Here’s a description of it on Reddit. Apparently they also now do account suspensions. Shadowbanning is also used on Hacker News and Craigslist, according to wikipedia.
That would depend on how many banned users there were. Also, I don’t think there would need to be whole versions of the site for each banned user—there would just be dif versions computed on the fly.
I’m quite uncomfortable with the suggestion for another reason. It wouldn’t work—an active user would probably notice something was wrong in less than a day. If they were banned for excessive hostility, they’d presumably come back under another name.
My first thought was that it might be bad for the group to have people disappear for no apparent reason, but then it occurred to me that people stop posting for all sorts of reasons.
I actually think it would work pretty well. The banned user sees all of their contributions and any IP used by the banned user also sees their contributions. All other users and IPs do not see it.
I think it is better if banning decisions are not made public, even (especially) to the banned user.
The banned user should not notice anything, but their posts, messages, and votes do not appear to anyone else.
Wouldn’t it impose a huge load on the servers to maintain multiple versions of the website for each banned user?
No. This is called ‘shadowbanning’ and is a standard practice.
Where is it standard practice? I’m surprised that people don’t notice and come back under new names.
Here’s a description of it on Reddit. Apparently they also now do account suspensions. Shadowbanning is also used on Hacker News and Craigslist, according to wikipedia.
The folks at reddit weren’t happy with shadow-banning humans (as distinct from spammers), and eventually started suspending accounts.
That would depend on how many banned users there were. Also, I don’t think there would need to be whole versions of the site for each banned user—there would just be dif versions computed on the fly.
I’m quite uncomfortable with the suggestion for another reason. It wouldn’t work—an active user would probably notice something was wrong in less than a day. If they were banned for excessive hostility, they’d presumably come back under another name.
My first thought was that it might be bad for the group to have people disappear for no apparent reason, but then it occurred to me that people stop posting for all sorts of reasons.
I actually think it would work pretty well. The banned user sees all of their contributions and any IP used by the banned user also sees their contributions. All other users and IPs do not see it.