From what I understand, implementing a new variation of our infractions system would involve 3 steps:
(1) Tweak the rules, if necessary, to make them reflect what a majority of members and mods seem to want. Reading this thread, I felt that the only rule that people seemed to be especially concerned about was this one, because they appreciate the humor of a cleverly placed GIF or pithy comment and want people to be free, to a degree, to joke around with each other by using them:
"Please refrain from posting meaningless threads, one word (or short) nonsense posts, or the like."
(2) Figure out how to modify the current infractions system so that infractions of the rules would result in a certain number of infraction points (which disappear after a time delay). Janszoon appears to have referred to how to do this step here, worrying that it might be difficult, but since many forums apparently use a point system for infractions, perhaps it wouldn't be that hard:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Janszoon
[...] get the owners of the site to change the current infraction set up
|
(3) Agree on the method MB wants to use to decide if we try a new variation of the infractions sytem for a month or longer trial period to see how well it works especially once members and mods get used to it and adjust. Do we want mods to decide, or do we want the issue put to a general MB vote after some time is given to inform current members of the proposed change?
One positive outcome of a more robust infractions system might be that people will think more before posting off-topic comments, as has occurred in this thread several times, and decide to stay on topic more often to avoid accruing infraction points.
A clearer, more predictable infractions system might encourage people to police themselves better, since they would know they can't go off topic without facing limits.