Warning policy

It is common practice to inform users when their behavior violates Open Foresight Hub policy and warn them about the possibility of being banned or blocked. The Warning Policy serves as a set of guidelines for issuing and receiving warnings. Experienced users may sometimes send warnings to others, while in other situations it is preferable for users to refrain from intervening and allow administrators to handle the matter. In most situations, users will receive three official warnings before escalating to a ban.

Unofficial warnings are messages posted in editing summaries shown in the recent changes. They can be posted by any user, but they must, as part of the warning, explain politely and clearly why they are contacting the user. While edit summaries typically tell what kind of edit the user has made, they can also be used to relay a quick message to the immediate user without posting a message on their editor notes page.

Unofficial warnings are acceptable in most cases. They're unacceptable when they break the Code of Conduct, so while you may tell a user to stop what they're doing and why, or ask them to explain themselves, you may not lash out or attack them.

Certain warnings are acceptable for experienced users to give to newer users without needing to address an administrator. Examples of these would be: Telling a user to use the preview button, politely correcting a user on their grammar and etiquette. Any other circumstance should best be left to, or reported to, an administrator.

Administrators are capable of giving any warnings they deem necessary, whether they're for minor or major offenses. Warnings for major offenses are always the product of administrative discussion beforehand, and therefore they seek to settle major issues as a group while having one user relay the warnings to the user(s) in question. In instances of excessive insubordination, an administrator may temporarily ban a user so they're able to effectively post a warning on said user's talk page without interference.

Non-admin users should not give out warnings for major offenses. This is overstating one's authority, or in layman's terms, mini-modding and in most cases is considered a form of harassment. Users caught giving warnings to other users for highly serious issues will be warned for taking matters into their own hands and interfering. The warnings they left may also be removed and possibly replaced with a proper warning from an administrator. If you believe a major offense is taking place, you should notify an administrator via the Dispute resolution noticeboard, or an admin's editor notes page.

For most offenses, users are typically given three warnings before action is taken against them.

• On the first warning, users are to be politely informed that something they're doing is incorrect, and are provided instructions on how to correct their mistake. If possible, provide a link to one of Open Foresight Hub’s policies that goes into detail on the correct performance.
• The second warning is used to serve as a reminder of the first message, and to inform the user that they're continuing their disarray.
• The third warning is left to administrators as it typically informs the user that action will be taken against them upon their next offense.

Subsequent to the third warning, continued offenses will result in a ban by the administrator who issued the third warning. The administrator will contact the user explaining the duration, scope, and reasoning for the ban.

Categories: policy