So, for the previous few years we have had an alternative method of removing people incapable of behaving in a manner suitable for 19: the "Indistinguishable from Underage" ban. While originally implemented to avoid what had become a regular and fairly nasty back and forth between users we believed to be underage and the chat team, it quickly took on a separate purpose. This is the removal of people who were incapable of acting mature enough for 19, no matter what their claimed age was.
This category of ban has served us very well and has helped produce a far better environment in 19 than would otherwise be the case. However, I have come to believe that continuing to tie this type of ban to age at all has come to be detrimental. Essentially, the logic behind these bans has entirely ceased to tie to "underage", and leads to silly arguments where chat staff tell someone they seem underage, the user who is accused says they're not underage and are able to prove it, and then the team has to backpedal and say "well, you see, actually, it's not your REAL age that matters…" This is silly and makes us look incompetent. Along with the recent age limit increase vastly changing what "indistinguishable from underage" will mean in a few year's time, I think it's time we changed what these bans are.
As such, bans that were previously for reasons of "indistinguishable from underage" will now be implemented for reasons of "general maturity".
I've brought this up before among both Chat Administrators and chat staff as a whole, and the reception was unanimously positive (if to admittedly different degrees of enthusiasm between people) so I'm going to declare this a done deal as a general policy direction.
There is one element I do, however, believe requires formal, public discussion.
Should general maturity bans still be tied at a length of six months to a year, or should operators be allowed to institute lengths longer than a year1?
I am only interested in input from chat staff, including half operators.
E: There are two options here. Please do not say you support without indicating what you support.