I've been in chat more than usual lately, and have noticed something that worries me a bit: users getting kickbanned without warning. It's definitely not without cause — the most recent case I witnessed was also one of the most pungent instances of chat moronity I've yet seen. Still, banning a user without an explicit warning seems drastic to me. Banning without explicit statement of the cause is also a bit unhelpful: sure, it may seem redundant when the cause is something as obvious as this, but some people are so clueless that I almost have to assume they don't know what they're doing.
A policy of at least saying something like "Mod speaking: [username], if you don't stop [offensive conduct] you will be banned. This is your only warning." might even help clean up #site19. (Might. It's a long shot.) If people know precisely what constitutes bannable asshattery, maybe they'll be more cautious about avoiding it. It also gives more weight to long bans and permabans: "you were warned, you idiot, and just kept on being a dick. Why shouldn't your ban be permanent?"
Thoughts?