Moderator Actions Page

[Tashah]

Moderator Actions Page​

Preamble
As part of the Debate Politics Forums registration process, each registrant agrees to adhere to the Forum Rules and any applicable Sticky Rules. It is assumed that every registrant will read the rules before posting in the forums. If you have any questions or concerns about our rules or Moderator Actions, you must address these via a PM to vauge or to any Global Moderator. If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about the Basement, PM a Dungeon Master. Debate Politics Moderators and DMs are listed on our DP Staff page available at the link below.

Below are the basic guidelines for Moderator Actions and the respective consequences. Moderators can issue Warnings, Thread Bans, Infractions, or impose a Perma-Ban against an account. In all circumstances, Moderator/Team judgement shall prevail.

Warnings
Can be issued either in-thread or via the system software. Warnings issued via the system-software are recorded and become a part of your DP Infraction History which you can peruse in your DP Profile. Warnings typically are issued with a 0 point penalty consequence and expire after 30 days.

In-thread warnings will be noted in the subject line of a post using a format of "[W:###]" where "###" is the post number of the warning.

Thread Bans
When this action occurs, you will receive a PM notice you that you have been banned from further participation in a specific thread. Thread Bans do not expire and they are noted in your Infraction History.

Infractions
These actions have a points consequence. Most Infractions will auto-expire after 30 days. Some more serious infractions are set to auto-expire after 60 days. As a general rule, the Infraction/Points/Expire values have these default characteristics:

No link to orginal source - 1 point / 30 days
No user content in OP - 1 point / 30 days
Baiting/Flaming/Trolling (B/F/T) - 3 points / 30 days
*Breaking News* violation - 3 points / 30 days
Word Censor violation - 3 points / 30 days
Fair Use Violation (Forum Rules 9/9a) - 3 points / 30 days
Advertisements (posted or url) - 5 points is typical if its not worthy of a ban / 30 days
Signature Violation - 5 points / 30 days
Don't Be A Jerk (DBAJ) - situational - 5/10 points / 30/60 days
Posting PM's - situational - 10 points normally / 60 days
Threats - situational - 10/20 points / 60 days / possible Perma-Ban
Harassment - 10 points / 60 days / possible Perma-Ban
Graphic Image - 10/20 points / 60 days / possible Perma-Ban
Intentional Spamming (posted or url) - usually a Perma-Ban
Multi-Account/Proxy Posting - usually a Perma-Ban

Additionally, four types of Major Violations have additional rules relating to their expiration to prevent repeat offenders from disrupting the board. The expiration for these violations work as follows:

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.

Major Violations are identified as:

Vegas violation - situational - 3/5 points
Slurs - 5 points
Hate Speech (posted or url) - 20 points
Insubordination (6a) - 10 points


All Infractions issued become a part of your DP Infraction History. Your I/H is one component utilized by Mods to help determine an appropriate course of disciplinary action. Points are considered "active points" unless and until they expire. The system-software maintains a record of your I/H and determines your account status by tabulating your active points. System thresholds for active points are listed below.

10+ active points will automatically yield a system-generated 3 day forum suspension.
20+ active points will automatically yield a system-generated 2 week forum suspension.
30+ active points will automatically result in a system-generated Perma-Ban.

A note on points expiration. If you receive multiple active Infractions of the same type, the system will consider you a "chronic offender" and automatically increase the points expiration time-frame.

Perma-Bans
Self-explanatory. Your Debate Politics account is permanently banned.

In addition to the global Forum Rules, the *Breaking News* forums, the Middle East forum and Religious Discussion Forum are managed with additional rule-sets located in Sticky Posts at the top of these forums. Please read these Sticky Posts before posting in these forums.

Further explanation of DP "terms":

Warning: This could refer to one of two things. First, a System Warning, which is a private warning that is applied to your profile and is alerted to your through PM. Second, an In Thread Warning (can be a general one addressing no one specifically, or a specific one naming one or more posters) which is found inside a thread through a mod box:

Moderator's Warning:

Mod Box

In thread warnings could be a general one, addressing no one specifically, or a specific one naming one or more posters.

Infraction: An action taken by a mod that issues you points based on an automated system for violations you've done against the rules.

Gig: A commonly used slang term for giving someone an infraction or sometimes a system warning.

Thread Closing / Thread Locking: This is the process of a mod stopping a thread from being discussed further, closing/locking it and making it impossible to be posted in any longer.

Flushing a thread: Akin to locking a thread, flushing it means that the thread is moved to the basement.

Thread Ban: A thread ban is an action taken upon an individual rather than the thread itself. It causes an individual to be unable to post in a particular thread any longer while leaving the thread open to allow others to continue to participate within it.

Sticky: A post that is "stuck" to the top of a particular forum area. These are usually things that are useful to read before beginning to post in that forum.

The Basement: An EXTREMELY lightly regulated section of the forums that is made for humor and flaming purposes so that people can let off steam. It is like Vegas; what happens there stays there, ie no bringing things up in the main forum.

Dungeon Master: Members tasked with the care taking of the basement to keep it orderly in terms of the various forum layouts.

The Tavern: shhhh, its a secret.....

The Bartender: Does what all Bartenders do, watches over a tavern.....

Pertinent Links

Forum Rules:
Forum Rules

Disputing Warnings/Infractions:
Disputing Warnings/Infractions

Moderator Perma-Ban Hearing (MPH):
Moderator Perma-Ban Hearing

The Debate Politics Staff:
The DP Staff