Why don't we IP ban people?

well it's really hard for anyone to wait if they get banned permanently, isn't it?

what if they make a new account and try to be a good user but get banned again permanently just for being an alias, what then?

 Like I understand banning people who make this site unpleasent, but banning someone for just for being an alias but not having done anything bad in the site is just pushing it a bit.

well that's my 2 cents. 

i find its almost impossible to get banned on this site unless you really try.
ive only been banned once and that was when my account got hacked and they used it to post "i'm gay" in every god damn thread.

Killzone3 was one too I'm sure. It's kind of sad you can't even remember all the accounts you've had.

 Most alias' just use their puppet accounts to avoid bans on their main accounts. Ban evasion is very much against the rules.

Innocent people have no use for an alias - if anybody every finds a legitimate use for an alias (used for a devils advocate maybe?) I'm sure they could PM Stof or Ioi or Bk and ask for an exemption which would most likely - given that the mods on this site are usually reasonable and those three very much so - be granted. 

Well technically you are still saying "i'm gay" in every thread you post as your sig says you're a lesbian i.e. gay .

And yes, I know why it is in your sig, but nothing I've seen so far beats TWestern's profile views boosting signature.

As for the subject of why ban people? Well, because it keeps most people civil most of the time (we all have our bad days and we all are human) so it mostly works and for those that create multiple accounts hopefully when they create new accounts they slowly learn to be more and more civil with their posts (or at least les and less trollish).

To curb the creation of new accounts using a time delay before an account is activated doesn't really work as they can just create 10 accounts today and start trolling tomorrow and by the time their account is banned they should have some new accounts activated.

If it is not already the case it would be better to only be able to create one account per email address as you double the need of creating a new account with the need of creating a new address...unless they also trol other fora and have a slew of email addresses already but I guess you can't totally stop an determined troll, just make it harder for them to troll so they choose to troll a less troll-resistant forum.

@Rath:"Innocent people have no use for an alias  "

The exception would be BenKenobi when he banned himself

C'mon now, I owned up to the "IVE TOUCHED A VAGINA" thread.

@Sri Lumpa: It was funny when Ben banned himself, when he told us what happened I almost died from laughter.

The bans aren't some kind of impermeable security against ass-hattery. Such systems don't exist and there are big diminishing returns on investment for trying to come close.

But extensive use of the ban-hammer does keep the air here much fresher than just about any forum on the internet. Some miscreants give up, others reform their behavior to some degree. That's the point of bans.

No method has a 100% success rate, but that doesn't mean you should throw the baby out with the bathwater.