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Originally Posted by Lightning
"commercial advertising will result in an immediate ban" (for when people sign up to spam the boards with advertisements), or should we just let that be explicit?
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I am probably going to borrow your wording and change "Advertising for real world merchandise is prohibited. " to....
Commercial advertising is prohibited.
Accounts that are created for the purpose of spamming advertisements would be banned under this rule... while less serious violation would get a warning.
That's one reason I hesitate to list the punishment with the rule. There are varying degrees of infraction... Someone who posts a pornographic image and someone who drops the F bomb are both guilty of violating the same rule. One of those would be banned, and one would probably get thwapped on the head by Salty Dog and that would be the end of it unless it became a case of repeated offenses after warnings. Same rule... but very different situations resulting in different punishments.
I think a better way to handle it is to go with a policy along the lines of:
"Violation of these rules will result in disciplinary action. For minor infractions, warnings will be given. For serious or repeat violations, the account may be suspended or banned."
I want to be clear on one thing while we're on the subject. Banning will NOT be something that is done on a shoot from the hip basis. I hope to never have to ban anyone. It will always be a last resort (except in the case of bogus accounts registered for the purpose of spamming the forums with ads.)
Moderators will have the power to ban (they have to have this power to keep someone from repeatedly posting content in violation of the rules if that person ignores their warnings). However, any banning will be reviewed by me within 24 hours to determine if it was appropriate.