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Moderation System and Governance Structure

Letalis

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The following moderation system will replace our current warning/infraction procedures.



1. Counseling PM's; Notices (Warnings)

1.1. New members (members with less than 50 posts) will receive Counseling PM's for any violations. Counseling PM's are not recorded in profiles. This is a grace period for new members unfamiliar with CF's rules and guidelines.

1.2. With the exception of the aforementioned protocol, all rule violations (by members with 50 posts or over) will result in a Notice. A notice is a warning (renamed), which is recorded in the member's profile, but carries no points. Notices will not expire. Violations that occur at or around the same time may be combined into a single Notice, provided the rule violating posts are documented in the Notice message.

1.3. Infractions and RFE's (requests for edit) are removed from protocol.

1.4. For members that persistently violate forum rules, or cause significant disruption in the forums, an Administrative Warning may be issued. Administrative Warnings remain in effect for 2 months, during which time the receiving member is on strict probation. Any violations of these rules may result in a permanent ban. If the violation is minor, the administrators may opt for a lighter penalty.

An Administrative Warning may be issued at any time, at the discretion of the administrators.

Should junior staff (moderators and supervisors) feel that a member has become a significant disruption, they should forward any and all relevant information to the administrators for review. Any rule violations while an administrative warning is in effect should also be forwarded to the administrators for review.


2. Temporary Suspensions; Permanent Bans

2.1. Cool-off bans may be issued at any time, for a duration of 24-48 hours. Cool-off bans require the approval of at least one administrator.

2.2. Temporary suspensions, longer than 48 hours but lasting no longer than 30 days, may be issued with the consensus of the administrators.

2.3. Forum-specific bans, lasting no longer than 60 days, may be issued with the consensus of the administrators.

2.4. Permanent bans may be issued with consensus of the administrators. There is no set number of violations required before a permanent ban may be issued.

The Reconciliation Team may overturn any suspensions or bans at their discretion.


3. Unilateral and Consensus Moderation

The first staff member to comment in a report is responsible for taking ownership of that report. If he feels the post is in violation, he should unilaterally edit/delete the post or thread. The report should remain open, so that consensus may then be reached. If consensus finds that the post is in violation, a Notice may be issued, and the report closed without further action or review. If consensus finds that the post was not in violation, the post/thread should be restored.


4. Staff Permissions

4.1. Moderators will only have access to their staff tools in their assigned forums. Outside of their assigned forums, moderators will not have access to any staff tools, and should be regarded as regular members.

4.2. Supervisors will have access to staff tools site-wide, and to the Moderator Control Panel (ModCP).

4.3. Administrators will have access to staff tools site-wide, and the ModCP.

4.4. Superadministrators will be the only staff with access to the Administrator Control Panel (AdminCP).


5. Staff Position Descriptions

5.1. Moderators are responsible for actioning reports, including editing/deleting posts, closing threads, and issuing Counseling PM's and Notices. They may guide discussions, through the use of mod hats or staff notes.

5.2.
Supervisors are responsible for oversight of a forum category. They may vote and participate in reports, and overturn moderator actions or consensus, when necessary. Supervisors cannot set forum policy or guidelines, nor discipline or manage staff. Supervisors are appointed by the Reconciliation Team.

All current supermods will be moved to the moderator usergroup within the next few days, and supervisors then chosen by the Reconciliation Team.

5.3.
Administrators are responsible for hearing appeals, setting forum guidelines, and managing team staff. Administrators issue Administrative Warnings, temporary suspensions, and bans. Administrators are appointed by the Advisors.

5.4. The Reconciliation Team is responsible for hearing appeals, and conducting staff reviews. The Reconciliation Team may issue disciplinary action, as appropriate, to team staff (moderators, supervisors, and administrators), including forum reassignment, Letters of Counsel, Letters of Reprimand, demotion, and removal from staff.
Recap:

[1] Members with less than 50 posts receive Counseling PM's.

[2]
"Warnings" are changed to "Notices."

[3]
All violations result in a Notice, with the exception of new members, as noted above.

[4] If a member becomes a significant disruption, or has violated the rules frequently, the administrators collectively discuss the issuance of an Administrative Warning. An Administrative Warning remains in effect for 2 months, and would be a member's last warning, before a ban is applied.

[5]
If the member violates the rules while an Administrative Warning is in effect, the member is permanently banned (leaving room for exception, taking into consideration the seriousness of the offense).

[6] The first staff member to comment is expected to take take action unilaterally. E.g, staff member A is the first one to comment in the report, he feels the post is in violation, so he edits the post (the use of deletions is highly discouraged unless the post cannot be salvaged). The report remains open, so that consensus may be attained. If the other forum staff agree with the action taken, a Notice is issued, and the report is closed without further review. If the other forum staff disagree with the action taken, then the post is restored, and the report is closed.​
 

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A New Dawn

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interesting. best wishes.

It looks like the Reconciliation Team is being given an awful lot of power. I'd like to see the staff of the RT revisited before they are handed that power. There are some there that are very biased.
 
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Edial

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1.2. With the exception of the aforementioned protocol, all rule violations (by members with 50 posts or over) will result in a Notice. A notice is a warning (renamed), which is recorded in the member's profile, but carries no points. Notices will not expire. Violations that occur at or around the same time may be combined into a single Notice, provided the rule violating posts are documented in the Notice message.

...
What is the reasoning for Notices not expiring?

Thanks,
Ed
 
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LilLamb219

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What is the reasoning for Notices not expiring?

Thanks,
Ed

Here is a quote from what Letalis wrote earlier:
Many of the problems from the previous moderation system were the result of inconsistent application of warnings and infractions. I.e. some staff never issued infractions; some were issuing infractions far too often. To address this, we are removing infractions altogether, and violations will always result in a Notice (except for new members, as noted in the OP). In this way, [1] violations are documented, and [2] senior staff have all necessary information in deciding whether bans or suspensions are appropriate.
 
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A New Dawn

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That doesn't really explain whey notices never expire. Under the old system, everything expired after a year, so if you received some warnings about a particular way you posted and you changed your posting style and didn't receive any new warnings, the old ones would go away, showing that you positively responded to moderator advice. Now they stay on your record forever, whether or not you have improved the way you post.
 
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Letalis

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What happens to the infractions that a person received under the old system. Will they stay until their time runs out or were they all removed in the upgrade?
Old warnings and infractions will still expire 6 months after they were issued.

That doesn't really explain whey notices never expire. Under the old system, everything expired after a year, so if you received some warnings about a particular way you posted and you changed your posting style and didn't receive any new warnings, the old ones would go away, showing that you positively responded to moderator advice. Now they stay on your record forever, whether or not you have improved the way you post.
Notices are not disciplinary in nature; they are a means of documenting violations. I.e. in the past, warnings and infractions expired because they were point-based. After a set number of infractions accumulated, bans were automatically issued.

Notices, however, are documented violations; they don't carry any points which will automatically initiate a ban. If after a year, a member does not improve, then it will show in the volume and frequency of Notices; if improvement is made, then that will also show.

Regards,
Letalis
 
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A New Dawn

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Notices are not disciplinary in nature; they are a means of documenting violations. I.e. in the past, warnings and infractions expired because they were point-based. After a set number of infractions accumulated, bans were automatically issued.

Notices, however, are documented violations; they don't carry any points which will automatically initiate a ban. If after a year, a member does not improve, then it will show in the volume and frequency of Notices; if improvement is made, then that will also show.

Regards,
Letalis

But the mere fact that they are there, even if they are 3 years old, is prejudicial. No matter how much someone is told to ignore certain things, it never seems to happen. Having been on the receiving end of this type of "ignoring" (in RL) I know that those things are factored in.
 
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A New Dawn

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How is it prejudicial? If someone committed a violation, then it's just a record of it.

I wouldn't worry anyway. This site changes drastically every few months, just wait for the next change and then they'll probably disappear ;)

Because even when I was a mod, I had to remind people to look at dates. Some were ready to infract on posts that were months old, some were ready to ban on infractions that were supposed to be expired and off the record but weren't because of some glitch.

There is always a record somewhere, all you have to do is hit the search feature and you'll find it, why does it need to be on our "official record" forever?
 
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Edial

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...

Notices are not disciplinary in nature; they are a means of documenting violations. I.e. in the past, warnings and infractions expired because they were point-based. After a set number of infractions accumulated, bans were automatically issued.

Notices, however, are documented violations; they don't carry any points which will automatically initiate a ban. If after a year, a member does not improve, then it will show in the volume and frequency of Notices; if improvement is made, then that will also show.

Regards,
Letalis
You probably are aware of the threads that were discussing having one site-wide thread where all the RFEs and PMs that were sent by the Mods would be stored and alphabetized by name.
I saw a similar type of a thread here someplace where each name appears in order as a link to his/her record.

Why should a user have a permanent notice on his/her record?
Does this make sense?

... or, can we make the Notices visible only to Mods?

Thanks,
Ed
 
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TomUK

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A notice is like a scar~may fade a bit with time but will always be there to remind you; never forgiven nor forgotten...

Exactly.

I fully appreciate the need for staff to have fully information when making decisions but to hold something against someone even years after they may have made a mistake is very un-Christ-like.
 
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Lindon Tinuviel

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It's prejudicial because people are not the same this year as they were two years ago. Yes, keeping the record will show that change, granted. But the fact of the matter is that such lists are never looked at in order to show good things about people--they're always used to find ammunition.
 
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drstevej

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It's prejudicial because people are not the same this year as they were two years ago. Yes, keeping the record will show that change, granted. But the fact of the matter is that such lists are never looked at in order to show good things about people--they're always used to find ammunition.

CF has been keeping such records for years. Your generalization does not fit the facts. I can recall a number of times that a review showed virtues and change. Folks, for example, that had been removed from staff were brought back on staff.

Your post assumes the worst in staff which I do not think is fair.
 
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Lindon Tinuviel

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It assumes the worst about THE LISTS. But, I'll take your word for it that my broad brushing was overly wide. But you have to admit that a list of Bad Things People Have Done is rarely consulted to find kudos-material.
 
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