Three Strikes

[Levi Argon]

I have been thinking about the "warning" which are issued to offenders here prior to a banning which is consequently brought about by a second, inexcusable offense. The whole concept of a warning seems rather vague to me. I was thinking that perhaps a change is in order.

How about a "Three strikes and you're out" rule? With three chances, this gives the moderators the opportunity to be far more stringent and crack down on constant offenders thus whittling them out of this community. If an individual realises he's had two strikes from the staff here and has witnessed the zero-tolerance approach that comes hand-in-hand with the "Three Strikes" scheme, then I think it will act as a far greater deterant than a slap on the wrist and a "Now don't do that again!" And another: "This time we mean it!!" Time and time again.

Another powerful way to impose this scheme would be to have a visual aid, like the stars for numbers of posts we could have a space that can fit up to three X's for three strikes. This would only be visible to administrators, moderators and the individual themselves. Also, this enables the staff to see who has had how many strikes and thus know who to keep an eye on immediatly. That way the staff can efficiently keep track of offenders and keep an easy-to-use record showing how many chances said individual has left.

Of course, unlike the stars system for posts, the strike system would have to be coded so that every account for each individual has the same number of strikes and changes simultaneously as the number of strikes changes.

Of course, there could also be reward via a system of merit/good-behaviour. If a person bearing one strike goes without fault for say two months then they can have the strike removed. And a person with two stars has to four months before they can have one of their strikes removed. Personally, I believe it would be an easy to use and understand system if the coding is possible and would act as a much more evident and detering method of maintaining order.

[Admiral Lebron]

I agree. It can whittle out some people rather fast.

[TheHolo.Net]

I do know of a fairly simple way for warnings to be tracked, but users themselves could not have access to it or they would have the ability to remove them. Any other method of implementation besides what I have in mind would be beyond my own ability to write PHP.

My idea is to create what would look to moderators and administrators like another custom title field ( I could make it viewable in profiles but non user editable now that I think about it). That field could contain any warnings issued. The only problem with making it viewable in user profiles is that everyone would have the field displayed in their profile whether there were no warnings issued or not.

I have been considering adding the field for a couple of weeks already mainly because I have lost track of the things for and times Gue has been warned.

[Levi Argon]

But if we gave them three chances then although some would say we are going easy on them it would give the staff the opportunity to be that bit more stringent and it would show. Someone starts giving grief to an admin or talks to a fellow roleplayer in a blatantly disrespectful way then Strike One.

After the first strike, I think the moderator would have to confer with the rest of the staff just to be sure though. You see, if we have three strikes instead of a warning then a banning, that way we can dish them out less reservedly and make it clear that the staff are cracking down on offenders and will no longer tolerate abuse.

[TheHolo.Net]

I agree that it is a good idea and that was why I was considering adding the ability to more easily track offenses previous to your mentioning it here. Its typical CYA (cover your Booty) mentality that I do normally have and have found a need for in recent weeks.

And to be honest, the three strikes (warnings) your out thing was more or less how it was done before, though never really implemented properly mainly because of poor documentation and tracking.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

And we're talking Staff as in staff members, not group mods, correct?

[Navaria Tarkin]

Well, if Ogre can get a way to track it as a hack, then I would be for it. Also, need to splain it all to the posters before we magically start implementing it :p

[TheHolo.Net]

There isn't any way that I could keep group mods from being able to edit the field, but I did intend it for SWFans.Net RP staff use. I could create seperate fields for other groups if they would like to implement a similar system for their boards.

[TheHolo.Net]

I do believe there is a "warning" style hack, but with as busy as I have been with move stuff lately, I have not een able to look it over carefully.

[Ryla Relvinian]

The AIM warning system comes to mind when reading this.... I think it's a great idea. I'm all for having a little... I dunno, maybe a frowny-face or a green growling ogre icon that signifies a "strike."

[TheHolo.Net]

:lol ......growling Ogre....so appropriate

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I'm just worried that someone with a grudge against another poster, who might happen to be a mod at a group board, would use the hack to incorrectly warn. We also could have what happens on AIM all the time..people warning other people as a joke.

[Levi Argon]

Yes, specifically for the roleplay staff. I just think it would have a far greater impact than just a text PM issuing a warning. If the poster could see that he/she has only one chance left and the record of their strikes/warning was available to see and had not been forgotten about then I think they would make an extra special effort to abstain from abusing the good nature of the forum staff.

[Levi Argon]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
I'm just worried that someone with a grudge against another poster, who might happen to be a mod at a group board, would use the hack to incorrectly warn. We also could have what happens on AIM all the time..people warning other people as a joke.

Difference is that your average poster wouldn't be able to issue a warning or strike. That would be for the forum moderators to do.

[TheHolo.Net]

I will do what I can to find some time and reseach the hack "warnng" system available at the vb hack board as soon as I can.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I understand that, Gav.

[Admiral Lebron]

Didn't see gav's post when I wrote it. :(

[Marcus Telcontar]

Warning one - Panning

Warning two - Wedgy

Warning three - Enema.

[Ryla Relvinian]

:lol ow? yes. More like... warning three = banning?

[Levi Argon]

Originally posted by SWFans.Net
I will do what I can to find some time and reseach the hack "warnng" system available at the vb hack board as soon as I can.

Great stuff. Take your time with it, sounds like you've been running yourself ragged lately. One thing at a time, whilst all the hassle with the moving is going on, leave the rest to the moderators, they are capable of keeping things under control. Otherwise you'll end up stressing yourself out. :x

[Figrin D'an]

Warning Three = Global Banning, reversable only by a 3/4 majority vote of the board staff


My two cents...

[Levi Argon]

Global banning!? Doesn't that mean the "banee" will be banished from all vBulletin Boards? :eek

[TheHolo.Net]

Originally posted by Levi Argon
Global banning!? Doesn't that mean the "banee" will be banished from all vBulletin Boards? :eek Nope. vB boards are all seperately owned and therefore seperately administered. He means global in the sense of all SWFans.Net boards, including groups.

And thanks for the comments about taking it easy, tis appreciated.

[Levi Argon]

Ah right. I was going to say banning the person from every vBulletin Board is a bit strong! Although I daresay we'd be doing other board owners a favour. ^_^;

[Figrin D'an]

:lol

Sorry for the misunderstanding there... yeah, I meant global in terms of SWFans and all subsidiary boards.


Really... I'm a forgiving kind of guy...


;)

[Navaria Tarkin]

I dunno, Fig is turning us into the Senate with that 3/4 rule :lol but it does serve an excellent purpose because if someone jumps the gun, we can put a stop to a quick thinking third warning

[Figrin D'an]

*** Does Emperor Palpatine cackle ***


oh wait, I mean.... um...

:mischief

[Nupraptor]

As far as the warnings go, how about this: You issue the warnings via PM, then save a copy of it. Perhaps you could then post about the warning here. Once three warnings have been accumulated, that's it - they're gone.

[Master Yoghurt]

I agree with Nup's suggestion, that would work

And the 3/4 rule seems to add some flexibility to the 3 strikes rule in certain scenarios, so I agree with that as well

[Navaria Tarkin]

But ... how can we keep track of all the PM's unless something is stated here?

Cuz PM's could overlapped, hopefully not :lol

[Nupraptor]

That's why I suggested saving a copy of the PM here, for referance.

[Levi Argon]

But I still think a visual indication like the way stars are used for posts would be more effective and easier to use. If the poster can see that his account has two strikes/warnings recorded on it then it is one hundred percent unforgotten. Saving a pm in a closed forum takes away the ever present and imposing threat manifested in something like I have already suggested.

We don't want to give community members a false sense of security thus making them think their past offense(s) have been forgotten and as a result offend once again. We want to deter them from recommiting an offense, recorded pm's in a hidden forum wont do that I'm afraid. They need to be constantly aware that their past actions have not been forgotten.

[Nupraptor]

Point. I was just trying to think of a simple solution. :)

[Evil Hobgoblin]

And I might add that waiting two months, then doing something that will get someone a strike promptly that week is likely to occur, and should be handled, perhaps, by the reinstatement of the first strike, as well as the addition of a second strike.

This is a suggestion, not a command. :)

[Levi Argon]

Originally posted by Evil Hobgoblin
And I might add that waiting two months, then doing something that will get someone a strike promptly that week is likely to occur, and should be handled, perhaps, by the reinstatement of the first strike, as well as the addition of a second strike.

This is a suggestion, not a command. :)

That's what I was thinking, would give the offender a nice little suprise if they thought: "Oh now that I'm off the hook I can do it all over again." Nope, I think knocking it up to two strikes if they reoffend only a couple of days after having their first strike being taken away.