When Members Break the Rules

[Zimm]

A lot of forums contain a set of forum rules for their members to follow. While some forums are not as strict as others when it comes to their rules, they are still there to be followed by all members; including staff. When a member of your forum breaks a forum rule, what do you do about it? How many times does a member have to break a forum rule before negative actions are taken and what negative actions to you take?

[Deleted]

We have a 3 strikes and you're out system. We track warnings in a google doc spreadsheet that all mods and admins have access to, and each warning falls off a year after it's received. If you receive 3 warnings within a year, you're banned on your 4th offense.


People who are clearly trolling are instantly IP banned with no warning

[Midnight]

It all depends on the rule and the context with me. I'm stricter on some rules than others simply because some things bother me a lot more than other things - for example, someone being rude to me isn't going to bother me as much as someone talking about another forum in my chatbox (especially if they link to it), which happens to be an easy way to drive me absolutely insane.

When dealing with rule-breaking, I tend to point out to the member that they broke a rule and ask that they not do it again. If they are repeat offenders, I remind them time and time again until they cross the line with a big rule-break, in which case, they usually get a temporary (or permanent) ban, depending on the severity of the issue.

For example, we had a troublesome member a few years ago. She broke a few rules, and whenever she did, I'd let her know about her rule breaks and ask her to keep our rules in mind next time. My forum is based on a series of books, and one time, one of our members said they dislike the character that this girl was obsessed with. In response, she went all off on this member, telling them they'd better "*nasty swear here* take it back". I promptly banned them, for they had gone far beyond the line.

As for trolls, they are trolled right back, and generally they're trolled 10x harder. When a guest starts trolling, I troll them back until I'm bored of them, and then I either ignore them and encourage others to do the same or I ban them. I like to have fun with trolls. Members who are legitimately breaking rules, however, I take quite seriously.