- August 11th, 2016, 11:12 am
#89672
There has been a noticeable escalation here recently in the amount of rudeness and hatred toward one another by some users. With the amount of truly awful things going on around us in the country and world, it is extremely discouraging to see this level of obnoxious behavior rise up on a website centered around a place that is purely about fun. It is not what I envisioned when I created this place 13 years ago. If you are acting hateful and mean to someone over opinions on a roller coaster then you really need to step back and try to find a little perspective on life. A number of people have approached the admins about it and I want to start by apologizing to them and everyone else who has felt put off by it. I want this to be a place where everyone feels welcome, and if you ever feel that has been compromised do not hesitate to message me or one of the other administrators.
I have always been a bit proud of the hands off nature that the admins take here and we generally try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and as long of a leash as possible. I can't even remember the last time we banned someone. Unfortunately, since this trust has not been working out so well, we have to step up the way we moderate the site.
I'll start with the carrot approach, and that is this: This is a small community. Many of us have seen one another at the park at some point, be it on a regular day, media day, ACE event, or even a CC meetup (yes maybe we will even have another one of those). You are not as anonymous as you might feel on here, and if you would not say something directly to someone's face it's probably best not to hit submit on that post. Additionally, remember that Carowinds and Cedar Fair staff and executives do read this site. Your behavior on here is reflective of the community as a whole. We have had the fortune of receiving invitations for members to attend announcements and media days in the past and hope to have this opportunity again in the future. In the past when we have had limited invites to hand out we have chosen the members based on post history, so keep that in mind as well.
And now the stick: I would advise everyone to take another close read of our Code of Conduct. Going forward we will try to do a better job of enforcing these rules. Please use the report post button if you see a violation of the rules. We get notified by these every time we go to the site.
In the past we have had no set punishment standards. That has now changed. We have implemented a warning system that will be used at our discretion when rules are violated. A private message is automatically sent to the user when a warning is issued. Accumulation of warnings will result in the following:
4th warning within 90 days: 7 day suspension
5th warning within 90 days: 30 day suspension
Longer suspensions or permanent bans may follow, and egregious violations may result in longer bans regardless of whether warnings have been issued.
I really hope that we do not have to make much use of this punishment system. Ideally everyone will try to treat each other like human beings with kindness and respect, but since we don't live in an ideal world, now we have this system in place. But let's try to have a little perspective on what we are here for, and remember that if two high school slackers from San Dimas, California can go on to inspire a Utopian society based on music and love, then you can find it deep down inside yourself to not be a giant jerk to strangers on the Internet.
I have always been a bit proud of the hands off nature that the admins take here and we generally try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and as long of a leash as possible. I can't even remember the last time we banned someone. Unfortunately, since this trust has not been working out so well, we have to step up the way we moderate the site.
I'll start with the carrot approach, and that is this: This is a small community. Many of us have seen one another at the park at some point, be it on a regular day, media day, ACE event, or even a CC meetup (yes maybe we will even have another one of those). You are not as anonymous as you might feel on here, and if you would not say something directly to someone's face it's probably best not to hit submit on that post. Additionally, remember that Carowinds and Cedar Fair staff and executives do read this site. Your behavior on here is reflective of the community as a whole. We have had the fortune of receiving invitations for members to attend announcements and media days in the past and hope to have this opportunity again in the future. In the past when we have had limited invites to hand out we have chosen the members based on post history, so keep that in mind as well.
And now the stick: I would advise everyone to take another close read of our Code of Conduct. Going forward we will try to do a better job of enforcing these rules. Please use the report post button if you see a violation of the rules. We get notified by these every time we go to the site.
In the past we have had no set punishment standards. That has now changed. We have implemented a warning system that will be used at our discretion when rules are violated. A private message is automatically sent to the user when a warning is issued. Accumulation of warnings will result in the following:
4th warning within 90 days: 7 day suspension
5th warning within 90 days: 30 day suspension
Longer suspensions or permanent bans may follow, and egregious violations may result in longer bans regardless of whether warnings have been issued.
I really hope that we do not have to make much use of this punishment system. Ideally everyone will try to treat each other like human beings with kindness and respect, but since we don't live in an ideal world, now we have this system in place. But let's try to have a little perspective on what we are here for, and remember that if two high school slackers from San Dimas, California can go on to inspire a Utopian society based on music and love, then you can find it deep down inside yourself to not be a giant jerk to strangers on the Internet.