What are your feelings on the use of infractions?

I have been a moderator at a pretty high profile forum for the past 8 months. I have given out probably 10 or 11 warnings, but never once an infraction. Members always become frustrated when they receive the little yellow box, and about half the time make me aware of it. So about 2 months ago, I decided to stop giving out warning infractions and just PM the offender and remind them of the rules.

There are 2 reasons for my changing: I got a red infraction at 2 of my favorite forums, and it really turned me off to those forums. I contributed to both forums and helped out anywhere that I could, but once I got the red, I was done. Now I contribute seldom to those 2 forums. So I figured that if I feel this way--being a moderator--then I could well imagine that that's how other members feel too.

The other reason: the only thing it ever accomplished was driving unknowing forum contributors away. The offenders that knew the rules but disregarded them continued to disregard them, the offenders that were simply unaware of the rules typically didn't return.

So now I send them a private message. I have to say that it's been quite effective, because in the message I have a chance to explain myself before the member becomes frustrated or angry. Whereas with an infraction or a warning, the infraction is what they see first.

I personally think that the infraction system doesn't work to the advantage of the forum. I believe that communication is much less dictating and certainly more personal than infractions. What do you think?

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Lindsay Lohan

Before giving out an infraction, I always contact the member, regardless of the situation at hand. In most cases, talking the problem over with the member has proven to be effective. However, there are those, "problem members" that have absolutely no interest in working it out, and continue to cause problems. Depending on the problem(s) they are causing, I will either:

A.) Give them an infraction.
B.) Ban them for a certain period of time.

That said, I rarely use the infraction system, simply because I prefer to work things out personally.

Chris

There was one problem when trying to communicate with a member using the PM system. We wrote back and forth several times, each time becoming ruder than the time before. Finally, he asked who I thought I was, acting like I owned the place or something. It was then that I realized that I had changed my user title to newcomer to hide my staff status. Since then I make it clear in the first message who I am, and I've since changed my user title back to staff.

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Lindsay Lohan

What I do is PM them first time, then an infraction/warning (depending on how severe the offense is)
But on a forum I moderate, I've given about 7 infractions and 1 warning.

~Sean

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Personally, I think infractions should only be used where there is a well developed moderation system in effect already.

Infractions worked on a forum I worked on because the mod handbook was basically written by three of us admins over the course of a week and constantly updated with more information and what to do in situations. If its just left to a free for all then I can see why people are turned off by it.

EDIT: That said; I do prefer AWS.

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::Kyle Burrows
::GenericForum Administrator

I'm not sure what AWS is.....

I agree there can be times that infractions are necessary, but not to the point that members feel as though there every move is being controlled. It's very important for members to understand that rules are in place, and that it's expected that they be followed and respected. If a member breaks a rule, it can't be assumed that they did so negligently. To err is human. Sometimes all a person needs is a gentle nudge in the right direction. If that doesn't work, then it's time to break out the warnings. If that doesn't work, then it's time to show some red. Beyond that punishments could go as far as permanent banishment. Jumping straight to red is unreasonable in most cases.

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Lindsay Lohan

Advanced warning system for vB.

I usually just give the automated warnings and infractions, I never really thought about any of the things you all mentioned. I always give warnings to first-time offenders and only if they have an active warning do I give an infraction. Save for 1 I haven't gotten any negative feedback about it. On an infraction I gave the member pmed me and exploded that another member should have gotten one also, which he did but obviously this person didn't know that.

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Hence why infractions aren't bans.

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::Kyle Burrows
::GenericForum Administrator

Infractions are a grey area. There is plenty of room for other means by which to improve a forums member relations. Here is an analogy....Think of the infraction system the same as you would a citation. If an officer pulls you off of the road and gives you a driving infraction, you go to court, blah, blah, blah. The trouble that I have with infractions is that it makes moderators like police. And as police it's more difficult to be a part of the community that you are policing. In other words, I consider the people that I deal with on a daily basis my equals, and I want them to feel the same about me. I want them to know that I have enough respect for them to tell them when I think they've crossed a line. Instead of going up to your buddy who is speeding down the road and saying, here is a citizen issued citation, give your buddy the benefit of the doubt. Assume first that by simply asking him to change his errors that he will. If that doesn't work, then pull out the badge. That's my opinion on the matter.

Obviously as forum moderators we have a job that needs to be done. Otherwise we wouldn't be moderators. Part of our job should also include building strong community relationships. I find it difficult to build a strong community by means of dictation. And I find the use of any type of impersonal infraction system is a form of dictation.

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Lindsay Lohan

Infractions are not always the best way to go, but sometimes a forum has no other option.

I agree that PM's are probably more effective for first time offenders...Oftentimes a warning or infraction means nothing, but people don't understand this...The most mature members can flip out if they receive a warning for the smallest thing, and this is why a PM would be better...the problem is that you can't just send a PM every time somebody breaks a rule. At some point, you've got to give a warning or an infraction, otherwise your rules are pointless.

This is where size of the community comes into play...I think most will agree that it's best to send a PM for a first time offender and then a warning or infraction for anything after that...The problem, for larguer forums, with thousands of members is that it is hard, if not impossible, to track "verbal warnings". When you have a team of 5 admins and 10 mods, then you can imagine how hard it would be for everybody to track and record their verbal warnings. For a smaller forum, particularly one ran and moderated by no more than 3 people or so, this is easy.

At AF, we give a warning for every first offense...If they break another rule and have received a warning within the past 30 days, they receive an infraction. The fact of the matter is that we've got to have some quick and reliable way of tracking violations...While a verbal warning would be nice, we can't just give them out for every offense...rules are there to be enforced.

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