- Mar 10, 2010
- 42,695
- 107,107
As an active staff member I give out a fair amount of warnings and thought this might give the community some perspective on things.
As staff part of our duties are to give out warnings. For us, 99.9% of the time it is a mindless act as all we do is hit a few buttons and let the automated message speak.
Now and then we have to clarify in the warning message the issue and we do not mind doing that of course as part of the purpose of warnings are to be instructional in nature.
So here are the ways you can respond to a warning:
1) Do nothing. I'd say about 10% of the people that get warnings do nothing and just accept it or read it and ignore it as they are usually no big deal anyway.
2) Apologize. Totally not necessary in the eyes of the staff but appreciated as it shows us that you want to follow the forum rules. We get that response more than would be expected and it is a breath of fresh air.
3) Ask for clarification. Feel free to ask if you do not understand and we are happy to explain usually. Somethings may be murky and we get that so further explanation is well inside of normal discourse.
4) Explain why you think the warning was wrong. We are open to that and I have, and bet others have as well, deleted the warning and apologized for the error. Some of us have that human gene running through our bodies and we make mistakes.
5) Complain. A fairly common response as one would expect. Some of the complaining is done in a civil manner and is welcome as we can usually have a decent conversation as to the warning. That is productive complaining and helps us all.
Other complaining is just plain out of line as people take the warnings in a way they are not meant to be taken. We are not, "morons", "people who have no real IM knowledge", "people who do not know that niche", "just out to get you", "power mongers because we can give warnings", "too drunk to know what we are doing", "useless pieces of defecation", "bleeping idiots" or many of the other weak insults sent our way for a warning.
If you are going to insult us for you violating the terms of service please be creative. Otherwise it s boring.
One thing you all should know is that EVERY action taken by a staff member is logged and the Admins go through those logs. We are not wild horse running around just wreaking havoc and trying to piss of members by giving out warnings like candy on Halloween. We take our responsibilities here seriously whether we are paid or volunteer staff and are managed the same by those above us whether we are paid or volunteers.
Respond how you want to respond but realize that there is a right way and a wrong way to respond on this forum. Your world may be different but when we are on this forum we are member guests and ought to follow the guidelines and rules set in place by the owner.
As staff part of our duties are to give out warnings. For us, 99.9% of the time it is a mindless act as all we do is hit a few buttons and let the automated message speak.
Now and then we have to clarify in the warning message the issue and we do not mind doing that of course as part of the purpose of warnings are to be instructional in nature.
So here are the ways you can respond to a warning:
1) Do nothing. I'd say about 10% of the people that get warnings do nothing and just accept it or read it and ignore it as they are usually no big deal anyway.
2) Apologize. Totally not necessary in the eyes of the staff but appreciated as it shows us that you want to follow the forum rules. We get that response more than would be expected and it is a breath of fresh air.
3) Ask for clarification. Feel free to ask if you do not understand and we are happy to explain usually. Somethings may be murky and we get that so further explanation is well inside of normal discourse.
4) Explain why you think the warning was wrong. We are open to that and I have, and bet others have as well, deleted the warning and apologized for the error. Some of us have that human gene running through our bodies and we make mistakes.
5) Complain. A fairly common response as one would expect. Some of the complaining is done in a civil manner and is welcome as we can usually have a decent conversation as to the warning. That is productive complaining and helps us all.
Other complaining is just plain out of line as people take the warnings in a way they are not meant to be taken. We are not, "morons", "people who have no real IM knowledge", "people who do not know that niche", "just out to get you", "power mongers because we can give warnings", "too drunk to know what we are doing", "useless pieces of defecation", "bleeping idiots" or many of the other weak insults sent our way for a warning.
If you are going to insult us for you violating the terms of service please be creative. Otherwise it s boring.
One thing you all should know is that EVERY action taken by a staff member is logged and the Admins go through those logs. We are not wild horse running around just wreaking havoc and trying to piss of members by giving out warnings like candy on Halloween. We take our responsibilities here seriously whether we are paid or volunteer staff and are managed the same by those above us whether we are paid or volunteers.
Respond how you want to respond but realize that there is a right way and a wrong way to respond on this forum. Your world may be different but when we are on this forum we are member guests and ought to follow the guidelines and rules set in place by the owner.
