Forum rules and Sanctions

[Capmaster]

I've been reading through your forum rules and sanctions and would like to know if you've always had these rules, or are the current rules the latest revision of many?

How is your current 3-strikes > suspension > 3 strikes > ban sanction policy working?

I ask because our moderators have a different authority level, and the duties are different enough to be worth mentioning, aside from locking threads, moving threads, PM'ing minor violators, etc.

And we have 17 mods and not 47.

It seems like a drastically different approach and I'm curious how it has been working for you. This board has been around for roughly the same amount of time as Videohelp and has probably been through the same growing pains.

Over in our house we have the following fairly common violations:

Specific mentions of warez downloads
Spamming
The occasional flame war

Threads posted in the wrong forum is common, although this doesn't warrant a formal warning unless it becomes a habit by the member.

So, is it working for you guys?

:)

[Sirber]

I don't think we have much warez / spam. Moderators are doing a great job :) I've been here for 2 years and I think the rules had been much the same.

[Capmaster]

Originally posted by Sirber
I don't think we have much warez / spam. Moderators are doing a great job :) I've been here for 2 years and I think the rules had been much the same.
So either the mods are all drinking a lot of coffee, or people generally behave themselves :D Glad to hear it ;)

Thanks Sirber :)

[Sirber]

no problem :)

I'm sure a modo can help you more on that topic. :D

[jggimi]

If I recall correcly -- and there is no guarantee of that -- our "strike" method of imposing warnings and sanctions went into effect in May, 2002. The forum had been operating, with a growing set of rules, since October, 2001.

I do not recall when the waiting period for posting went into effect, but it was put into play due to the huge number of Rule 1 problems caused by the immediately registered, who would 1) come in, 2) ask a question that had already been asked and answered 13 million times that week, then 3) disappear forever.

I remember that initially, there was a three day waiting period, which was later extended to five days. At three days, we had only a small reduction in Rule 1 problems. At five days, the problem was significantly reduced. The policy has been informally reviewed several times since, and has been left unchanged.

[Sirber]

I think it's great the way it is now.

[Doom9]

The strike system went into effect on May 22nd 2002. There were rules before that and I can't give you the exact date when they went into effect.. I couldn't even tell you if there were some at the very beginning. What I can still reconstruct is that the rules were first modified on January 28th 2002, then once again a month thereafter. On March 24th emailing questions was addded to the rules, the set of sanctions (that one has not been changed since) and the waiting period were introduced (3 days at the time). The automatic strike system was first announced on April 30th 2002, then implemented on May 22nd - at the same date we made rules 4 (profanity/insults) and 6 (warez count) for two strikes (strikes were possible before but had to be maintained manually which means it was so cumbersome that hardly anyone ever had to face any sanctions).
On September 25th 2002 rules 13 and 14 were added. On March 23rd rule15 was added after serious blowups about the war in Iraq. On September 13th 2003, rule 16 was added and the scope of rule6 was broadened.

So much for the history lesson.

How is your current 3-strikes > suspension > 3 strikes > ban sanction policy working?I tend to think fairly well, though the first strike often decides upon the future of the strikee on this board. Some months back, we introduced another feature, giving a moderator handing out a strike to write his own personal comment into the PM / email that is sent to a strikee.. this can be used to not pub licly mention that a strike was given, which for some people is a sign of agression apparently.. they seem to be unable to face their own wrongdoings in public. After the first strike, those that really cannot take a reprimand will act out, and subsequently be suspended.. those that are able to deal with a strike, will usually not end up on our radars anymore.

I'm convinced that the strike system works reasonably well. The only problem I see is that the ban is currently still manual.. so it often slips through the cracks but I intend to have something done about that. I just looked up the strike stats, and we seem to have mostly the same problems as you.. rules 4 & 6 are on top of the list, followed by rule 5. But the numbers are not that high imho.. there's 26, 10 and 7 strikes for those rules.. I tend to think it would be way more if there wasn't a strict reprimand system that you can't get around (and the waiting period plays an important rule in keeping people out that have just been suspended.. after 5 days, the initial anger is usually gone, and if we find out about a double registration, that's grounds for an immediate ban).

[Capmaster]

Doom9 sirber and jggimi,

Thanks for that great capsule summary:)

I'm glad it's working. You have a nice forum here and I think we both have little tolerance for warez, spammers, shills, trolls and obsessive flamers. Certain days it seems the nuts come out of the woodwork and all post at once. But thankfully that doesn't happen that often :D

My first day as a moderator we got a post from a Russian pimp spamming for customers for his mail order something-or-other. Just my luck:D The forum rules are clear about spamming ...especially this sort, and the member had one post with a join date only days before. A no-brainer. Still, I had yet to build my confidence and didn't want to do the wrong thing.

So ...with a shaky finger, I hit the "Ban" button and sent him away for good. I had experienced my baptism of fire within 12 hours of being made a mod :eek:

Now I look back and wonder why I was so nervous about that. I've had to ban maybe 6 members ....yellow-card (formal warning) maybe 20 or 30 since that first day. It's all part of keeping the site tidy and ...what many members always seem to forget ....keep the site free from legal liability in the area of warez. That always gets priority over hurt feelings.

Our system has each formal warning made in the post where the violation occurred. It's public. But the yellow card itself isn't visible by anyone other than a mod or the owner of the card. 5 cards means an automatic ban. And all bans are permanent, but the user may contact the admin and appeal. The mods have an IP analysis utility to prevent banned members using an alias.

Appealing a ban rarely results in reinstatement. Usually it's the mod who reconsiders, and not the admin dictating to the mod. The admin places trust in his mod, else he wouldn't have appointed him.

Many decisions about warnings or bans are "gray area", but the mod's judgment is respected by the admin and other mods. The forum AUP has flexibility and clearly states that the final decision in a dispute is determined by the admin or the mod. They're rarely reversed.

In 30 days they can petition a mod to have a yellow card removed, usually the issuing mod. The mod reviews the member's behavior since the yellow, and if they have behaved, then the mod can opt to remove it. But it's solely at the discretion of the mod, as is issuing the yellow, or banning a member. But on the other hand, a mod that runs rampant carding and banning members indiscriminately wouldn't be a mod very long. Baldrick sees all :D

I think we have a friendly, respectful membership, and a very fair moderating staff. And the membership appreciates the fair treatment for the most part. I'm constantly getting positive PMs about the moderators there. It's a nice feeling to get an "atta-boy" from a member who supports you.

Cheers to the friendly doom9 members and staff. :cool: I'm glad to be counted as a member here and plan to visit often to offer what help I can in the video arena.:)