User blog comment:Ohmyn0/Introducing Chat/@comment-4079395-20110502051420/@comment-118323-20110502161622

Chat moderator status and a smarter kick/ban system are definitely feature that we're including in the next version. Until then, admins will have to be vigilant about patrolling chat or a bureaucrat can go and preemptively add all banned users to the "blockedfromchat" user group.