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If one finds a user that has something strange or offensive in their profile, is it appropriate to ask on Meta for the user to be blocked from the site?

Additionally, what if the owner of such a profile posts questions that lack all merit based on our consensus here on SE.History: A significant number of downvotes and/or votes to close or delete, thereby confirming suspicions aroused by the profile in question? Would that merit explicitly requesting that such member be blocked?

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    Meta is not the best place to call out a user personally. Instead, consider flagging one of his posts for moderator attention and explaining there. Please note, I'm not saying that his behavior was or was not acceptable, though. – American Luke Sep 10 '13 at 19:57
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    @LarryHarson - Yes, sometimes I tend to react too quickly, resulting in poor judgment. "Haste makes waste". – user2590 Sep 14 '13 at 6:50
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No.

If you don't like the question the user asked, moderate it (comment on it, downvote it, vote to close it, vote to delete it). However, a user's profile is their own and they can write whatever they want in it1. Furthermore, one off topic question is not valid grounds for suspension, however egregious the question might be. If it was, I doubt there would be anyone left on the site.

Now, if a user continues asking off topic questions en masse, the moderators will be notified automatically. There's an automated flag for consecutive closed questions, and all we (regular users) need to do is keep moderating content as usual.

Lastly, you always have the option of flagging one of the user's posts for moderation attention and explaining your concerns. The flagging system gives you a direct line to the moderators, there's little reason to use Meta to discuss a specific user. If you decide to use this option, please take care to clearly explain what's the problem and provide links that show the behaviour is recurring (one time crap are rarely reason enough for a suspension) in your flag message.

1 Within reason; hate speech, for example, would be grounds for suspension.

  • There is always edge cases to torment the poor mods. We can be thankful we don't have this sort of account; that I found in my stack exchange wanderings. – LateralFractal Oct 22 '13 at 13:57

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