When I upgraded the software on the site recently I found that those few users granted 'moderator' powers had a new option, to "banish" the author of a particular post. While the Pirate crew is very civil, I understand that this was needed to bring order to a certain Cantina on another project. Being curious, I wanted to try it out.

At first I was eyeing Rusty as a likely target, but then our own lovable Misfit came romping through the forums, which reminded me how he's always served well as a test subject for such things. So I tried it out on him, and lo and behold he was "banished", which means that he can't post for two weeks.

As some of you will have noticed, I then modified the forum code to display in place of his credit and dubloon count.

I then looked at how to turn off the ban or adjust the length of time, but there isn't anything. It's 2 weeks in the brig or nothing, and no way to rescind.

While I think that limiting the ability to post might be useful, the way that it has been implemented is not very well thought out. I may try to build a better interface for this at some point, since the I2U2 site will (one hopes) be crawling with middle school and high school students. It's another thing to add to the list. Meanwhile, we won't make use of this 'feature', except perhaps for occasional testing.

Since there is no way to lift the ban via the web interface I'm doing it 'by hand'. Misfit is out of the brig, with our thanks as always for helping test the system.

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-- Eric Myers

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." -- William Butler Yeats

Cap'n, you're a true gentleman; courteous and considerate to the very humblest.

Happy holidays!

MJ
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Hail, Poetry, thou heav'n-born maid!
Thou gildest e'en the pirate's trade.
Hail, flowing fount of sentiment!
Hail, all hail, divine emollient!

A pirate romping? That's like one level above skipping.
Pirates who romp and skip deserve to be banned.
Except, of course, if they are the Pirates of Penzance; in which case I'm hopping into the longboat and rowing to shore.
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I see the need for such a tool for the moderators but I agree that there needs to be a way to rescind the sentence easily if warranted.

As your interested in working on this to see if it can be made better:

a) perhaps an interface for the moderator that has a field that requests a number of days that the scoundrel is tossed into the brig or a set of radio buttons that with preset days. Either method will allow for better control of problems so that a minor infraction like foul language will be less time than a major infraction like a personal attack.

b) a reverse option that can be used when needed.

c) A method so that only the administrator or the moderator that tossed the person into the brig can release them early. This will help somewhat to solve any problem of moderators working against each other.

Just a few ideas to run up the mainsail to see who salutes.
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Ayr, I also agree its sounds a well useful tool for mods, As just a deleting someones post ain't much a penalty for a scoundrel in need of a whacking with the cat-o-nine tails ! Although I also agree it would be better if there was a choice for them mods as to how long theys be in the brig. Ever thought of having some type of prebanning forwarning message for a mod, To send the scavvys as a last warning er else ? I'll also volenteer there cap'n, If ya need another man to take the brig bannishing, After awhile, Thar roaches do start ta tasting mighty tastee !
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5.10.21/Xp-Pro/6600gt/3800x2