Some Clarifcation Please - nothing to see here...

Hey guys,

Can I ask who altered http://www.astahost.com/ajayshivaa-m20134.html warning level up to 20%?
And for what reason?
A couple of days ago he asked me to remove a post via a pm.
“Sir,

I request you to delete a topic > Free Web Hosting > Computers & Tech > Software > Freeware > Advanced Windowscare Pro For Free (today Only!) because i made a mistake while posting . i.e., I cannot change the topic title
. Now I have moved it to > Free Web Hosting > Computers & Tech > Software > Freeware >Today's freeware.
Kindly do it for me.”
So I removed the post for him.
The post that remained seemed ok and if I remember right he put quote tags on the section that he copied.
Here is the post..
http://www.astahost.com/index.php?showtopi...%BF%BDentry9864

Today he now pmed me with this,

“Sir,
I am a frequent poster to this forum not only for earning credits but also to benefit others.. Two days before I have earned 4+ hosting credits. Moreover I post only genuine posts. But yesterday I was shocked to see my hosting credit went - 10 and my web account was suspended . And the reason mentioned was Plagiarism for my post at http://www.astahost.com/index.php?s=&s...ost&p=98649. As per forum rules I have quoted the copied material from the website about their software. But it was mentioned as Plagiarism. My warning level was given 20% not even 10% and directly suspended my hosting account. I need the following clarifications.
1. This post should have been reviewed by you when I asked you to delete a topic i2 days before. ( Do you remember me)
2.How do I know each moderators mind.
3.How to reduce warning level to zero ( I request you to do so so that I will be relaxed).”

Has anyone got any ideas?

Marky;)

You can click on the warning percentage (20%) and see who issued warning(s). WeaponX issued a warning for plagiarizing.

Ditto what BuffaloHELP said.

This user edited his/her post if that's the same one I warned on. He has copied an ENTIRE page from one of the big websites and I even quoted it with the link. Next time I will include the link to the source in the warning and will suspend his account. I don't think I even checked the option to suspend his account, so I don't know where that came from. I only upped his warning due to plagiarism...which should automatically be banned according to some mods. I try to be lenient

Marky, do you remember what the other post you deleted was related to? Did I edit it with the source link included and also a note by me? I usually give them a notice as well...unless they could edit that out also?

What I deleted was a copy of the first post..he double posted it by accident cos he messed up the topic name when he posted.
MY guess is that he edited the remaining post after I had gone to bed, then you issued the warning..then maybe he could edit out your note? not sure on that one, we should get a "normal" member to do a test on this I think.
Cos if thats the case our notes can be removed ;(
Well I think hes well and truly warned and hopefully will not mess up again 
EDIT: do you notice odd things in the formatting of this post? this is happ all the time since the upgrade ;(

 

He must have edited the note and his entire post if that's the case...since the one you deleted is not the same one

I hope that this is not some kind of "backdoor" to the Mods/Admins own edits. If it is, there should be a feature that will block any regular member from editing their own posts after a Mod or Admin has edited it already. I find that if a user edits a Mod's notes, it's a "slap in the face" kind of reaction to it. Let's hope this doesn't happen again like you said.

Yeah, I noticed this too. I have seen this in other forums as well and not sure what causes this issue. You mean the table that extends too far out to the right than the others right?

I guess that we should put notes on a seperate post of our own then when know no one but us can edit them afterwards untill we get it tested out..

About the formatting ..yes for some reason certain lines are allowed to carry on past the width of the posting box and then it breaks the lines up after it..also i find a lot of the time I have to wait for a long time for the box to actually load..if I start typing before its fully loaded the text is invis untill I hit enter then the text appears halfway down the box ;(

Okay, here is the deal.
Since two upgrades ago, we have been able to let users edit their own posts. We didn't before because of problems with the credit system which no longer apply. We will definitely not go back to the old method of staff only edits since it is way too much work for everyone.

If a new member starts complaining about something that happened to their account, you really need to do a lot more investigating before you attempt to help them. I'm sorry that you didn't know how to check the warning notes previously. Had you been able to check that before you took action, then this situation might have been easier to deal with.

If a new topic is plagiarized, then you can simply warn the member and delete the topic. If the plagiarized post isn't the topic starter, then delete the post and warn the member. If many members have replied to a plagiarized post, then close the topic and make a note. The member cannot edit their post in a closed topic. Contact an admin and we can remove the offending content with the least amount of negative affect on the innocent members that replied.

As for the messed up formating in posts, there is a very simple reason.
All of the BB Code we use is the insertion of CSS data for the selected text.
CODE, QUOTE, CODEBOX tags use the DIV tag and the CSS specifies non-breaking or no-wrap since the information contained inside is supposed to be exactly like the original. Additionally, code that wraps around is very hard to read and edit since most codeutilizes a singel line for each command or vice versa.

Very long URL's also don't wrap and can extend beyond the limits of the table. This is a direct result of the DIV basically floating over the table and a table cannot constrain a DIV inside of one of it's cells. Given the nature of the issue and the limitations or maybe the specifications of HTML and CSS, I do not see a reasonable solution to the problem. It is just something we have to deal with.

I haven't noticed anything in the new version or skin that seems worse than we have had in the past but my screen resolution is wider than most people have.

vujsa

I use to be lenient towards people, but to be honest, it should be zero tolerance. If they copied an entire page then they've broken the rules, there should be no excuse to this, also I don't like seeing an entire page quoted from a site, or a large portion without them actually explaining anything about it. Suspend them for a week if you like, if they decide to come back after that, then hopefully they learnt their lesson, if they don't then we didn't want them here ruining it for the honest people.

If we start giving them chances, there's two options, they participate as they should or they try to find ways of beating our method, which usually means them copying parts and intermingling it with their own. A lot go for the latter, because it's far easier to do. I still think just stamp it out at the start and I think some had slipped through the cracks, but they eventually get caught in the end.

Cheers,

MC

Aha I see MC speaking my tongue these days I agree with all the points outlined by vujsa & MC.

I remember reading a post about this either by MC or m^e , but decided to give each member just one chance. Well, I guess Mark see what I mean now...trouble maker is now a goner. One less plagiarist in the forum.

Yes Im pretty fair..I give everyone one chance..and keep an eye on that person, in this case I was right to do so cos a couple of days after I have found posts that he has copied so I have terminated his account.