When is enough, enough? (Re: Rep points)

[winbig]

Hey Bryan,

Isn't there a point in time in a poster's career where they should receive an automatic ban?

For instance, a certain user (figure it out) here has almost -200 rep points......and that's pretty sad, considering this user has been thanked 45 times....

It's painfully obvious that they're ****** off more people than they are contributing any good to the forum

...just my 2c...

[RobWin]

I know who you're talking about...what do I win?

[winbig]

I know who you're talking about...what do I win?

I should be asking you that, after all those 3Dice hits

[Casinomeister]

Sometimes I let people hang around for cheap entertainment

JK

At the moment, when you go into minus-land, many of your capabilities are disabled (can't PM, use email, view screen-shots or attachments, etc.). I could easily modify the reputation points to impose a ban on the account when a person gets to x amount of negative points. But this has never been done before. It's just easier to outright ban a person - and I like to be in control of this via me or the moderators. I wouldn't want a member exercising their rep power in a bad way.

[chuchu59]

Then there is also the possibility of the member in question being at odds with only a few veterans with a lot of rep power here. Let's say Winbig (just an example no ill feelings) didnt like what he posted and wham he has -96 rep points. The fact that he was thanked on 45 occasions only for that to be negated by several members may not go down well with many.

[winbig]

Then there is also the possibility of the member in question being at odds with only a few veterans with a lot of rep power here. Let's say Winbig (just an example no ill feelings) didnt like what he posted and wham he has -96 rep points. The fact that he was thanked on 45 occasions only for that to be negated by several members may not go down well with many.

That's true....it definitely would open the doors for abuse...

But, in this case, I'm pretty sure it's a majority of members

[maxd]

One interesting possibility related to this comes to mind: if the rep dropped low enough then any posts by the offending individual would automatically get dropped into the "moderation" queue, meaning that after their rep bottomed out nothing they posted would appear without it having been approved by the boss or a moderator first.

This mechanism would allow the membership to shut down anyone who is really pissing them off. Needless to say I'm thinking of those hit-and-run spammers, but it would work just as effectively for a troll who goes off their nut or even a regular member who _really_ crosses the line.

If we had this in place then the membership really could help police the boards, kind of a Community Watch + citizen's arrest thing.

One thing I'd love to have attached to this, but I'm guessing it's not really feasible in the current version of the message board system, would be having the effects of the reputation drop somehow keyed to the member's sign-on date. In other words something like: if your reputation is really low and you've only signed on within the last week -- Or, your oldest post in less than 24 hours old -- then ... all your posts get returned to the moderation queue, for instance. Again, I'm thinking of those bloody spammers.

Obviously this whole business would be open to abuse too ... but it might be interesting to see if that actually happened. After all, the rep penalties people apply are recorded so it's not as if it could be abused without repercussions.

[Casinomeister]

Actually, Max has a pretty good idea. The first part could be easily done - members who get deep in minus land end up in a moderated queue.

[suzecat]

Actually, Max has a pretty good idea. The first part could be easily done - members who get deep in minus land end up in a moderated queue.

OK! As it is possible the "veterans" aren't abusing their power at all! Rather (having seen it all unfold before) they are protecting the forum by halting troll-like spam, etc. as it occurs.................you know with time zones and such, CM and the mods can't be online 24/7.......