Post by President Bao on Nov 14, 2014 6:43:52 GMT
The previous rules were:
Admin would provide numerous private warnings to a member breaking these rules, and only if/when these were ignored would warning strikes be given against the account, and only once enough strikes were accumulated were repercussions enacted against the user. The intent was that Admin would address problematic users respectfully to lead by example, and act more as a helper than a punisher, working through the users issue(s) in private.
However, evidence indicated that such leniency does not really speak in the best interests of the community as a whole, and the closed door nature of these dealings does somewhat oppose the transparent approach to management and community involvement that we have strived for.
Therefore, I am updating the Rules as follows:
While Administrators response to rule breaches will be as follows:
All infractions will be recorded on the public 'Warning Board'. This allows the community to scrutinise the rulings for consistency/equality, see that rules are being enforced satisfactorily, and to learn from their peers example to better understand what is and is not considered acceptable.
For 99% of people the below details will not be relevant, however:
Breaches of the rules will result in a strike being recorded against your account - The first time a user breaches a rule, a verbal warning will be publicly given and recorded, this is a curtsey that you will only be afforded once. Each Strike is worth 10 points, and you can receive up to four strikes at once if your misconduct is judged as severe or flagrant enough. For each strike you will receive a ban of increasing duration as follows:
10 - 5 minutes
20 - 30 minutes
30 - 1 hour
40 - 6 hours
50 - 12 hours
60 - 1 day
70 - 2 days
80 - 5 days
90 - 5 days (again)
100 - permanent
Each Month, your warning will drop by 5 points *if* it is above 50. You will never be able to reduce your warning level below 50 though.
Format for the warning board will be as follows -
Member Name: who was given the strike, linking their profile
Warning Amount: [old value] -> [new value] (duration of ban)
Reason for Warning: why they are being giving this warning, including the specific rule(s) they were breaking and a link to the thread and ideally a copy of the specific expert in question
So as an example of something you might see on the warning board: (though hopefully not often)
------
General Rules
1) Act maturely, friendly and responsibly. Insulting fellow members or staff is forbidden, as is any kind of discrimination during your daily discourse.
2) Slang words and swear words are allowed, but not used in a manner used to offend or hurt another person. Discriminatory terms are NOT allowed in any sense. Finally, if we have any complaints about the amount of foul language used this rule could be changed, so try to limit yourself.
3) No public sexual content, even in roleplay. If you so desire, this can be pursued off-site with another member. The site must remain friendly to 13-and-unders.
4) Members must be logged in to post, guest posts won't be considered valid due to the potential for 'fraud'.
5) Bad behavior in the c-box will not be tolerated - treat it as an extension of the site.
6) Do not vote on polls using alternate account, everyone only gets to vote once.
7) You do not talk about fight club.
1) Act maturely, friendly and responsibly. Insulting fellow members or staff is forbidden, as is any kind of discrimination during your daily discourse.
2) Slang words and swear words are allowed, but not used in a manner used to offend or hurt another person. Discriminatory terms are NOT allowed in any sense. Finally, if we have any complaints about the amount of foul language used this rule could be changed, so try to limit yourself.
3) No public sexual content, even in roleplay. If you so desire, this can be pursued off-site with another member. The site must remain friendly to 13-and-unders.
4) Members must be logged in to post, guest posts won't be considered valid due to the potential for 'fraud'.
5) Bad behavior in the c-box will not be tolerated - treat it as an extension of the site.
6) Do not vote on polls using alternate account, everyone only gets to vote once.
7) You do not talk about fight club.
Admin would provide numerous private warnings to a member breaking these rules, and only if/when these were ignored would warning strikes be given against the account, and only once enough strikes were accumulated were repercussions enacted against the user. The intent was that Admin would address problematic users respectfully to lead by example, and act more as a helper than a punisher, working through the users issue(s) in private.
However, evidence indicated that such leniency does not really speak in the best interests of the community as a whole, and the closed door nature of these dealings does somewhat oppose the transparent approach to management and community involvement that we have strived for.
Therefore, I am updating the Rules as follows:
General Rules
1) Act maturely, friendly and responsibly. You are expected to express yourself in a civil and level-headed manner during discussion or debate, therefore insulting fellow members or staff is forbidden, as is any kind of discrimination, overly aggressive behaviour or general actions which are not deemed by staff to be polite and proper during your daily discourse.
2) Slang words and swear words are allowed, but not used in a manner used to offend or hurt another person. Discriminatory terms are NOT allowed in any sense. Finally, if we have any complaints about the amount of foul language used this rule could be changed, so try to limit yourself.
3) No public sexual content, even in roleplay. If you so desire, this can be pursued off-site with another member. The site must remain friendly to 13-and-unders.
4) Members must be logged in to post, guest posts won't be considered valid due to the potential for 'fraud'.
5) Bad behavior in the c-box will not be tolerated - treat it as an extension of the site. If requested by staff to stop a given discussion in cbox, you are to do so immediately - if requested by a fellow member, then you are also to respect their wishes unless staff expressly say otherwise. (Sometimes cbox is not the right place - If it is truly a discussion you wish to pursue further you should instead create a thread for it.)
6) Do not vote on polls using alternate accounts, everyone only gets to vote once.
7) You do not talk about fight club.
1) Act maturely, friendly and responsibly. You are expected to express yourself in a civil and level-headed manner during discussion or debate, therefore insulting fellow members or staff is forbidden, as is any kind of discrimination, overly aggressive behaviour or general actions which are not deemed by staff to be polite and proper during your daily discourse.
2) Slang words and swear words are allowed, but not used in a manner used to offend or hurt another person. Discriminatory terms are NOT allowed in any sense. Finally, if we have any complaints about the amount of foul language used this rule could be changed, so try to limit yourself.
3) No public sexual content, even in roleplay. If you so desire, this can be pursued off-site with another member. The site must remain friendly to 13-and-unders.
4) Members must be logged in to post, guest posts won't be considered valid due to the potential for 'fraud'.
5) Bad behavior in the c-box will not be tolerated - treat it as an extension of the site. If requested by staff to stop a given discussion in cbox, you are to do so immediately - if requested by a fellow member, then you are also to respect their wishes unless staff expressly say otherwise. (Sometimes cbox is not the right place - If it is truly a discussion you wish to pursue further you should instead create a thread for it.)
6) Do not vote on polls using alternate accounts, everyone only gets to vote once.
7) You do not talk about fight club.
All infractions will be recorded on the public 'Warning Board'. This allows the community to scrutinise the rulings for consistency/equality, see that rules are being enforced satisfactorily, and to learn from their peers example to better understand what is and is not considered acceptable.
For 99% of people the below details will not be relevant, however:
Breaches of the rules will result in a strike being recorded against your account - The first time a user breaches a rule, a verbal warning will be publicly given and recorded, this is a curtsey that you will only be afforded once. Each Strike is worth 10 points, and you can receive up to four strikes at once if your misconduct is judged as severe or flagrant enough. For each strike you will receive a ban of increasing duration as follows:
10 - 5 minutes
20 - 30 minutes
30 - 1 hour
40 - 6 hours
50 - 12 hours
60 - 1 day
70 - 2 days
80 - 5 days
90 - 5 days (again)
100 - permanent
Each Month, your warning will drop by 5 points *if* it is above 50. You will never be able to reduce your warning level below 50 though.
Format for the warning board will be as follows -
Member Name: who was given the strike, linking their profile
Warning Amount: [old value] -> [new value] (duration of ban)
Reason for Warning: why they are being giving this warning, including the specific rule(s) they were breaking and a link to the thread and ideally a copy of the specific expert in question
So as an example of something you might see on the warning board: (though hopefully not often)
------
Member Name: Bao
Warning Amount: 20 -> 30 (1 hour ban)
Reason for Warning: [imaginary link to thread here]
Bao, in the above message you were observed as being very rude and disrespectful to Pieter, your use of racial slurs is in violation of rule 2) 'Discriminatory terms are NOT allowed in any sense' and your aggressive behaviour and insults is not considered acceptable as outlined in rule 1) 'You are expected to express yourself in a civil and level-headed manner during discussion or debate, therefore insulting fellow members or staff is forbidden,'.
Your ban will last for one hour and your existing strikes mean you are now up to 30, if you return and continue with these insults or otherwise cause trouble, you will automatically receive the maximum four additional strikes immediately(a 2 day ban) - this behaviour will not be tolerated, and we both know you're better than this.
Warning Amount: 20 -> 30 (1 hour ban)
Reason for Warning: [imaginary link to thread here]
*lets pretend a regular discussion about choc mint and choc orange devolved into me swearing at Pieter repeatedly and calling him many racially changed names, and this quote would be the specific post(s) where I crossed that line*
In a case where the specific quote can no longer be retrieved, witnesses will be cited here instead. eg:
Witnessed by Emer, Nai, Oni, Pieter and Milac -
Emer: Bao was making many comparisons between pieters face and aspects of human anatomy while using the n-word like some sort of replacement for the space bar
Nai: Yeah, what emer said - I've never seen him speak so inapproariately before, definitely not cool
Milac: ^
In a case where the specific quote can no longer be retrieved, witnesses will be cited here instead. eg:
Witnessed by Emer, Nai, Oni, Pieter and Milac -
Emer: Bao was making many comparisons between pieters face and aspects of human anatomy while using the n-word like some sort of replacement for the space bar
Nai: Yeah, what emer said - I've never seen him speak so inapproariately before, definitely not cool
Milac: ^
Bao, in the above message you were observed as being very rude and disrespectful to Pieter, your use of racial slurs is in violation of rule 2) 'Discriminatory terms are NOT allowed in any sense' and your aggressive behaviour and insults is not considered acceptable as outlined in rule 1) 'You are expected to express yourself in a civil and level-headed manner during discussion or debate, therefore insulting fellow members or staff is forbidden,'.
Your ban will last for one hour and your existing strikes mean you are now up to 30, if you return and continue with these insults or otherwise cause trouble, you will automatically receive the maximum four additional strikes immediately(a 2 day ban) - this behaviour will not be tolerated, and we both know you're better than this.
