Banning a member
Submitted Mark, Nov 13 2009 12:26 PM | Last updated May 04 2010 10:04 AM
There are several ways to ban a member - you can ban a member permanently, temporarily and can make it transparent, or apparent to other members.
All of these options can be managed from the edit member page in the Admin CP. If you're not already there, go to Admin CP --> Members and search for the account you wish to ban.
Permanent Ban
If you wish to ban the member permanently, click the "Ban Member" button which will open the options panel.
Ban this member permanently You must tick this box for the changes to take effect. If you're looking to temporarily suspend a member, see below.
Move from group If you tick this box you can also move the member in the same action. Many communities have special "banned" groups so that other members can see when someone has been banned. If you don't move their group, other members will not know they've been banned.
Ban email address If enabled, this will also add the user's EMail address to your ban filters - this isn't necessary unless you plan to export your ban list and use it on other communities
Ban username If enabled, this will also add the user's username to your ban filters - this isn't necessary unless you plan to export your ban list and use it on other communities
Ban IP Addresses If enabled, this will also add the user's IP address to your ban filters - this will mean that nobody can browse your community under the IP address the member was using, not even as a guest
Add a Note This will make a note on the account which administrators and moderators can view - useful for noting why you are banning the member
Now just click "Alter Ban State" and the member is banned.
Temporary Ban (Suspension)
You may wish to not ban a user forever, but just for a limited time, this is called a "suspension". To do this, click "Suspend Member..." from the "Actions" dropdown.
You will be taken to a page that allows you to set how long to suspend the member for, and notify the member if you choose.
Access Restrictions
A third "banning" option is to not lock the user out of your community completely, but just restrict them from posting, or you can choose to approve all posts before they are actually published. To do this, select the "Posting and Access Restrictions" tab on the edit member page.
Here you can override the member's permissions with another permission set (for example, a banned permission set) - this way, their user group settings will still remain, but the permission set (which defines which forums they can see and post in) will be overridden.
You can also enable "Moderator Preview of Posts" and "Restrict from Posting" options, either for a limited time, or permanently. If you enable "Moderator Preview of Posts" whenever the user makes a post, it will be hidden to everyone apart from moderators - the moderators can then choose to approve the post (so it becomes public) or delete it.
All of these options can be managed from the edit member page in the Admin CP. If you're not already there, go to Admin CP --> Members and search for the account you wish to ban.
Permanent Ban
If you wish to ban the member permanently, click the "Ban Member" button which will open the options panel.
Ban this member permanently You must tick this box for the changes to take effect. If you're looking to temporarily suspend a member, see below.
Move from group If you tick this box you can also move the member in the same action. Many communities have special "banned" groups so that other members can see when someone has been banned. If you don't move their group, other members will not know they've been banned.
Ban email address If enabled, this will also add the user's EMail address to your ban filters - this isn't necessary unless you plan to export your ban list and use it on other communities
Ban username If enabled, this will also add the user's username to your ban filters - this isn't necessary unless you plan to export your ban list and use it on other communities
Ban IP Addresses If enabled, this will also add the user's IP address to your ban filters - this will mean that nobody can browse your community under the IP address the member was using, not even as a guest
Add a Note This will make a note on the account which administrators and moderators can view - useful for noting why you are banning the member
Now just click "Alter Ban State" and the member is banned.
Temporary Ban (Suspension)
You may wish to not ban a user forever, but just for a limited time, this is called a "suspension". To do this, click "Suspend Member..." from the "Actions" dropdown.
You will be taken to a page that allows you to set how long to suspend the member for, and notify the member if you choose.
Access Restrictions
A third "banning" option is to not lock the user out of your community completely, but just restrict them from posting, or you can choose to approve all posts before they are actually published. To do this, select the "Posting and Access Restrictions" tab on the edit member page.
Here you can override the member's permissions with another permission set (for example, a banned permission set) - this way, their user group settings will still remain, but the permission set (which defines which forums they can see and post in) will be overridden.
You can also enable "Moderator Preview of Posts" and "Restrict from Posting" options, either for a limited time, or permanently. If you enable "Moderator Preview of Posts" whenever the user makes a post, it will be hidden to everyone apart from moderators - the moderators can then choose to approve the post (so it becomes public) or delete it.
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