A ban is an action taken in order to block an addressed machine from accessing a certain area of interest such as a forum to hinder an individual from being able to participate in games or forums usually by blocking one's IP address.
Possible Reasons for Banning
An individual can be possibly banned due to one or more such actions as the following:
- Persistently harassing others
- Using cheats in games
- Spaming and/or trolling (posting irrelevent materials, acting up, exasperating other individuals continuously)
- Evading an already existing ban placed to block the same individual
Drawbacks
Bans are not always the best solution to ridding of an individual from a community or place of interest. There are some cons; most notably the following:
- A ban can only lock out a computer address, not the individual (the individual is still free to take advantage of the use of proxies and other computers)
- Long ban lists require much storage and maintenance
Bans can yet be useful during certain instances as a means of discouragement and prevention from behaving in an agreeably unfavorable manner; most often when an individual is simply not abiding by any given guideline of some sort and/or is shaping an unpleasant atmosphere for others.