New Infraction System
 

A lot of you may not know this, and there are a few of you who already know about this. With the recent forum upgrade we got a few of vBulletins new moderator toys :D. One of them is called the Infraction System.

The Infraction System is a points based system. If you are caught breaking the rules then you will get points. If you rack up enough points, you either get Muted or Banned, depending on how many points you have racked up. The site will still be the same as it has always been, just with a better system of keeping track of rules violations, which with over 27,000 members (at the time I wrote this), and only 11 Admin and Moderators, helps us keep track of rule violations.

Here are the point scales:

10 points = 7 day (1 week) Mute (you can read the forums, but you cannot post)
15 points = 21 day (3 week) Mute
20 points = Permanently Banned


Here are some of the common infractions with their associated point values. Some violations will get a warning for the 1st offense.

Foul Language = 2 points (1st offense is a warning, no further warnings are issued)
Inappropriate Links = 2 points (1st offense is a warning, no further warnings are issued)
Signature Violations = 2 points (1st offense is a warning, no further warnings are issued)
Insulting another Member = 2 points (no warnings are issued)
Distasteful Avatar = 3 points (1st offense is a warning, no further warnings are issued)
Inappropriate Post = 3 points (1st offense is a warning, no further warnings issued)
Flaming/Arguing = 3 points (no warnings issued)
Advertising in forums (non-vendor) = 3 points (1st offense is a warning, no further warnings are issued)
Advertising in forums (vendor) = 4 points (no warnings issued)
Unsolicited advertising using the PM system = 4 points (no warnings issued)
Severe inappropriate Links (direct links to porn sites, etc) = 5 points (no warnings issued)

The points are permanent, they do not expire.

Even though some offenses can get a warning, we can bypass the warning and go straight to infraction. This is for repeat offenders, users who have been notified of or shown the rules already, etc.

Forum Rules
 

Here are the Forum Rules. Most people only see these when they initially register. These rules are on the same page as the DTR Privacy Statement (link is at the bottom of every page).

Forum Rules

You agree, through your use of the DieselTruckResource.Com forum, that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, racially based or biased, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of ANY law. Legal actions can be taken against you. You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you and you show proof of ownership or you have consent from the owner of the copyrighted material and you can show proof of consent. In addition, for the use of this forum, profane posts should be considered those completely spelled words, or partially spelled words with use of keyboard symbols that suggest a profane meaning. We repeat, profane posts will absolutely not be tolerated on this website and its forums.

Spam, flooding, advertisements, group buys, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are also inappropriate on DieselTruckResource.Com. If you are a vendor, and use our private messaging system to Spam other users with your products, you will be banned immediately, no questions asked. Do not send private messages to users trying to sell your product unless the user sends you an inquiry message first. If you purposely register more than one username, all of your usernames will be banned and removed until verbal or written explanation is given to the webmaster.

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Anyone who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to notify an administrator or moderator of this forum immediately. We have the right to remove objectionable content, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. We also reserve the right to ban you and remove you from this forum at any time, for any reason. This is a manual process, however, so please realize that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. This policy is valid for member profile information as well.

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We reserve the right to change the rules of this forum at any time. You should check this registration agreement periodically to verify your compliance with our forum rules.

Advertising Rules
 

If you are not a paying advertiser on the DieselTruckResource.Com forum, you may not place advertisements in your signatures or posts for your products or website. Paid site advertisers may post information on special deals or sales in the public forum ONCE PER MONTH. Pricing may not be given in the post. The post shall not contain full details of the sale or special. The post must contain a link to the vendor website that better explains the special or sale. Again, you may never publicly post pricing on your products. If someone asks, you may answer them privately. Members may only advertise for vendors or websites who are paying advertisers of the DieselTruckResource.Com forum. You may become an advertiser by visiting our Advertise with us page for more information.

Avatar Guidelines

You have the ability as a Registered User here at DTR to have an avatar. An avatar is a small image that appears next to your username in a post. You can choose to use or not use an avatar in the User CP (Control Panel). If you choose to use an avatar you may choose any from the avatar library we have here at DTR or you may upload your own.

If you choose to upload your own avatar there are some rules you will have to follow. First is image size, the avatar is limited to 65 X 65 pixels. The second is file size, the maximum file size for an avatar is 19.5 KB (kilobytes). GIF and JPEG (or JPG) files are acceptable. The third and most important rule is that there are NO INAPROPRIATE AVATARS ARE ALLOWED! This includes, sexual, insulting, deregatory, or anything otherwise in poor taste. If you think an avatar image may be questionable DO NOT POST IT!. Contact an Administrator or Moderator first for avatar approval.

is there a way to see how many we have? no excuses but sometimes things slip.

Do I correctly assume that the point scale is a lifetime total {i.e. 20 points in my lifetime gets me banned?} or is there a certain number of good posts that will counterbalance a point?

They are permanent, we expect members to be liable for they're own actions when posting on this site.

Most of you will never even see an infraction placed on you, the ones who do are the the ones who continue to disregard the rules even after being warned.

Hi JRS
What you are saying then is that 11 admin and moderators,act as both judge and jury with no appeal or reprieve.:(

As long as you follow the rules, you don't have anything to worry about. We will not set an infraction because we don't like someone or because we have a beef with someone. It doesn't work that way around here even though a small group of some might believe that. We enforce the rules equally and it doesn't matter who you are. Again, as long as you post within the rules, and you're respectful to the other members of our community, then you will never have a problem.

Good question--is there?

"New Posts" link
 

I have been clicking on the "New Posts" link at the top the last few days and have noticed none of the threads I've started or none of the threads that I have posted in show up when I do the "New Posts" search. I was wondering if I somehow got slammed with a fine! [redface] I sure hope not, but was curious.

Thanks to you guys that keep the site up. I've learned more from the folks here than anywhere else. http://deephousepage.com/smilies/clap.gif

From what I have seen your posts you reply to or new threads no longer show up until someone else responds to them in the "new posts" section. if you go in the "forums" link and go to the section they were submitted in you will see it there. I thought the same thing intially, but I beleive it is their new software.

As we say in England if your in a hole stop digging.But a couple of points come to mind.The written word is expressionless and I for one would never wish to insult anybody but if anyone in admin misconstrued what was being said I could be given 2 points without warning.Not sure what flaming is but when does discussion become an argument,again you could attract 2 points without notice.The only reason I posted was that insults and arguing were the two things that carried no warning but immediate penalty points.

Thanks. I just wondered if I had been a bad, bad boy. I thought I might have gotten slapped for putting smoke, a silver dodge, and aluminum diamond plate around the outside in my avater in the DTR sticker! :o Opps. :( The gig is up! [laugh] I got really bored the other day. Forgive me? [redface] I mean no harm!!!:cool:

I do like the new software. Thanks for upgrading it!!!! Many more useful features.http://deephousepage.com/smilies/clap.gif

flaming is the same as slamming someone or something.

I see your point and yes I did take what you said earlier in a different light than apparently you meant it and because of that I removed it. We don't mind people having a spirited discussion, in fact some of the best information comes forth in those types of threads.

When it becomes a problem is when somebody takes a personal shot at someone, in the form of an obvious insult, rather than just trying to make a point.

Like Jack said here, most people will never have to even be concerned with this system. We have been enforcing the rules in the same manner for years we just didn't have a point system in place.

All this does is make it easier for us to keep track of habitual offenders, those guys who just don't care and thrive on getting shock value out of they're posts.

Even though we have the point system in place, that does not mean we can't discuss a situation among the Admins and reverse a decision we make. This actually happens more than one would think.

We are not perfect and we don't expect anyone else to be perfect, but if a member continues to post profanity even after being warned numerous times, then they can expect one day to be removed from the site.

I hope this helps to better clarify what we are trying to do here and I will be happy to answer any questions that I can if you still have some.

Hi Lary
I was probably a little brutal in the way I worded my first post on the subject.I was just browsing and thought I would comment on the new system.Anyway to make a long post short,I`ve stopped digging.


Thanks Van[coffee]

Thats OK Van, it is easy to misunderstand the harsh wording this typed enviroment lends to our conversations. My apologies as well :)

The "no arguing" part is vague. :p

No it isn't. :p


What we mean by that is arguing the same point over and over in a thread or a series of threads. Tranny war/oil war/Walbro v. FASS type situations. Simply disagreeing, making your point, and moving on would not be considered arguing.

At the last North Texas DTR meet, Big Blue used some "questionable language" (11 times, I counted, I promise).
Can we just turn him in here and ban him [laugh]

~Rob

It wouldn't do any good, he would post 200 times before he realised he was no longer on the site [laugh]

That is true :)
I will keep trying ;)

~Rob

Brings up a point; these wouldn't be retroactive, would they?

As a suggestion ~

I'm not sure about the new forum software specifics, but if you can, you might want to . . . .

Create a sub-forum in the Staff section. Call it The Pasture or something.

When someone messes up badly, the Mod would move the thread to The Pasture without making any editing. That way you have a record so to speak.
Then post a memo in the members User Notes mentioning the rule broken, and a link to the thread in The Pasture. That way any staff can see a members history. Perhaps you can include the offenders tally.

You might consider sending a rubber-stamp Email and PM to the offender after an infraction is issued giving notice. That way there's no crying about I didn't know.

Then create a locked thread in the Staff forum that only a super would edit. It would contain a full list of all infracted members including their total. Again, so all staff can see who's standing at the outhouse door, who's in it, and who's under. :(

Back to The Pasture, Mods would also copy soiled threads there so as to include personal attacks, profanity, etc in individual posts before sanitizing the original thread. (These would be threads that you don't want to move from public sight).

You might also move all banned spammer threads there as well.

One thing this will also accomplish is keep all good members post count unaltered as some are funny about such.



Hope I'm not stepping on toes or anything, just helpful intended suggestion coming from "Been there, done that". :)

"Heated" arguements would be a better way of describing it. :)

Not quite. We enforce the rules that have been set forth to the best of our ability and judement. We are simply the peacekeepers of DTR. We really strive to maintain the high quality family oriented atmospere here. Occasionally a member will get out of hand where we step in and enforce the rules but for the most part I'd say that 99.9% of the membership here abide by the rules and enjoy the site. :)

Flaming (also referred to as trolling), is simplly someone starting something just to ruffle some feathers. A perfect example would be someone who just joined posting a thread "Cummins diesel sucks". Kinda like jamming a stick in a hornets nest, a guy that posted that simply to antagonize the membership here. Hope that explains it for you. :)

AFAIK, no. Only since the new upgrade. :)

We have a system similar to that in place. Us admin have a knack for "editing on the fly", quickly editing posts, and should an entire thread need editing, thats when it goes in the black hole. :)

Well, personally I am glad that I am given the privilege of using this site. I do not think of being a member here as a right but as a privilege. This privilege can be revoked on the sole discretion of the giving part (DTR) - so I do have to accept the rules the DTR uses as a base necessity to dispense the privilege.

AlpineRAM

Alpine, I don't think yamroamer meant that in a bad way. I think Lary got confused by that earlier too.

Dude are you kidding???? They need us here to sell to advertisement to vendors, go ahead and ban everyone, see how many vendors want to advertise on this site that has no one on it. Good Lord I am here to help you make money just as much as you are here to keep me in touch with other owners for info, therefore I am a customer and I refuse to kiss anyones rearend here. I am not that involved with this site, but for someone to talk to me as a prisoner or child when they sell advertising space by using my membership as a selling point is insane. DUN BAN ME MASSA I BE GOOD I BE GOOD

1. We by no means get rich off of this site.
2. We rely on our members just as much
3. This site is FREE
4. You have a serious problem with false sense of entitlement
5. You don't need to kiss rear end around but you do need to follow the rules because if you don't, then you're gone, plain and simple.

We do the best we can to treat everyone here equally. One member doesn't have any more rights than another, and we don't play favorites. If we like you, we'll still ban you if you can't find a way to follow the rules. If we don't like you, we'll follow the same process. It's that simple. Either live with it or find another place to visit.

If I sound harsh, that is because for the past 5 years now, I have dealt with many people. The very large majority of them are mature adults and very respectful. However, there are some that just act like 20 and 30 year old children who hide behind a computer screen and think they can do whatever they want whenever they want, and think that this site belongs to them. Well, I hate to tell ya, it's "private property", so to speak.

Again, I'm not meaning to sound harsh but we have followed this philosophy for 5 years and we continue to have the fastest growing diesel site on the net. There is a good reason for that. In 6 months or less, we'll be bigger than TDR and the plans moving forward will show that we are going to continue to grow by leaps and bounds. Why? Because it seems, my friends, that our philospophy works, even with a select few bad mouthing us out there, most rational folks don't listen to that, and they have the maturity to make their own decisions. More and more, those decisions are to stay with us and grow with us.

PS - you seem very angry. Why?

Secondly, have you ever thought about how certain comments like the ones you just made can affect you as a vendor?

Kinda like saying FORD owns CUMMINS, huh. Makes you want to pick up a stick and whack somebody.[duhhh] [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] Sorry, I just couldn't resist that one! [laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

I don't think I'm kissing ***- (You'd be the first person to insinuate this if this was the meaining intended)
It's true there's some economy involved in running a site like this- and a lot of work.
I became a member 11.09.2001 after having lurked in the shadows for a while.
What keeps me here is the quality of information and the fact that I don't have to sift through tons of posts by monkeys slinging poo at each other and megatons of advertisements from vendors.
Now the methods of keeping the site in a way I do like have been declared more precisely than before- but the rules haven't been changed substantially.
On your argument that "they" should ban everyone and see what happens to advertising income- I think that vendors do like to advertise on platforms where they have a great chance to be contacted- and not on sites where everyone is so fed up with all the advertising that any ads are futile.
If you don't agree with the policies of this site you don't need to use it. Nobody is stopping you from starting your own forum or community.

AlpineRAM

Nobody with an IQ higher than a fence post would ever accuse AlpineRam of kissing hind end around here. :rolleyes: We have had disagreements with AlpineRam in the past, but he ALWAYS makes his point in a respectful manner toward the other members and that makes his opinion welcome around here, even if it differs from our own.



This is precisely why we do things the way we do around here. I have removed paying vendors from here because they choose to either fight with other vendors on the site over who has the best product, or they tried to turn every post into a sales pitch so they could make a buck.

I will NEVER sell out our members for an advertising dollar, I would rather lose money than to allow this site to become a free for all for unscrupulous vendors who try to fill they're wallets while standing on the shoulders of our fine members.

They of course post elsewhere that they didnt nothing wrong and that they were treated unjustly, but you can bet your last dollar that I don't give money away with out good cause. They were banned simply because they could not control they're actions and conform to the site rules.

Again Marcus is dead on correct on this subject, the rules have not changed, just the way we keep track of those who wantingly violate the rules. As stated before, if you act like an adult and post in a respectful manner toward other members, none of this even effects you.

Marcus is spot on again, we want vendors to feel comfortable here and get the maximum value out of they're advertising dollars without all the "cat fights" between vendors you see on other sites.

I do NOT solicit advertising dollars from vendors, I could make a lot more money if I did but at what cost? I want vendors that advertise here because they care about what they do and can leave the childish games away from this site. My philosophy is that vendors don't need to bicker with one another, they need to let the quality of they're product speak for them.


Again words of wisdom from a much valued member of Dieseltruckresource.com. :)

Jack, Lary, & the other admins.

--Don't change a thing-this site is the best!! I have read on some other forums, and the bickering all day long is tiresome at best. If this is interpreted by some others as "kissing___" oh well, you guys have a great handle on a great place!!

What he said! I get really irritated at another forum I'm starting to frequent, just for all the vendor crap, as well as people whining about being banned from DTR. Chances are, they deserved it;)

Chris

We don't want to have to ban anyone, you can rest assured they got banned because they went out of their way to earn it ;)

Oh sure they all have big stories as to how unjustly they were treated, but that is just a cover for them not being adult enough to take responsibility for they're own actions.

Which is of course exactly what lead to them getting banned in the first place. :rolleyes:

Hello Alpine
Yes I agree 100%.
If I had used a bit of forethought and eloquence in my first posting,it would have read as a question on the possibilties of receiving penalty points on the misunderstanding or otherwise of the written word.I have to admit it was a clumsy posting.[duhhh] It was the word infraction that attracted me to the post,its a word not often used over here.
Yes this site is a wealth of information.infact the other day I spent two hours and three cups of coffee looking at threads on rear spring spacer blocks.
Finally if anybody in admin took umbrage to my original post please accept my apologies.
You`ll not see me again in this post honest[coffee]

I put this on the first page, but I thought I would put this here to so everyone sees it:

Avatar Guidelines

You have the ability as a Registered User here at DTR to have an avatar. An avatar is a small image that appears next to your name in a post. You can choose to use or not use an avatar in the User CP (Control Panel). If you choose to use an avatar you may choose any from the avatar library we have here at DTR or you may upload your own.

If you choose to upload your own avatar there are some rules you will have to follow. First is image size, the avatar is limited to 65 X 65 pixels. The second is file size, the maximum file size for an avatar is 19.5 KB (kilobytes). GIF and JPEG (or JPG) files are acceptable. The third and most important rule is that there are NO INAPROPRIATE AVATARS ARE ALLOWED! This includes, sexual, insulting, deregatory, or anything otherwise in poor taste. If you think an avatar image may be questionable DO NOT POST IT!. Contact an Administrator or Moderator first for avatar approval.

hotdram insulted me. Somebody dock him points. My feeling is hurt. [laugh]

Your one feeling??[laugh] [laugh]

So, after all that, is there a way to view our own infraction points?