PSA: Changes to How Bans Work on the New Site

Hey, everyone (anyone!). The moderator team wants to let you all know about some changes to how moderating works on the new site. As you may know, on the current (old) site, we have the option to ban users from the forums and the wiki separately. So, for example, someone who gets banned from the wiki would currently still be able to post on the forums. Once we move to the new site, there is only one type of ban, which covers both aspects of the site.

What does this mean for you?

First of all, it's not retroactive. If you are someone who is currently banned from the wiki, but not banned from the forums, you will still be able to post in the forums on the new site. You will still not be able to edit the wiki though.

Secondly, from February 12th forward, if you do something that warrants a ban in either the wiki or the forums, you will lose your privileges for both. So, if you value your ability to talk to people on the forums, don't do something dumb on the wiki. And vice versa.

Our best advice to you, as always, just DON'T BE A JERK. Achieve that and none of this other stuff will pertain to you. Between now and when the new site launches, you might want to refresh yourself on the rules of the site. And if you have any questions regarding this or anything else about rules, moderating, etc, just PM Mods

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

That's actually a great idea. Will hopefully keep people from doing dumb things on either.

Good to know! I will continue doing my best to not be a jerk!

New site? Are there two Giant Bombs now? Sorry I'm still new here.

I won't be a jerk, I promise.

If I could add something, I'd really like if there was something that said someone was banned, like an avatar; even if it was just their minibio or something. I mean obviously not for the spambots but I totally didn't even know @Jay444111 was banned until someone said so like 3 months later.

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Oh please, this. I hope that it stops now that quests aren't a thing, but for some reason I have this nagging fear that it will happen anyway.

@SexyToad said:

@ShadowMoses900 There's been a site redesign in progress. The beta is open to everyone at seaserpent.giantbomb.com. The site will be live Feb 12.

The site doesn't let me log in, it just keeps going back to "log in" again. Guess they are still working out the bugs.

@ShadowMoses900: Have you changed your password in the past few months? If so, the beta expects your old one.

@Subjugation said:

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Oh please, this. I hope that it stops now that quests aren't a thing, but for some reason I have this nagging fear that it will happen anyway.

Before we had that quest i don't think i ever saw one person do that on this site so it should be ok, but there are more new people on here so who knows.

@SexyToad: Ah well I'm still new here...so that might be why lol.

I have to say I really like this community, it's very mature and respectful.

When I saw that uploaded "Banned" emblem in my feed, I thought for a moment that the Seal of Mod Approval just got a dark antithesis for the blogs that really suck. Probably a little harsh to ban people for bad blogging, but it would've been all the convincing I needed to give my future ones another once over for typographical errors before publishing.

I had absolutely no idea you could be banned from just the wiki or forums and still have access to the other. It's odd to think how many trolls that are out there who earn thousands of points in accurate and helpful wiki submissions to then jump on a random thread and make spurious claims that Patrick's hair contains secret Nazi memorabilia or something equally incendiary. Why be so dedicated to this site one way and so dismissive in another?

@ShadowMoses900: you joined in 2011 so you should be able to get in.

@Lego_My_Eggo said:

@Subjugation said:

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Oh please, this. I hope that it stops now that quests aren't a thing, but for some reason I have this nagging fear that it will happen anyway.

Before we had that quest i don't think i ever saw one person do that on this site so it should be ok, but there are more new people on here so who knows.

It'd be too confusing a rule to enforce. Most people online know not to be jerks and that being an ass might result in a ban but it's too much to ask the general populace to know that commenting with a "first" type comment would result in a ban. People will always want to be seen at the topside of comments so they'll always post something without reading/watching the content -_-;; I'd think a better option would be if you could up/down vote comments with downvoted ones automatically being collapsed but we can't all have what we want =)

Is "Brad is leaving" almost a bannable offense on the new site? I feel like it should be.

@ShadowMoses900: you joined in 2011 so you should be able to get in.

@SexyToad said:

@Lego_My_Eggo

@ShadowMoses900: you joined in 2011 so you should be able to get in.

Huh, when you said "new" member I thought this year. Try using a old password.

I made the account a long time ago but I didn't start posting here until just recently. It's also the same password.

@Fobwashed said:

@Lego_My_Eggo said:

@Subjugation said:

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Oh please, this. I hope that it stops now that quests aren't a thing, but for some reason I have this nagging fear that it will happen anyway.

Before we had that quest i don't think i ever saw one person do that on this site so it should be ok, but there are more new people on here so who knows.

It'd be too confusing a rule to enforce. Most people online know not to be jerks and that being an ass might result in a ban but it's too much to ask the general populace to know that commenting with a "first" type comment would result in a ban. People will always want to be seen at the topside of comments so they'll always post something without reading/watching the content -_-;; I'd think a better option would be if you could up/down vote comments with downvoted ones automatically being collapsed but we can't all have what we want =)

What do you think this is, Reddit!?

@Fobwashed: Nah, you could just have a general "no pointless stuff" rule, which I think we already have. You can't just comment "lol," so "first" should be included.

Be nice, y'all

@AlwaysBeClothing said:

Is "Brad is leaving" almost a bannable offense on the new site? I feel like it should be.

I hear Brad is leaving when the new site launches. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist...)

The whole "don't be a jerk" rule is kind of a terrible one. It's entirely subjective. I've seen mods do their fair share of jerky things.

@GreggD said:

@AlwaysBeClothing said:

Is "Brad is leaving" almost a bannable offense on the new site? I feel like it should be.

I hear Brad is leaving when the new site launches. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgAImk7PCf0

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Except there's a quest that rewards this, so it's actually encouraged.

More importantly don't be a snitch, bitch!

I kid! I kid! Don't ban me!

More importantly don't be a snitch, bitch!

I kid! I kid! Don't ban me!

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Actually, there already is. To quote the section of the forum rules on spam, we prohibit "making comments which have no discussion value such as "first" or "bump"".

@AlwaysBeClothing said:

Is "Brad is leaving" almost a bannable offense on the new site? I feel like it should be.

It's not "Almost bannable", but we already deal with such comments here. It's spammy and it genuinely upsets users.

@McGhee said:

The whole "don't be a jerk" rule is kind of a terrible one. It's entirely subjective. I've seen mods do their fair share of jerky things.

I disagree that it's entirely subjective, but we are aware that different people are going to have different interpretations of what being a jerk is. However, the mod team believe that a site can't be moderated by just sticking to a draconian set of rules and that some personal judgement must always be implemented. We will give people some leeway on this one up to some point, but what we refuse to allow is any user using this site to clearly be a dick to people here, and then turning around and trying to pretend there's an excuse for it. When we make it our foremost rule not to be a jerk, that leaves no excuse.

@Subjugation said:

@Fobwashed said:

@Lego_My_Eggo said:

@Subjugation said:

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Oh please, this. I hope that it stops now that quests aren't a thing, but for some reason I have this nagging fear that it will happen anyway.

Before we had that quest i don't think i ever saw one person do that on this site so it should be ok, but there are more new people on here so who knows.

It'd be too confusing a rule to enforce. Most people online know not to be jerks and that being an ass might result in a ban but it's too much to ask the general populace to know that commenting with a "first" type comment would result in a ban. People will always want to be seen at the topside of comments so they'll always post something without reading/watching the content -_-;; I'd think a better option would be if you could up/down vote comments with downvoted ones automatically being collapsed but we can't all have what we want =)

What do you think this is, Reddit!?

Yeah, fuck that. Downvoting kills individuality and results in endless circle-jerks. People don't downvote inane comments or those that violate rules (there's reporting/flagging for that) they downvote what they don't agree with, which is stupid.

Everyone gets the same visibility in GB.

@Lego_My_Eggo said:

@Subjugation said:

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Oh please, this. I hope that it stops now that quests aren't a thing, but for some reason I have this nagging fear that it will happen anyway.

Before we had that quest i don't think i ever saw one person do that on this site so it should be ok, but there are more new people on here so who knows.

I saw tooooooons.

@Fobwashed said:

@Lego_My_Eggo said:

@Subjugation said:

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Oh please, this. I hope that it stops now that quests aren't a thing, but for some reason I have this nagging fear that it will happen anyway.

Before we had that quest i don't think i ever saw one person do that on this site so it should be ok, but there are more new people on here so who knows.

It'd be too confusing a rule to enforce. Most people online know not to be jerks and that being an ass might result in a ban but it's too much to ask the general populace to know that commenting with a "first" type comment would result in a ban. People will always want to be seen at the topside of comments so they'll always post something without reading/watching the content -_-;; I'd think a better option would be if you could up/down vote comments with downvoted ones automatically being collapsed but we can't all have what we want =)

I think a temporary comment ban and a message explaining why it happened would be a perfect way to address it. People would not be permanently punished for being a first time idiot, but they will definitely find out it is frowned upon. If they do it again it could be a permanent comment ban. I say "temporary ban" as in a week or something long enough to make a point, but not enough to make someone upset if they were unaware of the rule. This seems at least reasonable to me. Also, I don't want this to turn into reddit/youtube with the up vote/down votes. Comment section is fine as is.

I was hoping for a murder slingshot but hey, that'll do.

good news, those freeloading peasants have been going willy nilly like the internet hooligans that they are. maybe they will behave like civilised gentlemen now.

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Fat chance. Not only is it accepted, but it's fucking encouraged. For at least a year, being the first person to post in an article was a fucking quest achievement. God mother fucking damn it that absolutely pissed me off. It ensured that the first whole page would be absolutely meaningless shit. I mean, moreso than usual.

@Subjugation said:

@Fobwashed said:

@Lego_My_Eggo said:

@Subjugation said:

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Oh please, this. I hope that it stops now that quests aren't a thing, but for some reason I have this nagging fear that it will happen anyway.

Before we had that quest i don't think i ever saw one person do that on this site so it should be ok, but there are more new people on here so who knows.

It'd be too confusing a rule to enforce. Most people online know not to be jerks and that being an ass might result in a ban but it's too much to ask the general populace to know that commenting with a "first" type comment would result in a ban. People will always want to be seen at the topside of comments so they'll always post something without reading/watching the content -_-;; I'd think a better option would be if you could up/down vote comments with downvoted ones automatically being collapsed but we can't all have what we want =)

What do you think this is, Reddit!?

Considering how half the posts in threads are "look at this stupid photograph, video, or image of a pseudo-meme that I'm posting in response to your comment, instead of writing one mother fucking sentence!" . . . . it'd be easy to confuse the two.

Also, no, Slashdot originated rating comments by about a decade. And, frankly, probably someone before that.

Also, GB had voting on comments, initially. It didn't seem to actually mean anything and didn't impact anything, so not sure what the point of it was. It went away after awhile. Probably for the better, because voting on comments is a shit solution as it simply turns every conversation into group-think. "This guy is saying something I disagree with, so I'm voting his comment down!"

@EmuLeader said:

@Fobwashed said:

@Lego_My_Eggo said:

@Subjugation said:

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Oh please, this. I hope that it stops now that quests aren't a thing, but for some reason I have this nagging fear that it will happen anyway.

Before we had that quest i don't think i ever saw one person do that on this site so it should be ok, but there are more new people on here so who knows.

It'd be too confusing a rule to enforce. Most people online know not to be jerks and that being an ass might result in a ban but it's too much to ask the general populace to know that commenting with a "first" type comment would result in a ban. People will always want to be seen at the topside of comments so they'll always post something without reading/watching the content -_-;; I'd think a better option would be if you could up/down vote comments with downvoted ones automatically being collapsed but we can't all have what we want =)

I think a temporary comment ban and a message explaining why it happened would be a perfect way to address it. People would not be permanently punished for being a first time idiot, but they will definitely find out it is frowned upon. If they do it again it could be a permanent comment ban. I say "temporary ban" as in a week or something long enough to make a point, but not enough to make someone upset if they were unaware of the rule. This seems at least reasonable to me. Also, I don't want this to turn into reddit/youtube with the up vote/down votes. Comment section is fine as is.

For all the shit that Polygon is, this is one thing that is interesting about their system. When someone moderates your comment, it requires you to acknowledge that you've been moderated and then read a brief explanation written by the person who performed the moderation before continuing with the site. As soon as you load a page after the activity has occurred, it just throws a little pop-up that basically says "Hey, we did XYZ, because you wrote ABC. Please blah blah blah in the future or blah blah blah." I'm not sure how the system really works here and I know moderators will PM people privately after some moderation activities, but it should be a streamlined process that happens as the moderator is committing the action to the system.

As long as a little fuckin around here and there is still acceptable.

@Undeadpool said:

@Lego_My_Eggo said:

@Subjugation said:

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Oh please, this. I hope that it stops now that quests aren't a thing, but for some reason I have this nagging fear that it will happen anyway.

Before we had that quest i don't think i ever saw one person do that on this site so it should be ok, but there are more new people on here so who knows.

I saw tooooooons.

You saw "toooons?" Huh?

I knew things would get bad eventually. CBS-itus.

New site? Are there two Giant Bombs now? Sorry I'm still new here.

I won't be a jerk, I promise.

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Well, there won't be a quest for it anymore. At least when it launches.

Meh. I don't know, I think I'll try being a jerk this time around.

@insouciant said:

@Undeadpool said:

@Lego_My_Eggo said:

@Subjugation said:

@StarFoxA said:

Any chance there are going to be rules against just saying "First" on every article/video?

Oh please, this. I hope that it stops now that quests aren't a thing, but for some reason I have this nagging fear that it will happen anyway.

Before we had that quest i don't think i ever saw one person do that on this site so it should be ok, but there are more new people on here so who knows.

I saw tooooooons.

You saw "toooons?" Huh?

Yep, an exaggerated extension of the word "tons" to indicate a great number more.

@phrosnite said:

I knew things would get bad eventually. CBS-itus.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

What is the point of this, if you don't mind me asking? Seems kind of silly to ban people who are good wiki writers but bad forum posters from both and vice versa.

@iAmJohn said:

What is the point of this, if you don't mind me asking? Seems kind of silly to ban people who are good wiki writers but bad forum posters from both and vice versa.

I don't see why not.

If it means more people are aware of the consequences of their jerkish actions, in this case losing all of their posting privileges, I say more power to 'em.

@iAmJohn said:

What is the point of this, if you don't mind me asking? Seems kind of silly to ban people who are good wiki writers but bad forum posters from both and vice versa.

Going on gut feeling, I'd wager that if someone is bad enough to get banned from one, they're probably not very good at the other.

I do not plan on being banned, and I do not think I am a jerk so... this doesn't really apply to me. Either way it is good to see this kind of stuff implemented, keeps the level of dicking around to a minimum.

Can I suggest not banning people just for mentioning they go banned? A reply would be nice.

Wow, that old system was strange.

@Ravenlight said:

@iAmJohn said:

What is the point of this, if you don't mind me asking? Seems kind of silly to ban people who are good wiki writers but bad forum posters from both and vice versa.

Going on gut feeling, I'd wager that if someone is bad enough to get banned from one, they're probably not very good at the other.

Or if they get banned from one, it may cause them to go apeshit in the other. Like a user that gets banned from the forums going on a vandalizing rampage through the wiki.