Since an undesirable member may easily apply under a new user name or a different email address, I like to use the Banned module.
There, I create new banned items: 1 for the email address they use. 1 for their user/profile name. perhaps one for their domain if they use a custom domain, but my best tool is to have their IP address:
Whenever i get a new member apply to get approved, the email notification contains their IP address. I filter and save these emails into a folder I keep, so if someone gives me trouble later I can look up their IP address. Another place to get their IP is if they are currently logged in to your site, you'll see it in your Users Online in your Dashboard at: /core/dashboard/online ...but only if they are logged in. (so saving the 'new member notification' emails is better).
If you have their ip address, you can ban that specific IP in your Banned module, but ALSO you can broaden the ip a bit to cover if they change their IP address slightly within their same geographical location. Broaden it too much and you'll be banning entire cities, so be judicious. Example:
the bad member has IP of: 88.228.11.166 I would ban that IP, also I'd ban: 88.228.1 or 88.228.11
That would ban everyone in their immediate vicinity serviced by their online provider.
Once I made a banned IP too broad, and some woman from a small city in Australia complained that she couldn't sign up- lol. So I went in to my banned ips and narrowed that one just a bit, and it let her in but still kept out the bad guy- it was similar to (using the above random example) changing the ban from 88.228.1 to 88.228.11 ...when the guy I'm wanting to ban has the full ip of: 88.228.11.166
The other thing you'll want to know is that you can DE-ACTIVATE a member rather than simply putting them into a restrictive quota. Go to any member's Settings and to their Profile TAB. You'll see a little check box for "Profile Active". If you UN check that and save, only Admins will be able to see that member or their content. The member will also not show in the member list or in a member search for them, their posts, photos, content etc will not show to non-admins. They'll be invisible to all site members except admins. They won't be able to do or post anything. You can re-activate them if you choose, or just leave them hanging in limbo. To go even further, or if you do want their content to keep showing but render them unable to log into that account, you can also simply change their password. That way they can no longer log in at all under that account, so their account will be 'dead' to them. Again, you could always give them the new PW if you want them back.
De-activating a member is like a SUPER way of keeping them from doing ANYTHING and also makes them INVISIBLE except to admins. It's easier and more severe and certain than putting them into a restricted action quota.
Personally, I tend to simply delete the profile but put a semi-broad range of their IP into the banned list. The IP range thing is not usually a problem unless you make it too expansive or it's covering a super concentrated city area like Manhattan. Googe IP range info and you can quickly learn about IP ranges.
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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015
updated by @strumelia: 10/01/16 11:50:00AM
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