Infraction System - New in vBulletin 3.7 - May 2008

[Marc]

While we hope this is rarely used, as the internet grows more and more people register who are not interested in quality assurance or business standards and business systems. In addition, there is a need to control public acceptability in posts.

At this time, each person has, in their User Profile (NOT their UserCP), an 'Infractions' tab. These can ONLY be seen by Moderators. This 'Infraction Tab' is NOT publicly visible.

The system is being set up and will be operational by Thursday.

I want to stress that we rarely plan to use it, but we want it available. We have issues that arise from time to time that that often no one sees (such as spam posts that are typically deleted quickly) so to the vast majority of you this will not have any effect on you. It is doubtful any of you will even notice it.

Because this is in the process of being set up, I will provide more information on it after I get it set up.

In the mean time, the initial categories are:

SPAM Posts - Thread starter
SPAM posts within an existing thread
Insulting other members in a post
Inappropriate language in a post

I want to AGAIN stress that to 99.9% of the Registered Visitors here this will be an invisible system. I started this thread to tell Registered Visitors about it. I don't want to keep anything hidden in how the forum is run.

If you have any questions about the system, please feel free to ask in this thread.

[Wes Bucey]

As I understand the genesis of "infractions," Forum operators (not just here in the Cove) are beset by folks who continually walk a tightrope of stepping on (and slightly over) the bounds of good taste in matters of "stealth marketing" of their products and services, sniping at other Forum contributors, and just generally making a nuisance of themselves in contrast to the majority of the Forum visitors and contributors. Up to the present, Forum administrators and moderators have spent a lot of "backstage time and energy" discussing these sour apples and sending various private messages and emails in an attempt to develop a good Forum citizen. The complaint always has been, "This isn't quite bad enough to violate the Terms of Service, but the number of close calls we have to consider is taking up a lot of our time."

For us in the quality professions, we understand and welcome a method of applying metrics to the problem of nuisances. This way, moderators and administrators can impose "infractions" against such Forum posters and simultaneously warn them (via private message) of the infraction and the reason for imposing it. Once a Forum poster accumulates a certain number of infraction points (from one or several administrators and moderators) within a time period, that poster may be banned temporarily or banished permanently, based on the metric of repeated infractions.

The good news for the nuisance posters is they won't be summarily banned on the whim of a single moderator for a minor infraction. The good news for the administrators and moderators is the added efficiency of dealing with nuisance posts which currently take up so much backstage time and energy.

How can Forum users help make this program work best for all concerned?
One continuing problem many Forum operators face is FLAME WARS among Forum users who opt to make disagreements with other Forum users public, using intemperate language and aggravating non participants in the war. The simple solution is to refrain from attacking someone back for a slight or insult, but merely to click the "Report Post" button which will notify all moderators of the situation and they may then act in any of the following ways:

1. mediate the dispute privately
2. remove the offending post (temporarily or permanently, depending on the consensus of other moderators),
3. issue or impose infraction points against the transgressor
4. temporarily or permanently ban the offender.

A poor analogy is this: it is not a Forum user's job to be complainant, arresting officer, judge, jury and executioner of infractions, but to be a good citizen and dial 911 (or 999) to report the crime and let the actual police, et al take over.