Do you feel pressured being unaturally nice when you get warnings

[Trine 665]

In terms of warning points. Its kinda different from learning from mistake, its sorta like if someone stamped warning points on your face if you didn't behave in school. Just wondering if some feel some pressure from misbehavior into a more false ultimate nice behavior and pressured fear of it getting worse.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Trine

[A Black Circle 1,585]

Nope. I just get unreasonably dissapointed in myself (or the staff if it was an unfair warning)

[Koukatsu 5,898]

(Topic moved to more appropriate forum (Feedback) by @Simon.) 

 

 

 

Its kinda different from learning from mistake

Well, generally, warning points come after several other offenses. Basically, the points mean the person did not learn from their mistakes, and was elevated from a (or several) PM warning(s), to the next level of punishment for a continuous breaking of the rules. Often times, they'll break the same rule two, sometimes even three times, and in short succession.

I myself got a stern PM, before I was staff. I didn't feel the need to be polite because they were staff, though I was very panicky. I'd barely joined, and almost immediately put myself on staff radar in a negative way. I didn't stop posting, or anything like that, but I started thinking my responses over better. 

[PoisonClaw 8,153]

A little bit. I'm generally a nice guy anyway and while discussion and debating can get a bit heated at times, the one time I said something worthy of earning warning points made me feel like I was walking on eggshells for a few days after, like posts that weren't mean or offensive could be misconstrued as such because of something I said.   

Edited May 24, 2015 by PoisonClaw

[Castle Bleck 19,163]

Even now, despite currently having none, I'm paranoid about getting too many and getting banned.

[Shanks 10,811]

No, yes I have gotten warning points before but no I have never been suspended, put on mod queue or been in any serious danger of being banned. There are some things I am surprised I haven't gotten any points for and then there are other things were I am surprised to have gotten points for but part of that may be that this site is huge and moderation won't catch everything. For those of you that know me well enough I am generally not afraid to express my opinions and this has sometimes put me at odds with moderation here so if I felt enough of a need to risk getting in serious trouble to say something I believe needs to be said than I will say it and won't let fear get in my way.

 

That is not to say that I will go out of my way to make trouble or start fights  as I would have gotten in a lot of more trouble much sooner if that were the case but there are some cases where you just have to speak up and not be afraid of the "man" laying the hammer down on you. Artemis has been back as admin for a while and Jeric got promoted up to admin which gives me some hope for this site even with some of the problems it still has. Why I keep coming back here though is despite all the BS there, despite certain users and staff getting on my nerves most of the people here are actually cool.

[Sommar 1,289]

I've only got a warning PM one time, but no warning points. If I was a person who was a constant troublemaker on here, I would get pretty paranoid. If you get too many you could get banned according to the Global Rules. I try to be as civil as possible on here; I don't want to draw unnecessary attention. Plus, I'm a nice woman IRL and I feel respect is important no matter what.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Sommar

[A Black Circle 1,585]

I don't recall ever getting warning PM's.

 

EDIT: I've gotten one for abusive behavior, but not for character limit violation, which I did get points for but no PM.

Edited May 24, 2015 by FlinchCat

[Banul 3,831]

The only time I've had mods warn me in PM's was when I tried to go around the character limit. The only time I got warning points was for posting a link that had some NSFW  text, way back when I first joined this forum and didn't know better. For a little while I got very cautious around potentially NSFW topics, but I got over it.

 

 

Honestly, as long as you're not being a dick to people I feel like it should be easy enough to avoid warnings. There can be some debate on what consitutes "abusive" behavure because people can get heated when talking about subjects they care about or when they're calling somebody out, but for the most part if you treat people with respect and arn't activly insulting them you should be fine.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Banul

[Venomous 18,813]

I've had my fair share of warnings on here.

I think that there is a difference between being friendly and just being respectful

[JonasDarkmane 19,777]

Well, the warning that I got helped shake me and put some sense into my head. Now I am a lot more careful at what I am posting . 

[GuillermoGage 246]

Excessive pressure to be unnaturally nice is the primary reason why I am not very active on here.

 

I have seen several forums lose prominent members, including formerly draconian moderators, and it sterilizing and stagnating, and shrinking the community, including to the point of the forums being discontinued.

 

Forum moderation is censorship, plain and simple, and the current level of it on close-knit forum communities always does more harm than good.

[SynBassilicious Pony 322]

Forum moderation is censorship, plain and simple

But removing rude posts and spam that no one would want to look at is a good thing (I'm referring to aggressive or pointless posts that some trolls/bots have put on here).

 

 

It seems the rules for behavior are mostly "don't be an unfriendly hostile person", not "be unnaturally nice", so I don't worry about it. 

 

...I hope I don't sound like I'm on a high horse (er, pony?). 

[Drakkon 362]

But removing rude posts and spam that no one would want to look at is a good thing (I'm referring to aggressive or pointless posts that some trolls/bots have put on here).

 

 

It seems the rules for behavior are mostly "don't be an unfriendly hostile person", not "be unnaturally nice", so I don't worry about it. 

 

...I hope I don't sound like I'm on a high horse (er, pony?). 

You're entirely correct. Most communities (that are not 4chan) tore themselves apart every time they capitulated to demands to lighten moderation to the point where very few things could get you banned. You can even find examples in this very fandom of huge communities that are now obscure because they did not understand that neither children nor adults want to experience anarchy, and neither did they appreciate just how much of a minority their vocal minority was. MLPForums has been this way since its inception until today and continues to grow, and a stable community without moderation does not exist.

[Shanks 10,811]

Forum moderation is censorship, plain and simple, and the current level of it on close-knit forum communities always does more harm than good.

It is a necessary evil, even NSFW sites have rules, though they tend to be a bit less strict than places like this for obvious reasons. Most of the rules here are reasonable but the enforcement of certain rules in certain situations can be a tad questionable. You can argue that moderation equals censorship but no matter how civil and well maintaining a site is there will always be trolls, disputes between members and basic maintenance such as moving, locking and hiding threads ect...

 

That is not to say that certain sites don't have their problems though the problem with moderation here is that it has lost touch with its members and has formed a bubble around itself with most of them not remembering at all what it is actually like to still be a regular member which is a serious problem. Part of this is the large workload of maintaining a site of this magnitude, but part of it is also problems with the culture which has made even a former admin admit is a bit of a circle jerk.

[Steve Piranha 28,750]

In terms of warning points. Its kinda different from learning from mistake, its sorta like if someone stamped warning points on your face if you didn't behave in school. Just wondering if some feel some pressure from misbehavior into a more false ultimate nice behavior and pressured fear of it getting worse.

I had those experiences when I joined my first forum MANY years ago, one can't help but deel uneasy of what one posts afterwards 

 

Nope. I just get unreasonably dissapointed in myself (or the staff if it was an unfair warning)

I got some unfair warning and suspensions in other forums, but I admit I made some mistakes that one can't help but feel dissaponted and dumb for it. Once I've been explained on why I got those, read the post and I tell myself "WHAT WAS I THINKING?" 

 

Even now, despite currently having none, I'm paranoid about getting too many and getting banned.

Properly paranoid, I'm with you here. You won't know when one get an unfair warning, or  have a brain shutdown and make a mistake you're normaly too careful to make 

 

I don't recall ever getting warning PM's.

 

EDIT: I've gotten one for abusive behavior, but not for character limit violation, which I did get points for but no PM.

How do you make character limit violation anyway?  , I don't think it's possible to post under the limit 

Edited May 27, 2015 by Steve Piranha

[Fhaolan 4,468]

How do you make character limit violation anyway?  , I don't think it's possible to post under the limit 

 

You get this one by posting obvious filler. Things like ((SPAM SPAM SPAM... Just making up the character limit... ignore this, I'm breaking rules... etc.) 

[LittleMac 3,084]

I actually feel the opposite. Sometimes I feel like I oughta be nicer, otherwise it'll look like I don't care for people. Like if I don't PM someone back because I was busy that day. That's what scares me, I don't think being too nice is something I worry about. It's just hard to give ALL my attention to one person because there are so many people here who also need some kindness to be shown to them...

Edited May 27, 2015 by LittleMac

[Steve Piranha 28,750]

You get this one by posting obvious filler. Things like ((SPAM SPAM SPAM... Just making up the character limit... ignore this, I'm breaking rules... etc.) 

Oh, thank you  . See? that's scary, I've been close to break that rule a couple of times for having not idea how to actually reach the limit  . A proff that is easy to think you're careful enough, but that makes easier for an eventual DERPING    and PRESTO, you got a warning point  :comeatus:

[Sunshower Raindrops 3,227]

Naw if you right filler crap just to post something, depending on the content and meaning of it they will change it. XD

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,671]

The job of the moderator (fundamentally at least) is like that of the body's immune system. They let in people or behaviors that can be tolerated or even beneficial and keep out people or behaviors that are harmful. If you aren't overstepping boundaries then you will be tolerated. Otherwise, adios, amigo.

 

You feel upset because it makes you feel unwanted, unappreciated, perhaps even hated?

Too bad.

 

Nobody's going to sort it out for you so you may as well do that on your own. Honestly, losing some member people are getting tired of is preferable to keeping that person if it makes the whole place feel sour (although there are ways to make a community atmosphere sour and corrosive while working within the boundaries imposed, but I won't get into that).

 

And this is why I'm not in PR.

[Prince Firemane 309]

Well, I haven't gotten a PM warning or points, but I understand the feeling. Sometimes tempers get heated in debates and I've had that happen to me a lot. I was recently in one where Jeric hid a few comments and told us to simmer down. I felt like I was walking on eggshells a bit after that, sure, but I think it was a good thing. Admittedly, I can get pretty vicious sometimes and I feel it's necessary for reflection if I get a check every now and then. I personally like the moderation here; they're attentive, but not suffocating. I've been on too many forums where there was no moderation and everything just went straight to hell really quickly. Conversely, I've been on several forums where moderation was so suffocating that saying anything that could possibly be seen as just a tiny bit negative would've resulted in a permanent ban. Seriously.

[GuillermoGage 246]

But removing rude posts and spam that no one would want to look at is a good thing (I'm referring to aggressive or pointless posts that some trolls/bots have put on here).

 

 

It seems the rules for behavior are mostly "don't be an unfriendly hostile person", not "be unnaturally nice", so I don't worry about it. 

 

...I hope I don't sound like I'm on a high horse (er, pony?). 

This subjective wording ultimately amounts to propaganda against free thinkers.

 

Rude posts should not be removed. People say rude things. That's real life.

 

Maybe violent threats and huge flooding posts should be controlled, but other than that, absolutely not. The default attitude of most people on the Internet is a bit opinionated, but smart enough to self-police. It would be ideal if there was a decent vote system if enough members vote about something, if Internet forums have the technology for that.

 

You're entirely correct. Most communities (that are not 4chan) tore themselves apart every time they capitulated to demands to lighten moderation to the point where very few things could get you banned. You can even find examples in this very fandom of huge communities that are now obscure because they did not understand that neither children nor adults want to experience anarchy, and neither did they appreciate just how much of a minority their vocal minority was. MLPForums has been this way since its inception until today and continues to grow, and a stable community without moderation does not exist.

Say them. You don't have to tell the whole story (but you are welcome to recall as much as you can remember, that you feel is appropriate to recount, in case you are worrying about making a long cool story bro wallo'text of history, or PM things to me, or not. I'm okay with whatever large walls of text you can throw at me. But I am aware that people have their own lives and they might not care to type up a report for my benefit for lowly little me.)

 

...but try to list one or two examples. After all, you said "You can find examples".

mlpchat? mlpforums.forumotion.com? mlponline.net? Thanks to search engines and lurking a few places I am familiar with several different URLs related to MLP that have a set of forums as a primary function of the site.

 

I can say examples of forums that used to be number one or two among their fandom's fan forums that died off at the height of their fandom's popularity. Instances where it made little sense that usage would decline so heavily.

 

hungergamestrilogy.com (still officially up but almost empty, and the first ever hunger games fandom URL ever made)

and mockingjay.net(used to be huge and active during the time of the Catching Fire movie) are very dead, and have been since... I reckon before 2014 started. Altho I cannot be entire sure what caused them to die out, these are websites that almost certainly remained very politically correct the whole way through, given the demographics and ideologies of most of the members. So those didn't fade away because of people leaving due to not wanting to see rude posts.

 

 

I always check search engines to see what reasonably active forum communities exist, and indeed, admittedly there are only a few MLPFiM oriented ones that are actually active, not almost solely roleplay, and have a somewhat active of a non-Pony/General Discussion/Not related to the thing that the forum is mainly about.

 

And those forums, while admittedly not being as prolifically active with as many people to talk to, are supremely better, because there is much less walking on eggshells.

 

whenever I go on some of those smaller forums, I find myself encountering some of the better members on there. Either they post on multiple forums to have some variety, or they got banned from here. They are usually invariably the most interesting people that contribute a good deal to the place.

 

I've also seen some forums that have lost very intellectual members, members who used to post rather often on both main-topic and non-main-topic boards of the forums, and also never got into any trouble, but still confided in me that a forum community was terrible and stifling (despite not having a vendetta against it from being in trouble, because they never did get in trouble/warned/banned). EquestriaForums is somewhat on the decline from losing some of its better odd characters do to a combination of the banhammer and people leaving (almost certainly due to the stifling circlejerk and not from annoying rude posters bumming them out)

 

Perhaps you have just an many stories as me, perhaps not.

 

EDIT: a minute later. Anyway I don't intend to personally volley back and forth on here, that would get annoying. I've got PMs and personal contacts listed outside of this site.

Edited May 31, 2015 by GuillermoGage

[Jeric 46,834]

I have kept this open for several days allowing people to vent or provide their opinions. What we are ultimately talking about is application of the abuse rule. Good news. In the last few weeks actual action on reported and discovered abuse has dropped dramatically. Either that means we as staff are focusing less of warning people outside of a courtesy reminder to prevent a topic from turning into an argument, or the community itself is just chill lately. Maybe a mixture of both. Probably a mixture of both. 

 

I have some cold water to throw on this thread however. There are some things that will always be considered a bad idea to type on this forum. One example would be anything that attacks a group of people, or an individual, based on race, sexual orientation, sex, or religion - specifically slurs. Call me Mr. Rogers, but I feel that members are entitled to have a niche on the internet to call their own without the worry of being called a faggot if they are gay, or subhuman for actually having a religion. That goes beyond a cerebral examination of individual, political, or societal issues ... and it has no place here. Directly insulting people ... not a good thing either. It is absolutely fine to say you think someone's opinion is wrong because 'x'. Calling them a dumbass or autist just because of their stated opinion doesn't agree with you ... that won't fly either. This is not  a hard thing to avoid. If avoiding it is unnatural to you ... I don't know what I can really say to you. As with NSFW, there are plenty of sites that allow unrestricted discussion. We don't want to be a pepper too. We like being unique. It suits us.

 

The abuse rule is not going away. 

 

I'm calling this discussion closed. Thank you all who participated.