Guybrush

Introduction

I am proposing a new policy for rule enforcement. Some key features are :

• Equal treatment of members
• Predictable consequences for rule breaking
• Transparent rule enforcement
• Mod job is made easier by automatic creation of reports, rule enforcement records and bans

I've summarized my suggestion below in some simple points. Each point is discussed more in detail below.


Summary

The proposed policy is based on the following philosophy.

• The rules should apply equally to all
• Mods should strive to react to any instance of rule breaking
• Rule breaking should be consistently punished with temporary infractions
• Members should be informed impassionately about what rule they broke and the amount of infractions they got as a consequence

These points are discussed below under discussion.


Plan of action

The following is a proposed plan of action for implementation.

1. Bolster the mod team with more moderators
   • Ask ex-mods to come back
   • Consider members for modship
2. Mods revise the rules in cooperation with admins (Yac)
   • Update rules announcement
3. Mods determine infraction amount penalties for various instances of rule breaking
   • Penalties can be revised to fit the current infractions system OR
   • Infractions preset values can be modified to fit penalties
4. Write up guide with examples in mods forum to help mods moderate according to new system
   
5. Inform the rest of the community in a dedicated thread
   • Set a startup date
   • Possibly give weekly updates on how the new system is working, perhaps with some stats
6. On startup date and thereafter, moderate post-startup-date-posts according to new system

Discussion

The rules should apply equally to all

Noone should be allowed to break the rules more than others. To ensure fairness and justice, the rules should generally apply equally to all, whether they are old time members, newbies, moderators, etc.


Mods should strive to react to any instance of rule breaking

To discourage rule breaking, it is important that rule breaking has predictable, negative consequences. Reacting to all instances of rule breaking is also a way to promote fairness, by ensuring that all who break a rule are punished.


Rule breaking should be consistently punished with temporary infractions

Temporary infractions is a great way to punish members and especially when used consistently. Among other things, infractions have the following benefits.

• Are easily available from every post through a drop-down menu
• Automatically creates a PM to the user and a report quoting that PM for other mods to see in the mods forum
• Has the ability to give predetermined amounts of infractions as well as custom amounts
• Are generally temporary, but can also be permanent
• Infractions automatically "keep score" for moderators, meaning that if two moderators unknowingly punish the same user for two separate rule breakings, the infractions add up
• Go on a users permanent record for easy reference in the future
• Makes temp/permabans an automatic consequence of the system, removing decision making and manual action needed to ban members

Infractions are versatile and while such a system can be strict, it can also be calibrated to be lenient, allowing members to commit low levels of rule breaking without serious consequence.

Small amounts of infractions generally do little, but as they pile up, freedoms are automatically removed as the user passes certain thresholds. A user who breaks a minor rule may not suffer any true ill conseqence, but if he or she keeps it up and gains more infractions, he or she may become automatically tempbanned until the infractions time out, putting the user back under the ban threshhold.

More than just a punishment, the amount of infractions a user has can be seen as a measure of freedom. A user with 0 infractions have more freedom than a member with 6 infractions.


Members should be informed impassionately about what rule they broke and the amount of infractions they got as a consequence

Members are generally punished through infractions, not through PMs. Should a conflict arise between a mod and a user as a result of an infractions PM or similar, the mod has nothing to lose while the member has "everything" to lose. To ensure that mods do not abuse this position of power by escalating conflict to goad or troll users into breaking more rules, policy should dictate that PMs are meant to be informative and never hostile.

Angry PMs from punished users are to be expected. Moderators should generally be encouraged not to answer such PMS, or at least to do so with professionalism and good temper.

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