h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

>> [insert more details of why this breaks the rules here] <<

Obviously the details sent by email and the details posted on site should be identical - might be worth making this explicit.

The 'final decision' version, by contrast, ought to be reasonably extensive, I feel - you'll have had a week to think about it, so I think this is reasonable. Also might mention extenuating circumstances which were considered and judged not extenuating enough.

Also worth including would be a link to the 'Suspension of Researcher X's h2g2 Account' page. I feel that you should allow the researcher to provide a forwarding email and/or website address (provided both obey the house rules) if they desire so that people can continue to get in touch.

I'm more divided on whether allowing the banned researcher to leave a final message would be worthwhile. It would be a nice courtesy, but I can see that it could be abused. (and offensive parting shots would of course be in breach of the house rules). Perhaps something to make available at the discretion (ick) of the editors?

ahh - my bad - misread the 'final decision' bit. I mean to say, in that case, that the personal space should not be hidden, but instead simply add a line to the top of the entry 'Researcher X has been banned for life from h2g2', and a link to the entry. I don't think there's anything to be gained from hiding the home space, unless

A) the researcher requests it be hidden
B) it is against the house rules/terms
C) there are 'exceptional circumstances'

Yap, I also don't think it is necessery, It might even help if it is not hidden, so that researchers who don't know the researcher in question may go and look and investigate. Kind of a network of y Private Ies.


Dancer

"Obviously the details sent by email and the details posted on site should be identical - might be worth making this explicit."

Done!

"The 'final decision' version, by contrast, ought to be reasonably extensive, I feel - you'll have had a week to think about it, so I think this is reasonable. Also might mention extenuating circumstances which were considered and judged not extenuating enough."

In cases with much discussion, this is true, so we've added a line "[Insert details of the Editors' reasoning here, if applicable]" to the final decision text. In some cases, like kiddie porn, this won't be required, but in most cases you're right, we'd put this in and it would be relatively comprehensive.

"Also worth including would be a link to the 'Suspension of Researcher X's h2g2 Account' page. I feel that you should allow the researcher to provide a forwarding email and/or website address (provided both obey the house rules) if they desire so that people can continue to get in touch."

OK, that's a good idea, and ideally it would go on the Researcher's Personal Space once they are banned. However, currently the Personal Space is hidden purely as a consequence of the way the system bans people. We're looking into sorting the system out, but until then we will have to stick to hiding pages (though we'll check this technically)... but we can put the contact details on the decision page as a starter (which we've added to the process).

We don't much like the idea of a final message, though. A contact address is perfectly acceptable.

Well, I can imagine the case where the banned researcher accepts that they made a mistake, apologises, and says a brief goodbye to hir friends on h2g2, and an invitation to email. In which case, including that final message might help to close the matter - people are unlikely to contest a decision if the person it effects the most has accepted it... also, allowing the banned researcher to say goodbye properly will make them less likely to try and gatecrash back onto h2g2. In many cases it may be unhelpful, but having the option there can't hurt, I reckon.

Thanks for the other changes - as you say, hopefully the procedure will never be needed, but there's no harm in having a safety net...

That's a fair point, but it might not be an idea to promise such a message, as then we'd be obliged to publish messages from those who simply wanted to tell everyone they argued with to take a hike.

We'll add something to the entry, though, to make the point that it's not guaranteed.

It looks pretty good to me all told. Plenty of opportunity for misunderstandings, etc. etc. to be rectified... yes, I think it's pretty good.