Laws of the Dojo

[Embri]

Seeing that no one's running with this, I'll do my best. (Perhaps our resident Owl would care to wet his appetite on the various quasi-legal permutations of what I'll begin.)

Preamble
This thread is hopefully so that we can work out a definite set of rules and consequences for breaking those rules here in the Dojo. They are meant to guide, though not supersede, the wise judgement of the Mods and Admins.

While the Dojo has three broad rules, they have proven to be valuable yet imprecise. Herein, I hope we can clarify things to a point where what is allowed and what is not permitted in this place becomes self evident.


Available Consequences

*Written Warning (PM)
*Written Warning (Thread)

One or both of these should be our first actions when rules are broken. In many cases, especially with newer Dojodians, they simply are not aware that their actions are in error. Gentle reminders and guiding towards the correct actions is best.


*If the offense took place in an RP, an RP penalty (as appropriate)
*Reduction in one or more belt levels
*Temporary ban from the Wilds/Dojopolis (the RP sections)
*Restriction to a certain forum (such as the Training Dojo)
*Assignment of a teacher/guide who will assist/monitor the offender until improvement occurs.

These are generally RP based consequences for in character problems. The most common of these is likely to be powerplaying. Should a written OOC comment prove ineffective in curbing that behavior, more inventive methods can be used (RP penalty, usually Immortal intervention to penalize the character.) Continued offenses should result in a temporary ban from the serious RP areas. Restriction to the Training Dojo/Assignment of a teacher would probably be appropriate for novice RP offenders who simply don't understand what Powerplaying is - thus, they should be helped, not truly punished.



*Monetary penalty
*Loss of one or more inventory items
*Temporary loss of ability to send PM's.
*Temporary loss of ability to display an Avatar.

Most effective consequences when the offense is related to the corrective action. For example, loss of PM ability if the Dojodian was harassing/spamming others with it. A monetary penalty is more general, though it would fit well with offenses such as spamming the forums for payouts, abuse of Mod/Admin powers to add/remove cash from accounts without reason, etc.

*Temporary Ban
*Permanent Ban

These are our weapons of last resort. Banning someone from the Dojo is not a happy time - we strive to welcome all who are willing to at least try to embrace the Dojo's rules of respect. However, it will happen (as it already has) that on occasion we have someone who's actions are so blatant and repeatedly offensive that they must be excluded (temporarily or permanently) from Blackstar.



I have covered some of the offenses which are not acceptable in the Blackstar Dojo, but I'm sure there are others. The task now is to outline exactly what is considered an infraction of the Dojo's rules, and what happens when this occurs.


Anyone else want to take a stab at a list of offenses? Obviously the major ones are going to be those that violate the "laws" of the Dojo - Respect the decisions of the Admins/Mods, Respect thy fellow RPers, Thou shalt not Powerplay, don't be a SpamBot, etc.

However, we do have a few other possibities/things that have cropped up. Wiki abuse, foul language, account theft, stealing of items/money, etc. I'm sure the we can come up with some more things that aren't acceptable. Verbal harassment, for example, OOC in threads or by PM.

You are welcome to follow the format I've used below, or not, however you see fit.


Offense: Avatar Abuse
Severity: Minor
Specifics: Extremely large avatars, offensive material, flashing or strobe animations. (potential for causing seizures in susceptible individuals.)

1st Offense: Removal of Avatar, PM'd Warning
2nd Offense: Temporary ban from Avatar use (1 week)
3rd Offense: Longer Temporary Ban/Permanent Avatar ability loss

[Swix]

Just throwing in my own two pennies worth, seeing as I can now get in here I'm going to try and be as useful as I can .

Offense: Powerplaying
Severity: Medium
Specifics: Continued powerplay even after member OOC warnings/help in said thread

1st Offense: RP Punishment
2nd Offense: Removal of acceptance into the 'usual' RP threads (The Wilds, Unexplored), Training Dojo only is allowed, (possibly with someone assigned to help them?)
3rd Offense: If powerplaying continues even after the 'coaching', Temporary Ban.

Then if the temporary ban fails to put them into shape, possibly permanent banning?