- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
- Messages
- 51,709
- Reaction score
- 35,482
- Location
- Washington, DC
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Conservative
The DP moderation team understands politics can be a heated, and very personal, topic. That is why our infraction system is built in a way that provides leeway for flare-ups, allowing emotions to occasionally run high without jeopardizing a user’s membership. For the majority of our membership this system works, balancing the necessary deterrence of problematic posting with being understanding of the realities of political debate.
However, over time we’ve witnessed members who attempt to “game” the system, specifically when it comes to more significant violations. These are not instances of a sudden flare-up, but a consistent and repeated pattern of problems. The deterrent of the current system is ineffective against such members; they simply bide their time elsewhere until points expire only to return to begin the same manner of troublesome posting.
These chronic violators of major infractions have been a growing problem, and one we now seek to address. The goal of this change is to have a minimal impact on the user base, instead focusing only on the main offenders. An analysis of infractions over the past 6 months found these new procedures would have effected less than 1% of our active membership during that time. Despite this, the amount of time spent dealing with these instances was disproportionately large, leading to our decision to take action.
As such, the following change will occur as it relates to the expiration period for “major” infractions, which are also be defined below:
Major Infraction
- Rule 6a (Insubordination)
- Rule 15 & addendum (Vegas Rule)
- Rule 18 (Hate Speech)
- Rule 20 (Slurs)
Change in Expiration
1. All major infractions will have a 60-day baseline expiration date.
2. The third, and any subsequent, major infraction of the same type in a 2-year span will have a 2-year expiration date.
3. The fifth, and any subsequent, major infraction of the same type in a 10-year span will be permanent.
This new rule will only affect infractions issue from this day forward, but will take old infractions into account. So for instance, if you already have 3 slur infractions in a 2-year period, the third infraction’s expiration date would not be retroactively increased. However, if you were to receive a 4th slur infraction within that 2-year period, that infraction’s expiration would be set to “2 years”.
This information has been updated in the "Moderator Actions Page" in the rules forum.
However, over time we’ve witnessed members who attempt to “game” the system, specifically when it comes to more significant violations. These are not instances of a sudden flare-up, but a consistent and repeated pattern of problems. The deterrent of the current system is ineffective against such members; they simply bide their time elsewhere until points expire only to return to begin the same manner of troublesome posting.
These chronic violators of major infractions have been a growing problem, and one we now seek to address. The goal of this change is to have a minimal impact on the user base, instead focusing only on the main offenders. An analysis of infractions over the past 6 months found these new procedures would have effected less than 1% of our active membership during that time. Despite this, the amount of time spent dealing with these instances was disproportionately large, leading to our decision to take action.
As such, the following change will occur as it relates to the expiration period for “major” infractions, which are also be defined below:
Major Infraction
- Rule 6a (Insubordination)
- Rule 15 & addendum (Vegas Rule)
- Rule 18 (Hate Speech)
- Rule 20 (Slurs)
Change in Expiration
1. All major infractions will have a 60-day baseline expiration date.
2. The third, and any subsequent, major infraction of the same type in a 2-year span will have a 2-year expiration date.
3. The fifth, and any subsequent, major infraction of the same type in a 10-year span will be permanent.
This new rule will only affect infractions issue from this day forward, but will take old infractions into account. So for instance, if you already have 3 slur infractions in a 2-year period, the third infraction’s expiration date would not be retroactively increased. However, if you were to receive a 4th slur infraction within that 2-year period, that infraction’s expiration would be set to “2 years”.
This information has been updated in the "Moderator Actions Page" in the rules forum.