I think you should give someone a pretty decent chance to post their full name before they get a warning, in case they're lazy like me and haven't made a signature and forget sometimes
Looking at what appears to be the current proposal for the point system and Rich's comments on this thread, I think that's sort of built in...
With the exception of very grave situations where it's obvious that an immediate banning would be appropriate, the point system style suggestion that gives additional weight to certain infractions seems designed to be exactly what the name suggests... a warning. If you're allowed twenty five points worth of honest mistakes and forgetting your name only counts as one... doing it once or twice and seeing that number might prompt you to stop being lazy and just create a signature (which allows you to be
really lazy and never type your name again).
I think Rich had also expressed that the potential consequences would be somewhat subjective to the judgement of the Moderating staff... I seriously doubt he would ever become personally vindictive or petty like a few other board owners we all know of, but this would allow him to warn someone via PM or on a thread that there needs to be compliance with this before issuing a warning. There would be an analysis of the infraction taken in context and as a situational measure... first time poster might get directed to the posting rules and gently reminded, multiple problems or long time users would be facing slightly less lenient judgement on the issue.
Basically it really doesn't sound like there would be much of a change from the way the board has been operated in the past, there would simply be a better and more accurate way of tracking past infractions, making it easier on WebSlave to see trends as well as giving individual users the ability to easily see when they are starting to cross lines and reach that dangerous area where they might be facing banning if their behavior doesn't change.
Only thing I personally might ask as I utilize it myself on occasion in some posts, and the only potential problem I could see as being recurring is concerning the use of expletives... The posts on here are generally phrased in a fairly conversational manner and there is a tendency for mild expletives to crop up in the vernacular as a means of emphasizing a statement... examples being "Hell Yes!" or "That's a damn pretty boa."... not phrases that
most adults would find offensive but something people might not want their kids to see and something of a grey area in terms of personal responsibility... I for one would never let my kid surf the web alone if I didn't think they were mature enough to handle whatever they might come across (not that I have any kids)... But others might feel that it's Rich's duty to parent their kids while online... Which means some of us might have to watch out language a bit more than we have been.
The way I figure it though, Rich isn't likely to start implementing it without a more complete discussion or explanation of what is and is not considered acceptable and those who really don't like it have the option to simply stop using the message board. It's not like there are any classified account deposits to be refunded or anything.
