I have decided, with Mike's permission, to implement a probation policy in an effort to rehabilitate previously-banned posters who are interested in redeeming their past transgressions (as long as they weren't too blatant). Depending on the success of this policy, it may or may not become permanent. The first two subjects are as follows:

Blayne - Banned for use of homophobic slurs. He has expressed a deep interest in returning in an attempt to redeem himself. I feel like that he made a stupid mistake and has matured, so I am giving him a chance to prove himself.

JLTucker - Banned for calling Edi a "power-tripping cunt" and attempting to come back in via sockpuppet, he has expressed remorse and wants to redeem his mistakes as well. I have decided to give him that chance.

As these users are on probation, they have a strictly limited set of permissions and must abide by the following rules:

• Probationers must make a full and complete accounting of their misdeeds and apologize for each of them. This should be a probationer's first post upon their return.
• All probationers will be subject to at least three months of probation from the time of unbanning. This may be extended for various reasons. Warnings will automatically add another three to six months onto the probationary period depending on severity.
• Two warnings during the probation period means permanent, final ejection. No appeals, no do-overs, no come-backs.
• Instaban offenses are obviously still on the table.
• Probationers are on their own. It's up to them how they respond to bait; however, any vendetta and/or trolling and/or other rules violations from the baiters will be persecuted as normal. They are not immune to flames, being called out for bullshit, etc. They'll be treated like anyone else with the clearly aforementioned exceptions.
• Probationers will have zero access to any private forums whatsoever. They also have read-only access to certain forums and subforums. They don't have permissions to email or IM anyone; however, they may send private messages.
• If at the end of their probation they have been deemed to be sufficiently rehabilitated to have their normal permissions restored, they will be considered normal members subject to the same rules as everyone else. This judgment shall be made by the Moderators and Administrators. A good practice is to avoid spam and one-liners and focus on making more substantial contributions.
• The terms of these rules are still being discussed and may change (with notice).

The date of this post is May 7; the next review will be on August 7.

A few days late, but time for the evaluation...

It is in the opinion of the moderating staff that JLTucker has met the requirements of the probationary period. Furthermore his contributions and assistance in various matters has earned him a lot of credit in my book, so his probation has been considered COMPLETED and he will be restored to full standing forthwith.

Regarding Blayne, it is in the opinion of the moderating staff that though he has made improvement, he must learn to read and understand more thoroughly before he makes responses in his discussions. We have decided to extend his probationary period another three months. We will revisit this on November 7, 2012.