For the policy on Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Banning policy.

A ban (derived from banishment) is, generally, any decree that prohibits something. Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some see this as a negative act (equating it to a form of censorship or discrimination) and others see it as maintaining the "status quo". Bans in commerce are referred to as embargos.

Banning marriages

A marriage ban is used to prevent certain categories of people from marrying each other. For much of the 1800s and 1900s there were bans on marriage between people of different races (interracial marriage) in the United States. However, the ban on interracial marriage was taken up by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1967 in the landmark civil rights case Loving vs. Virginia, in which the Court ruled Virginia's miscegenation law an unconstitutional violation of the fundamental right to marriage. Historically, child marriage was common, but is now banned in many countries. There have also been bans enacted on same sex marriage.

Banned persons under Apartheid

During the Apartheid régime in South Africa, the National Party government issued banning orders to individuals seen to be threats to its power — often black politicians or organisations — and acted as suppression orders. Individuals banned by the government could not communicate with more than one person at any time unless at home (thus removing them from partaking in political activities), travel to areas without government approval, or leave the country.

Banned words and phrases

In October 2008, the Supreme Court of Arizona banned use of the words "illegals" and "aliens" and phrases such as "illegal immigrants."

Banning in games and Internet Forums

Expand: date=December 2007 In internet forums, MMORPGs, and other online games, the host often has the power to ban players who do not follow the rules, or who make little effort to get along with their fellow players. When banned, the user is unable to play on the MMORPG anymore. Sometimes they might make alternate accounts to continue breaking rules, and in this case, the IP address may be banned from connecting to the server.

Banning (sometimes called 'blocking' or 'permabanning') is commonplace in internet culture. The banhammer, "banstick," or "banbomb" is a metaphorical tool used in many of these games.

Some web communities openly welcome and, in fact, actively recruit individuals that have been banned elsewhere to sign up and participate. First rule: Never bring your ban up on these forums, just because no moderators from the old site, post doesn't mean they don't read. Remove this post by deleting what you said. End it there.

See also

• Export restriction
• List of banned books
• List of banned films
• List of banned computer and video games
• Homo sacer and the sovereign state of exception
• Shunning
• Cherem, a ban pursuant to Jewish law
• Censure and Excommunication, which may result in a ban pursuant to Religious law
• Prohibition - usually referring to historical and current laws regulating prohibition of alcohol
• Banned substances in sports