To my mind, Ban has always meant permanent.
“You’re banned from this place! You’ll never be allowed in again!”

While I’ve always thought of Suspend as being temporary.
“You’re being suspended from school for 1 week, over fighting.”

Ban:

  1. to prohibit especially by legal means
  2. bar entry

Suspend:

  1. to debar temporarily especially from a privilege, office, or function
  2. a: to cause to stop temporarily
    b: to set aside or make temporarily inoperative
  3. to defer to a later time on specified conditions
  4. to hold in an undetermined or undecided state awaiting further information

When I hear someone mention they were banned my reaction is: “Holy shit! WTF did you do to earn that!” Then I find out it was only for a day or three: “Oh… That’s not a Ban! That’s minor. Go touch grass. You’ll be fine.”

I’ve been banned from subreddits and communities a few times. At least once I never even noticed because it was so short.

How is it a Ban if I didn’t even notice?

Why did Ban in online forums and games, come to mean temporary?

Is it simply an example of the intensification of language? To make something mundane, seem more severe than it is?

Does it bother anyone else? Or am I alone here?

  • Steve@communick.newsOPEnglish
    12·
    3 days ago

    The thing is, nothing is permanent in an absolute sense. (Maybe logic, but that’s about it)
    So in a world where everything changes, what does permanent mean? It can only mean reasonably mean, “without predetermined end.” Not that it won’t end, because everything does eventually.

    So Temporary must be that which does have predetermined end time.

    Since Provisional does not have a predetermined end, but does include an explicit indication of eventually ending, it is both permanent and temporary.

    You made this thread to ask a question, got answered.

    Not really. A couple of people tried to answer it. One did quite well. You and yours are all simply saying I’m wrong, and my question is invalid; Simply because for your entire life I imagine, Ban has always been used this way. But some 20 or 30 years ago, I can promise you (so can a few others here) it wasn’t that way.