It's not murder!

[Princess_Poopsie]

As a newbie to Fibs I have found the permanent banning of fibsters for allegations of personal abuse astonishing.  Every society should look after its own members and support them / help them to understand the rules of acceptable / unacceptable behaviour.   Despite my questionning I have not been able to determine clear guidance about what actually constitutes personal abuse since the accounts I have seen have been subjective and the custodians of the morale boundaries adhere to their own standards of expected behaviour.   I am therefore not surprised that a number of fibsters have been banned and others questioning this endlessly.  Ofcourse members will be offended by the remarks of others and sometimes that they may feel the need to complain.   However, this needs managing equitably and always with the opportunity to change behaviour and re-join FIB discussions / play.   

The logical way forward is to have a new Code of Conduct.  Anyone who causes offence will know that there will be a penalty and  anyone subjected to the abuse will know how to report it.  Code of Conduct monitors should be appointed for a month of duty so that judgements about behaviour will not depend on the same individuals.  My proposal is that a first offence attracts a one week ban, second offence receives a two week ban and so on.....hence someone who has offended 10 times will know that they will be banned for 10 weeks.   This gives everyone a clear understanding of what will happen, how long for and an opportunity to re-join after a period of reflection. 

This has to be preferable to the current system which gives life time bans for offensive personal remarks - after all, it's not murder!

[Zorba]

PP, people on FIBS don't get banned out of the blue. Usually, we're talking repeat offenders here that have been told or warned what they can't do, yet choose to do so anyway.

I suggest that especially as a newbie, you first read what Patti has to say about it, what has already been discussed in the past 20 years, before coming up with all sorts of ideas on how to improve.

[Patti]

California has a three strikes law.  On your third felony conviction, you get life without parole.

If I were to implement your suggestion, it would be a geometric progression.  First offense, one week.  Second two.  Third four, fourth eight, etc.  Fifth would be a permanent ban.  If you've shown enough unwillingness/inability to follow the rules that you've had to be punished five times then it's unlikely that you'll ever be willing to follow the rules.

To be clear here, my goal here is not to punish people.  It's to stop the unacceptable behavior.  I'm not actually interested in doling out punishment, except so far as it furthers the goal of stopping the abuse.  If you've done the same thing over and over, you're probably never going to stop and I'm not willing to continue hosting your misbehavior.

[diane]

Again, the self confessed newbie is missing some important points..first and foremost..using FIBs, or any other website is not a right.

They all have rules to abide by - and if you break them, you are out. This website actually interacts with you way more than others, before that ultimate step is taken of removing you from the website.

Look at the outcries at Facebook..the steps being taken there to regulate behaviour - it is a sad but necessary evil it seems. [And people have control at Facebook - you control what is on your facebook page, who can get access to it, and what you choose to go and see].

So - you play here 'by invitation', you come and use the service - and it has said, since it was written, on the top line..'Be nice..etc.' go read that section again.  If you dont behave in the way you are asked to behave - as in a nightclub or anywhere else you go by invitation, your invitation can be revoked.

I am pleased also, that it is a very rare event at FIBs.

The next thing, is that FIBs should be overseen by some sort of 'committee'...ask anyone about the team league run by comittee...typically, they do not work well around here - however much you try to get a 'mix' of people on it.  That was another adventure that lead to some people leaving FIBs forever, and some to removing themselves voluntarily and permanently from the public arena and associated abuse.