We all understand that this place has made the decision to ban people due to behaviour in the past. There have been at times requests for people to be reinstated and many of those have been denied. They were for long-time posters. When they did come back they used the same identity.
Now we have a situation where a person - not here a long time - who was banned previously for extremely bad behaviour and attacks is back under a new name. This person has now admitted that he is the banned poster back again.
I am not against forgiveness and most are not here but there are some policy questions.
First, if a person is banned, why can they be allowed back under another name? Shouldn't they be required to keep the same identity so that they do not go through the process of having everyone see them as new when they are not? I did not think that a person could change their identity without permission. Why should a person who was banned? If they are not allowed back under their old identity why are they allowed to be back under a new one? How can they be allowed to come here and put up a new introduction pretending to be new when they are not? When a person who was banned is back and on the attack why are people here not allowed to know their identityso people can know if they want to engage the person or do so slowly and cautiously? Doesn't that give an advantage that is undeserved? The rest of us are using our old identities known to him he gets a new one?
Second, when a person comes here we give latitude for a new person while they learn about this place. That is fair. Some start roughly while getting to learn the basic rules here. How come a person who was banned for bad behaviour in the past can come here and not be under some probation or strict conditions that they not repeat? How do we have a month of a person attacking people and irritating the board, derailing many threads and driving people off threads to avoid him and then find out that this is his second time around? Even the Feminism forum got derailed by this guy and he ended up deleting his posts there. Now we find out it was not his first time?
Third, don't the people who post here deserve some consideration as well as the person who earned a banning -- for abusing the other posters here? When people like this come to the board their effect is that others who try to engage them end up giving up and staying away - like a temporary self-ban until the person is gone or decides to stop blowing up threads. Allowing them to come back has implications if their behaviour is the same. So a person here has to decide to take a vacation now if they want to avoid a disruptive person who they have already waited out in the past. How good for the board is that?
Is it common for banned people to be allowed back under new names?
I really do not mind forgiveness by the community or letting any of the banned people back. We have talked amnesty here. But the conditions ought to be that they do not repeat and that they keep the same identity rather than be allowed to engage as if they are a brand new person. Life does allow you to make amends and ask forgiveness but you don't get to come back with a new identity to face the people you abused in the past.