Introducing the Timeout Tapper
At the beginning of this season, we posted "Threadiquette for a Truncated Season" (please read this if you have not already). Most members have followed these rules, a select few have not. One of the issues that we have faced along the way is how to handle a member that is mucking up an otherwise fine thread through general douchebaggery, being a general nuisance but perhaps not to the point where Sactown Royalty would want to completely revoke the membership. Additionally, the site was not prepared for how polarizing a single player could be, and how lovers/haters on both sides of the issue would line up to blast home their point, common sense and reason be damned.
- Site Moderators Increased by 50% There are now more mods patrolling the site to compensate for the increased traffic
- A Crackdown on Douchebaggery, Douchenozzly, Douchefoonery, and General Maloofery This one's pretty simple - don't be a douche.
- Content Counts Yes, if you are going to come into a thread and bang away on one note, you are likely to get a timeout. A little swearing never hurt anyone, but if you are going to come in and drop expletive after expletive after expletive, you're going to get a timeout. If you come on line with the sole purpose of sticking your finger in another member's cage, you're probably going to get a timeout.
- Breathe It's easy to get caught up in this team when it is playing badly, and they sure give us plenty of those opportunities. Take a breath, keep everything in perspective, and don't take it out on your fellow members - they're sick puppies, just like you.
- Timeouts Most timeouts will last a day, more or less. The idea here is that if someone is disrupting a thread, they get an immediate timeout, thus purging the thread of the nuisance. The member can give it another try after their timeout expires some time the next day.
The site moderators are attempting to make some changes in their approach as well. In the past, a site mod would advise a member when they were in violation in the hope that they would dial it back, but many times this has led to site moderation conversations within the threads, which in turn takes away from actual topic conversation that is taking place. Moving forward, site mods will curtail their attempts to warn violators on line - violators will either receive a warning off line or a timeout (or a ban...the ban hammer does still live). But the mods need your help: Please, please flag inappropriate comments as you come across them. As difficult as it is not to respond to them, please remember that any response is likely to derail the thread and validate the poster at the same time. Just flag it, and a site mod will eventually come across it and deal with it accordingly. And please feel free to email TZ, Aykis or me if you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding site moderation.
The Timeout Tapper, another proud achievement of StR R&D. Now if you all will behave yourselves, we can get back to crafting that small forward for you.
Thanks always for your continued participation at Sactown Royalty, the best member-driven Sacramento Kings site on the planet.