# Warnings and Bans



## stolenhistory (May 16, 2022)

In recent months, we have seen increased hostility by new members, and this has reached a point where we need to intervene with a more structured approach. Resolving issues has taken a lot of time because we hadn't really agreed on a default way to do it, and this probably also leads to users being annoyed at inconsistent moderator behavior.

We have introduced 3 relevant changes that should help to calm things down:

Warnings
Pre-moderation for some members
No pointless disputes in public (previously moved to "Inappropriate threads")

*Warnings*​
Apparently moderator intervention has to come with some kind of easy to understand consequences. We now have a warning system in place, that automatically leads to a ban when a certain threshold is reached.

7 points lead to a permanent ban.






*Overt advertizing or obvious spam*. 3 warning points per affected post. Points do not expire, because advertizing and spam (not spammy posts, but explicit spam) usually only happens by bot and spam accounts. In practice we will most likely ban spammers outright, if the case is clear. This warning should not affect any normal user.​
*Using the wrong language* (any other language than english). 1 warning points per affected post. Points expire after 6 months. This is pretty straightforward for new members once you have been notified about the rule.​
*Inappropriate behavior.* 2 warning points per affected post. Points expire after 6 months. Inappropriate behavior is when you insult others, troll or are overly abuse or aggressive.​
*Inappropriate content*. 1 warning point per affected post. Warning expires after 6 months. Inappropriate content is content that doesn't have any place in our forum - for example when you repeatedly publish posts that are impossible to comprehend, or don't add anything to the discussion at all. These are posts that make the forum atmosphere worse for everyone because you have to read through pages of content before actually coming across an enlightening and well-researched post. We had been too sloppy with these kind of posts (this is not about off-topic, but about pointless rambling without contributing relevant information at all)​
*Off-topic warnings* by default do not come with warning points. Only when you repeatedly post off-topic content, we reserve the right to give you a point with each warning. Points expire after 6 months, if given. A new user will be warned for off-topic posts without warning a couple times, but at one point they will also come with points, depending on the context.​
We may have to tweak the system a bit by changing the expiration time or number of points required for a ban, it's not set in stone yet. We don't want users to get banned except when it's pretty clear the rules are repeatedly ignored. There's a certain level of shades of grey to inappropriate behavior, inappropriate content and off-topic warnings, so you will not always agree with the moderator decision. Still we try to keep it reasonable.

Each warning is always accompanied by a private warning conversation with the opportunity to resolve things with the moderators. No one else can see the conversation or the warning - only you and the moderators.

You can see own warnings in your profile (no one else can see them):




Hopefully this also will make it a bit easier for all of us including the moderators. The moderator team has agreed on being less sloppy and more consistent with giving out warnings, now that they have more serious consequences. We can also delete any warning if things are resolved with the user, which also resets the warning points.

*Pre-Moderation*​We decided that a number of users will have their posts put into an approval queue - the posts for those users are pre-moderated, and will be approved when the content is appropriate.

This is done for different reasons:

Some users tend to get emotional quickly and insult others often​
Some users tend to derail threads, and post content that doesn't add much to the discussion​
Some users tend to write sloppy posts with many grammatical and spelling mistakes​
If that happens to you - please see this as an opportunity and feedback system to get more accustomed to the rules and our approach.

We wanted it to work without this kind of moderation, but simply asking users to adhere to the basic rules never worked out. It only made the moderation job way too stressful than it should be.

*Inappropriate Threads*​
Here and there we moved some discussions resolving around personal conflicts to the internal area that is invisible to guests or normal members to continue the discussions. We thought it might help to resolve things, but all it did was promoting even more heated discussions.

So this area is now closed.


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