GMI Announces New Moderation Method

[nsap]

GMI Announces New Moderation Method

As some of you may be aware of; just the other day GMI updated to the latest version of the vBulletin forum software. Part of that upgrade is a new feature built into the software called User Infractions. The staff is very excited about this feature because it answers several concerns that we, the staff, have had about moderation and some that you, the members, have had as well. Please carefully read about the new User Infractions feature below so that you are aware of what will be going on from this point on.

To explain this new feature in a nutshell, the forum software now has a button for all staff members to push on every post that is made on the site. That button, when pushed, takes the staff member to that poster's infraction history page. The staff member, if needed, can then add a new infraction to that user for violating a GMI rule. What is great is that the infractions are already in the software to correlate with our rules, so then the staff member just selects the infraction. Part of this feature is that the staff member is FORCED to send a PM to that member when they add an infraction to your account! One concern I hear about from members all the time is that we don't contact them when they violate a policy; this feature MAKES us PM you when we add an infraction.

Another reason we are thrilled with this feature is because it makes moderation more "cut and dried" so to speak. There is very little room for favortism. Every infraction in the system has a set number of points (it can only be changed by myself, Branden, or Rex). The points will be explained in detial later.



Above is a chart showing all of the infractions currently set into the software. As you can see, we have correlated the amount of points they are worth with the severity of the infraction. After the set days (or months) of that infraction, it is taken off of your infraction record. The "YES" under the warning tab means that we are REQUIRED to PM you when we add an infraction. The "EXTEND" column is marked yes if the points of that infraction can be added to another infraction.

The Points, Automatic Ban

Now where the points come in. Points are a BAD thing with this feature. We currently have it set so that if any user hits 15+ points, the software will automatically ban them for 10 days. It is also set that if any member gets 10+ infractions, they will automatically be banned for 10 days. Once a member surpasses 25 points, they are automatically banned for good.

Everyone please bear with us on this. We think this will work out very well for everyone. Moderation is more "by the books" and fair. If you have any questions, please contact me.

[likearock00]

Ahhhh! No! Now we get points??? I better start walking the straight and narrow from now on. Either that or stay on Branden, Rex and Nsap's good graces. They're the only ones who can clean up your report card!

You guys really do a great job on here and I appreciate everything you do. I think the email thing is a wonderful idea.....that will help out alot.

Now, about that chat room.....

[Hitman1970]

So, will we get hammered retroactively for past transgressions? If so, it was nice chatting with youse guys.

[nsap]

Originally Posted by Hitman1970

So, will we get hammered retroactively for past transgressions? If so, it was nice chatting with youse guys.

NO! The new infractions did not come into effect until yesterday. everyone gets a clean-start!

[AndrewGS]

No racism? Jeez...

[darndot]

So is there a place we can check our points?

[Hitman1970]

Originally Posted by nsap

NO! The new infractions did not come into effect until yesterday. everyone gets a clean-start!

Bonus!

[Minnesota Nice]

When I owned my Grand Am, I was a member on the Grand Am Owner's Club forum, and they had a very similar system. It worked very, very well.

It's a fantastic system, and I think it will really add a lot of positives to moderation of this forum, as well as saving a lot of drama for both mods/admins and users.

[mbukukanyau]

yikes.. I do not like it

[nsap]

Originally Posted by darndot

So is there a place we can check our points?

I belive you will see all active infractions when you visit your user profile.

[likearock00]

Originally Posted by darndot

So is there a place we can check our points?

Yeah, that way we can slow our roll if we start getting our points up? I think we all know how we act on here without having to check our "tally".

[plane]

I want to thank the administrators and most but not all the posters at GMI.
With the exception of a few exceptionally sensitive individuals, it's been great fun.

I will now try to conserve my points as best I can.
Hopefully the words <censored> <top secret> <don't you wish you knew what this meant> and <removed by administrator> will help me stay on the right side of the law.

Please do me a favor and do not publish any more threads involving the Toyota <Censored> . That <top secret> piece of <redacted> will be <removed by administrators> of me yet.

Thanks.

[HoosierRon]

I suggest we be allowed to buy off points as a way to raise funds for maintenance of the site. After all, what is the point of the rich getting richer if you can't use your new found wealth to insult opposing views into submission?

(Ah #@!$, that's a point.)

($%&#, that's 2 more!)

EDIT: Plane wants to know -- How many points is a flagrant display of patriotism?

[chakis24]

so how long do your points last? i know it says 10 days, but thats the ban period. if i get 10 points for whatever, how long will that stay with me? 10 infractions in what period of time gets me banned? so 25 points in history and im banned for good? or say, within 6 months?

[nsap]

Originally Posted by chakis24

so how long do your points last? i know it says 10 days, but thats the ban period. if i get 10 points for whatever, how long will that stay with me? 10 infractions in what period of time gets me banned? so 25 points in history and im banned for good? or say, within 6 months?

All of that depends on the infraction. The max an infraction will stay active is 6 months. So basically there is only a 6 month window when you can get those 15 points at one time.