It definitely was a surprise to me, as a moderator. When we launched I was expecting a large "invasion" of users that would do their thing and immediately be banned. I never really considered the large pool of people who actually had an interest in posting on the old site but were banned, and how they now also had a clean slate, the kind of posters that will tip toe over the line at every chance. I truly believe in the warning system and I can say as a moderator we take viewing previous warnings and escalating the severity of punishment seriously. With hope, the kind of posters that create this kind of toxicity will be weeded out, but we have to give everyone a fair chance. It sucks sometimes, but we'll get there. Also, there are some phenomenal members using the report system and it really helps the mods do their jobs, so thank you.
I appreciate everything you do, I really do, but I very strongly believe that we are not 'going to get there' with current moderation policies.
I've seen people get second chances that they absolutely did not deserve based on the offending post and / or their post history. There are a fair few posters that consistently post shitty things or are shitty to others, but because they never have that one single post that would be considered 'actionable' on its own, they're allowed to get away with it. There have been several posts that I would view as clearly over the line, yet when reported either nothing happens or I get told that it is 'unactionable' - one of the more recent of these was a poster continuing behavior in one thread that he was told to stop by a member from the mod/admin team and then warned for for continuing anyway in another (now locked) thread.
An example that I feel comfortable giving here because the person in question is perma-banned now anyway;
In the Jim Sterling thread, someone called Jim an 'obese cuck'. The user got a perma-ban, not for that insult, but for being an alt account. Why wasn't the content of the post itself enough for a perma-ban? Why should someone who makes an unprovoked direct attack on another member of this forum, using alt-right terminology, be welcomed back at any point? Why should I feel comfortable posting in a thread where they are posting too? This wasn't a heated debate about something controversial - it was an unprovoked hateful attack. That they would've been allowed to come back at any point if they hadn't been an alt-account just sends me a message that unprovoked hateful attacks like that are OK so long as you 'don't do it again'. I know that that isn't the message you want to send, but it is the message that I receive.
I get the desire to give people a second chance. I really do. I understand why it is important. But you should also be able to recognize that some people just clearly do not deserve a second chance, let alone a third or fourth.
One user on this site has gotten a warning, a 1-week ban, a 48-hour ban, and has several questionable posts in between. He decided to continue his trollish and shitty behavior this past weekend. I would have assumed his chances were more than spent at this point - he had been repeatedly warned / banned for the same behavior and consistently returned to that behavior after returning from those bans, something that already should've provoked a much harsher response when he did it again after his first ban.
Yet he was just given another chance - another temporary 1-week ban. Why?
I reported that member through their profile with the request to make their current ban permanent. I was told that it had been discussed by the moderation team, who passed it on to the admin team, and now an admin told me that the mod team captains will look at it. At this point I have very little faith that anything will actually happen before the current temporary ban expires. And the pessimist in me says that when it expires I'll probably get told that they now can't 'just ban him outright' and that I'll just have to wait until he inevitably resumes his shitty posting behavior.
All of this just pushes me away because
I just don't know anymore. I'm hesitant to report things because I simply do not know where the line is for the mod team to consider something 'actionable' - I only know that that line clearly isn't where it should be. I'm posting less, because I don't feel like putting energy into this forum when people can just be shitty and get away with it with the frequency they do now - because I just don't feel that current moderation policies are in the long run going to create a community that I want to be part of.
I've talked a lot about this on Discord, so I'm sure this has reached you in some way already, but I felt like posting this here too to add my voice to others.
Anyway,
Sorry for that rant.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. <3
edit: Some minor spelling / text fixes.
edit2: After talking back and forth for a bit, some clarification on the 'specific' examples I provided above;
The 'obese cuck' poster would have been permanently banned for the contents of the post, it is just that the alt account was caught at the same time the request for extension to permanent ban was filed, and extending to permanent for the alt account was apparently easier / quicker.
The second case is still being discussed internally and their ban was already extended to a month (though the ban message hadn't yet been updated to show that).
I'm happy to have been provided these explanations for these specific instances (as well as some general conversation on mod policy), but my dissatisfaction with current moderation policy in general still stands. I'm glad that this voice is being heard and hope that it will lead to some internal discussion. I think there's a lot of space to move while still keeping plenty distance from how things were done on the old site.