what did he do to have to write an essay?
this is stupid.
a punishment should fit the crime, its illogical to force some one to write an essay for say something like spamming, but something like a set of rules limiting a spammer to create only 1 thread a day and only able to post once every half hour would make a alot more sense.
an essay might work on racists, like forcing some one who made a racist comment to write up 5000 words on a hero of the insulted race. like if some one insulted african americans make him write an essay on fredrick douglas.
but then you have specific rules for each situation and people argueing if the punsihment fits the crime, and of course the argument of whether the work done is considered valid.
temp bans work.