Forum When to BAN. When to just DELETE?
 

I keep running into this problem. I dont know what is proper protocol. I need some input.

My moderators are former PHPBB moderators, and when anything was unwanted, you banned it. Permanently. That was the process.

Just deleting a user was something you did if they emailed you and requested it.

Spam? You ban them.
Troublemaking? You ban them.
BOT? You ban it.

Now, we are presented with two options. The ability to delete the user, or ban the user.

We have Spam O Matic installed which gives even more flexibility and i don't know what to tell the moderators.

Is it safe to ban as the way to rid the forum of unwanted users, 100% of the time?

Or do you run the ris of having a huge list of banned IP addresses (assuming banning bans by IP???) and legit users years down the road may not be able to register?

Help...