Warnings & Infractions System

[AussieDoula]

<div class="graybody">As the AllDoulas community continues to grow, there are often times when members may stray from the Community Guidelines, and situations where Staff need to implement a formal way of keeping track of such violations.

With the addition of new Staff members, we are now able to monitor users much more efficiently with the Warnings and Infractions system that was introduced a few months ago. If a user breaks a rule, our Staff will enforce the Community Guidelines by placing either a warning or an infraction on that member’s account.

An infraction can be given for a variety of reasons (explained below) and the member is given infraction points. Infraction points function similar to points on a driver's license. Once a user has so many points against them, privileges are taken away, and their account may be suspended or banned. Members who are given an infraction are notified via PM. Specific infractions expire over time, while staff members can remove others. Infractions are only visible to Staff members and the individual user receiving the Infraction.

Currently, users can be given infractions for the following offenses (be aware that these may change or be added to over time):

• Signature Rule Violation (user is given 1 infraction point, which expires after 30days)
• Excessive Profanity (user is given 2 infraction points per post, which expire after 5 days)
• Inappropriate Avatar or Profile Pic (user is given 2 infraction points, which expire after 30 days)
• Unauthorized Advertisement (user is given 3 infraction points, which expire after 15 days)
• Disrespect or Flame Other Member (user is given 5 infraction points, which expire after 5 days)
• Solicitation to Other Group (user is given 5 infraction points, which expire after 30 days)
• Public Disagreement with Staff (user is given 5 infraction points, which expire after 30 days)
• Spam (user is given 100 infraction points, which never expire – resulting in an automatic permanent ban) Note: this is mainly for people who sign up posting ads about cell phones, laptops, the ones you've seen in the past

Members who receive 20 or more infraction points collectively before their infraction periods expire will receive a 2 day suspension on their account.

A warning differs from an infraction in that the member does not receive infraction points toward a ban. Warnings are generally given at the Staff’s discretion for less severe or first-time offenses and expire after 30 days. Warnings are only visible to Staff members and the individual user receiving the Warning.

Excerpt from our Community Guidelines:

Quote:

Warnings or infractions may result in suspension or permanent membership lock out; and are determined by AllDoulas staff. In some cases a member account may be suspended or locked out without prior notification. All decisions of the Administrators are final. When dealing with posts that are reported by other members, we will make an attempt to contact the original poster and work the issue out with them before issuing warnings or infractions. If a member account is permanently locked out, AllDoulas.com Staff will remove the signature, avatar, profile information, and any listing made in our Doula Directory by the account. Since our database uses threaded postings, it is our decision to leave or remove posts made by the member account.

With members as wonderful as ours, we anticipate that there won't be a great need for us to use this system and we thank you for your assistance in making this a truly inspiring and harmonious corner of the web. </div>