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I just discovered that Account suspension is a thing.

Still, in this case the suspension will apparently last until Dec 20 '26. This seems to be an unreasonable long time, for all intents and purposes their account is as good as deleted.

Also, by looking at this user's answers, they seem to be useful and well-written. So I'm skeptical that this user might have been such a nuisance to the community as to warrant such a suspension. I tried to find proof of disruptive behavior, but failed.

Shouldn't this process be more transparent? who comes up with the decision? Is there an appeal process? What safeguards are there against mobbing by other users?

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    Just a note, I've been contacted directly once because I was totally out of control. It only happened once though. So, yes. They will contact you directly... of this I am sure.
    – RobotHumans
    Commented Feb 18, 2015 at 10:45
  • Perhaps the theory is that the suspended individual might grow up by then? By my count that's slightly over a a single decade. At my age that doesn't seem very long but I can see how a teenager might consider it extreme.
    – Elder Geek
    Commented Feb 20, 2015 at 19:24
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    I think it is worth pointing out that suspensions longer than 1 year are rarely given out my moderators anymore, that's reserved for SE staff usually.
    – Seth Mod
    Commented Feb 21, 2015 at 7:34
  • I still don't understand why they don't just nuke the account if he's so bad... if he comes back (and hopefully doesn't do bad stuff again) he's going to do so under a new account, it's not like it's going to prevent him from going back if he wants to.
    – user249743
    Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 5:02

2 Answers 2

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The user was suspended with due process and after being contacted multiple times about the behavior exhibited. We don't reveal why we hand out suspensions because they are typically temporary from a few hours, a few days, to typically at most a few weeks and we respect our users privacy. However, most of the infractions from this user (any other users) are cleaned up by the moderation team. Suspensions can also occur for reasons off site (chat, etc) as well as on site. There is always an appeal process and the user is always contacted when a suspension is dealt.

We use suspensions as a LAST resort you will never be suspended without your knowledge as we will always use email to contact you in attempts to resolve any negative behavior. In addition to this, to prevent any abuse, all contact between moderators and users is also copied to the Stack Exchange community team so even moderators have oversight. Finally, any issue that users have with a moderation decision can always be brought up with the impartial Stack Exchange community team using the contact form.

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    Having witnessed some of the disruptions, I can state that I totally agree with the mods on this kid. He totally deserved it and he can be happy that the mods cleaned up his stuff.
    – don.joey
    Commented Feb 20, 2015 at 21:07
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Disclaimer: I'm not a moderator, just sharing some experience.

Your question just shows that you're a really nice person who doesn't understand how obnoxious some people can get. (Willingly or unwillingly) ;-)

I've been obnoxious before (unwillingly), received a warning and then never repeated and moved on. I've also seen people who had multiple warnings and continuing to be obnoxious and eventually being put into the corner for some time. Coming out of the corner, some abstain, but some just continued their obnoxious behaviour and got put into the corner again, but for a slightly longer time.

Some then got the message, but... etc. So I can understand some people are just jerks all the time resulting in everyone's patience finally running out and being kicked out...

If you would be asking yourself if this ever could happen to you, just asking the question you asked (or reading and agreeing with your question) makes you an unlikely candidate... :-)

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