[Onkel Neal]

Some FAQ we get concerning the Brig and Keelhauling.


The Brig
A temporary suspension, from 3 to 30 days. Cause: repeated forum rule violations, or a single acute and serious rule violation. Usually this is preceded by warnings. And usually being "thrown in the Brig" does not mean we do not like you, but we have to keep some form of order, and if you cannot cooperate, you go into the Brig.

General lore: guys in the Brig frequently are assigned duty peeling potatos (imaginary). People are usually good-natured about getting sent to the Brig, but keep in mind, it's not a joke we want to make a habit of (it wastes moderator's time), and people who are sent to the Brig are actually closer to being Keelhauled (permanent BAN). So, avoid the Brig if you can (you can) and if you are thrown in the Brig, be good-natured about it and try not to let it happen again.



Keelhauled
Permanent BAN. No return to the forum is permitted, and the IP and other info on the Keelhauled individual is entered into the system to block their access to the forum. A person gets Keelhauled after several warnings (usually), usually time in the brig (temp suspension), and after some really bad violation, like opening a new account and flaming someone, or cursing out someone in PM, or repeated violations with no sign of regret or attempt to cooperate. When it reaches that point, the morderators and admin have wasted so much personal time dealing with this individual that we choose not to waste any more. He's keelhauled, thrown over the side, we do not like you and we do not want you here. By god, one would think he had been warned enough, he chose to be disruptive, and in effect, he had banned himself. He has tried very hard to get kicked off the forum.

Sometime a person is Keelhauled and people start posting Why was JoeX banned, we want him back! threads and "petitions". This is more pointless work for the moderators and neither I, Takeda, John, Bill, Gizzmoe, Warhawk, Hitman, CCIP, Seth, or any of the moderators want to spend all our free time on the Internet PMing the same people to behave, to stop flaming and trolling, to knock off the game piracy discussion, to keep the discussions clean, and in general, arguing with idiots who cannot understand that the forum has rules and guidelines. If JoeX is your buddy, why didn't you PM him and ask him to calm down or straighten up?

Subsim Moderators spend a lot of their personal time to keep the tone friendly and civil, to keep the forum free of porn, spam, software piracy, and vulgar/offensive/hate speech. People who post in forums have no idea how much time a moderator has to use in discussing why JoeX was warned, yes the warning is outlined in the rules, then keeping an eye on JoeX, who then may decide to see how close he can get to breaking the rules without actually getting in trouble. We had one member spend time in the brig for a really offensive, vulgar joke about another member; he was in the brig a few days and then turned right around and posted a borderline vulgar remark... that is unacceptable, folks, and it is selfish and thoughtless that any Subsim forum member, who wants a nice place to discuss things, would tie up a moderator's time and disrupt the tone on a regular basis. This guy may be a great guy, and we all like him, but in the end, it comes down to selfish behavior that causes grief and wastes people's time.

Subsim will also attempt to add a general idea of what got someone Keelhauled in their sig area.


In conclusion, if you have read all this way, let me say that the guidelines that each moderator is given stress patience with the members. We do not want to suspend or ban people, we do not want to play "judge" or use authority. We detest forums that have strongarmed moderators; but it is up the general forum members to do their part, too. Everyone has a bad day but with 15,000 members, that excuse doesn't extend very far. We need everyone's cooperation to keep the Subsim forums a place where mature, civil, friendly, and reasonable people can talk and help each other.

Neal
Admin, Subsim