We have a fairly heavily moderated board (forums.overclockers.co.uk), no swearing, no mentioning of competitors etc. but enforcing the rules can sometimes be a little harsh - ie. a ban.

There has been talk of doing temp bans manually (ie. an admin unbans people at certain date).

A hack however - would be stupendous - making things more accurate, less prone to failure - and possibly even giving people an indication of how long their ban is, how long to serve.

If nobody knows of such a hack - I could possibly knock something up myself (although never used PHP before) - are there any sites which document the vb code / database?

I'd definitely be interested in something along those lines. I know what you mean about trying to enforce rules and whatnot - you want to keep people in line without coming across as a nazi. Banning someone permanently is nearly always too harsh yet people don't listen to polite requests to belt up when you tell them to play nicely and avoid unnecessary flaming etc etc.

This would solve the problem almost instantly.

I know this isn't what you are looking for, but it works for my board. I created a new usergroup named Suspended. If someone breaks the rules, I change their status from member to suspended. It allows the person to read the posts on the board (but not post) and PM, but nothing else. After they have conversed with me by PM, I will let them start posting again. It has helped tremendously.

This definately sounds like something I would be interested in; If anyone would be willing to code it that would be great. (Also; the suspended idea is good too, i may try it)