User blog comment:Brandon Rhea/Bringing down the banhammer: Best practices for blocking/@comment-1028990-20120322233555/@comment-961279-20120325003646

Each admin makes their own decisions about how they want to handle problem users. When there is more than one admin or an active group of editors, it helps to have policies or guidelines (such as what's in this blog) that everyone can refer to and know what to expect.

If by "ban" you mean a permanent block rather than a long block like 6 months or a year, those are typically used when a person had made it clear that they are deliberately causing problems and aren't going to change. Another way to look at banning someone you don't like is this: if you walked up to a group of people and wanted to take part in what they are doing (such as a basketball game or another activity), how would you feel if they yelled in your face, "I don't like you. Go away!" If you hadn't done anything wrong, you wouldn't like being treated like this.

On the other hand, if you were causing problems for that group or continually messing up what they were trying to do and they took the time to help you on several occasions, then a "go away" message is appropriate if you kept causing problems for them.

I've dealt with some people where I knew by their past behavior that a permanent block was inevitable, but it was important to give them the chance to stop what they were doing. Unfortunately in most of these cases, they haven't used that chance to change, but that doesn't mean that I stop giving people chances. IIt is extra work and an annoyance while it's going on, but it's a process that shows other people two things: you are acting properly and fairly, and the block on the person was warranted.