Despite what it says at the top of the blog, this entry is me speaking as a moderator. Sort of. Only "sort of" because this information has been repeated in the forums many times, and really should be common knowledge by now. However, I keep seeing people who are confused by the process, so I thought it was time for another reminder of how things work.
Every Moderation is a Warning This should be a no-brainer because every moderation notice states this explicitly, but a lot of people seem to miss this part. In short, if you get a moderation because of censor bypassing, please consider that a warning that you may be suspended and/or banned if you continue to censor bypass. It's really that simple. If you are not sure why you got the moderation, there are two things you can do. The first is to go read the Terms of Service. To do this, go to the "TV.com General User Support" forum and there you'll find the "Help Center" thread which contains a lot of helpful information including the TOS. From this blog entry you can also just
click here. The TOS description should tell you what the information on your moderation PM means. If you have any further questions, though, you can always ask for clarification in the "About the Forums - Ask the Mods" forum. You can also PM a moderator, but we are not all on at the same time, so you may have to wait a while if you go this route.
How Many Warnings Do I Get? I'm not going to answer this one directly because it depends on a number of factors, primarily how severe the offense is and to a lesser extent how reasonable the poster is. Some severe violations (spam advertising or extreme vulgarity, for example) may get you banned immediately. Generally, though, you will get several warnings. If you continue to violate the TOS after all these warnings, you will be suspended for a few days. If you keep it up after this cool-down period, then after just a few more warnings you will almost certainly be banned.
I Got Suspended/Banned for... Almost any time you hear someone say that they were suspended or banned for some minor offense, remember that they are wrong. That may have been the final straw, but it isn't the reason they were penalized. In reality they were suspended or banned because they ignored all the other warnings that they got up to that point. Remember that moderations add up, and even if they are all for "minor" offenses, you will still get a suspension (or ban) if you collect enough of them.
The Mods Are Picking On Me!! No. We're not. I can honestly say that we are all way too busy to single out any user and go after them 24/7. What is more likely is that someone reported a post (or a mod found the post on their own) and that post was in a thread full of your posts, many of which violated the TOS. Another possibility is that one or more users reported a lot of your posts within a short period of time. If we get a report we will look into it, and if the reported post violated the TOS (even if you think that particular rule is unjust or "stupid") then we will moderate it. We don't do this because we want to (trust me, we'd all rather be dealing with our own guides or hanging out on the forum) we do it because we have promised to uphold the rules of TV.com. If you dislike any of those rules, then post (politely) in the forums suggesting that the rule be changed. The staff really do listen to the ideas of the users, and if you make a good case for changing a rule, I am sure that they would consider it. If you just decide that a rule is stupid and you ignore it, then I guarantee that you will be moderated. It's a bit like a speed limit that is far too low. You can ignore it, but you'll definitely get a ticket, or you can contact your local officials and try to get it changed. It's your choice.
In Summary So, to sum up: If you violate the TOS you will get a moderation. This is a warning, not really a punishment. If you ignore several moderations then you will be suspended. If you keep ignoring them after that, then you will be banned. If you are confused about something, look it up. If you are still confused, then ask. If you think a rule or a moderation is unjust, talk about it, don't ignore it. That's really all there is to it. I think I speak for all the moderators when I say that I really hate having to give out moderations and suspensions (mods do not ban users, we only point out problem users to staff and they make the decision). This system of warnings should let users know when they are doing something wrong so that they can stop before they get a suspension or ban, but again and again I see otherwise intelligent users repeat the same patterns over and over until they have to be kicked off the site. There is literally no reason that this has to happen. If you are starting this sort of pattern, please look at the TOS and the other resources in our user help forums. And if you see anyone engaging in this sort of behavior, I urge you to explain the situation to them or even send them to this blog. The idea is not to punish anyone, just to make these forums into a place in which everyone is comfortable and can have fun. If you read the TOS you'll see that the rules really just boil down to one idea: Be polite and treat people with courtesy. As long as you do that, you won't go too far wrong.
at Amazon.com
Log in to comment