Whether or not I get an invitation I should like to put forward an idea which may be acceptable to the membership. It is based upon the system used for issuing penalty points for Road Traffic Act violations here in the UK but with a safeguard.
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Penalty points remain for one year from the date of issue. The points are cumulative ranging from one point for a rule breach, two points for an excessive rule breach and three points for a very excessive rule breach. A temporary 90-day suspension of posting will be issued if a total of three penalty points are received in a twelve month period.
So we could have a situation where two single penalty points or one double penalty points are issued for a number of years without a suspension being invoked. This situation is effectively the same as the old method of moderation. The difference with the old method of moderation is that there would be greater potential for a suspension of posting.
The decision to apply penalty points will not be made by a single moderator; two moderators will be required. The level applied will be the lesser of the two put forward by each moderator. Involving two moderators should mitigate the possibility of bias that could occur with the involvement of only one moderator.
So, for example, if moderator A felt that a double penalty point should be issued but moderator B felt that a single penalty point should be issued then a single penalty point would be issued. With a one/zero determination then no penalty points would be issued. Where there was agreement on the level then, obviously, that is what would be applied.
If a moderator decided to issue a warning only then there would be no need to contact another moderator.
The moderator who actually issues penalty points would be the first moderator to consider the conflict.
Moderators will not have the authority to issue a permanent suspension. However, if two moderators agree that a permanent suspension should be issued then no penalty points would be issued and a joint report sent to the administrators for their decision.
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There is plenty of scopes to tweak that. For example, the one year rule could be changed and/or the total number of penalty points required for a temporary suspension.
Added: I mentioned a guy above who was suspended at PowerBASIC some months ago. This is what was issued.
You have been permanently banned by Adam J. Drake for the following reason:
Trolling - and other repeated pushes of boundaries of rules and guidelines.
With the above protocol that would be a very rare event at FreeBASIC as it is at PowerBASIC.