RULES AND REGULATIONS - A. Offense Categories

[FN Administrator]

IV.   Rules and Regulations

The following rules and regulations serve as a guide for enforcing behavior that allows the forum to maintain an open, light, informative, safe, and tolerant atmosphere for all its members:

        A.   Offense Categories

        An offense category indicates the severity of any given offense and is defined by the level of intervention required from the moderator in order to correct an offender’s behavior. These categories are ranked 1 to 5, beginning with the mildest.

        A member committing more than one offense with differing categories will suffer the consequences of the most severe offense.

        A member who commits an offense of one category but is punished more severely than indicated below is allowed to petition the moderators on this matter by sending an email to webmaster[at]femalenetwork.com.

        (1)   Category 1
        This is a minor infraction, and offenders will not be penalized outside of having their posts summarily deleted or edited. Repeat offenders may receive reminders from moderators.

        (2)   Category 2
        This is a minor offense, which can result in the deletion of violating posts.
        a.   First offense: The member is given a reminder and offered the opportunity to edit the post. Should this not be done after 48 hours, the post will automatically be deleted, as per the moderator’s judgment.
        b.   Second offense: The member is given a warning and offered the opportunity to edit the post. Should this not be done after one week, the post will be deleted.
        c.   Third offense: The member is given a warning and offered the opportunity to edit the post. He or she is reminded that another offense may result in temporary muting (up to 2 weeks). Should the post not be edited after one week, the post will be deleted.
        d.   Fourth offense: The member is issued a warning and muted for a period judged appropriate by the moderator handling the case (up to one month), and the post is deleted.
        e.   Subsequent offenses: The post is deleted and the member is issued a warning and muted for up to one (1) month.

Amendment: When posts are deleted by the moderator or the FN staff, they are no longer subject to debate and should not be re-posted by the member. As warnings will now give the member the chance to revise their posts, there is no excuse for revisions not to be made within a given time frame. In the event that no revision is made by the member, FN and GT staff and moderators have the right to automatically delete sanctioned posts.

        (3)   Category 3
        This is a minor offense which can result in temporary bans for repeat offenders.
        a.   First offense: The member is given a reminder, and offending posts are automatically deleted.
        b.   Second offense: The member is issued a warning and reminded that a third offense will result in temporary muting, and offending posts are deleted.
        c.   Third offense: The member is issued a warning, offending posts will be deleted, and the member is muted for a period not longer than two (2) weeks.
        d.   Fourth offense: The offending posts will be deleted, and the member’s account is temporarily banned for a period no longer than one (1) month.
        e.   Subsequent offenses: The post is deleted and the member is issued a warning and banned for up to one (1) month.

       (4)   Category 4
       This is a major offense which can result in bans for repeat offenders.
       a.   First offense: The member is issued a warning, and offending posts will be automatically deleted.
       b.   Second offense: The member is issued a warning, offending posts are deleted, and the member is muted for a period not longer than two (2) weeks.
       c.   Third offense: The offending posts are deleted, and the member’s account is temporarily banned for a period no longer than one (1) month.
       d.    Fourth offense: The offending posts are deleted, and the member’s account is permanently banned.

       (5)   Category 5
       This is a critical offense, which can result automatic banning.
       a.   First offense: The member’s account is temporarily banned for a period no longer than one (1) month and the offending posts are deleted.
       b.   Second offense: The member’s account is permanently banned.