Tiki Central's rules and their enforcement

This is a reply to a post that was recently made in bilge. I think the questions merit answers that everyone would be interested in reading, so I'm answering it here.

Why did Bong get booted off? Is it a taboo subject?

Bong got banned for consciously and repeatedly breaking the rules. It's not taboo; I've discussed it many times.

How often does permanent banning happen?

Five legit users have been banned In TC's six year history. Three of these asked to be banned or announced they were leaving anyway.

What do you have to do to get banned?

Basically you have to show me that you're not going to follow the rules.

Most of all enforcement of rules occurs behind-the-scenes using email and PMs. I use the following as a guideline for moderation:

Announcement

When a rule changes or when we have a wide-spread problem, I issue an announcement to TC in the form of a public post.

Warning

When someone is misbehaving on TC, they get a warning from me in the form of a PM or an email. 99% of the time this is all that is ever needed -- I get a message back from the person and I never have a problem with them again. In rare occasions I get repeat offenders, though not necessarily breaking the same rules.

Special Rules

I sometimes issue special rules to individual members. This happens rarely, and its usually when members get in a heated disagreement and emotions are high. These are rules that only applies to members involved, and are usually in the form of:

"Stay away from so-and-so on the forums and shout: don't quote them, don't make jokes about them, don't talk about them, don't engage in debate with them, and don't send them PMs."

Temporary Banning

It doesn't happen often, but I sometimes issue temporary bans to members when they have ignored my warnings and continued to break rules. Occasionally I issue these as time-outs because a user is posting while angry and is on the war path.

Most often I apply a temporary ban without informing the user, and I wait for them to email me. It usually triggers a rational email discussion. Usually.

Permanent Banning

Permanent banning comes when a user has repeatedly demonstrated that they don't want to (or simply can't) play by the rules, and ignored my warnings and requests. Although my fuse for this has grown shorter over the years (thanks to Bong) I take this very seriously and I do it extremely rarely. But I liken it to getting bounced from a bar and asked not to return.

Exceptions

There are exceptions to these procedures, and mostly occur due to:

• egregious errors (hate speech, extreme insults, threats of violence). - failure to communicate (when a user completely ignores moderator correspondence)

I handle situations like this on a case-by-case basis, but it typically means skipping warning(s) and using temporary banning instead.

Miscellaneous

• I am the only person on TC who can ban users and it's my sole decision.

• The rules are extremely easy to follow and the vast majority of TC has never had a problem doing so. Thanks to everyone who have made it easy for me.

• I prefer to handle things behind the scenes because I have found it is more successful, it reduces rubbernecking, is less likely to embarrass, and less likely to cause a rebellion than a public shaming would.

• I'd like to point out the obvious to those who never learned it in grade school: I don't care who started it. It's not an excuse to break the rules.

• I define a legit user as someone who was a legitimate part of the Ohana. I have also banned spammers, fake accounts, thieves, and immediate troublemakers.

Well said and easy to understand. Thanks for providing this "service", and handling the management end of it.

I don't get it?

( lol) ( arr!)( that means I'm joking tiki people! Hanford rocks!!)