Hello everyone,
Today we'd like to give an update on how we plan to do bans in the future. There's been an increased amount of complaints on recent bans on the site, and as a result we've decided to take a look on how to improve the consistency of our system. While we believed it worked well for the first year, it's been harder to keep up this year, and we believe we need to hold ourselves accountable and ensure that improvements are made. So a large goal is going to make bans feel more clear to every user, along with trying to have better communication with our banned users so they can hopefully be reinstated. We believe that we have not offered enough opportunities to people to truly help them avoid being banned again, and would like to change that with a new reinstatement system. To begin, we're finally going to be introducing a point-based warning system on the site, explained below.
The New Points System
To improve consistency, we will be handing out 5 different types of warnings/bans. This may seem like a lot, but compared to the past, it should be a lot more consistent and organized. Below we'll explain the different categories. Different categories will lead to different point totals. Points will not expire, and when 10 points gets reached for a user, they'll face an indefinite site ban. Unfortunately Xenforo doesn't really have a suitable system to see how many warning points you currently have, but if you want to know, feel free to message a moderator at any time to check your current standing.
Warnings (1 Point)
Reinstatement
In short, people who are banned will be able to play in Lounge again, with very close monitoring and restriction. The process that these players will be welcomed back varies depending on the offense they were marked with, which is explained further in-depth below:
Minor Offenses
The reason we are allowing banned players to play again is based on trust. If a player is seen being toxic or harassing others during any point of their ban while being in lounge, their privileges will be revoked depending on what phase they are in. If they are unrestricted in chat, they will be restricted again for another month. If they are already on restriction and are going out of their way to harass others, they may be completely removed from lounge as they have shown that they are a threat to others in the community. Those who show excellent behavior may have a chance to be reinstated earlier as well.
Today we'd like to give an update on how we plan to do bans in the future. There's been an increased amount of complaints on recent bans on the site, and as a result we've decided to take a look on how to improve the consistency of our system. While we believed it worked well for the first year, it's been harder to keep up this year, and we believe we need to hold ourselves accountable and ensure that improvements are made. So a large goal is going to make bans feel more clear to every user, along with trying to have better communication with our banned users so they can hopefully be reinstated. We believe that we have not offered enough opportunities to people to truly help them avoid being banned again, and would like to change that with a new reinstatement system. To begin, we're finally going to be introducing a point-based warning system on the site, explained below.
The New Points System
Just to clarify, there aren't going to be any new rule changes. However, we've clarified instances of things that violate the ruleset in case you need a refresher on what is considered inappropriate conduct on the site, which you can read here.To improve consistency, we will be handing out 5 different types of warnings/bans. This may seem like a lot, but compared to the past, it should be a lot more consistent and organized. Below we'll explain the different categories. Different categories will lead to different point totals. Points will not expire, and when 10 points gets reached for a user, they'll face an indefinite site ban. Unfortunately Xenforo doesn't really have a suitable system to see how many warning points you currently have, but if you want to know, feel free to message a moderator at any time to check your current standing.
Warnings (1 Point)
- No ban is given, only a point will be given out.
- Warnings will be given out to people with 0 points beforehand as a hint that they've gone over the line, but only for minor offenses.
- An action deemed to be a major or severe offense will still be given out as a major or severe offense.
- Only one warning will be given out, as implied by having 0 points being required. Please take these warnings seriously - because the same offense will lead to a ban next time.
- Staff Members are not above all warnings, and may also be warned for abuse of power.
- Staff are held to a higher standard - obtaining a warning will likely result in a removal from staff groups, even if no ban is handed out.
- Incidents where full teams are involved and/or responsible for harassment in the community may result in the entire team obtaining a warning if no definitive offender can be determined, or if an attempt to cover up an offender is made. With repeated misconduct, the whole team may face a minor offense, which would effectively disqualify them from any current competitions and other events for the rest of the ban length.
- Results in a 1-month ban.
- Essentially the same as warnings, but for repeat offenders.
- May be given out for considerable cases of harassment.
- May be given out to people who lie to staff to prevent or lower punishment, as well.
- Results in a 3-month ban.
- Reserved for cases that are notably more serious, such as bullying or making the community feel like a less safe place.
- Likely also given out to those who come forward about an alternate account, rather than an indefinite ban when the staff discovers it on their own.
- Results in a 6-month ban.
- Reserved for cases involving extensive harassment, likely targeting a specific individual or group of people heavily.
- Indefinite bans will be immediately issued to people who are found responsible for completely egregious acts that are against the site rules. These bans will likely be permanent.
- Indefinite bans will also be issued to those who violate competitive integrity (alting/cheating on site/site events), however with higher chances to be reinstated.
- Indefinite bans will be issued to those who accumulate 10 total warning points.
- Indefinite bans will not have a set return date, with a minimum length of one year and a maximum length of eternity.
- Reinstatement options will be offered to users who display excellent behavior. Check the section below for more details.
- Successfully reinstated users will start again with 5 points on their profile. These five points are permanent, meaning there likely will not be another opportunity after. The goal of the reinstatement plans will be to prepare users to not have to worry about reaching 10 points ever again.
- People who are on a reinstatement path who obtain another weaker offense may set back the reinstatement or cancel the opportunity completely.
- Repeated minor / major offenses in a 6 month time period will likely result in higher offenses being applied per case.
- (Ex: a 3rd major offense in a 6 month period may be applied as a severe case, bumping the point total to 11, over 10)
- We feel the need to go harder on repeated offenses because if anything they show a lack of care / willingness to improve
- (Ex: a 3rd major offense in a 6 month period may be applied as a severe case, bumping the point total to 11, over 10)
- No other ban lengths will be given out than the ones mentioned anymore.
- Ban length won't ever be based on how many points you have, unless it's an indefinite ban.
- For instance, being handed a minor offense and major offense later will result in 4 total banned months, despite having the same point total as one severe offense.
- The overall goal of this system is to give more warning to what is deemed right / wrong actions. At the end of the day, everyone is still responsible for their actions, so if you're not sure if certain behaviors are deemed acceptable, you probably should not be acting in that way. It is our job to make the community as welcoming of a place as possible for the benefit of all users new and old, so if you're making it less welcoming, then you are subject to any of the above warnings/offenses.
- Things such as criticism of staff, expression of opinion, and harmless jokes will never be considered to be against the rules. Users obviously have the right to say things like this. Legitimate harassment, hate speech, or excessive trolling is when action will start to take place. If someone kindly asks you to stop something that may be deemed offensive, then that's a gigantic hint that the behavior should not continue. Actions that make other members of the community uncomfortable are forbidden.
Reinstatement
With the way bans have previously been dealt with, we feel that a blatant flaw with the system is that players who were/are banned have had virtually no chance to prove they've changed or learned from their punishment outside of just no additional bad news. Traditionally site bans mean players are unable to play in any site affiliated events. However, we'd like to open up the lounge as a way for site banned players to get some competitive games in, with some quicker incentives to have a feel of progress towards unbans. Bans will typically start off with no access at all, but with time more abilities will be granted. Check below for more details.In short, people who are banned will be able to play in Lounge again, with very close monitoring and restriction. The process that these players will be welcomed back varies depending on the offense they were marked with, which is explained further in-depth below:
Minor Offenses
- For the first two weeks of their ban, they will be able to play lounge, however, they will be chat restricted with the JudgeDredd bot.
- For the final two weeks of their ban, they will be unrestricted and will be able to chat freely.
- For the first month, they will be restricted with the JudgeDredd bot.
- For the next two months, they will be able to chat freely.
- For the first month of their ban, they will be muted in lounge and not allowed to play in any mogis.
- In months 2, 3, and 4, they will be able to play in mogis, with the JudgeDredd chat restriction.
- In the final two months of their ban, they will be unrestricted and be able to chat freely.
- For the first 3 months since they have been banned, they will be muted in lounge and not allowed to play in any mogis.
- For the next 3 months (4,5,6 since the ban), they will be able to play in lounge with the JudgeDredd bot chat restriction.
- After month 6, they will be freed from the chat restriction and able to chat freely. After 1 year has passed with no complaints, they are potentially eligible for reinstatement.
The reason we are allowing banned players to play again is based on trust. If a player is seen being toxic or harassing others during any point of their ban while being in lounge, their privileges will be revoked depending on what phase they are in. If they are unrestricted in chat, they will be restricted again for another month. If they are already on restriction and are going out of their way to harass others, they may be completely removed from lounge as they have shown that they are a threat to others in the community. Those who show excellent behavior may have a chance to be reinstated earlier as well.
With the way the ban system was in the past, players who were banned were often given a message and a conversation detailing why they were banned, and then had all their privileges removed. With no real opportunity to display change for the better, this system just set them up to be banned again as they may have never fully grasped why what they did simply isn't acceptable. Mods will be checking in with users throughout their ban now, to answer any potential questions or concerns they may have, along with making sure everything is ok in general.
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