Warning level

As I see it, it's bassicly a way of saying "Beware, this guy has been in trouble lately" which the rating doesn't realy tell you anything about...

The specific details are only for Staff/Mod/The guy in question...

I got my warning level raised thanks for saying the word f**k (censored just in case). It got reduced back to 0% because I have been a good boy.

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Original post by Lode ...it has never given me any useful information...

I doubt other users are granted access to the specifics of a user's offense. You don't need to know why a user's warning level has been increased, just that it has, and if it continues to increase rapidly, then either the user account has been compromised or that user is likely to be on the way to good ol' Ban Land.

But if we don't know why he has a warning, we don't know what to look out for. Is his warning due to persistent false information, overt cussing, overt racism, thread hijacking...

It's alot like the Terrorist Color Alert here in the states. It's orange today, and that means? Where is the threat? What is the threat? Does orange mean hurt bad or deadly?

If we the users don't know anything else other than some number without any regard to why/when/how, then it's pointless.

Also, the OP's point is that a warning I get today because I call someone a name in the Lounge on a topic of "My religion is better than yours" will show up in my posts I made last year about how to implement an OpenAL sound source distributor, and even if it was a great correct informative post, will be marked with a warning and make people think the post is invalid.

But I do agree with him. Showing it to us means nothing. I think it is just as pointless as the ratings system. Totally arbitrary and with no way to extrapolate any sort of meaning from it. Might as well just be...

print "Rating:" + random(1500);if(rand() % 2)  print "Warning:" + random(100) + "%";

This would be just as informative to us... not at all. If it's a dev only tool, them make it only dev-viewable. =)

I had a warning once, for making a distasteful valentine's day poem (well, 2 actually). =) It was worth it though, cuz I liked my poems. =)

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Original post by Stonicus But if we don't know why he has a warning, we don't know what to look out for.

I was thinking about this, and I think you're right. There's no reason for you to see someone else's warning level as it provides you with no further information. I think the fact that you currently can see it is a side-effect of a simplistic approach to warning display - it was easier to just show it than to only show it to the individual user and the moderators. This will probably be altered in a future revision.

Moved to suggestions forum.

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Original post by vNistelrooy I got my warning level raised thanks for saying the word f**k (censored just in case). It got reduced back to 0% because I have been a good boy.

Are you sure? I've seen some staff members use that word a number of times.

It's discretionary, but fairly common sense: warnings are applied for behavior abusive to the community, and sustained abuse escalates the warning toward a ban quite rapidly. Warning level automatically declines over time.

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Original post by boolean Quote: Original post by vNistelrooy I got my warning level raised thanks for saying the word f**k (censored just in case). It got reduced back to 0% because I have been a good boy. Are you sure? I've seen some staff members use that word a number of times.

Maybe he said it in the general programming forum. I think there's a rule against swearing in there.

Personally I've been known to swear in here, but I was under the impression that it's OK in the lounge.

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Original post by Oxyacetylene Maybe he said it in the general programming forum. I think there's a rule against swearing in there. Personally I've been known to swear in here, but I was under the impression that it's OK in the lounge.

Yeah possible.

Is posting "m$" something that can give you a warning level? I ask this, because I saw that was pnp Bios's last post, and now he's suspended. BTW I posted the letter combination "m$" simply for reasons of demonstration here.

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Original post by Lode Is posting "m$" something that can give you a warning level?

Not on its own. But trolling can get you suspended quick!

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Original post by vNistelrooy Yeah possible.

Actually, it was in the For Beginners section. On the whole, moderation is stricter there than in the other forums.

FWIW, I've filed people being able to see other posters' warning level as a bug.

And if something gets you suspended or banned, there's a very good chance that the moderator deleted the offending item, so I wouldn't rely too much on someones post record to figure out why they were suspended/banned.

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Original post by Lode Is posting "m$" something that can give you a warning level? I ask this, because I saw that was pnp Bios's last post, and now he's suspended. BTW I posted the letter combination "m$" simply for reasons of demonstration here.

No.

Also, consider that you don't see deleted posts. You should never make assumptions about why someone is suspended/banned based on what you can see in their profile. There is a lot of information for each user that only moderators can see.

I think that the idea of a quick little note beside the "Warning" could maybe improve the forums over all, as people could see what someone did wrong and might act as a reminder for them not to do it.
(It also may be a faster fix than making it display only to the user and mods, but I don't know how the forum's code works)

But then again, it might bring up more questions from users, and just annoy the mods.

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Original post by Michalson Also, consider that you don't see deleted posts. You should never make assumptions about why someone is suspended/banned based on what you can see in their profile. There is a lot of information for each user that only moderators can see.

Deletion of threads leading to someone being banned is as far as I see it just plain wrong. If someone I know has been banned I really like to know why, and that it is for a good reason. Deleting those threads is deleting the evidence, justifying the ban. After that it's just the word of a moderator against the word of a user. If there is a good reason for the ban, just leave the thread as a warning example.

Another idea is to move such threads to some dedicated thrash area.

My main point is that if there is a good reason for the ban, let people see it. Otherwise they'll just go around thinking that the mods are dumb fucks that like to ban people for the fun of it.

If you don't trust the moderators and you don't like the site's politics you don't have to stay. I don't think threads are automatically deleted when someone is banned. But if a thread contains things that can be harmful (like instructions on how to hack some piece of software, for instance), it is deleted.

shmoove

"Deleting the evidence"?

Geeze, it's not like they are out to get us. Plus, if a mod does make a bad ban, the other mods can find the "deleted evidence" and correct it if needed.


The warning system is no different from the rating; if someone's rating was at 1050 when a post was made, but then falls to 950, their rating when viewing that post will show 950 as well.

[Edited by - Daniel Miller on August 2, 2005 3:57:01 PM]

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Original post by ambiguity My main point is that if there is a good reason for the ban, let people see it.

As I see it, the moderators act on our behalf to keep this place clean, tidy and professional. They do a damn good job of it, and it's one of the reasons I like this site more than a lot of others.

Bottom line, they exercise their best judgement - if the content that was posted was just plain out of line then it should not be allowed to stay. I dunno if it's ever happened, but if someone got banned for posting some filthy hardcore porn in a random thread, I'd rather it was removed. [smile]

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Original post by ambiguity Otherwise they'll just go around thinking that the mods are dumb fucks that like to ban people for the fun of it.

I appreciate you might have been a lurker, but with only 7 months and 6 posts on the clock maybe you should spend a bit more time on these forums and see how the moderators/staff go about their business.


A recent example it would seem was that _Sigma got banned for posting an image that (and I'm fairly sure I've guessed which one) really shouldn't be left in "plain view". He later got cleared of his ban because, presumably, he made his case to the relevant mod/staff member explaining that it wasn't his fault. Given he's now unbanned I would assume that they heard his side of the story and changed their decision. That sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Have a nice day,
Jack

Dunno how you mods do it here but I have had my experiences on other forums and their 'system' or lack thereof.

What they would do is go back and edit out peoples posts and include a warning.
IMHO this is very impractical because who reads their old posts?
You had no idea about any warnings.

But I do like the warning system here, even if it does not affect me atm. Because that will at least give people an indication they did something they should not have done.
Though a mail with the link to the unappropriate post would be good as well.