Drunk tank

[Ⓐaron]

We've been discussing the matter in staff and we've come to the conclusion that when people are visibly intoxicated or otherwise appear to be mentally imperilled, and more importantly are very clearly embarrassing themselves, it might be prudent to ban them for a few hours until they clear up so that they don't come back several hours later and have to say something along the lines of "oh my god what the fuck did I say, I'm so embarrassed". Most of the staff seem to be on board with this idea (there are a few that haven't weighed in yet) but it's probably a good idea to bring this up publicly before we start doing it.

To clarify: This won't necessarily be because people are breaking rules or whatever, but just because they're posting content that is likely to embarrass them in the future.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Well that's me banned for the foreseeable future.

 

[Alessa Gillespie]

all the people who post drunk improve their posts by a margin of 300% with the exception of username

 

[Ⓐaron]

I should clarify: we wouldn't just ban people because they were obviously drunk; they would also have to be making a public spectacle of themselves. Just mistyping words or whatever wouldn't be enough to merit us giving them a cooling-off period; they'd have to do stuff that they would obviously be embarrassed by in the future to merit it.

It's also not a foregone conclusion that we'll do this if enough people are against the idea. However in cases where it leads us to not having to dole out warnings to people who obviously aren't in full control of their mental faculties then it might be for the better.

 

[Tifabelle]

.....

yes, in the current discussion several of us agreed that temp bans might be a good idea if someone is excessively posting nonsense in a drunken stupor/temporary burst of insanity.

Here was my 2 cents:

And I agree with Kat. Drunk posts are fine in the general discussion areas (ie: chit chat, makes your day, etc). But not in srs bzns threads, or in excess.

In other words, idc if it's not hurting anyone as long as it's not disruptive. If it gets to that point, then sure give a cool off period of a couple hours before they can post again.

 

[Max Payne]

Just ban em from feedback until they're not drunk?

I'm ok with that as long as they don't lose all access, drunk posts have been pretty harmless for the most part.

 

[Tifabelle]

I think the OP was just worded poorly. The point of this thread was just to move the discussion from staff. The discussion didn't seem to be concluded, at least to me. so feel free to share your thoughts please (if you have any on the matter).

No one's gonna get banned for making a few drunk posts. It would just be if someone is going a little crazy with it and it's interrupting or abusing certain threads. It's not like that's a persistant problem around here or anything. Not that I've seen anyway.

 

[Dana Scully]

I'ma just quote what I said in the staff thread:

Personally I'm fine with people posting drunk so long as their often hilarious ramblings stay in the general discussion area and don't get too spammy/aren't making asshats of themselves.

Just ban em from feedback until they're not drunk?

I'm ok with that as long as they don't lose all access, drunk posts have been pretty harmless for the most part.

I kinda like this idea, just ban 'em from the section they're making trouble. If they start spamming somewhere else then you could start considering just tempbanning them for a couple hours.

 

[Octo]

I'm a little confused, I mean if we're waiting for people to embarass themselves, surely we don't know if they're actually embarassed until the next day? And then like....what if they post something like 'oh man I could totally blow a goat right now' ? Does that just get deleted or something and we never speak of it again?

I totally agree with the disruption of serious threads thing though.

 

[Flintlock]

Drunk posts annoy me, but if it's clear that a post has been made while drunk I will usually just avoid reading it completely, so it's not too much hassle. I'm not sure bans - even temporary ones - are necessary, because I'd be concerned about them being applied arbitrarily. Unless, that is, people decide to volunteer to have themselves banned when they're drunk in the future, perhaps if they've regretted something they've posted here before. That could work.

 

[Alex]

I find drunk posts much more tolerable than excessive sobriety

 

[Cookie Monster]

I think drunk posts are fine and most of the time drunkards turn out to be pretty hilarious. However, I'm fine with temp banning people if they become an annoyance. But, that isn't anything new. We've done it a few times in the past with Username and once with Mumble, iirc.

 

[Dawnbreaker]

^this

though I admit that unless it's causing havoc or likely to embarrass the poster (if they talking about serious stuff they might after regret after) it's better to just lol at it. Hell, I'd find it even funnier if there were a specific thread to post in while wasted, but that might be a better idea left as is.

 

[Ⓐaron]

Yeah, basically the idea is that if they're not just drunk but very obviously annoying a fairly large number of users, then we can give them a few hours time out to cool off. Despite the name, they don't necessarily have to be drunk either - if they're just really agitated or something and making an unpleasant spectacle, then the same thing can apply. It probably won't need to be done very frequently, but in the rare cases where it would it would probably be prudent to have some sort of policy codified.

 

[stiles]

this is hilarious

 

[CK]

this is hilarious

Something we can agree on. wtf is this shit.

 

[stiles]

yay

 

[looneymoon]

I like drunk-me.

Drunk-me is awesome.

 

[Geostigma]

I came in here thinking it was going to be a news article about some drunk guy stealing a tank or something

This is interesting but it seems reactive and in a sense redundant. How will you gauge how annoying someone is or drunk they are? By the time they get temp banned for the evening I'm sure they would have already said some pretty silly things, would those posts get deleted to further save them the embarrassment?


I love TLS but lol sometimes I think we over think things and take this place waaay to serious. Honestly this is the only community I am involved in with so many arbitrary rules and regulations lol.

 

[CK]

I'm going to turn into an alcoholic and piss people off more than I already do.

 

[Octo]

Yeah, I'm just not sure how this would work in practise, as far as the serious threads are concerned a spammy post is a spammy post, booze related or not. So no radical change there.

As for everywhere else though, I can just see this leading to problems like 'why'd you delete my post/ ban me it was funny etc etc' Could lead to more beef than its worth.

 

[Alex]

I came in here thinking it was going to be a news article about some drunk guy stealing a tank or something

This is interesting but it seems reactive and in a sense redundant. How will you gauge how annoying someone is or drunk they are? By the time they get temp banned for the evening I'm sure they would have already said some pretty silly things, would those posts get deleted to further save them the embarrassment?

I love TLS but lol sometimes I think we over think things and take this place waaay to serious. Honestly this is the only community I am involved in with so many arbitrary rules and regulations lol.

Gabe nailed it.

Let people embarrass themselves. Tbh, it's a much greater incentive for them not to do it again than any temp-ban or infraction.

 

[Sprites]

I kind of agree, I posted on the IRC drunk the other night but I knew I was doing it and remembered I'd done it the next morning. Even when you drink you still consciously make the decision to pick up your laptop/turn on your PC click to here and post, no-one making you do it.

I'm well aware that we're having the drinking night on TLS in the IRC on Friday, I'm also aware that this could lead to me posting something stupid about myself while drunk and yet I'm still doing it

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

redundant rule is redundant.

 

[Cookie Monster]

they don't necessarily have to be drunk either - if they're just really agitated or something and making an unpleasant spectacle, then the same thing can apply.

Dunno about this. This would entirely change our stance on bans. If someone is acting out of line or spamming the shit out of a thread, just close the thread or send a PM. No biggy. I don't like the idea of jumping protocol and banning people outright over something that can be solved using simpler methods.