Forum: Online moderation systems should distinguish between etiquette breaches and serious abuse
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I refer to the article “New Online Safety Commission opens its doors to help victims tackle harmful content“ (June 28). While the establishment of the Online Safety Commission is a welcome step towards making the online space safer, I was puzzled by one moderation practice described.
The article quotes HardwareZone.com’s editor-in-chief Vijay Anand as saying that members are given “infraction points for activities such as cyberbullying, posting sexual content and doxing, with bans imposed once they reach a certain threshold”.
An infraction point system is well suited to relatively minor breaches of community rules, such as spam, off-topic posts or abusive language. Such a graduated disciplinary approach allows users to correct their behaviour before facing more severe sanctions.
The activities cited by Vijay, however, are in a different category. They are precisely the kinds of harmful conduct that have prompted the establishment of the Online Safety Commission.
If such conduct is serious enough to warrant national regulatory attention, it seems incongruous to treat it as a cumulative forum infraction, where a user is allowed to remain on the platform until enough demerit points have been accumulated.
Moderation systems should distinguish between ordinary breaches of forum etiquette and serious, harmful conduct. Ordinary breaches may justify warnings and escalating penalties. Serious conduct should attract immediate and proportionate action.
Conflating the two risks sending the message that serious online abuse is merely another rule violation to be managed through a demerit points framework.
Mohamad Nurhafiz Mohd Noor
