I asked the following question at the help desk about a user who generated upwards of 10 hiddens comments over the course of a few days:
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Timeout bot?
CenPhx
May 07, 2014 @ 07:06 PM
I am not entirely clear on what circumstance triggers the timeout bot to kick in, but I would've thought the following series of comments by one user was exactly the situation a timeout was designed for - to cool someone down. I know some of these comments were uprated out of the hiddens after they went in, but I thought that did not affect the fact it was considered a hidden comment for timeout purposes? If the uprating did in fact cause the timeout not to work , it might be worth looking at whether the uprates should be sanctioned, as uprating a user on a streak like this doesn't do him any favors.
In reverse chronological order, here are the comments that were hidden, some of which were then uprated, all by "joe from lowell":
Wed: Comment.
Mon: Comment.
Sun:Comment.
That one is especially bad because it followed on the heels of a retaliatory hr: Comment.
Sun: Comment.
Sun: Comment.
Sun: Comment.
Sun: Comment.
Sun: Comment.
Sat: Comment.
Sat: Comment.
You don't have to tell me anything about the decision on Joe or the uprates, but if you have time eventually to tell me if I am wildly misunderstanding how the timeout works, that would be cool. Thx!
2 Posted by CenPhx on May 07, 2014 @ 08:37 PM
Here is another, hidden then uprated:
Wed: Comment.
SUPPORT STAFF3 Posted by elfling on May 08, 2014 @ 09:27 AM
Here is the algorithm:
Every time a comment goes hidden, the robot checks to see if there are now three comments, posted within the last 24 hours, from this user, that are currently hidden.
Comments that may have been hidden and are now not hidden don't count. Comments that are hidden but were posted 25 hours ago don't count either.
Certainly this is a corner case and skating very close to the edge. What is happening is that comments are getting hidden and then uprated out of hidden status. The robot is doing his job as it has been instructed, and this is a case for humans to decide if the situation is fine as is, if upraters are abusing the situation, or if downraters are abusing the situation. It has been forwarded on to the moderation team for review.
Rather than taking some action against a user who went on a four day streak of doing nothing but being as big a dick as he possibility could do as many other kossacks as he possible could, I received a warning for the hide rating I gave him. Look at that list. This is the kind of user your moderators protect and uphold.
Is this even handed moderation?