Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2017 6:14:10 GMT
RULE ENFORCEMENT
Long time ME3Explorer community members know that we've never had a formal rule enforcement policy (we've only just recently started to have actual rules, lol). This is for a couple of reasons. One, for the most part, our forum regulars are good folks and we felt it wasn't necessary. Two, any new policy means more work for us, and we flat out didn't want it.
However, the fact is that we do now have "rules". Rules are a good thing for online communities. Without them, member conduct can get out of hand, which ruins the environment for everyone. Sure, you can always ignore/hide content from specific members who you dislike, but that's not a replacement for proper management and moderation. BioWare's forum closure was a direct result of community mismanagement due to lack of rules and rule enforcement (...and moderators trolling the members also didn't help). If we're going to have rules, they need to be enforced.
Having a formal policy as to how our community rules will be enforced helps remove subjectivity out of the equation and prevents every infraction from having to be a judgement call by the moderators and admins. In some cases, judgement calls are needed, but in most situations, they shouldn't be. Clear policies also help forum members anticipate what will happen when they choose to engage in specific behavior.
Here's how things will work on the forum moving forward:
This amounts to nine strikes before a member is banned permanently. If a forum member behaves in a way to warrant nine separate strikes, that demonstrates a very clear problem and they'll no longer be allowed on the forum.
We want to be clear that these strikes are for minor to moderate issues. Larger problems will be dealt with more seriously, and the member will jump straight to one of the three types of bans. Moderators and admins will make these types of judgement calls together. Also, because this policy is so lenient, don't expect informal "warnings". We understand everyone can have a bad day, but you're going to get a strike when it's warranted. Period. One isn't a problem. Even two isn't a problem. Problems don't start to kick in until three. Three already shows a pattern of behavior, so at that point, you'll likely want to re-evaluate how you interact with the community.
One final thing we want to point out is this: nobody is entitled to be here. Using this forum -- and any online forum -- is a privilege. (U.S. folks, your constitutional right for free speech is protected against the government, not private individuals and industry). Please treat this community and those in it with respect. TL;DR -- If you want to be a dick, that's fine, but we don't have to let you be a dick, here.
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That's about it. This policy will momentarily be added to START HERE. We'll leave this thread stickied and open for a few weeks to ensure maximum visibility and give folks time to ask any questions. After that, this thread will be locked and placed in the Announcements area.
Thanks.
Long time ME3Explorer community members know that we've never had a formal rule enforcement policy (we've only just recently started to have actual rules, lol). This is for a couple of reasons. One, for the most part, our forum regulars are good folks and we felt it wasn't necessary. Two, any new policy means more work for us, and we flat out didn't want it.
However, the fact is that we do now have "rules". Rules are a good thing for online communities. Without them, member conduct can get out of hand, which ruins the environment for everyone. Sure, you can always ignore/hide content from specific members who you dislike, but that's not a replacement for proper management and moderation. BioWare's forum closure was a direct result of community mismanagement due to lack of rules and rule enforcement (...and moderators trolling the members also didn't help). If we're going to have rules, they need to be enforced.
Having a formal policy as to how our community rules will be enforced helps remove subjectivity out of the equation and prevents every infraction from having to be a judgement call by the moderators and admins. In some cases, judgement calls are needed, but in most situations, they shouldn't be. Clear policies also help forum members anticipate what will happen when they choose to engage in specific behavior.
Here's how things will work on the forum moving forward:
- We'll be using a tiered, 3-strike system that uses Proboard's baked-in "warning bar". Every forum member has a warning bar, it just isn't displayed unless it's partially-filled. (Nobody's is partially-filled right now.)
- A total of 3 strikes fills the bar.
- Each time a member fills their bar, the consequence changes: 1=Two week posting/PM ban, 2=Month long forum ban, 3=Permanent forum ban.
This amounts to nine strikes before a member is banned permanently. If a forum member behaves in a way to warrant nine separate strikes, that demonstrates a very clear problem and they'll no longer be allowed on the forum.
We want to be clear that these strikes are for minor to moderate issues. Larger problems will be dealt with more seriously, and the member will jump straight to one of the three types of bans. Moderators and admins will make these types of judgement calls together. Also, because this policy is so lenient, don't expect informal "warnings". We understand everyone can have a bad day, but you're going to get a strike when it's warranted. Period. One isn't a problem. Even two isn't a problem. Problems don't start to kick in until three. Three already shows a pattern of behavior, so at that point, you'll likely want to re-evaluate how you interact with the community.
One final thing we want to point out is this: nobody is entitled to be here. Using this forum -- and any online forum -- is a privilege. (U.S. folks, your constitutional right for free speech is protected against the government, not private individuals and industry). Please treat this community and those in it with respect. TL;DR -- If you want to be a dick, that's fine, but we don't have to let you be a dick, here.
----
That's about it. This policy will momentarily be added to START HERE. We'll leave this thread stickied and open for a few weeks to ensure maximum visibility and give folks time to ask any questions. After that, this thread will be locked and placed in the Announcements area.
Thanks.