Love, tolerance, and a preview of things to come

[Zoop 8,384]

I'm not going to mince words - the drama levels on the forum recently have been rather absurd. I've seen people openly ranting, raving, and flaming people in the Skype room, have witnessed a large influx of abusive status messages, and have had a great many reports written up for petty bickering and similar nonsense.

 

It needs to end - and it will end, one way or another. To be completely blunt, if anyone here cannot bring themselves to not be a prick to their fellow members, they need to get out and find a new forum.

 

If you don't like everyone here, that's fine - it's natural to dislike people from time to time, and even natural to want to kick them in the teeth now and then. What isn't fine is to drag your baggage out into the open and to throw it out all over the community for everyone to see.

 

To cite a specific example of what I'm talking about, let's look at some of the response toward people's declarations that they are leaving the forum. Plenty of folks were being reasonable and nice, which is good - but plenty more were being abusive, abrasive, mocking, and all-round rude.

 

I would like to provide a bit of a news flash: every mocking status message aimed at people that have stated their intent to leave the forum has served no purpose what so ever other than to validate their misgivings about this community. You don't have to like them, or their reasons for leaving; you don't even have to like the fact that they've announced their intention to leave - what you do have to do, is not be a prick; to them, or to anyone else for any reason.

 

I do not believe that this is an unreasonable stance.

 

---

 

With that particular happiness out of the way, this would probably be a good time to formally announce that we will soon be implementing a new warning system. Whereas warnings currently mean nothing at all, and are distributed in an extremely awkward and inconsistent manner, we're looking at getting things standardized.

 

In short, every post deletion will carry with it a certain warning weight. By tracking post deletions in this way we will be able to more easily build up a permanent record of sorts for potential troublemakers. Predefined warning levels also carry the benefit of greatly increasing moderation consistency, and removing some potential for unintentionally biased decisions.

 

Without further ado, this is what we are presently looking at. Note that these numbers are subject to change prior to implementation.

 

---

 

Pointless/Off-topic posts: 35 points

Backseat moderating: 100 points

Character minimum violation: 125 points

Advertising: 175

Abusive behavior: 250 points

Suggestive/borderline NSFW content: 400 points

NSFW content: 750 points

 

Two day suspension at 500

Seven day suspension at 750

Eternal banishment at 1,000

25 point reduction per week*

* Some modification required, viability not 100% determined

 

 

Note that the Feldian Clause still applies; the moderation queue remains an option for us to use at our discretion, and in extreme instances people may jump straight to the end of the line. Warning points will be reset when the change is made.

[---------------------- 1,645]

I think this is a good idea, especially with the new warning system, I hoep that this can bring drama levels down.

[NavelColt 22,879]

Hmmm, interesting warning system. Certainly a bit intimidating at first glance, but a good idea nonetheless, though I do agree with the fact that those numbers aren't set in stone, as some of them seem off. As for drama, I haven't been involved in any of it myself, but I've certainly seen it around.

[Guest]

Sounds good to me, glad to see a more formal rules system put into place. It takes away a lot of the chances to slip by the radar, and I think will really help overall.

[spas-ticShotty 3,584]

I find it a bit humorous that NSFW stuff is the most unholy of warning-inducing posts. Not implying anything, but I find that funny

[Opalicious 799]

I think that this seems like a pretty good system, regarding the amount, even in small size, of bickering and arguing I've seen.

Edited August 9, 2012 by Strawberries Yum

[Titan Rising 2,156]

Will the warning points decline over time? Seems unfair not to have some sort of redemption system, especially when it only takes a couple "NSFW content" images or a few cases of "abusive behavior" to get you eternally banned.

 

Why do I never read the last few sentences of posts....

 

In any case, only 25 point reduction per week? That's really nothing... That won't even fully recover a case of a single accidental off topic post per week

Edited August 9, 2012 by Hollowshield

[Princess_Molestia 1,460]

love and tolerance for everyone

 

 

except cloppers, gay people, haters, fans of shitty music and generally anyone who doesn't fit into the mold

 

blah

[Zoop 8,384]

Will the warning points decline over time? Seems unfair not to have some sort of redemption system, especially when it only takes a couple "NSFW content" images or a few cases of "abusive behavior" to get you eternally banned.

 

Yes. As stated, we are hoping - if all goes well on the technical side of things - to have them go down gradually by twenty five points per week. It's a bit slow, but if someone is only having a very rare 'off day', it should be sufficient to keep them from getting near a ban.

[Dragonshy 2,305]

That's brilliant! An entire point system too! I agree to the statements prior to the point system as well. I made a hateful status update, (Not directly pointed at anyone. Which I regret) earlier. Maybe the hate is a bit contagious. Thank you staff team!

 

Ah yes, and is there a way we can see the current points we've accumulated?

Edited August 9, 2012 by DRAGONSHY.MOV

[Crispy 5,563]

Sounds kinda like Something Awful's system, just with points added.

 

I approve of this. I especially like that bans aren't just straight up bans anymore. Temporary bans give mods more leverage than a simple "Hey, stop it."

 

Edit: Okay, I laughed really hard at those tags.

Edited August 9, 2012 by Crispy

[Planty 1,053]

I find it a bit humorous that NSFW stuff is the most unholy of warning-inducing posts. Not implying anything, but I find that funny

 

It is rather funny, but defiantly makes sense considering you only have to be over 13 to be on the forum

 

This all sounds good any eta on when this will come into affect?

[Zoop 8,384]

Ah yes, and is there a way we can see the current points we've accumulated?

The points will appear in the same way they presently do - directly under your user badge. Clicking the warning count will bring up a log of all warnings on file for your account.

 

This all sounds good any eta on when this will come into affect?

We presently have no hard ETA, but hope to have something in place before too terribly long - we'd like to move to the new system without too terribly much delay.

[Vicke 3,189]

I guess this will lead to more

'' Oh no! I got 35 points for being off-topic, better send a moderator a message about it and hopefully he can remove the 35 points''

And so on.

 

Now, when it comes to backseat moderating.

 

If i help someone, or tell someone to behave, is that backseat?

[Planty 1,053]

And I think greater clarity would be needed on some such as advertising, like is an artist allowed to advertise the own works ect in a sig or are we allowed to post someone's DA page if they are selling pushes ect?

[Dragonshy 2,305]

The points will appear in the same way they presently do - directly under your user badge. Clicking the warning count will bring up a log of all warnings on file for your account.

 

I see. Thank you for verifying that for me. I appreciate it. Why do you appear with the pegasus badge currently? (Sorry if I'm badgering you)

[Doctor XFizzle 8,669]

Yeah things have been getting pretty ugly lately. Hopefully it's just a short-lived rough patch because it's the dog days of summer and people don't have enough to do. Once school is back in session and season 3 begins I feel things will return to decent normalcy. But hey, new warning system sounds good and hopefully it will work as intended.

[Pinkie D Pie 1,036]

Yes, I was hoping something like this would happen. All the bickering and drama was insane. I support this fully, and I hope it will keep down all the drama and other nonsence that has been happening lately.

[Pinkazoid 3,493]

This is a pretty good system, although I'm now more afraid than ever to get one of my posts deleted, considering I get plenty of them.....

 

...also, aren't ya'll going to make something about people trying to by-pass the character limit? considering that, well there's plenty of posts that get deleted by that, will they fit in in the same category as "Off-topic/Pointless" ?

 

On nevermind, turns out I just skipped that part xD

Edited August 9, 2012 by Pinkazoid

[Starshine 16,333]

Two day suspension at 500

Seven day suspension at 750

Eternal banishment at 1,000

Isn't that a little bit too close in-between the gaps? It should be like 300-700-1000, that way we can actually see some punishment to those smartass who will try to abuse the rules

[Radiance64 7,053]

I am very much okay with this new warning system, and I hope it will serve to help keep our community as friendly as possible.

[NavelColt 22,879]

I guess this will lead to more

'' Oh no! I got 35 points for being off-topic, better send a moderator a message about it and hopefully he can remove the 35 points''

And so on.

 

Now, when it comes to backseat moderating.

 

If i help someone, or tell someone to behave, is that backseat?

 

Indeed. I feel like someone needs to make a detailed explanation of what is and isn't backseat moderating. Specific tone of text, approach, etc. that is looked out for. Because not a week ago I was deleted off a post for it, when I wasn't even aware it was what I was doing, and was just making a joke. I understand now why it would appear as backseat modding to others, ergo why it was deleted, but if I had known in advance what was looked out for, I probably wouldn't have made the joke, knowing it was apparently so taboo.

[Zoop 8,384]

As stated, nothing is quite finalized just yet - this is just where things are at presently; all of the numbers posted are subject to change. With regards to questions as to what exactly will qualify for what sort of warning, we will provide some more specific bits of information once the system is in place.

 

 

Isn't that a little bit too close in-between the gaps? It should be like 300-700-1000, that way we can actually see some punishment to those smartass who will try to abuse the rules

My current thought is that someone coming back from a ban - regardless of length - should honestly be on their best behavior. Adjusting things a bit so that there's a slightly larger gap between a two and seven day suspension might not be too terrible of an idea, though. Something for us to kick around, at the very least.

[MallaJong1 202]

 

Character minimum violation: 125 points

 

 

This whole thing about the character minimum violation is a bit off-putting because I often post on this site using a cellular device, and the cellular device bypasses the 100 character limit by not detailing how many characters I have typed. And I would not want to have to count each character, which I will not do.

[null123456 759]

This sounds like a really good idea. This'll teach me to keep my mouth shut.

Great Idea, Zoop! I'm ready for when this upgrade comes.