(04-30-2015, 08:41 AM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: Regarding the 20 point rule, that's 20 points accumulated in one year, not active points. With that said, if you hit 20 active points, you'll be banned permanently anyway under the "escalating bans at 10 points" rule. As I've said, we may adjust that number depending on how things go, and certainly I'm going to talk to someone who's getting close to that number. The point of the rule is to catch people who take advantage of the "free two strikes" inherent in the system to regularly show up and cause problems, not to punish people who screw up now and then -- though I'm fairly confident that the 20 point rule gives a pretty clear view on a pattern of behavior. Think of it like points on a driver's license. Sure, getting caught running a red light isn't going to get your license revoked, but if you repeatedly do it, it establishes a pattern of behavior that the State sees as dangerous enough to warrant a more serious punishment.
With that in mind, to Mae's point, we're generally not going to take advantage of heated threads to lay into people with warnings. That's not really productive and it's not exactly fair. Our job is to cool those threads down before it gets to that point, and if things are going really off the rails, we have lock, split, and remove tools to that end. I'm also working on a way to set a thread to have posting limits or post review so we have a tool that's lighter than a lock, but more stringent than a "hey, calm down" post.
Regarding removing warnings, the same appeals process exists as always: PM me with what happened and we'll talk about it. I can lift bans, reverse warnings, and make exemptions. Also, note that mods can send a "hey, be careful" PM instead of a formal warning in the case where they feel there was no bad faith.
Regarding examples, PM me and we can go through a thread if you'd like. We're discussing making the warnings public in a thread; it's a touchy issue, with good points on both sides.
So just to reiterate since I didn't see it in my quick scan by of the first post this morning. Do your 'warning points' in the scope of the big 20 ever fall off like they're supposed to, right now? I.e. 2 weeks and your warning percentage goes down etc? Or is getting a black mark on your record, no matter what the offense was, damning for life? To continue your example with the DMV, the 'strikes' on your driving record don't count against you forever! =P
