Are banned members completely shut out of their account, or can they just not post?

I have often wondered what it takes to be banned. Human nature I suppose to be curious. Thanks to everyone that gave examples of how things work in the background.

I do agree that this message forum is very well run. I always enjoy the conversations with very little unruly behavior. These days that seems to be rarely seen on the internet

I joined here a year after joining DPReview. I don't post there much (less than 300). But I do visit daily. Mostly lurking. I find this forum friendlier and a not at all antagonistic. DPReview's forum on the other hand...

The internet is full of a lot of "keyboard warriors". I'm one that will never write anything to someone I would not say to them in person. Those who act rude, tough, basically a bully, are cowards IMO. And those are people I do not have in my life or rather internet life. I put them immediately on ignore.

I have always been curious about this. After some time passes and a permanently banned member realizes his/her wrongful behavior, is there a way/possibility for the member to apologize to the mods/members and be allowed back in?

Good question.

I suspect that a majority are such that once somebody reaches the point they are threatened with a permanent ban and then actually acquire it, they were already leaving and don't care to return.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #18922019
I suspect that a majority are such that once somebody reaches the point they are threatened with a permanent ban and then actually acquire it, they were already leaving and don't care to return.

There are also a few who keep returning under new names, sneaking in under the fence until they get caught and banned again. I know of two. One I recognized from his writing style and the emotional tone of posts, the other more recently from features that I won't describe (but the mods know).

OhLook wrote in post #18922031
There are also a few who keep returning under new names, sneaking in under the fence until they get caught and banned again. I know of two. One I recognized from his writing style and the emotional tone of posts, the other more recently from features that I won't describe (but the mods know).

Ah, come on! You can't leave us hanging like that!!

Levina de Ruijter wrote in post #18922064
Ah, come on! You can't leave us hanging like that!!

All I can safely say is that a person who returns during a permanent ban had better change more about his or her posts than the screen name. Imagine if someone were to use the same watermark as before. This is a made-up example that illustrates the kind of thing to notice. It isn't among the things I noticed in those two real cases.

OhLook wrote in post #18922076
Imagine if someone were to use the same watermark as before. This is a made-up example that illustrates the kind of thing to notice.

I've seen this...

Sibil wrote in post #18922016
I have always been curious about this. After some time passes and a permanently banned member realizes his/her wrongful behavior, is there a way/possibility for the member to apologize to the mods/members and be allowed back in?

Other than Spam, the vast majority of "bans" are in fact temporary suspensions.

To get to the point of a permanent ban, one has to have had a significant number of suspensions already. It would be a VERY extreme case that someone would get a perm ban for a first offense. I would argue that really doesn't happen, and if it ever does, it's not a "member" but some other form spam, bot, etc.
Any actual "member" with more than a days time on the forum and real human interaction with posts etc. will be treated fairly and will have to have escalated multiple issues to get to that point.

So we are talking about not just repeat offenders, but habitual ones that have shown no sign of changing their ways that get the Permanent Ban. I would argue that given the multiple attempts to work with them already, (no ban or suspension happens without private interactions with the Mod team via PM) the repeat offender that eventually scales up to a permanent removal from the forum has had all the chances we intend to give them.

One really has to work hard to get to that point.
You've seen the courtroom and police shows where the investigating officer walks into the interrogation room with a stack of files or "rap sheet" as thick as multiple encyclopedias? That's the member that gets a perm ban from POTN. And like the stacked rap sheet, that record = hours of moderator time already involved handling that member before it gets to the point of the Perm Ban.

I've been banned just for fun, more than once. Sure my photo is permanently affixed to the dartboard in the Potn breakroom, but c'mon.

We had to delete Chet's POTN rap sheet, as the data log was so large it was bogging down the internet.

I got very close to being banned once, a few years ago. I just bribed the mods with knitted goat leggings.

Levina de Ruijter wrote in post #18922174
I got very close to being banned once, a few years ago. I just bribed the mods with knitted goat leggings.

You really DID get off lightly !! Others have to host the drum circles as well.

Gregsiem wrote in post #18922178
You really DID get off lightly !! Others have to host the drum circles as well.

OMG!
Then I did get off lightly!

Levina de Ruijter wrote in post #18922174
I got very close to being banned once, a few years ago. I just bribed the mods with knitted goat leggings.

That made me smile.
Wonder you weren't banned for life offering goat leggings to Admin. That could get wildly misconstrued