Dear TerraForums users,
We have been discussing for quite some time the infraction system in use here on the forums. It has always been an infraction point system which generally meant 3 infractions, and you're banned. For most of us, not wanting anyone to be banned, would constantly give warnings or ignore situations that were not bad enough to quickly ban and thus, we would only address the bigger/obvious issues. We are rolling out a new infraction system which allows for incrementally working through official warnings and build up to progressively longer bans. We feel this gives us enough room to address smaller infractions of the rules for corrections rather than letting them go by unaddressed at all even when these rules are broken frequently. The new infraction system will work as follows:
An infraction point will stay on your account for 12 months.
1st offense: Warning but no points
2nd offense: 1 Point given
3rd offense: 2nd point given 3 day ban
4th offense: 3rd point given 1 month ban
5th offense: 4th point given 3 month ban
6th offense: 5th point given 6 month ban
7th offense: 6th point given permanent ban
Immediate permanent bans will be given if necessary for behavior that deserves it IE forum spamming, obvious complete disregard of the forum's rules, etc.
One of the best examples of this shift in enforcing rules which before were not quite bad enough for action individually, is a user that many of us know as Mass. In the past, we relied on waiting to hear from users for concrete information on major rule violations, while the smaller (but very frequent rule bending/forum disruptions by him) were allowed to slide by. With our new implementation of the infractions above we can act on the cumulative harm caused by users, with this being a prime example. We have decided to use these fresh eyes to look back at this member's actions on the forum and his recent actions off these forums (which many members have brought to our attention) and take action by imposing a 1 year ban on his account. Hopefully he can clean some things up and return renewed in 1 year.
We have also gone through the various rules on the forum and made sure everything is up to date. None of the spirit of the rules have changed, in fact most changes have to do with selling/buying on the forums with the addition of the classifieds section and things like that. If you would like to see a comparison of the old rules, you can see them as they were on Oct 18th as saved by the internet archive (wayback machine) here. Please take a moment to review all the rules on the forum.
TERRAFORUMS RULES FOR PARTICIPATION
TRADING FORUM RULES AND INFO
TRADING FORUM RULES AND INFO
CLASSIFIEDS RULES. (WORK IN PROGRESS)
Additionally moderation of the chatbox is more difficult to moderate since it goes by so fast and moderators are not always around to keep an eye on this. Reported shouts will be followed up on so please use the drop down next to a users name and select report the chat. Since the chatbox is a hack and infractions given in it are harder to keep track of we are unable to give the many chances we've setup with the forum. Instead, they will be addressed case by case and depending on the severity AND the frequency of reports/rule breaking by any one member. Warnings and temporary bans will be used to encourage users to follow the forum's rule and permanent bans from the chatbox will be given for repeat offenders or extreme rule breaking.
Thanks! Terraforums Staff
We have been discussing for quite some time the infraction system in use here on the forums. It has always been an infraction point system which generally meant 3 infractions, and you're banned. For most of us, not wanting anyone to be banned, would constantly give warnings or ignore situations that were not bad enough to quickly ban and thus, we would only address the bigger/obvious issues. We are rolling out a new infraction system which allows for incrementally working through official warnings and build up to progressively longer bans. We feel this gives us enough room to address smaller infractions of the rules for corrections rather than letting them go by unaddressed at all even when these rules are broken frequently. The new infraction system will work as follows:
An infraction point will stay on your account for 12 months.
1st offense: Warning but no points
2nd offense: 1 Point given
3rd offense: 2nd point given 3 day ban
4th offense: 3rd point given 1 month ban
5th offense: 4th point given 3 month ban
6th offense: 5th point given 6 month ban
7th offense: 6th point given permanent ban
Immediate permanent bans will be given if necessary for behavior that deserves it IE forum spamming, obvious complete disregard of the forum's rules, etc.
One of the best examples of this shift in enforcing rules which before were not quite bad enough for action individually, is a user that many of us know as Mass. In the past, we relied on waiting to hear from users for concrete information on major rule violations, while the smaller (but very frequent rule bending/forum disruptions by him) were allowed to slide by. With our new implementation of the infractions above we can act on the cumulative harm caused by users, with this being a prime example. We have decided to use these fresh eyes to look back at this member's actions on the forum and his recent actions off these forums (which many members have brought to our attention) and take action by imposing a 1 year ban on his account. Hopefully he can clean some things up and return renewed in 1 year.
We have also gone through the various rules on the forum and made sure everything is up to date. None of the spirit of the rules have changed, in fact most changes have to do with selling/buying on the forums with the addition of the classifieds section and things like that. If you would like to see a comparison of the old rules, you can see them as they were on Oct 18th as saved by the internet archive (wayback machine) here. Please take a moment to review all the rules on the forum.
TERRAFORUMS RULES FOR PARTICIPATION
TRADING FORUM RULES AND INFO
TRADING FORUM RULES AND INFO
CLASSIFIEDS RULES. (WORK IN PROGRESS)
Additionally moderation of the chatbox is more difficult to moderate since it goes by so fast and moderators are not always around to keep an eye on this. Reported shouts will be followed up on so please use the drop down next to a users name and select report the chat. Since the chatbox is a hack and infractions given in it are harder to keep track of we are unable to give the many chances we've setup with the forum. Instead, they will be addressed case by case and depending on the severity AND the frequency of reports/rule breaking by any one member. Warnings and temporary bans will be used to encourage users to follow the forum's rule and permanent bans from the chatbox will be given for repeat offenders or extreme rule breaking.
Thanks! Terraforums Staff