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Meet user952977, an apparently chronic asker of horrible questions. His questions are so horrible that he managed to get a suspension out of it. That's great! The system is working.

He's been suspended for a year. Those must have been some pretty horrible questions. The earlier question "What could cause users to be placed in the penalty box for an entire year?" suggests that year-long suspensions come only after earlier shorter-term suspensions have elapsed and the user continues to be horrible.

But that year-long suspension is still called "temporary." That wording doesn't seem right to me, even if it might fit the dictionary definition.

Can we find better wording for long-term suspensions?

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  • 4
    The current format of this question makes it more rant than constructive discussion. Something like "Please change the word temporary for members suspended for over X months" would be more fit.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Sep 20, 2011 at 17:07
  • I've attempted to remove aspects of my question that might seem rantish.
    – Charles
    Commented Sep 20, 2011 at 17:19
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    "Those must have been some pretty horrible questions." You can see the one question that wasn't deleted. He posted the same thing four times in three hours, so yeah, they were pretty bad.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Commented Sep 20, 2011 at 17:42
  • @Bill Isn't 1 year a bit excessive though?
    – NullUserException อ_อ
    Commented Sep 20, 2011 at 18:26
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    @NullUserExceptionஇ_இ It does seem harsh, but consider this: @home don yu knw to how to response to the user req..?? if i asks sumthng yu must answr, don count the qustions try to answr, if yu don knw anythng don blabr sumthng, shut... i gt ta solution..!! fed up wit ur service..!! big thanks to plantinum..!! After the 4th repetition of the same question, I suspected the guy was trolling us with a fake account anyway. He can always create a new 1-rep account, so I don't think any harm (or good, for that matter) was done by the suspension.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Commented Sep 20, 2011 at 18:33
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    @NullUserException_: Sorry guys, caught this late. Thanks for the backup, Bill. Yeah, I debated destroying his account (and nothing of value was lost) but just locked it for a year. There is nothing to save with this guy. Of course, ANY user who gets suspended can reply to the suspension notice. Any rational human being of any worth would do so, pleading that the suspension was unwarranted. If he did, and promised he wouldn't suck wind so much anymore, I'd be all for removing the suspension. However, he won't, because he is a troll.
    – user1228
    Commented Sep 20, 2011 at 19:45
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    The current record holder - 2092....
    – peterh
    Commented Jun 22, 2018 at 23:07
  • 1
    @peterh - Reinstate Monica: No, too low. Add 200 years. 100,000 days = approx. 274 years
    – This_is_NOT_a_forum
    Commented May 16, 2020 at 15:06
  • 2
    If we count chat, 3200+ years
    – Zoe - Save the data dump
    Commented Jun 7, 2020 at 8:39
  • @Zoe The Lockdown Princess: But "last message ... 20d ago", not in 2018(?)
    – This_is_NOT_a_forum
    Commented Jun 7, 2020 at 22:24
  • @P.Mort.-forgotClayShirky_q kinda sorta. Triggered by comments being moved to chat. The last non-moved message wasn't 20 days ago
    – Zoe - Save the data dump
    Commented Jun 8, 2020 at 0:16

2 Answers 2

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While the word "temporary" is used appropriately in this context, I don't see the need for it at all. The inclusion of the ending date precludes the need to specify that it is a temporary suspension. It could just as easily and accurately say:

This account has been suspended because of low-quality contributions. The suspension period ends on ...

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It is temporary because it is not permanent. That is the meaning of temporary: lasting for only a limited period of time; not permanent.

That said, since the usual suspensions we see aren't permanent, temporary could be removed. If there were permanent suspensions, those could use a message similar to the following one.

This account is permanently suspended because of low-quality contributions.

Given than moderators can only suspend users for a maximum of a year, the temporary suspensions are the more common one. (For what I can see, Stack Exchange has never suspended a user permanently.)
I am not sure if Stack Overflow moderators can suspend users for more than a year; on the other sites, that is the limit moderators have.

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  • Not to be confused with temporary-permanent which are things that will only be temporary after they're no longer permanent.
    – Mazura
    Commented May 18, 2020 at 11:07
  • 'For what I can see, Stack Exchange has never suspended a user permanently' --> This is excluding those 10 year or even 100 year suspensions that are effectively permanent? Or not?
    – BCLC
    Commented Jan 28, 2022 at 14:36

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