Participation Guidelines Updated

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Participation Guidelines Updated

Postby Thoul » Tue Jun 22, '10, 1:48 am

I have updated the site's Participation Guidelines. I ask that all members review these rules for acceptable behavior and rule enforcement policies on the site. Some things have changed.

Some highlights of the guidelines changes:
  • I've gone into a little more depth on the inappropriate content guideline.
  • The filter that prevents some inappropriate words from being posted now flags triggering posts for further review. This is partly to help me get a sense of how often the filter is triggered and partly because I think the "don't bypass" rule is one of the most often broken rules. I hope this will give me a better sense of how these rules work with the community.
  • Consolidated the anti-spam rules
  • The emulation rules are more concise
  • More depth on the disrespect/inflammatory rule
  • Separated and added much more depth on the copyright infringement and plagiarism rule. The plagiarism rule in particular is subject to further revision based on community input.

On enforcement policies, very little has changed but a few things are stated more clearly. The biggest change is that I have recently begun using a new warning system. It is a little more generalized than I would like, but I'm going to try it out for a while because it may save me a little work. It gives everyone a "warning count." The warning count is just how many warnings you've received in the new system (older warnings are still noted elsewhere).
Last edited by Thoul on Tue Jun 22, '10, 3:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Correcting a typo
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Re: Participation Guidelines Updated

Postby Wolf Bird » Tue Jun 22, '10, 2:02 am

Nice new changes, I think they'll help clear up some stuff of what is/isn't okay, and I hope it reduces your workload.

I just have one question...is there anyway for a member to view their warning count? :?
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Re: Participation Guidelines Updated

Postby Thoul » Tue Jun 22, '10, 2:20 am

A good question! I think you can see your warning count in your member profile page (accessed with the Profile button below posts or your name near the top of each page when logged in). It should be just above the Total Posts line. At least, I can see it there; I haven't actually checked with non-admin account.

I hope to add a page in the Member Control Panel that will display warnings received in the future. I don't have a specific timeline for that yet.
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Re: Participation Guidelines Updated

Postby Tsunami » Tue Jun 22, '10, 7:15 am

My question is, after so many warnings, what happens; ban? And do the warnings last despite good behaviour/time passed?
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Re: Participation Guidelines Updated

Postby Tanith » Tue Jun 22, '10, 8:26 am

In other forums I've been to (sorry for comparing) I've seen both bans and suspensions, depending on the severity of the actions the member took to get themselves to the banning/suspension. Would something like that be implemented here, too?
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Re: Participation Guidelines Updated

Postby Thoul » Tue Jun 22, '10, 2:12 pm

A warning currently expires from the warning count after 90 days. This is automatic based on time. I may cut that down to a shorter period at some point. I'm still getting a feel for how this aspect of the system works.

There is no automatic warning number that results in a suspension or banning. This is where the system is more general than I would prefer; it doesn't consider severity of actions. For instance, I would place a lengthy flaming post as a more severe violation than a small offhand comment or a single ROM request. The warning system doesn't see the different degrees of severity in these things; they all just bump the warning count by 1 point.

I don't like that much! So until I have time to work up an expansion that allows severity to be considered, automatic suspensions or bans are not an option I find very comfortable. Whether a suspension or banning is merited or not is a judgment call I have to make. There are several factors I consider in that, including severity, good behavior, and time elapsed between warnings.
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Re: Participation Guidelines Updated

Postby Thoul » Fri Jun 25, '10, 12:47 am

Caged Wolf wrote:I just have one question...is there anyway for a member to view their warning count? :?


My previous answer on this was incorrect. Sorry about that. A member can view their warning count on the first page of the Member Control Panel, at the bottom of the "Your activity" section. If a member has no active warnings in the system, it doesn't appear, however. Also, the "warning count" has renamed to "infraction level," so it'll be listed under that name.

I'm in the process of upgrading the warning system, hence the name change. It's sort of a replacement rather than an upgrade in a sense. A lot of parts of the system were not pleasing to me, so I'm "fixing" it to handle severity and otherwise work like a more automated form of my old method of handling admin actions. Once this is done, differing violations of the guidelines will add differing amounts of points to the infraction level. I may also add an auto temporary suspension or some such. I've not decided on that yet.
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