Okay. I'm going to pitch an idea here. Just an idea is all. What is this community? It's a loose affiliation of people from all walks who talk and post in all different manners. With a group of people like this, shit is bound to break out. Shit flinging contests and arguments that suck the whole forum into a petty, useless drama fest that spreads to other neighboring sites.

What is this site? This site on paper is a relaxed, easy going community that wants to grow and just do it's thing. And for the most part, this is true. But there is an issue here that I don't believe we can avoid at this point any longer.

Cue "Mod Bias."

Now, the mods have done a good job so far. They've done the best they can but they're only people. And they're trying to live up to the mantle of "an easy going community." And to do this they try to play fair. Negotiate with people and work things out. This isn't a bad thing. But this is a simple fact of life.

People are fucking assholes. People are fucking stupid.

And inevitably, arguments and shitstorms start up again even after the mods, people who just want to keep the peace spend fucking hours of their day trying to reason with two fucking cinderblocks for people who don't know when to shut their traps or use some common sense.

So what do you do? How do you maintain an easy going community, yet live up to the mantle of easy going and relaxed, while keeping the zest and randomness of the flood alive in some sense?

You streamline the rules. You build a new system that doesn't drag the mods into the ring with the offenders. Because so far that's what happened. The mods get dragged into the fighting ring with the offenders and play a boxing match with each other when they have to pick a side.

And that's not fair. So. Here's the idea.

You have two categories. A light category, and a heavy category. And here's the really important catch.

This rule set does not ovverride our standard set of rules but is designed specifically around arguments and fights between other users.

Light Category

This category is for people who break the rules, but they aren't assholes about it. Maybe they posted something that was against the rules, or let the wrong thing slip, just a simple mistake on their part. Maybe they started a debate with another user that turned into a mild back and forth volley. And they just didn't drop it.

Case and point. We'll just call them Larry and Jenny.

A little while back, Jenny and Larry got in a fuss. From a technical standpoint, Larry really did nothing horrible. But Jenny kept at it. Kept on pushing. By rights, Jenny was the offender. But at the same time, Larry kept the fight going. Defending himself. Kept on sparking the fire.

This ended up in a huge debate and negotiation that took hours between all the mods. Not only were the mods debating among each other, but they were trying to work out a resolution between both parties. It was a mess. Larry was unfortunately a vocal member and somewhat of a contributor. If you swung the hammer on Larry as well as Jenny, Larry would stir up a shit storm. Likewise, Jenny would have too because both believed they were right.

And if you warned or banned one of them?

MOD BIAS.

Better watch out for those words folks. Those are dangerous words.

So. What's our light system and how would it deal with a case of Larry and Jenny?

3 strikes, 3 sets.

1st: 5 Minute ban
2nd: 10 minute ban
3rd: 15 minute ban

1st: 30 minute ban
2nd: 40 minute ban
3rd: 50 minute ban

1st: 1 hour ban
2nd: 3 hour ban
3rd: 5 hour ban

So. you ask the question. Why minutes? Why hours? Because this is a light category. It gives people some time to chill and relax. It's like a time out. These times aren't overly long and they start simple. But they increase to let people know that they're walking on dangerous ground.

So. How would this help with Jenny and Larry?

Jenny was the instigator, and Larry just wouldn't drop it. You give them both a slap. It's just a slap is all.

What if Jenny was the instigator and Larry decided to drop it? Jenny gets a slap. Simple, plain, and fair. If two people, no matter who they are, the offender or the defender, start up something that goes out of hand, they're both in the wrong if they keep it up. And you slap them both for it.

Heavy Category

This category is for people who don't give a fuck. These are the heavy offenders. This category is entered when somebody uses up all their strikes on the light category. For the sake of balance and fairness, whenever somebody lands themselves in the light category, and gets to the end of the road, they have a timer.

Like they do now with warnings. A warning is placed on somebody and stays there for a certain length of time before reseting back to zero. However. With this set this has the ability to be abused. What if somebody who doesn't give a fuck coasts through the light list and then simply waits for the reset, and then comes back to their normal self once the timer rests?

You give them three chances. One pass through the light list, a timer reset down to zero, they have two chances left. Once those chances are blown through, the offender is automatically moved to the heavy offender list.

So what happens with the offender list?

1st: 1 day ban
2nd: 2 day ban
3rd: 3 day ban

1st: 1 week
2nd: 2 week
3rd: 3 week

1st: 1 month
2nd: 2 month
3rd: End of the road. Permanent ban and server blacklist.  However, this can be appealed if a user wants to come back and they can make a convincing enough case that they aren't going to be a sack of shit anymore.


The heavy offender list has no timer. There are no resets because once you land in here you're an asshole. What's the heavy offender list for?

Generally, the same stuff as the light list, except taken to extremes. Either somebody does little things and eventually lands themselves in this list and they realize that they're walking the green mile, or they land themselves here automatically because of the harsher actions they've taken on other users.

The entire point of this sytem, or a sytem like this, is solely for the arguments that are generated between two users. And as some people bring up, there are legitimately people that don't care whether or not they have access to this place.

And you know what? Fuck them. If they don't care, then we shouldn't care either. This site was built because one person cared enough to do so, and cared enough to invite everybody in for the party. The mods do their job and signed up because generally they care about trying to keep things tidy and easy going.

But the fact is, some people are assholes. And you know what you do with assholes? Give them a chance. Give them a chance, and if they can't smarten the fuck up or at least tone it down, then you take them out back and old yeller them.

Because with them around, you can't keep a relaxed, friendly, stable community. You can't create a welcoming environment for new people. But at the same time, you don't want to go full totalitarian state on this place.

Which is why these rules are only to be used concerning arguments between users outside of the Anarchy forum.

So. There you go.

What do you folks think?


.

Like I posted in the other thread - we're going to have a poll to determine the style of moderation before we iron our a process as to how moderators will enforce the rules.

You're welcome to post this in that poll thread as well, but if you could....condense it, slightly?

If an editor feels like condensing my shit but keeping it explainable in the manner I wrote everything up to make it clear as fucking day, then they can go for it. I am physically incapable of condensing my shit.

I think this should be moved to Sep7agon.

But, Sand, how would you feel about the idea of monitors being able to dole out "ultra-lite" bans of anywhere from 30 minutes to like two hours, in order to stop an immediate shit-flinging or undesirable behaviour, which isn't exceptionally serious?

That's a decent idea. But you know what you run into with that?

Ding ding.

MOD BIAS.

"This mod banned me for ten minutes but didn't ban so and so for ten when they did something worse."

If you have a clear, established set of rules then there is no bias.