New forum software: A change to the moderation of CC

Shaun

Founder
Moderator
As part of the new software move we’re going to change the moderation of CycleChat (outlined here) and simplify the site rules and guidelines (to be posted later).

So ...

Support Team: Moderators are going to change role and become the Support Team.

The Support Team is made up of trusted forum regulars who are volunteering their free time to assist with the day-to-day running of the site and to support you in your use of the site. They also have the additional ability to remove spam, edit posts/threads, deal with reported problems, and send system reminder notices where they are deemed necessary for inappropriate conduct or content.

The site rules and guidelines should give you a good idea of what is inappropriate for CycleChat, but as a general rule of thumb just conduct yourself in a similar way to how you would in mixed company.

Support Team members will have a badge under their username to make it easy for you to find help if you need it, and to help you identify when a general request for calm has been posted into a heated discussion. Please don’t use their public status to harass them (including bringing their team status into discussions when it is not relevant) or you may find your site access being restricted!

The Support Team are all forum users just like you and as such are entitled to have their own opinions and ideas, just like you.

Reminders: Inappropriate conduct and content will now attract a system reminder message from the Support Team with specific reference to the thread/post that has prompted it. (Your content may be edited too if we feel it should not be left on the site, but we'll try to avoid this wherever possible).

The purpose of these system reminders is to guide you in relation to what conduct and content is deemed inappropriate for CycleChat and to allow you to self-moderate. Each reminder will stay on your user account for 60 days and then expire.

Occasional reminders will not affect your access to the site, but if you accumulate a number of active reminders the software will automatically suspended your account for a short period (see further down for how the process will work). Continued inappropriate conduct/content on return from suspension will lead to further suspension, and then eventually a permanent ban.

(Note: The Support Team may choose a personal conversation instead of a system reminder if they feel it would be more useful).

The Support Team can use their own account or the generic Support Team account (which discourages the individual targeting of Support Team members). If you get a reminder, please give it consideration and understand that consecutive active reminders will have an adverse effect on your access to the site.

Appeal: Please address all appeals to me, the site owner, Shaun (Admin) via personal conversation or the site contact form.

The process: We will try to avoid issuing system reminders wherever possible by making general requests on threads and personal appeals for minor issues. If you see a general request from a Support Team member please give it some consideration. This will help us all to maintain a friendly site and make everyone's experience at CycleChat a better one.

If you accumulate a number of active reminders then the software will automatically take action as follows:

  • First reminder (no action)
  • Second active reminder (no action)
  • Third active reminder (no action)
  • Fourth active reminder (24 hour suspension)
  • Fifth active reminder (3 day suspension)
  • Sixth active reminder (1 week suspension)
  • Seventh active reminder (permanent ban)
This gives you the chance to have an occasional slip up without losing access to the site, and at the same time gives everyone a clear outline of how suspensions and bans can come about.

Exceptions: Spammers will have their accounts closed immediately (as they are now) and there may be occasions where we need to remove access for someone without going through this reminder process; we will continue to do so wherever we feel it is appropriate or in the best interests of the smooth running of the site.


These changes will take effect once we are on the new software, and hopefully by putting a structure in place that everyone can see and understand we will move forward with a better system of managing the site.

I’ll post the modified rules once I’ve had a chance to go over them and make sure they are easy to understand and give a clear idea of the general guidelines for using CC.


Cheers,
Shaun
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gbs

Guru
Location
Fulham
Shuan, do I correctly surmise that there have been problems at t'mill? I am an on/off type reader but all has seemed calm to me in recent weeks.

Keep up the good work - the site is bright and entertaining and often v informative.
 

Norm

Guest
Shuan, do I correctly surmise that there have been problems at t'mill?
Why on earth would you think that? The answer is no, things can evolve without a need for riots in the streets.

We are moving to new software which will require some changes and they have been included in the overall way that Shaun is running the site.
 

PpPete

Legendary Member
Location
Chandler's Ford
Seven system reminders in (effectively) 49 days of use before being banned. Have to be going some to get that!
And three before any action is taken....

I know you reserve the right to ban immediately, but IMHO that process sounds overly tolerant of inappropriate behaviour.
 
OP
OP
Shaun

Shaun

Founder
Moderator
As Norm says, it's all part of the move to the new software.

There are new tools to help us manage the site, and I've taken the opportunity to review how we do things and make some positive improvements.

One is to reduce the size of the site rules and guidelines by about 50% which makes them easier to digest and reference (although I'm still working on them so will publish them later).

The other is to make some of the site management more public; such as a formal outline of how conduct and content management will work, and the badging of Support Team members so everyone knows who we are.

There won't be much of a noticeable change because it's what we've been doing for years anyway. We'll continue to use a general approach to resolving minor issues and use discretion when communicating with people about specific issues on the site; but at least everyone is now aware of how the process will generally work.

Cheers,
Shaun :biggrin:
 
OP
OP
Shaun

Shaun

Founder
Moderator
Seven system reminders in (effectively) 49 days of use before being banned. Have to be going some to get that!
And three before any action is taken....

I know you reserve the right to ban immediately, but IMHO that process sounds overly tolerant of inappropriate behaviour.

49 days? How did you work that out? :biggrin:

If you play your cards right you can get to the first suspension in just one day ... and if you kick off when your suspension is up, go straight to 3 days, one week, and then ban - all without spending much more than a few hours on CC in between times. :thumbsup:

Cheers,
Shaun :biggrin:
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
I guess it can be a try it and see. The rules could always be modified again if it doesn't work. We don't have any idea of how long/how many warnings people currently get before they are banned. But certainly it will have been happening without us realising. Normally the first we are aware is once someone has been banned but it usually comes out that they have had plenty of warnings or short suspensions previously. Maybe this time span is similar to what has happened in the past?
 

potsy

Rambler
Location
My Armchair
Will you be posting a league table Shaun? :whistle:
 

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
Sounds very reasonable to me.

Do reminders expire? If someone got a reminder, then got another one a year later, would that be 1 or 2?
 
OP
OP
Shaun

Shaun

Founder
Moderator
I guess it can be a try it and see. The rules could always be modified again if it doesn't work. We don't have any idea of how long/how many warnings people currently get before they are banned. But certainly it will have been happening without us realising. Normally the first we are aware is once someone has been banned but it usually comes out that they have had plenty of warnings or short suspensions previously.


The background management of the site will continue as before, but I wanted to make the general process public so that everyone understands roughly how things are going to work.

You'll hopefully not notice any real difference in your day-to-day use of the site, and if it needs some tweaking further down the line we'll sort it as we go along.

Cheers,
Shaun :biggrin:
 
OP
OP
Shaun

Shaun

Founder
Moderator
Sounds very reasonable to me.

Do reminders expire? If someone got a reminder, then got another one a year later, would that be 1 or 2?


The "active" status of a reminder expires after 60 days, so whilst it will remain on your account record, it will no longer affect your account status. It will be null and void in terms of action by the software.

I've hopefully weighed the reminders in favour of encouraging people to self-moderate and in a way that won't see an occasional slip having any impact on your access.

It may need some adjustment once it is put into practice.

We'll of course use our discretion and judgement to manage members in the same way we always have, and if someone is being particularly disruptive or has no obvious interest in being part of our community, we can consider bypassing the reminder stage and closing their acount directly.

Cheers,
Shaun :biggrin:
 
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