An honest discussion about breaking the guidelines

JustV

Howdy people! The staff team is reviewing the consequences for breaking community guidelines.

Background info

About 5 years ago, the staff team introduced a system where people who break the guidelines are given a certain number of points depending on what guideline they broke.

Points expire over time, and reaching 30 points means you're temporarily banned from the community. Bans increase in length (e.g. 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months) until you're banned indefinitely.

We did this for two reasons:

1. So everyone knows when they might be banned, avoiding surprises
2. To make sure the same standards are applied to everybody

Fast forward to now...

Something about this points system has always bugged us.

We want the community to feel like somewhere everyone can make honest mistakes and grow, and getting 'points' for breaking guidelines feels too punishing to create that culture.

Plus, it turns out we only need to keep track of this if someone is repeatedly breaking the community guidelines (which isn't very common). So we might not need a big system like this.

It also feels too rigid from a moderation perspective. Breaking any guideline can be a minor issue or a big one depending on the situation, so a fixed system like this might not be suitable.

We need your opinion (you too, moderators!)

We want to have an open discussion about how we should approach this. Whether you have or haven't had points given to you, your opinion is really valuable here. We want to create a system that everyone can get behind, that feels fair, and that does the job we want it to do.

Is the points system good or bad? What could we do instead? Do we need a system at all?

Share your thoughts! Let's have a conversation.

JustV

I should also say: the staff team take a very charitable approach to people breaking the guidelines. We know that most of the time it's accidental, and even when it isn't, there's something real (like vulnerability) driving it. We don't morally judge people for breaking them.

Just wanted to make that clear because I know that's not the case everywhere.

Former Member

mike how do we see how many of these points we have @JustV

JustV

libbystrawberry wrote: »

mike how do we see how many of these points we have @JustV

Whenever you get points, we'll either email or DM you @libbystrawberry. And if you've accumulated points over time, we'll usually include your total number.

EDIT: so if you've never heard of points or don't know how many you have, you probably don't have any. One of those 'no news is good news' type things!

Former Member

@JustV ah ok thank uuu

louisa982

I’ve always felt the points system was punishment and causes anxiety and panic. I think it should be a case by case basis.

JustV

louisa982 wrote: »

I’ve always felt the points system was punishment and causes anxiety and panic. I think it should be a case by case basis.

That's helpful feedback @louisa982. I appreciate you giving your perspective.

Out of interest, would you feel the same if it was a different but still structured system? Like strikes or warnings or even if we made up our own. I'm guessing it's the fact that you 'earn' something for breaking the guidelines that makes it feel punishing?

Former Member

I picked the 3rd one 😁

JustV

Thanks @_Tech_Addict_Girl!

The team will be reviewing this internally soon. All your votes and comments are so helpful.