Member Behavior and Disciplinary Actions

[Deep-Thots]

As a relatively new board (and a friendly one, to boot), we haven't yet had to take any hard-line disciplinary actions here at MouseOwners, and we're grateful for that. However, we think it's important to have a policy in place so that people know what's expected in the event of violations of community norms.

If you see a member violating a community policy, please select the yield sign icon located at the bottom left of a post, and complete the Report Bad Post form.

Please refrain from scolding or disciplining the offending member directly or publicly since that is the responsibility of the moderators. Doing so (especially repeatedly) may result in a moderator contacting you with a warning.

There are various courses of action taken when a member violates a community guideline, depending on severity and circumstances. Responses can vary from a reminder or a warning message, to temporary suspensions and permanent bans.

Members who are temporarily suspended for rule violations may be identified with a "Suspended" label below their username on their posts. Suspensions will vary in length, but in general will be the result of an escalation or repeated violation of offending behavior, or of a willful violation of certain community guidelines. The duration of the suspension will be clearly communicated by a moderator at the time that the suspension takes place.

Persons who are banned may be identified with "Banned" under their usernames. This is a permanent condition and is the severest of actions, and will occur only in the most extreme of circumstances.

Note that not all disciplinary actions are made based on public posts; a member can even be suspended, banned, or otherwise disciplined for actions that are not apparent to the general membership at large.

Disciplinary actions of members may be conducted privately or publicly as the situation warrants.

While a member is suspended, s/he may still be able to continue to read the forums without logging in. However, per the guidelines, members are expressly forbidden from registering another account on MouseOwners. Although creating a second account is not allowed on MouseOwners under normal circumstances, doing so for the express purpose of using a "sham account" to skirt a suspension and post comments will result in the immediate revocation of the primary account, and the suspension will convert to a permanent ban. Persons whose accounts have been banned may also not create a new account on MouseOwners, and such requests are denied.