Disparity of rule enforcement between Neowin's News and Forums

[John S. Veteran]

I think it depends on the moderator. Some are power freaks who should've never been given the responsibility in the first place. While others only do what is needed.

For example, some may increase your warning level, while others just tell you to knock it off.

Maybe you've just been unlucky and had one of the bad moderators find you.

we've all gone through it.

Actually it depends more on the users history than the moderator. Most all users are given a null (zero) warn their first time. All warnings are reviewed by other staffers, and many discussed by several staffers before being handed out. There are hundreds of daily users of the site who've been here for years and have never received any warn whatsoever.

[123456789A]

Actually it depends more on the users history than the moderator. Most all users are given a null (zero) warn their first time. All warnings are reviewed by other staffers, and many discussed by several staffers before being handed out. There are hundreds of daily users of the site who've been here for years and have never received any warn whatsoever.

How do I check my warning level? I know I got a warning for calling someone a troll once.

[Brian M. Veteran]

How do I check my warning level? I know I got a warning for calling someone a troll once.

Don't quote me on it since I haven't seen the site from a member's point of view, but it should be under your avatar. If it's not, PM me and I'll give you some info.

The most important point nobody's mentioned in my mind - is that we're only human - and your amazing Team Green are volunteers - who have jobs/study etc! We can't see everything, and we do rely on reports to point us in the right direction (i.e. on my lunch break, I'm unlikely to spot something at random, but I could easily deal with a few reported issues). If you see anything - even if you're unsure - please report it! :)

[Brandon H Supervisor]

Don't quote me on it since I haven't seen the site from a member's point of view, but it should be under your avatar. If it's not, PM me and I'll give you some info

no it stopped appearing under our avatars a long time ago (i think around the time of the 3.2 upgrade or whenever we stopped using the atlas theme, i don't fully remember) doesn't even show on the profile page anymore

[BeerFan]

I seem to remember a discussion a while back about how the ability to view one's own warn level had been removed. Is that not still the case?

[MikeChipshop Member]

I seem to remember a discussion a while back about how the ability to view one's own warn level had been removed. Is that not still the case?

I do believe this is the case.

[b10h4z4rd]

I guess just PM a Moderator or Supervisor to find out your warning leve.

[Raa]

I don't think it's just limited to news, i've noticed an increase in "trolling", "flame-baiting" and general personal attacks all over.

I've been reporting where I can, but many haven't had action taken.

That is of course, Neowin staff's choice and I respect that decision. But I won't say I agree with it.

[Barney T. Administrators]

I seem to remember a discussion a while back about how the ability to view one's own warn level had been removed. Is that not still the case?

As I recall (and its been a while), we removed visible warnings because certain members would think it was cool to raise their warn rates to 100%, then brag about how awesome they were. It made so much work for staff that they decided to hide it from general viewing. If you do not know your warn level, then PM a mod and they will tell you. If you don't recall being warned, you are probably at 0%. :) .

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I agree but I was not speaking of myself. I see stuff that should be moderated but it is not. Maybe because no one reported it?

As someone who used to moderate, I will answer this (obviously based on my own personal experience) on behalf of current staff.

Absolutely, reporting is incredibly important to everything being seen that should be.

Keep in mind mods are volunteering their time, and are just members as well, so chances are just like you they are browsing topics that interest them. It is also just impossible to check out every single thread going on. Now obviously the more active ones, mods check them out just as they are generating a lot of activity, but still, especially if it is a rapid pace of responses. It is easy to not see every comment made.

So report, report, report if you see things you believe are not conducive to the way people should be treating other people.

I know especially the younger generation views "snitching" to be a very negative thing, so that is what it is, but if you feel things are not right, the only way you can help change things is to report them.

[Luc2k]

True and not true. Remember the impartial article regarding piracy? It was not flamebait. It was in fact the most popular article of last year. With that being said, anything from the trio (Apple Google Microsoft) draws maximum attention.

I didn't say everything was flamebait. Impartial isn't the right word to describe that editorial seeing as it was the author's personal experience with software piracy and there are plenty of subjects that can spark a long genuine discussion, then there's "Calling Windows 8 the next Vista makes you look like an idiot".

[remixedcat]

I totally hate personal attacks. Classic example is if you publicly say against Microsoft, you are labelled Apple or Google fanboy.

Fanboyism is dangerous...

[Japlabot]

Can we please fix the Report button on News feeds at least under iOS/Android (it seems to depend on a mouse hovering) so that I can put in some decent reports.

In the past, fanboyism has been tacked with designated areas for the discussion i.e. "The Official AMD vs Intel thread".

Maybe we need:

"The Official Microsoft vs. The World thread",

"The Official Google vs. The World thread",

"The Official Apple vs. The World thread"

To cover all the bases. The rules would be similar to Real World Issues where you can say whatever you want about the subject except you can not make a PERSONAL attack.

In every news article that relates to one or more of these companies, a suggestion can be made to at the bottom of the article "Would you like to have your say about Google's evil plans? Then join in the discussion on our forums [link to thread]!" This would also help drive traffic to the forums, which I've noticed has also been dwindling.

We also need dedicated Subforums under "Back Page News" for these companies like has been done for Microsoft Console/Nintendo Console/Sony Console under Gaming, when that fanboyism there got out of control.

These are the hottest topics in IT right now and they are driving some people nuts with passion about them with no topic area to specifically discuss the IT news related to these companies on a per-topic basis using the Forums, only using the News Feeds (which get buried after a few hours so the discussion can't keep going on and the same points from the same members keeps coming backup up)

Oh and we also need an "The Official "I am Google-free!" thread" because a lot of comments are just a specific compulsion to make this point and they have to proclaim this somewhere.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Trolling the comment report button won't help your case either Simon- :rolleyes:

BTW many of the complainers instigate flame bait themselves in comments and then come whine about it here.