases where the law is broken).

I'm thinking of a three step approach. Step one is the comunity (that's us) seeing a violation of the ToS and warning the user that s/he is in violation. If the user corrects this than everything well be fine and no further action is taken or needed. Step two happens when the user refuses to respond to the community and continues to violate the ToS. When this happens the case is brought to the attention of the webmaster and the admins who take over. After they confirmed the violations they send a official warning to the user by pm and by blog. Why a blog as well? Because blogs are visible to all and hard to ignore. It lets the community know the case is being handled and in the case of the pm getting lost (sad but true) gives the user another chance to see the warning. After the warning has been given the user now has a week to comply to the ToS. If user complies everything will be fine but the user will be warned that future violations will result in banning. If the user still doesn't comply then step three will go into effect: banning.

This is of course only a suggestion and it's not that different from the current system that is used. The major difference is that a warning from the webmaster is a courtesy. They are in no way obliged to do this. If anyone would like to add to this please do, suggestions are more than welcome. I would like to point out further that although TP owns the site it is the users who give it life. You can't have one wothout the other.