Like what? Come up with an idea. IP ban is the equivilent of a "life sentance". It's obvious we can't use the honor system--look how often people are banned, and just come right back four minutes later. DRT has had 100+ names, Toven about the same, Mr. Anderson about two dozen, and more I can't be bothered to place. There really isn't an alternative to the "life", and no, the "Death" sentance isn't gonna happen.
Besides, if we did anything new and inventive, we'd be called NAZI even more. As it stands, every time we do something, it's thrown back in our faces. Like this whole Zer00 incident--according to my files, he and Blades_Shades/Advanced Dark have been locking horns for AGES, he's consistantly made jokes that were a bit much for the site...well, bottom line, he wasn't an ideal poster. I personally had no problems with him. I think he was cool and pretty goddamn funny, and truth be told, if I was writing the rulebooks, he would probably still be here. But executing Mirko's law, he had done enough to finally get the axe, and yet everyone's calling to his defense, and we're "unfair" for banning him in the first place, despite the fact that he's broken the rules more, and for longer than I can recall.
Now, imagine if we were to do something like the McProfiles thing I recommended.
"Tangled Web and JAL* have never entirely been on the best of terms with one another. TW keeps teasing JAL about Alba, and it goes too far. As a punishment, his profile is rewritten to the following
Title: JAL's Best Friend! He Rocks!
Avatar: Alba avatar from one of her lesser appreciated films.
Location: Right next to JAL, waiting for Alba
Signature: I couldn't follow the rules of not trolling, and now the staff has given me this custom profile. I cannot change it until my McProfile Probation is up. Hopefully, I will learn from being humiliated like this and will watch what I say next time in order to avoid getting into trouble like this.
We would be "abusing our powers" because we're making TW "look like a fool" when a probation or banning "would have sufficed". Nevermind that he has been banned and probated already several times for this**. We don't do an IP ban, so we're left either with the options of just letting him flagrantly breaking the rules and making a mockery of our enforcement, sitting here around the clock to ban him everytime he shows up [and we've had to do this several times for other users in real situations], or trying to cut some deal, and we ALL know that cutting deals doesnt' work around here. So, now we're in a corner. What do we do now, hotshot? TW is resisting all forms of reprimand.
Of course, these are just worse case scenerios, but too many of you guys think doing the job is easy, and rarely see the full picture; you think it's all guns and glory, and it's really not. At the same time, yes, it IS just the internet, but imagine someone coming in and constantly ruining your free time. You say "Mods have too much power!" or call us Nazi, but it's a different ballgame when you're being victimized and need staff to come in and give you a hand with someone. And what's worse is when you guys call Shenanigans on us for banning/probating someone who had it coming, and then call for punishment on someone who doesn't deserve it. It's really annoying. I feel like Civil War Spider-Man here: there's more options available than what's presented, but none are plausible enough for execution.
* = Just an example off the top of my head. Sorry to pull you guys in front of the class, so to speak. I'll buy you both a chocolate milk at lunch.
** = Not really, but in this example, we'll say he was.
