Banning

It can be very tempting to simply ban problem members, but you might want to bear in mind that once banned it's very easy for a member to set up another account and rejoin under a different name. An alternative is to permanently moderate them, and maybe even set them to 'no post' - at least then you still know where they are!

In some instances moderators feel that banning is the only option, but it’s worth checking with co-mods for a second opinion before banning unless they’re obviously a spammer. If you feel this is the case it's a good idea to take steps to ensure that the ban is justified.

Here are some questions you might want to ask yourself first:

Has the member got a valid reason for joining lots of groups?

Has the member had their account hacked?

Is there another side to this story?

Be prepared for the member to join again. Often when members rejoin you can spot them:

They ask for the same or similar items.

They use similar language e.g. sign off in the same way.

New email addresses are often similar to old ones.

There is no sure fire way of knowing for certain if a new member is who you think it is. For example, IP addresses change on many web based email accounts and some broadband users share IP addresses. Although if you still want to compare IP addresses. However: