Global bans

Global bans are formal restrictions placed on people (not user accounts or IP addresses) to prevent their access to certain aspects of Miraheze (such as access or editing). Global bans differ from Global blocks and Global locks in that global bans are more severe than a global block or lock as they affect actual people (unlike blocks and locks which are technical restrictions placed only on accounts or IPs) and as such, are not given out liberally. Global bans may only be applied by the community, Site Reliability Engineering (in extreme cases where such a ban is critical to Miraheze infrastructure), or Trust and Safety when the Terms of Use have been violated. Global bans are usually enforced through means of global locks and/or global blocks depending on the circumstances and restrict a user's ability to use Miraheze. Officially, no policy exists on global bans but de facto global bans do exist in various forms.

The community may vote to globally ban a user (usually through a Request for Comments). To do this, a vote is held in which community members vote on the proposal. If the proposal to globally ban a user passes, a Steward will enforce the outcome of the discussion by locking the user and all other related user accounts. Global bans by the community are generally done in extreme cases where the user has engaged in severe cross-wiki abuse, has persistently disrupted various Miraheze projects, and where remediation attempts to address any behavior deemed an issue have failed.

Trust and Safety is tasked by the Board of Directors with the responsibility of investigating any potential violations and enforcing the Terms of Use. If they determine a user has violated the Terms of Use, they may move to globally ban the user (this action may be referred to as a Trust and Safety ban or a Terms of Use ban). In these cases, the user will be notified and their account will be locked. They may appeal to Trust and Safety.

Historically, Site Reliability Engineering (whose members are more commonly known as system administrators) used to enforce, investigate potential violations, and ban users who violated the Terms of Use. Since May 2021, that responsibility has been passed on to Trust and Safety and any global ban issued by system administrators is now overseen by Trust and Safety. Nowadays, Site Reliability Engineering may only issue a global ban in extreme cases where a ban is critical to Miraheze infrastructure, pursuant to Section 8 of the Terms of Use. These bans may been overturned or modified by Trust and Safety if they are unsatisfied by Site Reliability Engineering's reason for banning.

To appeal a ban by the community, a user should appeal through a community venue such as Request for Comments. To appeal a ban issued by Site Reliability Engineering or Trust and Safety, please email ts@undefinedmiraheze.org. Please make sure to include any relevant information in your appeal.

For a list of globally banned users, see List of globally banned users.