Users who are not playing by the rules are usually given a gentle warning (or two, or three) via pm. If they continue to flaunt the rules, they are given a formal warning. Continued failure to live up to the standards of the community can result in a suspension, effectively a temporary ban (usually two weeks). A suspension is a cooling off period, a time for reflection. If the user, during their time away from Fluther, decides that they can abide by the rules and wishes to return, they send Augustlan an e-mail requesting reinstatement, and their account is re-opened pretty much as it was before the suspension. If they don’t want to return, then we wish them no ill – we hope they find what they’re looking for, a site that suits their needs. And (except for a very few exceptions), we are saddened by their leaving.
No one wants to suspend or ban users. That’s not what we’re here for. But if you think about what first attracted you to Fluther, I would venture a guess that a lot of what made you decide to stay was the smart, clean, helpful dialogue. By maintaining a certain level of quality (grammar, spelling, crediting sources, courtesy, differing views and opinions expressed without personal attacks and flame wars), we separate ourselves from so many of the other Q&A sites out there.
It’s “give and take”: if you want a stranger to give you a serious, thoughtful, well researched, helpful answer to your question or problem, shouldn’t you be willing to put enough effort into your question to type it properly? Likewise, if someone has posted a question that they need help with, shouldn’t you give them your best effort? You are, after all, putting yourself out there as someone who has some expertise or knowledge that’s helpful (an “expert”), and tossing out an answer with no capitalization, spelling errors, and poor grammar doesn’t help with your credibility.
Decisions like these are discussed by the mods as a team, and input from the user is also considered. Non-native English speakers, people with broken arms, other extenuating circumstances; these are all taken into consideration.
We’ve all seen the new users who come in and decide that they don’t need no stinkin’ rules, that they’re smarter that that, better than that, and they start posting inflammatory questions about censorship and Nazi mods. And the community does a fantastic job of explaining just why the rules exist, promptly bursting their attention-seeking ego-bubbles (which we lurve you guys for!). But if you think about it, it’s just a matter of degree.
Sure, we all make the occasional typo. And that’s not what we’re talking about – we’re looking at long term trends, consistent errors, and multiple flagging by other users. We’re looking at users who know what the problem is and have decided, for whatever reason, that that particular rule doesn’t apply to them. We’re want everyone to love and respect this site, and respect the other users, and we want to be fair. The only way we know to do that is to treat everyone equally, and ask that everyone contribute their best to this site that we care so much about.
Climbing down off soapbox now.
