This is, in deed, helpful. I once helped as moderator in a live chat. One command did exactly this. The banned user sees his own writings, but nobody else does. Usually takes him quite a while to recognize he has been banned.
Problem is, i know of no forum software that has that feature. Another problem is that it is quite easy to detect the ban because usually you have view-counters for each thread. If your new thread not only gets no response but also hasn't even any views you can be sure you have been banned.
What does a user do if he knows he has been banned? He gets himself a new account and reposts the original thread. And he will, in addition, complain THAT he has been banned. That will upset other users (even if the ban is justified) and wake up even more trolls.
Another problem is, if you ban him his older threads will not be visible to other users anymore...and those that did reply will think those threads got deleted => more trouble.
IMHO the best way to deal with such offenders is to simple tell them how you are going to deal with them. Write somthing along the lines of: "I'll take into account your opinion for further development. However, as you don't seem to be satisfied with my service/software, perhaps it would be best for you to use a different one. You may, of course, post constructive critism anytime you want, but further inconstructive posts from you will be deleted without further notice."
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Maybe i'm just paranoid (most likely) but...does this look like preparing the public for a planned nuclear war?
This is, in deed, helpful. I once helped as moderator in a live chat. One command did exactly this. The banned user sees his own writings, but nobody else does. Usually takes him quite a while to recognize he has been banned.
Problem is, i know of no forum software that has that feature. Another problem is that it is quite easy to detect the ban because usually you have view-counters for each thread. If your new thread not only gets no response but also hasn't even any views you can be sure you have been banned.
What does a user do if he knows he has been banned? He gets himself a new account and reposts the original thread. And he will, in addition, complain THAT he has been banned. That will upset other users (even if the ban is justified) and wake up even more trolls.
Another problem is, if you ban him his older threads will not be visible to other users anymore...and those that did reply will think those threads got deleted => more trouble.
IMHO the best way to deal with such offenders is to simple tell them how you are going to deal with them. Write somthing along the lines of: "I'll take into account your opinion for further development. However, as you don't seem to be satisfied with my service/software, perhaps it would be best for you to use a different one. You may, of course, post constructive critism anytime you want, but further inconstructive posts from you will be deleted without further notice."