I don't want to ask for this. But this last week has made it necessary.
Spamming is already against the rules.
Trolling is already against the rules.
Conspiracy theories are already against the rules.
And personal attacks are already against the rules.
I am not asking for a change to any of those policies, or the penalties for violating one or two of them.
However, it's been made clear to me that the moderators on these forums are overworked, and this last week has hosted three specific examples as to why. We have seen posters who are taking advantage of the overworked moderators and attacking the forums directly.
Specifically, these posters have
a) posted something which is unfounded, untrue, or a conspiracy theory
b) doing so intentionally to provoke a response
c) not only provoking responses of "you are factually incorrect, here is evidence" with repeated unbacked postings of "nuh uh" spanning multiple pages, and
d) calling people who bring factually true evidence to the argument a variety of derogatory names, such as stupid or mentally ill
e) and doing so for hours, maybe days, before moderation is applied.
Frequently, by the time moderation arrives to handle this mass rules violation -- likely due to dozens if not more Report clicks and personal messages, because nobody knows what anyone else has reported -- enough other posters, yes this is their own fault, have resorted to replying multiple times and personal attacks of their own, resulting in them being infracted -- sometimes even before the original rulebreaker.
These actions devalue the forums. And I wonder if the moderators are as sick of it as I am.
I therefore petition for an expanding of the penalties for anyone who is found to commit these most severe actions. Specifically, someone who does all four of the following at the same time:
A) Posts a conspiracy theory; or an objectively false statement as if it was true, despite evidence demonstrating it is false.
B) Trolling, including Sea Lioning (a form of trolling) in their choice of topics and how they are presented
C) Responds ten or more times on the same falsehood, conspiracy theory and/or trolling attempt, in four hours (numbers adjustable)
D) While defending an objective falsehood, conspiracy theory or continued trolling, uses personal attacks multiple times
People make mistakes. But breaking all four of the rules at the same time, is not a mistake. That's intentional. It's an attack on the forums itself.
Someone found to have such mass breaches of the terms of MMO-Champion forum rules, as we've seen, is likely to do it repeatedly until they have a reputation. And nobody, again I assume this includes moderators, wants to wade through six pages of one troll being confronted by twenty earnest posters to find useful posts, or worse yet, to find the original problem to handle it.
Therefore, in the paired interest of both making the forums easier and more pleasant to read, as well as to ease the burden on moderators, I recommend expanding the actions taken when such mass rules violations happen by the same poster at the same time.
First, I recommend the penalties be automatically made consecutive, and not concurrent. This might already be the case, I don't know.
Second, I recommend the moderators acquire an IP checker. If multiple accounts have mass rule violations are coming from the same IP host, action could therefore be taken against that IP host (blocking it from the site) if deemed necessary.
Third, I recommend anyone found committing such a mass rules violation be required to sign a form when they return, requiring them to admit they know why they were banned and requiring that they have re-read the terms of service for these forums. This form would also act as a new terms of service, informing the returning poster that another mass rules violation will result in a permanent ban from the forums, or deletion of their account.
And finally, I recommend anyone banned due to such a mass rules violation automatically become ignored by all other accounts for as long as they are banned. Alternatively, the posts could be suppressed and archived, making them invisible to all. This should cut down on the follow-up spamming and trolling success.
It doesn't have to be all of these, or even any of these. But there have been some truly spectacular violations over the last week, far more than I can remember and I've been clicking "Report" for years.
If the moderators have any interest in providing a better forum for honest and constructive discussion, and/or less work for themselves, I ask they discuss this topic amongst themselves. Even if the result is "no" if the discussion happens, I'm satisfied.
Thank you for your volunteered time and effort.