PokerOwned MOD Priorities.....

[TONelson]

Having the luxury of working from a home office I am able to be here on PO in one form or another 16 hrs a day, sometimes more. Perhaps I have no life, but that is a mater aside.

The thrust of this writ is to question the MODs on what they consider to be "important" in terms of maintaining a drama free environment in CHAT, and protecting the image of this site.

I ask this because I regularly see racial, homophobic, misogynistic terms used in chat. Only rarely relative to the number of those occurrences do I see warnings issued to those using such terms. Threats of violence are common place as well, the likes and frequency of which were they uttered in a more public forum would spark some measure of law enforcement involvement.

(By public I mean more popular as there is little to prevent ANYONE from viewing PO chat if they want to. As for Law enforcement, I did at one time work for The Toronto Star and we regularly involved local, and even Provincial authorities where threats of violence were repeatedly uttered by some individuals who used our online services.)

It is usually (though not always) the same people day after day after day here..... most of the time they get warnings, often several. Sometimes those warnings are headed, often they are not and a 30 min ban is given. How effective is this? Well the answer is usually in the question. In this case if the question has to be asked then it obviously isn't very effective at all. Evidence the same individuals getting banned regularly for the same reasons they were banned the last time, and the time before that. What is most amusing is that rather then these individuals getting banned for longer periods for repeated violations, they seem to get longer and longer leashes before they get banned the next time. I don't want to mention any one individual here but I am certain we can all think of examples in our head. I'll provide a few privately to any MOD who wishes to challenge this assertion.

The question will be asked of me, as it has been asked of me before "What do you want us to do?", I feel the answer is never taken seriously or brought forward by any of the MODS save for one who at least listens. I get the impression however that they meet resistance to change from the other MODs who I frankly see as being more concerned with maintaining friendships and avoiding confrontation. Back to the question though....

What do I want....

I want a clear set of guidelines as to what is and is not acceptable in main chat... not the current moving set of goal posts. I guess what I am saying is that this site is getting big, growing up. ZAB would find it much easier to deal with people like whorebot for example, if he had a Terms Of Service (TOS) that one had to agree to as part of the sign in procedure. Call it a Code Of Conduct if you prefer.

I want a measured and even handed enforcement of the above, to wit stop with the repeated warnings over and over again. When you do this NOBODY takes you seriously anymore. They will push the limits further and further every time. I know this, I DO THIS...to make a point. Warn once..... in chat AND via PM. That's it.

Stop giving repeated offenders, ABUSERS, license to do the same things day after day after day. If they KNOW they are only getting a 30 min ban each time, they will push the envelope EVERYTIME. How about 30 mins on the first and maybe even the second offence, 60min the third, 24 hrs each thereafter? More serious offences MUST have even harsher consequences. Further, when it gets to the point that people are getting 24 hr bans, their accounts should be given mandatory review for possible perma-ban.

Now, my original question, the subject I raised regarding MOD priorities. I will admit that the trigger for me writing this missive tonight was that I was banned in chat for 30 min. I was banned without warning of any kind for expressing my repeated and undying love of Pooffy. I expressed thusly in four successive entries to main chat which even I would admit could be considered spam. I don't take issue with the ban, and as LIL'G can tell you I was even laughing about it when it happened. I was not laughing out of obstinacy or defiance. Rather, I was laughing at the irony of such a ban given the issues I had partially raised above on previous occasions. It seems that the MODS are more concerned with "BIG PICTURES" and some types of SPAM in chat (but not all, and not always), not to mention being "friends first" with everyone, then they are with any of the issues I raised above. These are Issues I have raised with many of them privately and regularly.

I ask you, what do you think is more likely to drive people away from this site: people who abuse others, or those who sometimes spam chat? Both are ban-able in my books sure, but which deserves INSTABAN?

Before you answer that, let me tell you I am in regular contact with a number of former members of this site on other forums...... I think it is safe to say YOU know the reason they chose to leave. I'm not even touching the painful subject of scams and scammers here.

Lastly, I have taken measures to ensure that this post or it's original content does not simply vanish at the whim of a MOD who doesn't like and/or doesn't understand the nature what I am trying to accomplish with this simple document. If you can read all of the above and somehow reason that I am looking to stir up controversy, I put it to you that you are either completely missing the point or you get the point all to entirely.