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

I have only just heard about this. It would have been impossible to subscribe to thread, so how does one stay on the ball reagrding lifetime suspensions, if they are not mentioned somewhere obvious like in ask H2g2? Just what would I have to subscribe to to be notified of these?

The rationale, which was debated when the policy was created, was to avoid giving publicity to those who are breaking the rules to gain attention. Originally, the Editors wanted to create a loophole, so they could waive the provisions of the Modest Proposal at their discretion. The current system is something of a compromise: they can choose the level of publicity to give a discussion, but they must have that week's discussion, and must at least consider any arguments raised.

It was considered that those who might have useful information and opinions would be in semi-regular contact with the researcher whose ban was under consideration, and would therefore quickly learn of the ban. Meanwhile those who have not come into contact with the banned researcher will not be bothered, and the discussions will remain largely free of flame-prone researchers.

If any researcher at the time, except the banned researcher of course, feels that the decision by the editors not to publicise the discussion was wrong, then they can remedy that decision by posting to the community soapbox (or elsewhere) themselves. This provides a useful check to the Editor's power. In this case, no researcher wished to exercise that check.

-Xanthia