Hi all,

I appear to have picked up a warning. It has just magically appeared against my name. Now the only naughty acts I can think I may be guilty of are my somewhat vicious responses to snhs (perfectly well deserved in my opinion, and I have no intention of recanting)

Have they earned me this black mark? I don't know for sure, because I have not had any kind of formal notification that I am being warned, or of what is for.

So how does this system work?

Does someone have to complain about you before you are warned? (in which case I am going to complain about 90% of all the the posts snhs has made!)

Is there any notification or does it follow the Kafkaesque model that you know you are guilty, but you are never exactly sure what you are guilty of?

And do warnings expire after a period of good behaviour - or are they permanent black marks (or badges of honour?) against your name?

As far as I understand it, it is indeed the Kafka-esque business of you never quite knowing what you are warned for, and yes, it might well be that someone has complained, but I believe that that is also not information you will ever be party to - nor would it necessarily follow that anyone you complain about ever gets a warning; furthermore, even discussing it borders on breach of the forum rules, I'm afraid, so having stuck my neck out to tell you that much, I now wait with trepidation to see if I get one as well... .

I've got to tread carefully here as I have a warning against my name too, given to me about 18 months ago after a particularly tempramental time when this board had a mushroom infestation.

I cannot say any more publically.

I fear I may have said too much in relation to snhs too.

Tom, for what it was worth you did not offend me.

Well I just checked the Forums Rules on this one, which is slightly vague. Apparently:

"Forums members are only able to view their own warning status. (0% means that you have no recorded warnings. This figure will increase if warnings are issued.) If you have received a warning from the forums team you can click on the warnings panel to find out why. "

So, you can apparently click and all becomes clear?

You could also PM to ask for futher clarification? (Apologies if you've already done this!) It does seem to be their preferred method of communication on such things, presumably to prevent indignant retaliation/ closed threads topics flaring up again... hence I guess why Anacrusis advises caution!

I wouldn't have thought it was too necessary though. Four more warnings to go until anything as drastic as pre-moderation!

Sorry you got a warning for your efforts

I clicked mine and in October 2006 I was guilty of insulting behaviour.

So I guess they're permanent.

What?

As far I'm aware, this is absolutely untrue. This is not Berlin in the 30s!

If you have a warning, ASK WHY! I once got a warning and immediately asked why. It turned out to be a mistake. A moderator had issued a warning to everyone in a certain thread without realising that many of us were complaining about the thread!

Steve

The exact phrasing we're thinking of is at the very bottom of the rules and says this:

"Moderation Explanations
Please do not start a new thread asking why your last thread was moved, deleted or closed. If you want to know why, contact a moderator, but please do not ask the community. "

Because, at the end of the day the community doesn't know. And asking it tends to just cause discussion of the discussion, causing yet more arguments rather than debates. And creates yet another thread that is likely to just get closed.

That's not unreasonable, just sensible.

RTM

This is a slightly different situation Tamsin.

Tom has received a warning, and yes, asking a moderator would be a good move.

However, there are other users here that have also received warnings in the past, who can at least offer a "there, there, hard luck chap", and share their experience.

It is subtly different.

As anacrusis says. It borders on breaking rules. It is a grey area.

How rude - a forum asbo

Thanks all. Yes clicking on the 20% does indeed reveal: "Personal Abuse and Swearing on Public Forums"

So I plead guilty as charged, and claim the mitigating circumstances of severe provocation and the absolute truth of my assertions.

I do think that warnings should expire after a reasonable time - like spent convictions and points on your driving licence.

And now we had better all stop contributing to this thread before I get my second warning, and one or two of you get dragged down in the mire inhabited by callous, evil, insulting, foul-mouthed types like me.

Tom,

In between "personal abuse" and some foul words, you were very supportive when matters of my faith were being challenged.

Pity there's not also a set of "inverse-warning" boxes for useful, insightful, intelligent, interesting, thought-provoking posts. You'd have quite a lot of those checked, if so.
Keep posting - but please don't get yourself banned - you'd be a great loss...