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Lemmy.world Support @lemmy.world Nakedmole @lemmy.world

A few suggestions regarding banning

I got banned for a day. There was zero communication about it. I simply could not log in any more without any prior warning or any information about what was going on, or about the reason for the ban. This seems like a pretty bad practice because it wont give the user any chance of knowing what they did wrong and how to change their behavior to avoid breaking the same rule again in the future. Even now with my account unbanned, the modlog does not tell me any of those things. I think it is essential to let anyone who gets banned know:

  • Why they were banned, including which rules they broke and in which statements/comments/posts they did so and how, to enable people to actually improve their behavior. Otherwise banning is pointless because users will just make a new account on another instance without changing their behavior

  • That they were banned, I was super confused when I just couldnt log in any more suddenly

  • For how long they were banned, I only found out about the duration of my ban by checking the modlog

  • Who banned them, to make a conversation possible and also to make sure some admins/mods don´t abuse their privilege

It would also make sense to have a warning/strike system in place so people don´t just suddenly get banned without ever knowing they did something wrong

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8 comments

  • Agree. I had a bot account banned, and despite the requirement that bot accounts have contact info, there was no attempt made to contact me. Regardless of whether or not the ban is justified, courtesy does not seem to be a priority for them.

  • We totally agree!

    If a user is banned, he/she deserves to know why. You can look up your username in the Mod Log and see the reason and the expiration date, but it is not user friendly. Since we cannot do something about this, it is up to Lemmy itself to fix this. I suggest to do a feature request on Lemmy's GitHub.

    Regarding the who in your question. We understand that you know who did ban you, and you get the information if it was a mod or admin. If you're banned you can always appeal! Mail us at info@lemmy.world with your username. We have a system internally that ensures another admin reviews your appeal. That way it stays fair.

    The reason we have hidden usernames in the Mod Log is to prevent harassment. This occurred several times when the usernames were not hidden.

    • We totally agree!

      Cool, I´m happy to hear that!

      If a user is banned, he/she deserves to know why. You can look up your username in the Mod Log and see the reason

      That is not the case, no reason is displayed in the modlog. I still don´t know why I was banned and it looks like I wont ever find out.

      The reason we have hidden usernames in the Mod Log is to prevent harassment. This occurred several times when the usernames were not hidden

      Makes sense, I totally understand.

      • Yeah, if mod/admin does not fill in a reason it does not show indeed. But overall, it is supposed to show why the ban is issued.

        We want all moderators and all admins to fill in a reason, also for later reference. I will make sure we will bring it to the attention of the (new) mods again. :)

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