Replace Ban?
 

Well, as you know GK is a server that cost's money (for the customer).
The final thing you want is to be banned, this should be the final option (for the staff), not the first.

Banning another player should be the final option, this would be a maximum of a week ban, unless it's a perminent ban.
To prevent harassment, make some kind of jail. You won't be able to message another person while you're in this jail, Change your nickname, use a 'toall' and add a kingdom tag.

I'm not too sure about how to prevent the other person logging off. Insteading of banning this player and then waiting for them to contact you with an email or using the support tick, you can simply warp there account(while they're offline) to the jail.

This is just my opinion, bans should only be used for something serious.

True, bans are not something to be taken lightly, but they're an action that shows that certain things won't be tolerated. There were jails like that on other servers before, and with them, people going for the record for most times in jail.

When a player pays for a gold account, they gain the privilege to play on those servers, not the right to play on them. If they choose to break the rules and cause trouble, it's well within the rights of the staff to temporarily remove that privilege to send them a message.

It's been discussed thoroughly, and I won't need to wander far to find supporters for the point... Jails don't work.

If a player can shrug off a ban, and not learn from it, it's likely they can shrug off a permanent ban :) Also - I believe a month is a very severe ban. Anything within this range is appropriate in comparison with how heinous the act was.

Anything more, and other actions (permenant) should be taken into consideration. Also, I find pillorying people for more than 20 minutes doesn't seem to work either.

That's mainly because the player who's inside the pillory can still change his name, add his kingdom tag and also privet message other players. Block all way's of sending messages to other people and they'll soon learn.

Yea, I mentioned that they should make the pillory level a "jail" level. Was never done, though.

That doesn't makes a difference to a ban, when someone is in the game, but cannot talk nor act in any other way.

I agree that banning a player have to handle more deliberate and not without warning (see rules of conduct). But there are incidents that need a quick acting to prevent a lot of harm for the community.

Pillories are made for a role play related punishing. People cannot act while in pillory, but other players can throw tomatoes in his face and laugh at him.

Yes, and some are so bad that pillory, or jail doesn't do the act justice - and a ban is the best remedy.

Ah yea, that's true Sam.
I just don't think a ban should be used as every punishment.

It isn't.

I can only think of two cases where a ban isn't used. :(
You're right, not every punishment, but the majority.

Ask the bad players on GK if they got banned more, or pilloried more - you'll get your answer ;)

In jail it is still possible to talk to admins to discuss the matter, and usually jails got a timer that shows how much time you still have the serve. This is not the case, although it does not make much difference indeed.

What exactly do you mean with 'more deliberate'?

Also, I think the main issue with bans is the time, and not the ban itself. Players often are banned longer than they're told, and a permanent ban for a scam is... well...

Putting someone in a pillory can completely be in conflict with the player's RP character.

Players can use the support center for that.
Staff have to be careful with banning a player and need to evaluate the reason in relation to the punishment.
We care that the bantime is not longer than they are told, but sometimes the staff who did it is prevented for any reason. In such cases use also the support center.

Better as in conflict with many other players because of disturbing their fun in an event or so.

I can recall being banned many times without staff having/showing any proof at all.

Examples?