Bringing Back Banned Users

Not exactly sure how popular this will be, or if anyone at all would support this, but it is a possible way to regain activity and the much-more active community Sythe once had.
Note: I am not suggesting that Sythe just unbans everyone that has been banned.

Alright so activity on Sythe has decreased. Maybe page views have not, but looking at the activity of various sub-forums (General Discussion/Runescape 07/RS3/Cheating/SFA, the works) has obviously dropped.

The Problem:
- Sythe community is shrinking
- Thousands of banned users could become valued users (providing they're given a second chance)
- Advertising not viable
-- It's costly and anyone that uses any major forum knows of Sythe

Observation:
- Many banned for low level offenses (think like recovering an account after selling it for a few mil)
- Many people scammed when they were younger (years ago, think how long Sythe has been around)
- People change and mature
- Many individuals pardons don't receive all that much attention and are very time consuming
- If they ban evaded from these original bans their chances of pardon are even lower
- If they're ban evading and not caught, they do not have any real incentive to be involved in the community. If they're caught that's that, they're gone.


A Solution:
- Put out the word on forums that Sythe is offering potential pardons for low-level-offense users.
- We can define what "low-level offenses" are
- Original ban date has to be from (enter date here)
- Ban evading after original ban date will not effect you (unless scamming occurred on such accounts)
- Possibly ease the users into the community.
-- Perhaps a "Probation" Rank for those coming back

To ease the burden and to ensure this does not interfere with current disputes/pardons, a new dispute sub-forum could temporarily be made. This could be handled by staff, or a select few users on a team to review the individuals bans. This "team" would provide their input on wether the individual should return or not and staff would be given the final decision.

Now, would this even be popular? Who knows, but brainstorming ways to help rejuvenate Sythe. Input & community discussion would be greatly appreciated.


I also once threw out the idea of no more flat-out Sythe banning, but a focus on market banning, but I imagine that still will not garner any traction and is more "radical" then this.

 

no....
Edite: People don't change, scammers are scammers, don't trust anyone.

There are no "low level offences" when it comes to scamming.

 

I like the idea of market-restricting said users, but this seems like a boatload of work to police all of the scammers.

 

I like this idea

 

Its a good idea but always risky in the first place why did they ever scam?

 

This will never happen.

We already have a pardon system in place. In addition, conditional supporting is no longer allowed (market bans, etc.).
If people want to pardon they are more than welcome, but we will never look less upon someone for their actions (ESPECIALLY scamming).

 

Inviting back people with a track record of scamming just to grow the userbase is not a good idea

 

I feel like these kinds of users aren't the type to be interested in getting back into the community, or if they are, are already vading to be involved in the community in which case overall activity won't increase.

 

Going to knit-pick my thread, but if the idea is a no go (I imagine it will be), what about the creation of a pardon review team?

Many pardons go without support from staff and just get archived/denied. Frankly, you do not garner support unless you were known or you know people still on Sythe.

A pardon team could review this pardons, provide all the info staff would look into in a pardon, give their recommendation and send it to upper staff for vote.

You can argue a $1,000 scam and a $5 scam are the same scam, but they are of vastly different levels of scam.

There's a reason there is larceny and grand larceny

People constantly change. We can also make it clear that individuals are only here because of the "pardon." Creation of the rank/using the market banned rank.

Some of the people I have trusted most in my time on Sythe had been banned in the past for scamming.

A pardon system that is highly lacking IMO. So many pardons go completely ignored by staff (I understand they're time consuming.)

Not allowing conditional pardons just increases the already ridiculous amount of denied pardons.

The whole concept is based around people having scammed when they were younger and immature (these scams being a very low amount.)

I'm thinking of the kid that took a royal crown or someone who recovered an account after an account swap. I'm not talking about anyone that has truly damaged the community.

I would argue that since people are vading, they have no desire to truly get active in the community. If they get more active, they're more likely to get caught.

Also, vading is significantly harder now then it used to be. You will be banned for only using a proxy.

 

I agree with this. If anything, it can reduce the userbase in the future because members will get scammed more often and wont stay on the site.

 

Who wants to be part of a community where scammers are floating around with little to no punishment? It doesn't sound right no matter which way you put it.

 

Was it banned users in general or are there certain banned users in particular you were thinking about that made you suggest this?

For scamming, I'd have to go with no. For community drama reasons (i.e. Finn), it'd really depend on what they did. Some people like Daily, Spyike and Finn left such a hole in site I doubt the admins ever want them back.

 

This couldn't be more impractical.

I agree with others in terms of the member base. Quantity never outweighs quality, especially for a site like Sythe, where a pretty strict standard for scamming is upheld.

 

Good for you. Don't listen to the haters.

 

#freeusall

 

I'm just going to clarify that it is now impossible for a pardon to get denied without a staff response. Per our new rules your 7 days begins after the first staff reply, so no more users "slipping through the cracks"

 

From skimming through your posts it seems more than anything you're only making this suggestion because you want some of your buddies back. If you'd read the vast majority of replies to this thread you'd understand that there shouldn't be a place for scammers within the community. While 'once a scammer, always a scammer' may not be accurate, a lot of them haven't changed in all reality. Also your claim that people only get support if they're known/were known is invalid. In all reality if you look through recent pardons, quite a few people have been pardoned or near-pardoned despite them not necessarily having been too relevant in the community. You just aren't noticing it because when they come back it doesn't cause as much commotion as major community members who were banned and have returned, or were friends with a lot of people on sythe at one point.

 

sithdrama* bans shouldn't be as severe.
Blackhat/scam bans gtfo.

 

Isn't it first staff vote after all the answering of questions is taken care of? Either way, this ^.

I'm not opposed to the idea, but I think certain parts of your proposition are more feasible than others. Blanket pardons/amnesty periods are going to be unpopular and thus impossible. But I think there is merit in the pardon-unit and the probation rank ideas. If nothing else, whenever a global+ unbans an account, it would be neat if it held an automatic "Probation" rank for, say, two weeks.

 

As long as the person/s are banned that are owed and the offence was under a certain limit ($10-20). Also the offence should well and truly be in the past (3-4+ years) and they haven't offended since, Then yes, they should be given a 2nd chance.

But if the member they scammed is still around then its unfair to bring them back without repaying.