Summary
To help moderate the network and our community (forums), we have curated a violation system to help unify the user experience throughout our network, specifically with regard to policy violations. Our terms and policies are laid out as is the case with most forums and communities, but some people don't read them and others might simply make honest mistakes. Nevertheless, we feel it is important to treat everyone fairly and equally, which is one of the many reasons we devised the system that we have.
In the event that a user violates one or more of our policies, an administrator or moderator can issue a type of Network Violation that correlates to the policy (or policies) that they violated. Each Network Violation adds a certain number of points to the account of the user who it is issued to. These points are a bit different than most people are used to. Where people are usually encouraged to gain more points, in the case of the violation system, points have a negative effect instead of a positive effect. The more points a user account gains, the closer they are to getting punished for violating a large number of policies, or committing fewer serious violations. Depending on the type and severity of the violation, points may expire after a specific amount of time. Points attained from egregious violations may expire after far longer periods of time, and in certain cases, may be permanent.
Actions Taken Based on Accumulative Points
- After attaining a total of 4 violation points, the user will be restricted from posting for one week (7 days).
- After attaining a total of 6 violation points, the user will be restricted from posting for two weeks (14 days).
- After attaining a total of 8 violation points, the user will be banned from the network for two weeks (14 days).
- After attaining a total of 10 violation points, the user will be banned from the network for four weeks (30 days).
- After attaining a total of 12 violation points, the user will be banned from the network permanently.
List of Network Violations
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Spam Violation
- Description: Any case where a large number of verbatim, similar, or useless posts or comments are made on the network (forums, comment areas, review areas, etc).
- Points: 2
- Points Expire: After 180 days (6 months)
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Inappropriate Language
- Description: Any use of language that is prohibited throughout our network, such as bigotry, racism, sexism, extreme disrespect, or otherwise.
- Points: 3
- Points Expire: After 365 days (1 year)
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Signature Violation
- Description: Anytime a signature violates our policies with regard to content or size. For more information, click here.
- Points: 2
- Points Expire: After 90 days (3 months)
Effective January 1, 2024, signatures are no longer supported for standard users due to continued abuse and only available for official members.
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Flaming/Abusive Behavior
- Description: Anytime flaming or abuse is expressed throughout our network. Remember, we are meant to be a friendly community.
- Points: 3
- Points Expire: After 730 days (2 years)
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Topic Bump Violation
- Description: Anytime an extremely old topic that, based on its age has no current relevance, is "bumped" by replying to it, potentially causing confusion.
- Points: 1
- Points Expire: After 30 days (1 month)
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Inappropriate Content Violation
- Description: Anytime a topic, post, signature, photo, review, or item otherwise contains content that is against our policies.
- Points: 2
- Points Expire: After 60 days (2 months)