Scratch

I wonder what bad things I have done.

What is trolling and flaming?

adriangl wrote:

Flaming is fighting with another user, often known as "flame wars". I have no idea what trolling is.

You can also get banned for just doing bad-stuff. Cursing, fighting(non-flame way), and so on. But if you make a mistake once or twice, you are in no danger.

Dazachi wrote:

What is trolling and flaming?

"Trolling" refers to the action of making comments solely for the purpose of annoying others and causing disruption and arguments. People who do this often are usually called "trolls"; the phrase "don't feed the trolls" refers to the restraint of angrily commenting back on a troll's comment.

Last edited by cheddargirl (2009-11-11 22:40:08)

Cheddar: That reminds me of 'Fablehaven Rise of the Evening Star' and the sign that reads "Don't feed the Frog!"

To get banned, you simply have to do something bad for several times.

If you spam, you will usually be warned three times. On the next time, you will be banned.
Flaming continuously can often result in being banned. There was a forum user who was always getting into arguments, and he was banned once - and then again.
So if you flame a lot, you will usually be warned once or twice, banned, and banned again.
If you are rude to others, you will receive warnings. If it persists, you will be banned. Continue once more, and you are banned again. Permanently as in the flaming.

That's all I know of. 

Chrischb wrote:

To get banned, you simply have to do something bad for several times.

If you spam, you will usually be warned three times. On the next time, you will be banned.
Flaming continuously can often result in being banned. There was a forum user who was always getting into arguments, and he was banned once - and then again.
So if you flame a lot, you will usually be warned once or twice, banned, and banned again.
If you are rude to others, you will receive warnings. If it persists, you will be banned. Continue once more, and you are banned again. Permanently as in the flaming.

That's all I know of. 

If you are banned......how long does it last?

Since the topic at hand is about blocks on user accounts, here is the official FAQ about the Scratch Team's approach to blocked accounts: Blocks on User Accounts.

somelia wrote:

If you are banned......how long does it last?

The length and nature of the ban depends on how severe the situation is. There have been occasions where the ban is not permanent and is lifted after a certain period of time; other occasions may call for a permanent ban that will not be lifted until the user gets in contact with the Scratch Team.

Pa-Trolling the forums

They say IP bans are a last resort, but they seem to use it very quickley

Mr_X wrote:

They say IP bans are a last resort, but they seem to use it very quickley

The use of an IP ban really depends on the situation. IP bans are usually enforced quickly when the account is being used for commercial spamming. In other cases, an IP ban is usually not enforced unless the situation calls for it (ie. multiple accounts sharing the same IP address have been violating the Scratch Terms of Use).

The reason for using an IP ban as a last resort has to do with the fact that multiple users can share the same IP address. In the case of commercial spammers, an IP ban is used to prevent commercial spammers from making multiple accounts. For other cases, the Scratch Team and Scratch Forum Moderators can check which users are sharing the same IP address and use this to decide whether or not an IP ban is practical for a given situation - there have been few rare cases where an IP ban has been enforced for something other than commercial spamming, but other than that, an IP ban is usually not supplemented with the regular ban (which just blocks the account but does not block any other account sharing the same IP address).

jacool wrote:

Cheddargirl or any other moderator, do you have a like list of all users that have violated the terms of use?

Forum moderators have access to a list of members who have been banned from the Scratch forums - the list also includes the reason for their ban (aka. the message that shows up when the ban user tries to visit the Scratch forums). A moderator or a Scratch Team member can go into this list and edit (or even remove) a ban when called for. I do not know how it is for bans that extend beyond the Scratch forums (I guess a Scratch Team member would be better able to answer that question), but I'm assuming the Scratch Team also has something similar, if not the same, for bans implemented on the Scratch website.

Probably about 99% of users on the forum ban list are there because of commercial spamming. 

jacool wrote:

Thanks for the answer, but as you've mentioned before you keep track of how many times a user has done something that violates the terms of use, without getting banned; have you got a list of that as well?

Well, we make note of inappropriate behavior, but it's nothing like an official list, per se. The Scratch Team people are the ones in charge of dealing with users violating the Terms of Use, so us moderators usually contact the Scratch Team about users acting inappropriately. What happens beyond that point depends on the severity of the situation.