- Joined
- Mar 9, 2002
- Messages
- 13,744
Following the somewhat confusing events of the last couple of weeks, there are some points that need to be clarified.
Warnings: Before anyone is banned, they will be warned: any more than three warnings and they will be banned for an indefinite period until the moderators and/or administrators have an opportunity to discuss the circumstances of the suspension, and the subsequent action.
Members will be notified via PM each time they are warned, and if a third and final warning is reached their Username will be posted on this thread (hopefully this will be a rare occurence): by these means, though it may smack to some of "Traitor's Cloister", it will be unequivocal who is on their final warning: we as mods have been accused of heavy-handedness rather too often when others are unaware of the background. This way everyone knows who is likely to be banned, and why.
Warnable Offences Simple: flaming, provocation to flame, and trolling. Some clarification here - heated debate regarding a topic is not flaming, nor is it trolling; the instant it gets personal, however, it becomes certainly the former and frequently the latter. Personal insults, speculation regarding the real-life identity of another member and so on are completely agianst the rules of this board, and as such are warnable offences. Provocation to flame, where a member already known to be volatile (and as such would already be on the warned list) is subtly (or overtly) needled by others in an attempt to provoke a reaction and thus get them banned is equally reprehensible, and therefore carries equal censure.
Banning is the action of placing a member into stasis: it is not deletion, their posts remain unscathed, and their account can easily be re-activated. It is within the power of any Moderator to place any other member under a temporary ban if such action is warranted - for example, if a flame war rapidly develops between two members of otherwise previously good character (no extant warnings in either case) any available Moderator has the mandate to warn and ban each of the perpetrators for a day or so to allow them to cool off; if one of the members had previous warnings for similar behaviour, however, their ban may be somewhat longer. Similarly, Mods may temporarily close a thread at their own discretion if the entire discussion has descended into a mass slanging match, or complaints are received regarding the content: such bans and closures will only ever be temporary: longer term bans and closures should be done as a result of discussion between two or more moderators, and the rationale for such posted at the end of a closed thread or on this thread for banned members.
NB: Anyone who attempts to re-register under a different username whilst their original is the subject of a banning order will have the new name, and any posts in that name, deleted without further discussion.
Deletion is the entire removal of a user from the board. The option of preserving their posts is available, however. Deletion will only happen in two cases:
1) A repeated offence as listed above, despite a third and final warning, will result in an indefinite ban until moderators and/or administrators have an opportunity to discuss and deletion is agreed upon.
2) A full scale troll attack: in these circumstances, Moderators have the power to delete all posts and the user without further recourse and under their own initiative.
We wish to be as open and accountable as possible: please appreciate that this is a difficult job, and whatever action is taken will invariably provoke a mixture of support and criticism: we merely wish to propogate an atmosphere in which members can feel free to express themselves and engage in debate: 95% of the members herein wish to, and do, just that. Our job is to allow them to do so.
Stu
Warnings: Before anyone is banned, they will be warned: any more than three warnings and they will be banned for an indefinite period until the moderators and/or administrators have an opportunity to discuss the circumstances of the suspension, and the subsequent action.
Members will be notified via PM each time they are warned, and if a third and final warning is reached their Username will be posted on this thread (hopefully this will be a rare occurence): by these means, though it may smack to some of "Traitor's Cloister", it will be unequivocal who is on their final warning: we as mods have been accused of heavy-handedness rather too often when others are unaware of the background. This way everyone knows who is likely to be banned, and why.
Warnable Offences Simple: flaming, provocation to flame, and trolling. Some clarification here - heated debate regarding a topic is not flaming, nor is it trolling; the instant it gets personal, however, it becomes certainly the former and frequently the latter. Personal insults, speculation regarding the real-life identity of another member and so on are completely agianst the rules of this board, and as such are warnable offences. Provocation to flame, where a member already known to be volatile (and as such would already be on the warned list) is subtly (or overtly) needled by others in an attempt to provoke a reaction and thus get them banned is equally reprehensible, and therefore carries equal censure.
Banning is the action of placing a member into stasis: it is not deletion, their posts remain unscathed, and their account can easily be re-activated. It is within the power of any Moderator to place any other member under a temporary ban if such action is warranted - for example, if a flame war rapidly develops between two members of otherwise previously good character (no extant warnings in either case) any available Moderator has the mandate to warn and ban each of the perpetrators for a day or so to allow them to cool off; if one of the members had previous warnings for similar behaviour, however, their ban may be somewhat longer. Similarly, Mods may temporarily close a thread at their own discretion if the entire discussion has descended into a mass slanging match, or complaints are received regarding the content: such bans and closures will only ever be temporary: longer term bans and closures should be done as a result of discussion between two or more moderators, and the rationale for such posted at the end of a closed thread or on this thread for banned members.
NB: Anyone who attempts to re-register under a different username whilst their original is the subject of a banning order will have the new name, and any posts in that name, deleted without further discussion.
Deletion is the entire removal of a user from the board. The option of preserving their posts is available, however. Deletion will only happen in two cases:
1) A repeated offence as listed above, despite a third and final warning, will result in an indefinite ban until moderators and/or administrators have an opportunity to discuss and deletion is agreed upon.
2) A full scale troll attack: in these circumstances, Moderators have the power to delete all posts and the user without further recourse and under their own initiative.
We wish to be as open and accountable as possible: please appreciate that this is a difficult job, and whatever action is taken will invariably provoke a mixture of support and criticism: we merely wish to propogate an atmosphere in which members can feel free to express themselves and engage in debate: 95% of the members herein wish to, and do, just that. Our job is to allow them to do so.
Stu
