This has always been a concern of the members of this forum, but since allowing members to see their current "Warn Level", it has become more noticeable that some are worried what offenses could yield warnings, posting restrictions, and/or bannings. Now before you go reading the list provided here, remember these are the rock bottom guidelines. There is no skirting around these offenses, but each case's severity is subject to the interpretation of the staff/moderator team.
This is the first step to a site wide crackdown on member to member respect. The staff and mods tried asking you nicely to...well play nice.(See Sean's Thread Here) Didn't seem to take so now we're telling you to be nice, or you won't be around much longer.
Before now, you had 10 warnings till you reached 100% on your warning level and we were forced to ban you. Sometimes it wasn't always for good, but that's changed.
This is the list of offenses that will land you with warnings and when necessary an out right banning:
Warnings:
* Sexual and/or vulgar language or other content - Minimum 2 Warnings
* Indecision Threads - Minimum 1 Warnings
* Attention Threads/Posts - Minimum 1 Warnings
* Flaming/Arguing of any kind - Minimum 1 Warnings
* Oversized Signatures - Minimum 1 Warnings
* Demeaning/Degrading Remarks - Minimum 1 Warning
* Destructive Criticism - Minimum 1 Warning
* Spam Posts - Minimum 1 Warning
* WIP Threads with no progress pics - Minimum 1 Warning
* Necro-posts - Minimum 1 Warning
* Trolling - Minimum 1 Warning
* Multiple Simultaneous posts - Minimum 1 Warning
Banable Offenses:
* Mass Spam - Level One Punishment Minimum
* Multiple Accounts - Level One Punishment given to primary account (All other accounts will be banned entirely)
* Unauthorized Recasting - Level Two Punishment Minimum
* Self Crediting Another's Work - Level Two Punishment Minimum
* Circumventing Punishment via Creation of New Account - Level Three Punishment to ALL accounts under that IP address.
These are the Punishments for Accumulated Offenses:
* Level One - (3 to 4 warnings) - For repeat offenses, offender receives a temporary ban; Unrelated offenses, offender's posting privileges will be revoked; Either one will last for a minimum time of 1-2 weeks, but no more than one month.
* Level Two - (6 to 7 warnings) - Receives a temporary ban of no less than one month, and posting approvals of a mod for an addition 2 week period after.
* Level Three - (10 warnings) - Receives a permanent ban from the forums. PERIOD!
Now that you know what's at stake, let's try not to meet any of those requirements that'll land you in the hot seat. Contrary to popular belief, we don't like to ban people or issue warnings. Therefore, it would actually be helping the staff/mod team to behave yourselves and let us worry about other issues that need our attention. wink.gif
Questions and Concerns:
* "What about my current 'Warn Level'?" - We'll take that into consideration as all warnings carry a time-stamp, but if your a repeat offender considerations might just fly out the window.
* "Will my warnings ever go away?" - As it stands right now, that's done on a case by case basis. It's rare, but if you actually show that you've made an effort to change your ways, it might come back down.
* "So if I do special stuff for the site or people on it, I'll get my warnings lifted, right?" - If that's the reason you do anything nice for the site or it's members, then no. No favor will be shown. "You do the crime. You do the time."
Addition questions and concerns may be directed toward staff/mod personnel. Those questions asked enough will be put here.
One last thing...
As Doom says, "You can't stop hammer time. Be Smart or Be Banned!"