Abstract
In an effort to promote consistent, fair and even-handed moderating practices across the board, the Standardized Policy Enforcement System (hereafter referred to as SPES) will completely overhaul and systematize banning practices by laying out specific ban times for specific offenses. Moderators will be required to uphold these standards across the board, except in certain scenarios that are specified below.
Rights Reserved to Users
Excluding cases in which privacy concerns take precedence, upon issuing disciplinary action, moderation must cite the transgression the action is meant to address and (if possible or tenable) provide sufficient evidence that the cited transgression has been made in the public ban record.
All users are granted unlimited ability to appeal moderation decisions (banned users may appeal by contacting [email protected]). All legitimate, non-spam appeals are guaranteed to be reviewed by moderation.
Rights Reserved to Moderators
Moderation reserves the rights to:
Judge whether an offense is severe enough to trigger the next level of punishment in the SPES according to the following tier list:
Tier 1: The cited offense requires no action.
Tier 2: The complaint is factually accurate, and while mild, it is indeed bordering on rule violations. Moderation will use best discretion on how to proceed. In the event a Tier 2 offense requires action (for example, a user systematically commits borderline rule violations despite mod warnings), the punishment will be less severe than otherwise outlined in the SPES.
Tier 3: Clear, actionable violation. Moderation shall follow consequences exactly as outlined in the SPES. Should one user acquire five or more Tier 3 offenses, moderation reserves the right to enact a permanent ban IF deemed appropriate.
Tier 4: Unusually vile and/or severe offense. Moderation is permitted to skip level A consequences and take swift action as outlined in the SPES. Should one user acquire three or higher Tier 4 offenses, moderation reserves the right to enact a permanent ban IF deemed appropriate.
Delete any content in violation of the CoC.
Lock threads with frequent noteworthy violations of the CoC, or as a preventative measure when such are assuredly imminent.
Discern whether to revoke any abused privileges preventatively in order to avoid elevating the severity of a given scenario, even if the level of said abuse does not yet cross the line into a ban worthy offense (most often used to prevent Tier 2 offenses from elevating to Tier 3 offenses).
Decide to accept or reject ban appeals.
Impose restraining orders (RO’s) as a preventative measure.
Act outside of the SPES when unforeseen circumstances or abnormal scenarios make the SPES untenable, as it either presents an inappropriate response or does not present one at all for the situation at hand.
Interpret and apply all policies in the best interests of the site and users therein. In most cases, a “reasonable person” standard will be utilized.
User Accounts
NOTE: Bot and corporate accounts are not considered legitimate users by moderation and will thus be met with an immediate permanent ban.
If a user is found to be below 13 years of age upon making their account on DebateArt, moderation will ban their account until the day they turn 13.
If a user has hateful, harassing, or obscene language or imagery in their username or avatar, moderation will
FIRST, request the hateful, harassing, or obscene language or imagery in the username or avatar be removed and instruct the user on how to do so.
IF adequate time passes and A is ignored by the user, OR IF the user complied initially after A but again introduces hateful, harassing, or obscene language or imagery in their username or avatar at some later date unapologetically, moderation shall issue a 14 day ban and then repeat A.
IF the user continues to defy moderation after the 14 day ban, moderation will issue a 60 day ban and then repeat A.
ALL additional infractions after C shall be met with bans according the formula y=4(x2) whereyequals ban time in months andxequals the number of infractions after C.
If a user is found to be multi-accounting, moderation will
FIRST, request the user to select one account to continue using and close all other connected accounts permanently.
IF adequate time passes and A is ignored by the user, OR IF the user complied initially after A but again starts unapologetically multi-accounting at some later date, THEN moderation will select which accounts to close for the user permanently and issue a 21 day ban on the remaining account.
IF the user continues to defy moderation after the 21 day ban, moderation will issue a 75 day ban and then repeat A.
ALL additional infractions after C shall be met with bans according the formula y=4(x2) whereyequals ban time in months andxequals the number of infractions after C.
Authenticity
If a user’s account impersonates individuals, groups, or organizations in a manner that is either intended to or likely to deceive others OR parodies another site user, moderation will
FIRST, request the user cease & desist such behavior.
IF adequate time passes and A is ignored by the user, OR IF the user complied initially after A but again starts to unapologetically impersonate individuals, groups, or organizations in a manner that is either intended to or likely to deceive others OR parodies another site user, moderation will issue a 14 day ban and then repeat A.
IF the user continues to defy moderation after the 14 day ban, moderation will issue a 60 day ban and then repeat A.
ALL additional infractions after C shall be met with bans according the formula y=4(x2) whereyequals ban time in months andxequals the number of infractions after C.
If a user violates the intellectual property rights of others, moderation will
FIRST, request the user cease & desist such behavior.
IF adequate time passes and A is ignored by the user, OR IF the user complied initially after A but again violates the intellectual property rights of others unapologetically, moderation will issue a 14 day ban and then repeat A.
IF the user continues to defy moderation after the 14 day ban, moderation will issue a 60 day ban and then repeat A.
ALL additional infractions after C shall be met with bans according the formula y=4(x2) whereyequals ban time in months andxequals the number of infractions after C.
