[Mod Says]

We’ve had several posts recently about moderation transparency when it comes to the banning process.

Step One – Warnings

If a member of Fluther exhibits a pattern in not following the guidelines (whether the issue is writing standards or baiting other users), they get a warning sent to them over PM by a moderator. In our experience, most users take their warnings in stride—even if they felt justified in deviating from the guidelines. Sometimes it’s months before a user slips up again if they do so at all. In the event that a user does break the guidelines, then we’ll send out another warning.

Step Two – Suspensions

If a user is sent multiple warnings in a relatively short span of time, they will receive a warning that explicitly states that continued behavior will result in their suspension for two weeks from the site.

Again, it’s not unusual for users to take these two weeks to cool off and when they come back they bounce back into the tide pool with no problem. Other times, they go back to old habits. Regardless, if the user breaks a rule again after their initial suspension, then they are sent a warning over PM.

Step Three – Additional Suspensions

If they continue breaking the guidelines after this warning, then the moderators deliberate their situation: does their behavior warrant a ban from the site, or could they benefit from another suspension? In most cases, we would lean towards a suspension.

Step Four – Bans

However, if a user has been suspended multiple times—especially in a short span of time—then we will warn the user that they will be subject to a ban if they do not adhere to the guidelines.

Unfortunately, some users continue breaching the guidelines so their account is banned as per the terms we communicated to them.

Reinstating Banned Users

Back when she was Community Manager, augustlan herself held the position that most banned users would not be permitted back to the site. A few users who have been banned in the past were particularly toxic to the site — whether visible to other users or not. (And keep in mind that the worst of any banned user’s contributions are both the most likely to be removed and the most likely to be responsible for them being banned. So the best evidence that someone ought to have been banned is unlikely to be available for public viewing.)

However, banned does not always mean banned for life (augustlan gives a few cases later in this thread of users who violated the rules and will NOT have their accounts reinstated). As recent as a few months ago, a banned user submitted an inquiry asking to rejoin the site. However, after multiple suspensions or a serious violation of the guidelines, we have to reflect very deeply on whether or not someone can return. It’s not a decision we would take lightly, but we’re not entirely opposed to it either.

That said, a ban is not going to be treated like a regular suspension. If we are going to consider reinstating a banned user’s account, then we must consider (1) time since the original ban, (2) how they handled the ban and its aftermath, and (3) if there were extenuating circumstances at the time of the original ban. Other factors may be considered as well.

Moderation Consistency

This approach to handling moderation is not unique to the current moderation team. It is how we were trained by augustlan, and this is what is communicated in the moderation guide.

Topics: Fluther, moderation