BFRD

I have seen a few questions on how the new Infraction System works so I thought I would touch on a few key aspects.

Here is a sample of what a member will see in their profile:


Lets examine a few of the key pieces here.

The most important aspect of the system is at the top right. In this example the member has 1 point. If the member reaches 20 points a ban would be enforced. Now lets look at the individual items. At first glance you may notice that there are red and yellow "cards" next to each item. For those of you familiar with soccer/football the yellow and red cards are not new. A yellow card represents a warning and does not affect your total point count; it is simply a reminder of the rules. A red card is an infraction and does add to your total Point count. There are also dates representing how long the infraction will be active. Let's take a look at the infraction listed above. It shows that a "Signature Rule Violation" will only be active for 10 days. This means that at the end of 10 days the user's point total will go back down to zero.

You may also notice that the "Post" section says "Profile Warning/Infraction" this means that the Warning/Infraction was not in reference to a specific post or thread. If a member is misbehaving in the CSS server or any other Overclock.net sponsored server infractions and warnings will still be handed out; even though there is no associated thread.

One question that comes up often is: Why do the warnings (that carry no "point" value) remain in my profile? Consequently an expired infraction will not disappear either. These items remain in the user's profile to help other Directors decide how to handle certain situations. They also help remind the member that there may a certain area that needs to be kept in check. The member above is reminded every time he/she looks at their profile page that they must watch their language.

All variables of the Infraction can change. Some infractions such as Spamming one of the servers or Creating Multiple Accounts carry a 20 point penalty so a ban will happen right away. Most Infractions are between 1 and 5 points and expire in 30 days. As long as you take note of the actions that caused you to receive an infraction it is highly unlikely that you will ever be banned. Most members that are banned make no effort to correct their mistakes and continue to rack up points.


Let's take a look at some of the more serious infractions:

Trolling (4pts / 90 Days): When a member posts in a thread or creates a thread just to cause trouble will receive this warning. So next time you think about making a fan boy comment in the middle of thread, keep this infraction in mind.

For Sale Bashing (5 pts / 30 Days): If a member is selling an item, keep your negative comments to yourself or send them in a Private Message directly to the seller.

Software Piracy (5 pts / 30 Days): Anytime that a member discussing acquiring software illegally or even admits to using pirated software this infraction may be used. We take piracy seriously; after all we are protecting you by preventing you from posting material that would incriminate yourselves.

Rude / Disrespectful Post (5pts / 30 Days): This is probably the most common infraction levied against our members. Anytime that you insult another member or make ugly comments this infraction can (and usually will) be used. Most of these infraction stem from reports of the post by the person that was offended. While not every post that gets reported will receive an infraction they *ALL* get looked at. Members who have received this type of infraction or warning in the past are looked at more critically as they have already been warned.

There are plenty of other Infractions so we won't go into all of them here.

The key point that I want to get across is to not overreact if you receive a warning or infraction. They are just here so that you act more carefully in the future.

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BFRD

Recently I had a conversation with one of our members regarding the validity of a warning. This conversation brought up two points.

1. If you are getting worked up over a warning, you need to revisit the first part of this thread. A warning is nothing so serious as to cause a great deal of panic or stress. I state this again to imply a great deal of importance. Warnings help to remind you of a rule that was broken. Perhaps you didn't even know a rule was being broken, so the warning lets you know.
2. All infractions and warnings are made public to the director team. In fact every warning or infraction has it's own thread in the director forum. Often these threads are used to modify the warning or infraction. Sometimes they are reversed and sometimes the warning or infraction is upgraded to something more serious. So this means that more than one person has a chance to comment on each warning/infraction.

The main point is that we are a TEAM of directors; none of us act completely on our own. While we make individual choices we discuss those choices with the rest of the team. No one should ever feel that they are being singled out. We do not have the time to discuss each warning or infraction. So, if you feel that something has gone awry please feel free to bring up a discussion. The Community Directors are here to help resolve these kinds of issues (among others). Contact one of the CDs to bring up an issue with an infraction via PM. Infractions/warnings are private matters and should be discussed privately.

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Highly-Annoyed

I'm pleased to see things like "trolling" are being addressed. Deliberately inflammatory posts/threads really do the forum community no good at all. I have to ask though; are the infractions/warnings based solely on the TOS, or are they based on something else also/entirely?

I only ask because it's hard to avoid breaking the rules, if you don't know what they are and if the infraction/warning system is based on something other than the TOS, folks will inevitably make mistakes without knowing it.

I'd like to see a comprehensive list of infractions that people can read and absorb. That way people will make fewer mistakes and infractions/warnings may feel more justified and less arbitrary if they're given. I don't mind being warned or given an infraction if I've done something wrong and I knew I was doing something wrong when I did it, but I'd feel a bit annoyed if I was penalised for doing something that I didn't know was wrong. A fully comprehensive litany of infractions, similar to the four shown in the first post of this thread would be extremely helpful, if indeed these infractions are not clear from reading the TOS.

Highly-Annoyed

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Taeric

The vast majority of the infractions and warnings are simply common sense. If you treat other members with respect, stay on topic in threads, and your posts are reasonably well written, the chances are that this thread is all of the contact you'll ever have with the infraction system.

The TOS is the governing set of rules for the site, and there are supplemental rules in such section as the For Sale section that address specific issues in that forum.

It's important to remember that "warning" is equivalent to "rule reminder", and getting one is not the end of the world. It's equivalent to a Director sending you a PM to alert you to a rule issue. Warnings open the door to infractions, however, so they do deserve attention and revisiting the rules. Infractions may be given without prior warnings if the offense warrants it. These cases always involve a blatant disregard for obvious rules, and any time a member cites a rules as they're breaking it, an infraction will follow.

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d3daiM

Now, how long do infractions stick around in your CP?

I have 2 that are expired, should they not be gone?

It is..unsightly.

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gonX

They still sit in your profile as a evil "reminder" permanently yet not being active when the 20-point stuff goes checking.

*EDIT*

Directed a D3DAiM

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CyberDruid

That's a very important point IMO.

Too true...

This is a G-rated forum. Imagine your post is about to be read aloud to a group of 8th graders...very intelligent 8th graders...

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JacKz5o

I thought this was PG-13

aweir

Is there a list of all the infractions? Is it an infraction to ask about infractions?

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SpookedJunglist

As for the list of all infractions. We have listed the important ones above. We have several others as well. We also have a custom infractions that is why don't create a list of all of the infractions.

If you are talking about asking about why you received an infraction it is not against the rules to ask us about it. However it has to stay private. Please PM a director and they will look into your infraction. If you ask why you got an infraction in the open forum you will get another infraction.


You don't have any infractions

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