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Originally Posted by tore
Grats on your new job, Jans, and thanks for your reply.
I feel like I should clarify again that I'm not saying there can't be context. It just shouldn't be nothing but context. If there was a general precedent that breaking rule X is penalized with 3 infractions, then that's your basic starting point. Perhaps you'd make it a 2 or a 4 - or even just a warning. The general idea and expectation is that it requires punitive action.
If there is no precedent, no guideline and no expectations, then your starting point is likely nothing. When a lack of a system allows for doing nothing, that can become pretty tempting - particularly in an environment such as this becase, as you say, mods are members of the community and so have incentive against taking punitive actions against friends. Plus, when there's no system, any mod is accountable for their own punitive actions.
I wouldn't like handing out infractions to people I like either, but it's for the good of themselves and everyone else. I compared MB to a playground with kids earlier and to use that analogy again, raising kids generally works better with some structure, rules and boundaries. Even though you don't like punishing your kids, a system of timeouts is probably better than total anarchy - for them, for you and for everyone else who spend time with you.
As I mentioned earlier, while a system calls for more punitive actions against members, it also takes responsibility away from mods because they're just doing their job. When there's no real system, mods are held accountable, creating another incentive to do nothing.
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It feels like one of the main thrusts of your comment here is bit of a strawman. It's simply untrue that "there's no real system" or "no precedent, no guideline and no expectations". I understand that those things aren't as regimented as you'd prefer them to be, but that doesn't mean they don't exist at all. We do have rules, and while we may cut people more slack on them than you like, we do enforce them. Our enforcement also follows a fairly predictable pattern of warning -> infraction -> ban. There is room for context but I think that's as it should be.
To me, the system you're proposing adds extra complication without benefit to anyone. I don't agree that it would take responsibility away from the mods. They'd still be making judgement calls on how to apply the rules and would still be called to account every time they did so. And with the quantity of infractions increasing as per your system, that calling to account would be happening far more often.