Well, we hit 1000. At 500 I told myself that I would make sure we put up a guideline for members to follow, a good system to help keep things flowing well. With that, here it is.
Audirevolution is for the membership, ran by the membership. Much unlike other websites ran by a few members or advertisers, Audirevolution is governed by the active users. There will be limits set at times, depending on how things unfold or how things are done. Links on how to steal or members that want to troll for the sake of causing a rift to propel themselves, will not be tolerated. Those that don’t want to share information but want to complain or campaign for other sites and/or things not related to the advancement of this community and its members are not going to be met with support from this site. Due to the fact that I don’t and can’t read every post or every page, it is the membership that helps police such actions. The tools to do so are the Member Rating system and the report system.
The Member Rating system or MR for short is simple. Positive Member Rating rating shows members as having a strong presence in the forum. This in the future will come with extended privileges, for now it is more of a symbol of a strong following. Negative MR rating shows that the forum membership and said member seem to be clashing. Just like a positive MR status comes with extended privileges, negative MR will result in negative/loss of privileges.
The MR system has been built with the idea of keeping it fair and helpful for all. Negative MR can result in reduction of privileges or suspension of ones account. In order to keep this fair and to prevent abuse, only active members (150 or more posts) and non restricted members have the ability to add or delete MR. Each user can only give or remove A MR once every 24 hours for each individual. With over 1000 actual members and close to 400 members currently able to vote on MR, MR can swing up or down quite quickly depending on on member’s actions.
Anyone who gets a MR of -10 gets warned that they are on the wrong track.
Anyone who gets -20 gets a 1 week suspension / reduced member privileges.
Anyone who gets -30 gets shut down for 1 month.
If their negativity persists after not being on the site for one month and they do nothing to improve their standing, they’re subject to being banned for 6 months or permanently.
The report system is the other way for the membership to have a voice. I have in the past, used the report system to help in moving posts. Members hit the report button and it brings posts that are out of line to my attention. In the past, I had moved almost all the posts. Our 1/4 mile list is run by one of our members here. He has been given the ability to move posts to help keep the 1/4 mile data and posts consistent and well documented and he has also been asked to move posts by other members into the war room. Now with the use of the report system this will no longer be needed. The report system continues to be a great way to help move posts out of the main forum into the war room.
The war room will be the spot where derailed comments and posts go. Too many times a good thread turns south when members collide on small principle issues. This off topic or even on topic bickering tends to derail the entire thread. What started off as a positive, informative post turns into 3 pages of name calling and no advancement to the original post. While we understand that most hot button topics will be open to debate, it’s not the debating that is the issue. The issue is when the debate isn’t advancing the thread any longer and has turned into one nonstop stalemate between one or more members.
The fair way to sort this out, is to stay with the premise of the website by letting the members choose when the thread seems to be getting off topic or when a string of posts has become unproductive. Members can do this by using the report button to report the first post that seems to be off topic or when the thread has become more fighting than helping.
Generally, the move would be made after 3 or more members used the report button on a post/posts. After 3 or more members hit the report button the post/posts will be set up with the tag Site Moderation. From there it is set for movement. Not all moves will be made right away. Some threads that require plucking can take longer. The site updates itself just over every 24 hours so it can take that long for a move to be made.
Troll accounts, think twice before doing so. While Audirevolution is a fully open site to both enthusiasts and shops alike, large amounts of effort and collaborative works go into keeping it troll free. It’s not Audirevolution that is stopping certain members from participating in the forum it is the members’ own actions that are preventing this. Anyone who admits to coming to this site just to troll or incite arguments and negativity are subject to being banned immediately. No warnings.
While most members will never see the reduced side of privileges, we know the few that do will always think the system is tilted against them. This is usually the first part of not accepting responsibility for ones actions. We have had many a member that has turned the MR system around and worked it into their favor for a positive experience.
more to follow