On Tue, 30 May 2006 20:51:55 CDT, you said:
3d) Make sure your ToS allows nuking a spamming/abusive host. 3e) Then *use* that clause in the ToS when needed.
Each of the ISP's I worked for had such a clause. I felt it was a double edged sword. The only choices were to use it or not to use it, and on non-clear cut cases the business side of a company may be reluctant to heave a paying customer out the door. I would advocate service contracts that allow a graduated response including, but not limited to, getting rid of the customer. That way, there are penalties available even in cases of "unintentional" network abuse.
As I said, "when needed". As you correctly noted, sometimes it's more helpful to the bottom line if it remains an unmentioned stick while you find a carrot to wave at the customer. If a well-phrased phone call or two and a helpfully informative e-mail can get the problem resolved, you obviously didn't *need* to nuke. :)