Board Thread:The Panopticon/@comment-188432-20131207065154/@comment-188432-20131208170052

Shambala108 wrote: Well I had a long answer ready to post, but the "all or none" approach simplifies my answer, which is still no. Thanks for clarifying your position. You make some good points. Some people are simply repeat offenders. I think there's a reasonable case to be made that someone banned in the first week of December 2013 isn't likely to have changed their outlook by 25 December. But a lot of our blocks are much, much older. Some of blockees would have potentially been banned in their first year of high school but now are in their first year of college.

Since Josiah has tied jubilee years into this, would it address some of your concerns if we said that we would parole anyone blocked on or before 23 November 2013? That way, your most recent blocks would stand, but we'd still be able to easily and truthfully communicate a message of renewal.

We're also not saying by this act that we're gonna stop blocking new offenders. I don't care if it is Christmas: if you come here and post a spoiler about the next episode, you'll still get blocked. We're not throwing the rules out the window for the sake of good will. We've had to block at least one person during Christmas week every year since 2008. There's no reason to expect this year to be different, so this "parole" wouldn't prevent ordinary security precautions.

Don't forget, people's records don't go away. This isn't a pardon; it's just early release. So if you find yourself having to ban someone again, you still have the option of throwing the book at 'em, if they've obviously learned nothing.