Moderator Tools - Post Hurricane Happy Thoughts

Many of us got hit pretty hard by Hurricane Happy Thoughts. I was mobile at the time when all of a sudden I got multiple pleas for help via email. Frantic that I couldn't get to my computer at the time, I did some emergency cleanup via my phone until I could get back to home base.

I've been thinking all lot about this problem. Fortunately, the community has behaved pretty well up until this point. I always knew that this could be an issue but was always spending 95% of my time building features rather than ban-hammer tools. (I'll build it when I have to mentality)

I have an idea of how we can solve this together but I'd like to get your feedback first. I've drawn inspiration from the Greater Internet Dickwad Theory. I don't believe this theory is absolute: all people become dickwads... as we have seen with many awesome personalities (love you guys!) However, I strongly believe that the larger the audience, the more likely a hurricane will hit. Audience is the only variable here given "normal person" represents the average of all users.

Sidebar: I believe this equation can be improved. Maybe we can come up with one together and name it after b@b. (If anyone has an ideas post or email them :)

First and foremost, I'd like to state that I'm not willing to bring back the "Trash" feature. Automated removal of posts hasn't worked well in the previous 3 years of b@b. Users learn how to game the system and many posts that shouldn't be removed end up getting removed. However, now that we have a point / seniority system I think we can create something pretty useful. Here's how it would work:

Phase I, Smarter code - above the line; this can be done in a day.

1. One user can't post the same thing more than once. (this one is obvious)
2. If one user posts to the main page 5 times consecutively, they are automatically sent to rehab. (Is 5 the right number?)

Phase II, User privilege escalation - below the line; this might take longer than a day, but would work like this:

1. For every 10 users online, the top point holder has moderator privileges. The moderator has the ability to delete reported posts. 
2. For every 50 users online, the top point holder has admin privileges. The admin is allowed to ban anyone from the site (limit to 5 bans per 2 hours). 

I like Phase II because it also allows you to keep control of others breaking the TOS. I would have to elaborate on what to delete and what to ignore. For instance: Just because something is edgy doesn't mean it should be deleted. Clear violations are people's names, personal information or hate-speech posts that provide no conversational value. Just because someone is talking about a specific race, gender or sexual orientation doesn't constitute hate speech. Some legitimate conversations have happened in the past in these areas.

So strategy: I can do Phase I immediately which I will work on today. I will only begin working on Phase II if the community believes this is a good plan. I would like to get feedback either on the thread that will be posted on b@b or via email. 

Jae