Forum Policy Change

In an effort to maintain a consistent forum moderation and disciplinary experience for all SL Residents and to better reflect the in-world style of discipline, we have refined two sections of the Forum Guidelines. The changes are described below.

We believe it's important that members of the Second Life community adhere to the Community Standards whether they are in the forums or in-world, so we're unifying the standard of conduct and discipline for both spaces.

This means that if one is suspended in-world, they are suspended from the forums and if they are suspended or banned from the forums, they are also suspended or banned in-world.

In an effort to consistently enforce this more unified policy, we are instituting a more detailed system to quantify forum abuse which is integrated with the in-world system of discipline. This policy is effective immediately and is not retroactive. The forum guidelines have been changed to reflect these changes.

We encourage you to continue doing your part to aid with forum moderation by utilizing the tools for rating and reporting posts if you feel they violate the community standards and forum guidelines. If you disagree with an opinion in a post, remember that you can feel free to reply with your own opinion, but please address the idea, not the veracity or intelligence of the poster.


Please feel free to discuss these changes here .


The modified portions of the Forum Guidelines are also included below:

Discipline
Be respectful. Please challenge opinions, state your own and enjoy the discussion, but do not cross the line into personal attacks and insults because you will risk having your Second Life account suspended or banned. We believe that in-world and forum behavior are linked and behavior carries across the boundary. This means if you are suspended or banned in-world you are also suspended or banned from the forums, and vice versa, if your account is suspended or banned from the SL Forums, it will also be suspended or banned from in-world. Violations are evaluated on a case-by-case basis depending on the severity of the offense and past history of violations. The following types of disciplinary action are possible remedies for inappropriate posts.

* Deletion/editing of offending material: The material that violated the rules may be edited or deleted without warning. In addition, threads that are no longer productive may be locked from further posting.

* Informal warning: If the offense is not severe enough to warrant a formal warning, an informal warning may be issued. An informal warning is a private correspondence between Linden Lab and the violator, advising the violator of the offense and what (s)he can do to correct it.

* Formal warning: If the offense is severe enough or an informal warning has already been issued, Linden Lab may issue a formal warning. The formal warning becomes a permanent part of the poster’s record. Several warnings can result in suspension or banning of your account.

* Suspension: A suspension is the temporary deactivation of a violator’s posting privileges from the Second Life Forums and from in-world activities.

* Ban: A ban is the permanent deactivation of the violator’s account with the Second Life Forums and from in-world activities.

Alternate Account Abuse: When an account is suspended from the SL Forums, alternate account misuse will cause an increase in suspension time for both accounts. For instance, if Jane SecondLifer is suspended from the forums for three days and comes back to the forums on the second day of her suspension as an alt and breaks the Community Standards again, both accounts will be suspended from the SL Forums for seven more days. Every effort will be made to take into consideration the general feeling of the forum, but Linden Lab has the final say.

Recourse: If Linden Lab takes disciplinary action against you that you believe was unfair or inconsistent, you may appeal the decision. An appeal is an e-mail or private message explaining your situation and why you believe you should not have been disciplined. Appeals must be sent via e-mail only to [email]abuse@secondlife.com[/email], and must follow this appeals procedure, or they will not be considered. You may submit only one appeal per disciplinary action.

I wanted to post further clarification on the new Forum Policy Changes, as there seems to be some confusion surrounding the above announcement.

Disciplinary Actions
Due to the unification of the in-world and forum discipline policies, forum discipline is now using a similar matrix as is used in-world. This means when a Resident violates the Community Standards or Forum Guidelines, points are recorded and tabulated much as on a driver’s license. The severity of the action and the previous history are both taken under account when assigning points. Much as it is in-world, discipline for the forums is escalated as follows:

This means that one or more warnings will normally be issued to forum violators before any further disciplinary action is undertaken.

Suspension/Banning Clarification
If a Resident receives a two-week suspension, Linden Lab automatically initiates a Review for Ban. This escalation to a Ban Review then goes to the Resident Review Panel (read more here ). Very few Residents ever reach this stage of the disciplinary process.

Previously Banned Residents
To clarify, previously when a Resident was banned solely from the Forums, they were still able to view some of the forums, including the Linden Announcements and the Classifieds. Also, Residents banned from the forums are able to post to the classified forums, although that is a privilege and will be immediately revoked upon any misuse. All previously banned SL Forum Residents will retain these settings going forward.