**ALL MEMBERS** Member Guidelines For Spotting/Alerting T&C Infractions

Over the course of the last several weeks the staff have noticed an increase in members taking it upon themselves to inform other members of T&C violations. Or not knowing what alert tools are available for contacting staff.

"Mini-Modding" as it's called is not a member function or responsibility when on ATS.

The staff are here to respond and deal with any and all T&C infractions, member complaints and any other issue regarding posting on ATS or using the website's functions and features.

Here are some general guidelines to follow when you encounter T&C infractions, personal attacks or anything else that would require staff attention.

Rules of Thumb

Do NOT reply in thread!

The above constitutes a T&C infraction in itself as you've now just created an off-topic post and encouraged other members to either agree or disagree with your decision to inform the member of their bad posting behavior.

Use The Alert Feature!

The alert feature is located using the drop down menu entitled "Member" which resides below each member's avatar in every post on every thread. You may also access the ATS Complaints/Suggestions tool by selection Tools from your menu bar and then complaint from the list of options below that toolbar.

Selecting this feature will auto-generate a thread in a staff only forum, visible to all staff. It also includes a link to the post or thread in question.

Included in this alert should be the following:

-The reason for the alert. (Civility, thread formatting, duplicates, personal attacks etc..)

-When alerting duplicate threads, please include the link to the original. This makes our job much easier by not having to go looking for the thread, the alert is handled much faster.

-It's vital that members DO NOT respond to personal attacks in thread. It's quite ironic when a member alerts a post they think is a personal attack and then responds to the post, with another personal attack or an off topic post such as " You've been reported to the mods." These are unnecessary and only serves complicate the resolution of the alert.

Members may also take it upon themselves to assist a member with proper thread formatting. This happens often when embedding Youtube videos for example. Instead of doing so in thread, the staff ask that you either send a PM to the member with the appropriate instructions, or simply embed the video for them in your post, along with your commentary regarding the material.

(Moving forward the staff will be removing all such posts as off-topic.)

Also it's good to mention that some complaints can take time to resolve. The staff have a culture of complete transparency and discussion with any and all T&C infractions that warrant it. Blatant disregard for civility and decorum among other things are usually deal with swiftly, however there are some situations that warranty a more thoughtful approach.

Please do not think that we are ignoring your alert if your issue isn't resolved in the first half hour you bring it to our attention. Mods are people too and we aren't always moderating, even if we are showing online. Remember we are members first, mods second and sometimes some of us (myself included) enjoy just browsing the board and interacting with members, without the modding aspect.

ATS is what we make of it, the membership. Without you guys, half of the T&C infractions would go completely unnoticed and unresolved. It makes our job and your experience on ATS much more enjoyable when you use the tools that are available to you. Let us help you.

Think of it as your ATS Civic Duty.

ATS Staff




Additional Alerts/Complaints:

1. Please provide a link to the original or first authored OP when alerting these posts. This makes it easy for staff to deal with the closing and redirecting of the thread as quickly as possible.

2. When alerting a post that is violating the T&C please do not violate the T&C with your alert information. All alert contents are subject to the Terms & Conditions just as any thread is.

Member Guidelines For Spotting/Alerting T&C Infractions

Timely and concise. I'm glad to see this subject being addressed.

'Mini modding', huh? I had never considered that one. I had always preferred ' Mod irregulars' or 'mods in waiting' lol.

I have to say that “Mini-modding” as you have put it does annoy me but I think if we are all honest everybody can’t help but do it. I know at times for example I have wrote a perfectly reasonable reply to something a member has wrote who has then replied angrily to my post, this in turn leads to me responding but also cautioning the members attitude or pointing out that the member is perhaps on the verge of breaking a T&C. I would say it can be part of the discussion, I really don’t see anything wrong with me pointing out when another member is in the breaking T&C’s or is flat out wrong.

It is unfortunate that this has to happen from time to time but it is a reality that we all break the rules in the heat of the moment, if the two members concerned can sort it out between them then I don’t see a need for staff to get involved. I would always much rather have a argument resolved amicably rather than go running to tall tales to mummy and daddy about a silly tit for tat exchange. There are of course some exceptions such as when a member is overtly cursing or resorting to personal attacks but I think if the argument is the result of a difference of opinion then we should all be adult enough to sort it out between the two (or more) of us. It’s the debates on ATS that make everything interesting

I my own T&C’s that I follow, I just treat others as I would wish to be treated, I respect others opinions and always construct my responses as respectfully as I can. That being said however if another member starts to get cheeky with me, am going to though it back in their face just like i would if i were talking to them face to face and once again I would not expect mummy daddy or moddy to come help me out.

I can understand why the staff might want to remind users about how to use the alert function but I have to say that discussing T&C violations between members is inevitable its always going to happen regardless of what the staff say or do.

I would never presume to hand out officious and inflamatory posts toward those I suspect of wrong doing in thread. If there are logical gaps in thier statements I will address them , but thats just the cut and thrust of life here on ATS. I do however, assist new members where I can when they seem genuinely lost with regard to the member centre and other things... at least, I help when I know the answers they seek (shamefully , even though I have been a member since 07, theres quite a bit of simple stuff here I still find confusing).

But in terms of T&C enforcement, thats always been a matter for moderators , and running ones mouth without sanction or back up , often makes one appear like what I would ,for want of a better term, call a bit of a fool.

I hope this reminder makes some people think twice before they post something along the lines of:

'I don't know what this thread is doing in this forum'

I don't complain much, but that one really irritates me.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Well said. I would only add two things:

1) Don't alert on one-line posts -- we'll find them, and if we don't they aren't critical enough to take up time with staff discussions. As Tenth said, the alerts are discussed and a consensus is reached using the T&C as our guideline; This has been said many times, however, there is no need to add "second line" .... A single sentence that addresses the thread is NOT a "one-line post." If you feel the need to add "second line", then perhaps you should instead flesh out your post such that it pertains to the thread.

2) If a thread is inflammatory or has a vulgar title, alert on the thread, rather than the member posting it. This is particularly useful for those trollish threads that pop up now and then with profanity or other extreme actionable stuff in the title. It allows us to see the problem, and act upon it quickly. Again, this is for those infrequent threads that are created purely for the purpose of offending, and have profanity in the title itself.

Good job, Keeper.

CAPS hate em in thread titles.

Come get me.

Originally posted by OtherSideOfTheCoin
I have to say that “Mini-modding” as you have put it does annoy me but I think if we are all honest everybody can’t help but do it. I know at times for example I have wrote a perfectly reasonable reply to something a member has wrote who has then replied angrily to my post, this in turn leads to me responding but also cautioning the members attitude or pointing out that the member is perhaps on the verge of breaking a T&C. I would say it can be part of the discussion, I really don’t see anything wrong with me pointing out when another member is in the breaking T&C’s or is flat out wrong.

Telling somebody you think they are flat out wrong, has never been against the T&C. The solution to the problem is to address only the parts of the post that were relevant to the topic at hand, and alerting the staff to the potential violation.

It is unfortunate that this has to happen from time to time but it is a reality that we all break the rules in the heat of the moment, if the two members concerned can sort it out between them then I don’t see a need for staff to get involved. I would always much rather have a argument resolved amicably rather than go running to tall tales to mummy and daddy about a silly tit for tat exchange. There are of course some exceptions such as when a member is overtly cursing or resorting to personal attacks but I think if the argument is the result of a difference of opinion then we should all be adult enough to sort it out between the two (or more) of us. It’s the debates on ATS that make everything interesting

There's a difference between uncivil posting behavior and disagreement. I'll direct you to the folllowing thread where the difference is explained rather well.

However this environment only exists because our members will not put up with personal attacks, bigotry, racism or any of the other general hate that exists on some other discussion boards. We as a community are better than that. Our job is to help foster that environment by enforcing a very simple and easy to follow set of rules.

I my own T&C’s that I follow, I just treat others as I would wish to be treated, I respect others opinions and always construct my responses as respectfully as I can. That being said however if another member starts to get cheeky with me, am going to though it back in their face just like i would if i were talking to them face to face and once again I would not expect mummy daddy or moddy to come help me out.

I can respect that sentiment but the long and short of it is that we expect every member to be the bigger person.

I can understand why the staff might want to remind users about how to use the alert function but I have to say that discussing T&C violations between members is inevitable its always going to happen regardless of what the staff say or do.

The PM function can be used for general chit chat and off topic conversation. You can debate T&C infractions via that channel as much as you want. So long as it's within the T&C.

~Keeper

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Great post, there is noting more annoying then a self proclaimed ATS policemen, who try to play moderator, there is no need for them to post in a thread, and make a big noise about it, when there is a private alert funtion, these people are just plain attention seekers

prime example >>>HERE

Originally posted by argentus
2) If a thread is inflammatory or has a vulgar title, alert on the thread, rather than the member posting it.

With that said, allow me to add the reverse...
Please don’t send an alert on a post using the thread alert button. Nothing takes longer and causes more broken keyboards/monitors, than receiving a complaint about a single post followed by a link to the OP of a 70 page long thread.

For members who do not realize this:
The alert button at the top of the page is for alerting an entire thread.
The alert button in the drop down box is for alerting on that specific post.

If the problem is with the thread as a whole, use the button at the top of the thread. If the problem is with a specific post, use the dropdown box next to that specific post. This will help expedite fixing problem with minimal searching.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Hi Power, thank you for the info. I've been getting aggravated lately by mostly new members posting threads that
don't meet ATS guidelines. Threads that coinsist of one or two lines and then a question like " So is God an Alien"? One line and a video. One line and a link and even just one line. They are in no way close to the quality
that I believe ATS is at the top for. So I've taken to commenting on topic and ending by trying, to help the OP understand that he should have a look at the guidelines. Am I being a ' minimod " ? I mean, because I only took to doing this after I spoke to one of the Mods ( I can't remember which one on purpose of course ) about how I was noticing
a rise in the number of posts, that just don't come close to meeting the guidelines. I understood that " the members are the quality " after the conversation and was reaffirmed in what I already knew. The mods can't be everywhere. So is it wrong to do this or should I be using the alert button everytime I click on a thread that's
a one liner ?
I think this guideline needs to be made into a violation really. That way, it's a little better for the member who puts a lot into his thread meeting the guidelines and beyond. But doesn't get the response or interest over the topic. So
it sinks and isn't really hit on to much after that. That's life tho and most of handle that bit of rejection well enough. Until they click on a trash thread, with one line that justifys the title of the thread, a video then a one line closer and five thousand flags. I've never been there, ( my most replyed to thread ended up with 104 flagc ) So although it's not really anything I can complain about. That's got to suck.

Star and a cookie

reply to post by tothetenthpower


"mini modding" I wonder who came out with the terminology, I am here everyday actually and have seen no such thing, at least on threads I visited, sometimes I have been in this forums and no even a mode has step out when is something going on in the threads, it was a time when it was actually modes all over but for some reason they are no longer around, I miss the old modes, at least I knew them and they were easily accessible, the new ones I have no clue who they are or what they are doing around, the family feeling I used to have in ATS is disapearing.

Enough with the rant, you do what you need to do, no explanations or terminology needed. Plain and simple.

Originally posted by berenike
I hope this reminder makes some people think twice before they post something along the lines of:

'I don't know what this thread is doing in this forum'

I don't complain much, but that one really irritates me.

Ohhhh, it does me too. I've seen the thread derailed over arguments like this, that go on for pages.

Why do people make it such a big deal? And when it's "Already a thread on this", and usually *they* were the person to make the other thread, and for some reason, probably the title, it didn't take off.

Seriously, what difference does it make? Those comments are certainly OT, imo. Just accept your "fail" thread and move on. I've certainly had my share of them, and so has everybody else.

Just saying.

*** Hi Tenth. Long time no see.

Originally posted by marg6043
"mini modding" I wonder who came out with the terminology...

That would be this guy.

Just to reiterate. If you see a T&C violation and have alerted it, DON'T post to that post about it. That will be off topic and dealt with as such. Just let us do our jobs. Sometimes that takes some time to get the proper action down.

reply to post by marg6043


If there are T&C violations in a thread that you are participating or reading, you should be alerting those so the mods know what's going on. We aren't everywhere and don't see everything, which is why it's a member's job to help us keep this place civil and T&C conforming.

As far as us being accessible, you can always view who is online on the Forums page at the very bottom. The highlighted usernames are moderators who are currently online. All you need is to either send us a PM or file a complaint that will show up in the mod forum that every mod can see.

~Keeper

reply to post by randyvs


In all honester, we appreciate members attempting to help new members or ones that don't conform to the quality that ATS expects, but the problem is it drags on threads for no reason and we end up having to remove a bunch of posts.

There's nothing worse than reading a thread where 2 or 3 pages is just removed Off Topic graphics. So to answer your question, if you believe a thread does not have enough member content to be worthy of the boards, please alert the thread.

We will make the decision and educate the member about proper posting behavior. Members tend to follow the rules a little more closely when we bring up these issues instead of the membership.

~Keeper

reply to post by intrepid


Intrepid, intrepid where have you been my friend I missed you.

I guess I can let that one go as long as it was you.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Most of the time, what others see as a problem to me is just a challenge, I guess is a matter of opinion.

Some of these troll posters just amaze the living (t&c violation) out of me.

So there's this one, boasting of it's formidable reason, education, scientific-ism, and professionalism, (like when the Titanic launched, as proud men extolled her invinceability) and calls me feeble minded, with wrong grammar, because It is right and I am wrong, which makes It mad! (As us lower classes say, "Take a chill pill!")

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Great that's perfect reasoning really. Thank you for the quick response. It's good to know this course of action.
I'm always trying not to use the alert button anymore than I have to. I understand things a little better and see
no reason why my own compliance won't improve.

Randyvious