A Warning counts against you for banning purposes. A note does not. You will never get suspended for having too many notes.
Mod Notes get handed out to moderate behavior all the time. We do not keep a list of notes that have been handed out.
If a Mod, (or multiple Mods) begin to notice that they have been handing out the same sort of note to the same poster over and over again, we may begin paying closer attention to that poster’s behavior, but we still don’t track the notes.
If a poster begins collecting Warnings–something that is tracked by the board software–a Mod may initiate a staff-wide discussion of a poster’s presence on the SDMB. In that discussion, one Mod or another may recall handing out a note, but those notes are not included in the discussion regarding whether a poster should be suspended or banned, which is predicated on actual Warnings.
That is the difference, for varying degrees of “negligible.”
Yeah, but the emperor might not like your opera.
I laughed.
Okay, a hypothetical.
Let’s say I call another poster a nerf-herder. And Bob the Mod sees this and decides it was inappropriate language and posts, “Nemo, this is not a warning. But do not call other posters nerf herders.”
But I’m a rules lawyer so I decide it doesn’t count if it’s not a warning. So the next day I call somebody else a nerf herder and Bob the Mod sees it and posts, “Nemo, I told you not to call people nerf herders.” And I respond, “Yes, I saw your post, Bob, but I’m choosing not to follow it.”
Is anyone claiming there would be no consequences arising from this? I doubt this. I feel there would be consequences.
You’d get a warning for not following mod instructions. If you’d let it alone you wouldn’t have got the warning.
Say a cop sees you drive the wrong way down a one way street. He pulls you over, but decides it was an honest mistake–the signs are confusing–and lets you off with a warning. You decide, using your logic, that driving the wrong way on this street can’t be against the law. So you do it and the cop sees you again. Now you get a fine and points off your license.
The SDMB can’t fine you, obviously. But they can keep track of warnings and use them as an informal “point” system. (Obviously, more qualitative than quantitative.) Get enough and you are suspended or banned.
I do not see anyone claiming that Mod Notes never have consequences.
The point under discussion was whether there was a “negligible” difference between Notes and Warnings. In a discussion of whether to suspend or ban you in the hypothetical you presented, there would be an examination of your deliberate flouting of Mod instructions and an examination of other Warnings you received, but no one would pay much attention to the fact that you had called another poster a nerf-herder.
This hypothetical doesn’t have anything to do with what we were talking about upthread. In this case, you would receive an actual warning for not following moderation instructions. The fact is there is a huge gulf between a note and a warning.
So what? There would be worse consequences if you got a warning the first time, and then did it again the next day. You might even be suspended, depending on how many other warnings you had. So, no, the difference between a mod note and a warning is not “negligible”.
You’ve been here since 1999 and don’t know that???
How about the first response in this thread?:
Crap. Seriously? Miller, don’t cash that check dude, we need to talk.
Why don’t you report it and find out.
Whether there’s a difference between a warning or a not is beside the point. Point is that wasn’t threadshitting at all, and no action should have been taken.
If it had been posted after the OP had come back and clarified that that wasn’t something he wanted to talk about, it might have been threadshitting, depending on how much weight is given to the wishes of the OP, but there’s no way that was threadshitting or anything when those were the only two posts in the thread. It was a logical observation referring to a comment given in the OP.
Pit. Different rules, dude. Let it go, it’s gone.
Because that wouldn’t give me the answer to what your opinion is, which is what I asked for.
Wow, so failure to follow moderator instructions can get you labelled a jerk? Who knew?
For those of us playing along at home, what’s this about?
It’s in the Rules, even.
There seems to be a difference in opinion over an issue everyone claims is clear.
These posters are apparently in agreement that the only consequences that can arise from not following a non-warning instruction is that I would be issued a warning.
So in my hypothetical, I could ignore Bob’s initial instructions and continue calling people nerf herders. I only have to really pay attention when Bob says, “Okay, Nemo, enough fooling around. This is an official Warning. Do not call people nerf herders.”
At this point - with Bob having said his instruction is backed with a Warning - I face consequences more serious that Bob’s annoyance. I can now be suspended or banned for defying a Warning.
If this is, in fact, the case then I agree there is a significant difference between a warning and a non-warning.
But here’s the interesting part. My hypothetical also got responses from tomndebb and TubaDiva, who are representatives of the board. And their responses are different than the responses above.
If I’m understanding their responses correctly, they’re saying a person could be suspended or banned for defying a non-warning instruction from a moderator.
And if that’s the case then I stand by my original contention that there’s no significant difference between a warning and a non-warning instruction.
Now that’s just silly. If they were abiding by my wishes SOMEone would have sent me a pony by now.