We have recently installed a new feature on JPP that (imo) has been a long time coming. It's something us mods have been discussing for almost 2 months now, and it's available to all users on this site.
Every time you now start a new thread, you will see this dialogue box:
Which allows you to preemptively ban any number of people you so choose from participating in your threads.
**Being banned from a thread means you will no longer be able to post in it, however you'll still be able to read it.**
Now, obviously this could have some... interesting implications for JPP, and it's not something we just put in place without a fair amount of contemplation. I think this is far and away a positive addition, but there are some potential cons to it as well (which I will be addressing in a moment), and as such, we will treat this first month (up til late January) as a trial run of sorts. If for whatever reason JPP doesn't like this, we'll take it out. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, right now, for at least the short term, lets give it a shot.
So, lets discuss the pros and cons of this:
Pros:
- Gives more power to the community in order to police themselves.
- Is an effective sanction against trolls and chronic "problem posters." If the community as a whole rejects them, then pretty soon they are going to find themselves on the outside looking in, their voice and participation marginalized.
- Allows you to start a thread and have an increased say on the type of direction it will have, by being able to eliminate those you know won't be productive participants in your discussion.
Cons:
- The one major con I see is here is the potential for JPP to be turned into a giant echo chamber. At the end of the day, JPP is a discussion board. It's built on people actively disagreeing with each other, sometimes very vehemently and passionately. It's why we all come here, and while sometimes we might want to just say "fuck that idiot, we'll never agree", other people might still find value in the discussion. We don't want to turn into a bunch of isolated threads where only people that already agree with each other are posting.
- People "Revenge banning." They are banned from one thread, so now they never forget it and ban that person from every thread of theirs, even if the other person may not actually be much of a problem.
***
As to the first con, I think we can be mostly ok from things getting too far out of hand. I feel that the ban option is convenient enough to be used frequently, but in terms of banning every single possible person someone might want to keep out, that would take a bit of effort. As such, I think this system self-selects for the worst of the worst being shut out, and will more often than not stop at that point.
Also I do for the most part trust in JPP's sense of the difference between someone that just merely makes you roll your eyes/someone you merely disagree with vs. a huge asshole beyond redemption.
Additional Information:
-Mods can ban users even after threads are created (it's just the way the plugin works). If you forgot about somebody to add to your ban list, or someone signed up a new account to troll you, or someone all of a sudden turned into an asshole when you weren't anticipating them to, just ask us and we will remove them from the thread for you. (Note: we will only take requests from the thread starters) (no longer doing this)
- Yes, you can ban us Mods from threads as well, and we will respect your wishes. However, a quick note, our ability to post isn't actually taken away, instead we just get a notification that looks like this:
As such, there MIGHT be a time where we miss the notification. Just politely point it out to us and we will be on our way. We do have to allow for the exception to post in the event we need to step in to mod the thread. But other than that we'll stay away.
- Mods aren't going to mediate who is allowed to be banned, who isn't allowed to be banned, whether or not a thread ban was "unfair" or "mean" or "uncalled for" or "wrong" etc. Everyone is free to set their own standards. If you get banned, suck it up.
- Adding to the point above, do not make threads about how someone just banned you, or go into other threads whining about why you were banned, etc.
Final Comments and Recommendations:
These are just some final thoughts, but I would like to implore you to at least consider my advice.
For those that Ban:
"With great power, comes great responsibility"
- As I said above, we aren't going to be getting involved in who should or shouldn't be threadbanned, that's entirely up to you. However, please make an effort to only ban those that are truly trolls, unnecessarily mean, or those that do not post in good faith and are there just to fuck your shit up.
Ask yourself, "is this person sincere and will they be overall respectful to myself and others in this thread?" If the answer is yes, let them stay.
Additionally, keep an open mind for those that make a sincere effort to change their ways as a result of being banned by you. If they try to make a real effort to change their ways, think about giving them a second chance.
For those that Got Banned:
- First thing first, chill the fuck out. You can still read the thread, you can still start your own thread on the same topic, you can still post all over JPP. It's not the end of the world. It's one thread. Do not endlessly bother the person that banned you, do not contact us mods over it, do not make threads about it or posts about it.. etc. The best thing is to just be an adult and move on.
If you get thread banned, you likely fall into one of two categories:
1) Someone that doesn't care about the Banners reasoning, and is unwilling to bend:
Result: sorry there isn't much helping you. You might be fully justified in thinking the banner is an idiot. But they made a decision and if you aren't willing to play by their standards, you probably will continue to be locked out of their threads
2) You've been misunderstood, perhaps you've crossed the line at points but you are willing to make some changes
In this scenario, find out why it is you were banned, message them politely, and make a real effort to change your behavior. If you are sincere they will hopefully see that and in the longrun you'll be brought back into the fold.
- Please do not revenge ban. Keep in mind that even if you dont like the person for banning you, that person may still be a productive contributor in your thread. When you ban someone you are also removing the ability for the rest of JPP to see what they may have to say on a particular matter. So unless you don't have more cause to ban someone other than "they banned me first," try to take the high road.
Thanks everyone! Hope you like it!
Every time you now start a new thread, you will see this dialogue box:
Which allows you to preemptively ban any number of people you so choose from participating in your threads.
**Being banned from a thread means you will no longer be able to post in it, however you'll still be able to read it.**
Now, obviously this could have some... interesting implications for JPP, and it's not something we just put in place without a fair amount of contemplation. I think this is far and away a positive addition, but there are some potential cons to it as well (which I will be addressing in a moment), and as such, we will treat this first month (up til late January) as a trial run of sorts. If for whatever reason JPP doesn't like this, we'll take it out. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, right now, for at least the short term, lets give it a shot.
So, lets discuss the pros and cons of this:
Pros:
- Gives more power to the community in order to police themselves.
- Is an effective sanction against trolls and chronic "problem posters." If the community as a whole rejects them, then pretty soon they are going to find themselves on the outside looking in, their voice and participation marginalized.
- Allows you to start a thread and have an increased say on the type of direction it will have, by being able to eliminate those you know won't be productive participants in your discussion.
Cons:
- The one major con I see is here is the potential for JPP to be turned into a giant echo chamber. At the end of the day, JPP is a discussion board. It's built on people actively disagreeing with each other, sometimes very vehemently and passionately. It's why we all come here, and while sometimes we might want to just say "fuck that idiot, we'll never agree", other people might still find value in the discussion. We don't want to turn into a bunch of isolated threads where only people that already agree with each other are posting.
- People "Revenge banning." They are banned from one thread, so now they never forget it and ban that person from every thread of theirs, even if the other person may not actually be much of a problem.
***
As to the first con, I think we can be mostly ok from things getting too far out of hand. I feel that the ban option is convenient enough to be used frequently, but in terms of banning every single possible person someone might want to keep out, that would take a bit of effort. As such, I think this system self-selects for the worst of the worst being shut out, and will more often than not stop at that point.
Also I do for the most part trust in JPP's sense of the difference between someone that just merely makes you roll your eyes/someone you merely disagree with vs. a huge asshole beyond redemption.
Additional Information:
-
- Yes, you can ban us Mods from threads as well, and we will respect your wishes. However, a quick note, our ability to post isn't actually taken away, instead we just get a notification that looks like this:
As such, there MIGHT be a time where we miss the notification. Just politely point it out to us and we will be on our way. We do have to allow for the exception to post in the event we need to step in to mod the thread. But other than that we'll stay away.
- Mods aren't going to mediate who is allowed to be banned, who isn't allowed to be banned, whether or not a thread ban was "unfair" or "mean" or "uncalled for" or "wrong" etc. Everyone is free to set their own standards. If you get banned, suck it up.
- Adding to the point above, do not make threads about how someone just banned you, or go into other threads whining about why you were banned, etc.
Final Comments and Recommendations:
These are just some final thoughts, but I would like to implore you to at least consider my advice.
For those that Ban:
"With great power, comes great responsibility"
- As I said above, we aren't going to be getting involved in who should or shouldn't be threadbanned, that's entirely up to you. However, please make an effort to only ban those that are truly trolls, unnecessarily mean, or those that do not post in good faith and are there just to fuck your shit up.
Ask yourself, "is this person sincere and will they be overall respectful to myself and others in this thread?" If the answer is yes, let them stay.
Additionally, keep an open mind for those that make a sincere effort to change their ways as a result of being banned by you. If they try to make a real effort to change their ways, think about giving them a second chance.
For those that Got Banned:
- First thing first, chill the fuck out. You can still read the thread, you can still start your own thread on the same topic, you can still post all over JPP. It's not the end of the world. It's one thread. Do not endlessly bother the person that banned you, do not contact us mods over it, do not make threads about it or posts about it.. etc. The best thing is to just be an adult and move on.
If you get thread banned, you likely fall into one of two categories:
1) Someone that doesn't care about the Banners reasoning, and is unwilling to bend:
Result: sorry there isn't much helping you. You might be fully justified in thinking the banner is an idiot. But they made a decision and if you aren't willing to play by their standards, you probably will continue to be locked out of their threads
2) You've been misunderstood, perhaps you've crossed the line at points but you are willing to make some changes
In this scenario, find out why it is you were banned, message them politely, and make a real effort to change your behavior. If you are sincere they will hopefully see that and in the longrun you'll be brought back into the fold.
- Please do not revenge ban. Keep in mind that even if you dont like the person for banning you, that person may still be a productive contributor in your thread. When you ban someone you are also removing the ability for the rest of JPP to see what they may have to say on a particular matter. So unless you don't have more cause to ban someone other than "they banned me first," try to take the high road.
Thanks everyone! Hope you like it!
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