What is the frequency of each type of infraction?

[Dayman]

I think statistics would help us form opinions on the rules and their effectiveness.

[imb39]

That's not necessarily true. Some are highly severe - eg the posting of porn, but they are, thankfully, relatively rare. Also, different parts of the site seem to suffer from different sets of problems. People who frequent the 'Pit are subject to a different set of moderation rules (as in emphasis) than those who, say, visit the VV.

[Dayman]

Well I would think that goes without saying.

I was thinking along the line of reviewing how many people are infracted, and then reviewing the text of the actual rule, just to see what's effective and what's not. I think that set of data might just be useful overall. A review of the actual effectiveness of the "law" to say.

[pannonian]

Speaking as one who has compiled that kind of data before, it's a heck of a lot of effort for very little benefit. We're talking at least 3-4 hours work for 3 months worth of data, when the purpose of such data isn't well-defined in the first place.

[Dayman]

I'm not demanding anything at all. I'm sure someone with your experience can just tell us what the most common infractions are.

[scottishranger]

I would say the most common infractions are: insulting others followed by off topic posting/disruptive posting.

[pannonian]

Probably Off-topic, D&D version, with Insulting Others second (also mainly accrued in D&D). D&D, especially the Mudpit, is notorious for the heated arguments, trolls, flames, etc. that go on there, as well as characters who test the moderators' patience to the limits with their testing of the boundaries. Because we try to keep at least some modicum of free discussion, we've developed a variety of ways with which to deal with the many and trying situations the Mudpit offers, so as to give the moderator flexibility. However, it still requires a cool and balanced head to choose the right option or combination of options.

Off-topic is applied when people stray from debating the argument to debating the person. This happens quite often in the Mudpit. Insulting Others is applied when there is namecalling, or when someone tells someone to go and eff themselves (or something similar). I encourage the junior moderators to start off with PM chats, so as to build up relationships with forummers and to get to know the character of the forums they moderate. However, sometimes the offence may be so blatant, or the user's history may indicate that nothing else will work, that notes and warnings will have to be issued to drive home the point. As I explain so often, moderators aren't here to enforce a system of justice, but to keep the forums running as smoothly as possible, and infractions are just one of the tools we have with which to do this. Unfortunately, sometimes it is also the only effective tool we have.

[Dayman]

Interesting. Thanks pann.

[GrnEyedDvl]

I would say the most common infractions are: insulting others followed by off topic posting/disruptive posting.

Thats definitely what the Tribunal sees the most of.

[scottishranger]

I just went off of the past 5 pages of infractions we have recorded

[Simetrical]

Speaking as one who has compiled that kind of data before, it's a heck of a lot of effort for very little benefit. We're talking at least 3-4 hours work for 3 months worth of data, when the purpose of such data isn't well-defined in the first place.

Only if you do it manually, rather than asking me to run a database query.

Overall counts:

mysql> SELECT text AS infraction, infractionlevel.points AS points, COUNT(*) AS number FROM phrase JOIN infraction ON varname=CONCAT('infractionlevel', infractionlevelid, '_title') JOIN infractionlevel USING (infractionlevelid) GROUP BY infraction.infractionlevelid ORDER BY COUNT(*) DESC;
+----------------------------------------+--------+--------+
| infraction                             | points | number |
+----------------------------------------+--------+--------+
| insulting others                       |      3 |    632 | 
| off-topic posting                      |      1 |    332 | 
| censor bypassing                       |      1 |    174 | 
| promoting illegal activities           |      4 |    105 | 
| insulting others                       |      6 |     69 | 
| off-topic posting                      |      2 |     49 | 
| obscene content                        |      3 |     47 | 
| not a ToS violation                    |      0 |     44 | 
| hard-to-read posts                     |      1 |     33 | 
| intentionally disruptive posting       |      3 |     24 | 
| signature size violation               |      1 |     18 | 
| evading a suspension                   |      6 |     14 | 
| censor bypassing                       |      2 |     13 | 
| evading a suspension                   |      3 |     12 | 
| obscene content                        |      6 |      9 | 
| impersonation                          |      4 |      7 | 
| harassment or invasion of privacy      |      4 |      7 | 
| using modders' work without permission |      3 |      3 | 
| promoting illegal activities           |      8 |      2 | 
| hard-to-read posts                     |      2 |      1 | 
| using modders' work without permission |      6 |      1 | 
| harassment or invasion of privacy      |      8 |      1 | 
+----------------------------------------+--------+--------+
22 rows in set (0.06 sec)

Last 30 days:

mysql> SELECT text AS infraction, infractionlevel.points AS points, COUNT(*) AS number FROM phrase JOIN infraction ON varname=CONCAT('infractionlevel', infractionlevelid, '_title') JOIN infractionlevel USING (infractionlevelid) WHERE infraction.dateline >= UNIX_TIMESTAMP() - 86400*30 GROUP BY infraction.infractionlevelid ORDER BY COUNT(*) DESC;
+-----------------------------------+--------+--------+
| infraction                        | points | number |
+-----------------------------------+--------+--------+
| insulting others                  |      3 |     50 | 
| off-topic posting                 |      1 |     16 | 
| promoting illegal activities      |      4 |     14 | 
| intentionally disruptive posting  |      3 |      9 | 
| off-topic posting                 |      2 |      6 | 
| censor bypassing                  |      1 |      5 | 
| insulting others                  |      6 |      5 | 
| not a ToS violation               |      0 |      5 | 
| hard-to-read posts                |      1 |      4 | 
| obscene content                   |      3 |      4 | 
| evading a suspension              |      3 |      4 | 
| obscene content                   |      6 |      2 | 
| censor bypassing                  |      2 |      1 | 
| evading a suspension              |      6 |      1 | 
| impersonation                     |      4 |      1 | 
| harassment or invasion of privacy |      4 |      1 | 
+-----------------------------------+--------+--------+
16 rows in set (0.01 sec)

Took me about five minutes to do.

[Simetrical]

Also, grouping all infractions of a given type together without regard to points:

mysql> SELECT text AS infraction, COUNT(*) AS number FROM phrase JOIN infraction ON varname=CONCAT('infractionlevel', infractionlevelid, '_title') JOIN infractionlevel USING (infractionlevelid) GROUP BY text ORDER BY COUNT(*) DESC;+----------------------------------------+--------+
| infraction                             | number |
+----------------------------------------+--------+
| insulting others                       |    757 | 
| off-topic posting                      |    396 | 
| censor bypassing                       |    202 | 
| promoting illegal activities           |    124 | 
| obscene content                        |     67 | 
| not a ToS violation                    |     46 | 
| hard-to-read posts                     |     37 | 
| evading a suspension                   |     27 | 
| intentionally disruptive posting       |     24 | 
| signature size violation               |     19 | 
| harassment or invasion of privacy      |      8 | 
| impersonation                          |      7 | 
| using modders' work without permission |      4 | 
+----------------------------------------+--------+
13 rows in set (0.07 sec)

Last 30 days:

mysql> SELECT text AS infraction, COUNT(*) AS number FROM phrase JOIN infraction ON varname=CONCAT('infractionlevel', infractionlevelid, '_title') JOIN infractionlevel USING (infractionlevelid) WHERE infraction.dateline >= UNIX_TIMESTAMP() - 86400*30 GROUP BY text ORDER BY COUNT(*) DESC;
+-----------------------------------+--------+
| infraction                        | number |
+-----------------------------------+--------+
| insulting others                  |     85 | 
| off-topic posting                 |     26 | 
| promoting illegal activities      |     23 | 
| censor bypassing                  |     19 | 
| obscene content                   |     17 | 
| hard-to-read posts                |      5 | 
| not a ToS violation               |      5 | 
| evading a suspension              |      2 | 
| signature size violation          |      1 | 
| impersonation                     |      1 | 
| harassment or invasion of privacy |      1 | 
| intentionally disruptive posting  |      1 | 
+-----------------------------------+--------+
12 rows in set (0.94 sec)