One of the things members have been asking for is for the staff to be clearer about what is acceptable and what is not, and for there to be a clear and fair way for people to know when they’ve broken the rules. As well as for there to be clearly defined consequences for breaking those rules that all members are equally subject to.
With that in mind, we have spent a lot of time rewriting and reorganizing our FAQ and Board Rules. Please read the FAQ through carefully because a lot of changes have been made.
Here are some important highlights:
Infractions System
We have also put into use the Infractions System for the board. You will find detailed information on it in the FAQ. In short, we have put into place a “3 strikes” system. For most rules, you will receive 3 warnings before being placed into the infractions system. Then, once you amass 3 infractions, you will be subject to loss of board privileges. All of the infractions and their consequences are spelled out clearly in the FAQ. Each infraction itself “expires” after a set period of time (usually 30 days), so that you can wipe away any infractions by following the rules. It is our hope that no one will ever get to 3 infractions and have to be disciplined.
Signatures
We have changed the rules about signatures, so please read those carefully and make sure yours follows them. Note that we have changed the maximum size to 200 pixels high by 700 pixels long. Any one banner in your sig, however, cannot be larger than 150 pixels high by 500 pixels wide. This is to keep people from making one HUGE banner their signature. We have made the max a little taller to allow people to put small banners or buttons in their signatures in addition to a main sig banner. After a lot of discussion we have decided that this is the fairest compromise to let everyone have a reasonable signature that loads reasonably on everyone’s computers.
Visitor Messages: Important Change, Please Read!
There are two important changes being made to the use of visitor messages on the board.
First, all visitor messages from now on must be public. In reviewing problems between members on the board, we noticed that members were being gossiped about and in some cases nasty comments were being posted in visitor messages. The authors didn't see much problem in that, because they were thought to be private. But those types of comments are never good in any case, and it is too easy for such things to get back to the people they are directed at, especially with visitor messages which are viewable by so many people at once. What if you forget who you've allowed and who you haven't? It's way too easy to make a hurtful mistake.
We are taking this step for the good of the community, and feel it gets vm's back to being used for their original purpose, which is to leave profile comments (rather than as a substitute for private messages).
We will give everyone two weeks from today to clean out any messages they don't want others to see on the board before this takes effect.
The second change is that visitor messages older than 30 days will now be pruned. Because people have been using vm's as a substitute for private messages, the number of messages has gotten out of control in some cases. Pruning older messages will help the boards to run faster. In the case that visitor messages don't accumulate as quickly as they have been, we may prune them less often. But if there are any messages you wish to save, please be sure to do so before they hit 30 days old.
We're sorry for any inconvenience these changes may cause you, but we hope that you understand that the board will be better off in the long run for them.
Rule Change Regarding Abuse of Staff
In the last year we have seen a big increase in abuse directed at the staff. It’s been a point of discussion and concern for us for most of that year. We have put off taking any action on this, hoping that things would get better, and it saddens me that this is the tack we have now been forced to take.
This isn’t a new trend, and it’s not a result of the Time Out. I blame myself, because for 7 years I wouldn’t let the staff defend themselves on the board when they faced rudeness and even abuse; I required them to just take it and let it go. And that was wrong of me and set an awful precedent.
They have increasingly been subjected to rudeness, name-calling, insults, gossip and personal attacks. It’s come from private messages, visitor messages, emails and posts on the board. It’s hurtful, it’s wrong, and we have lost too many mods because of it to allow it to continue anymore. There is not one member of the staff, including myself, who haven’t been hurt by members. Every one of us has thought about leaving the board. These are people who work hard to make this a nice place for everyone to post, and they are being treated horribly in return. No one should be allowed to intentionally and maliciously hurt the feelings of another person, and we will not allow it any longer.
Please believe me when I say that if things continue as they have been, the board will be closed.
Some people on this board seem to think that because someone is on the staff, it’s okay to say whatever they want to and about them. That is simply not true. It hurts us, and it makes it more difficult for us to do our job.
Because of all of this, we are forced to put the “3 strikes” rule officially into effect. On the third instance of staff abuse, you will be banned permanently from the board. We don’t want to have to ban anyone, but we have to protect our staff so they can do their job. All they are trying to do is make sure everyone knows and follows the rules of the board, and make sure the boards are kept orderly and easy to follow!
We understand that you might disagree with a staff decision, and that’s okay. But that is not an excuse for bad behavior. Often, people will fire off an abusive and nasty pm or post without even trying to politely ask why a staff action was taken, or even trying asking for whatever change they would like to see. If people remain calm and polite, the staff will be happy to make it work if we can. But we will no longer respond to aggressive and insulting demands.
I know that the bullies out there are about to respond to this post by saying that we are censoring members or not allowing people to disagree with the staff. This is not the case. You are free to disagree, and express that disagreement appropriately. HOWEVER, the manner in which you disagree is what separates the bullies from the concerned members. If you feel a mod has acted inappropriately, please feel free to contact an admin about it. WE don’t want a rift between mods and members; unfortunately, there is an element on this board that seems to thrive on and even encourage one. But we will no longer let those people benefit from our hard work while they bash us or argue just to argue.
With that in mind, we have spent a lot of time rewriting and reorganizing our FAQ and Board Rules. Please read the FAQ through carefully because a lot of changes have been made.
Here are some important highlights:
Infractions System
We have also put into use the Infractions System for the board. You will find detailed information on it in the FAQ. In short, we have put into place a “3 strikes” system. For most rules, you will receive 3 warnings before being placed into the infractions system. Then, once you amass 3 infractions, you will be subject to loss of board privileges. All of the infractions and their consequences are spelled out clearly in the FAQ. Each infraction itself “expires” after a set period of time (usually 30 days), so that you can wipe away any infractions by following the rules. It is our hope that no one will ever get to 3 infractions and have to be disciplined.
Signatures
We have changed the rules about signatures, so please read those carefully and make sure yours follows them. Note that we have changed the maximum size to 200 pixels high by 700 pixels long. Any one banner in your sig, however, cannot be larger than 150 pixels high by 500 pixels wide. This is to keep people from making one HUGE banner their signature. We have made the max a little taller to allow people to put small banners or buttons in their signatures in addition to a main sig banner. After a lot of discussion we have decided that this is the fairest compromise to let everyone have a reasonable signature that loads reasonably on everyone’s computers.
Visitor Messages: Important Change, Please Read!
There are two important changes being made to the use of visitor messages on the board.
First, all visitor messages from now on must be public. In reviewing problems between members on the board, we noticed that members were being gossiped about and in some cases nasty comments were being posted in visitor messages. The authors didn't see much problem in that, because they were thought to be private. But those types of comments are never good in any case, and it is too easy for such things to get back to the people they are directed at, especially with visitor messages which are viewable by so many people at once. What if you forget who you've allowed and who you haven't? It's way too easy to make a hurtful mistake.
We are taking this step for the good of the community, and feel it gets vm's back to being used for their original purpose, which is to leave profile comments (rather than as a substitute for private messages).
We will give everyone two weeks from today to clean out any messages they don't want others to see on the board before this takes effect.
The second change is that visitor messages older than 30 days will now be pruned. Because people have been using vm's as a substitute for private messages, the number of messages has gotten out of control in some cases. Pruning older messages will help the boards to run faster. In the case that visitor messages don't accumulate as quickly as they have been, we may prune them less often. But if there are any messages you wish to save, please be sure to do so before they hit 30 days old.
We're sorry for any inconvenience these changes may cause you, but we hope that you understand that the board will be better off in the long run for them.
Rule Change Regarding Abuse of Staff
In the last year we have seen a big increase in abuse directed at the staff. It’s been a point of discussion and concern for us for most of that year. We have put off taking any action on this, hoping that things would get better, and it saddens me that this is the tack we have now been forced to take.
This isn’t a new trend, and it’s not a result of the Time Out. I blame myself, because for 7 years I wouldn’t let the staff defend themselves on the board when they faced rudeness and even abuse; I required them to just take it and let it go. And that was wrong of me and set an awful precedent.
They have increasingly been subjected to rudeness, name-calling, insults, gossip and personal attacks. It’s come from private messages, visitor messages, emails and posts on the board. It’s hurtful, it’s wrong, and we have lost too many mods because of it to allow it to continue anymore. There is not one member of the staff, including myself, who haven’t been hurt by members. Every one of us has thought about leaving the board. These are people who work hard to make this a nice place for everyone to post, and they are being treated horribly in return. No one should be allowed to intentionally and maliciously hurt the feelings of another person, and we will not allow it any longer.
Please believe me when I say that if things continue as they have been, the board will be closed.
Some people on this board seem to think that because someone is on the staff, it’s okay to say whatever they want to and about them. That is simply not true. It hurts us, and it makes it more difficult for us to do our job.
Because of all of this, we are forced to put the “3 strikes” rule officially into effect. On the third instance of staff abuse, you will be banned permanently from the board. We don’t want to have to ban anyone, but we have to protect our staff so they can do their job. All they are trying to do is make sure everyone knows and follows the rules of the board, and make sure the boards are kept orderly and easy to follow!
We understand that you might disagree with a staff decision, and that’s okay. But that is not an excuse for bad behavior. Often, people will fire off an abusive and nasty pm or post without even trying to politely ask why a staff action was taken, or even trying asking for whatever change they would like to see. If people remain calm and polite, the staff will be happy to make it work if we can. But we will no longer respond to aggressive and insulting demands.
I know that the bullies out there are about to respond to this post by saying that we are censoring members or not allowing people to disagree with the staff. This is not the case. You are free to disagree, and express that disagreement appropriately. HOWEVER, the manner in which you disagree is what separates the bullies from the concerned members. If you feel a mod has acted inappropriately, please feel free to contact an admin about it. WE don’t want a rift between mods and members; unfortunately, there is an element on this board that seems to thrive on and even encourage one. But we will no longer let those people benefit from our hard work while they bash us or argue just to argue.
H
Harley
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