This procedure describes what will happen if you break any of the rules laid out in i-church's Code of Conduct (Forum Rules):
“Sanctions
Experience has shown that although the majority of people work within the Code of Conduct guidelines there is a small number who do not. Breaches of the terms and conditions which you agreed to at the front of the site will be treated very seriously.
Moderators will issue warnings and if these are not heeded the moderators will consider temporary or permanent banning from the internal or external i-church sites. If you wish to appeal against a temporary or permanent ban you should contact the Lead Moderator under the Grievance Procedure.”
Why do we need to have a disciplinary procedure?
i-church works hard to maintain an accessible and open culture where a wide range of people can feel safe, comfortable and welcome.
We have a duty to all of our Visitors and Members to ensure i-church is comfortable, relaxing and non-threatening. We also have to balance this with our stated aim of encouraging the widest range of people to participate in i-church. Furthermore, we cannot allow anything to happen in i-church which is illegal.
To help us stay on the right side of all these things, we've developed our i-church Code of Conduct.
If anybody in i-church fails or refuses to abide by those rules and expectations of behaviour, we need to have a fair and transparent way of asking people to adhere to our rules, or to leave i-church if they are unable or unwilling to.
If your behaviour fails to meet our Code of Conduct, one of the following things may happen.
1: Informal Warning
For minor bad behaviour an i-church Moderator might give you an Informal Warning by personal message. This isn't meant to do more than tell you that some aspect of your behaviour isn't really acceptable, and give you plenty of opportunity to improve.
2: Formal Warning
If you have received one or more Informal Warnings and you continue to behave in an unacceptable manner, a Moderator may give you a Formal Warning – either by email or by post. This will be done after at least 3 members of the Moderation Team have discussed the situation. At this stage, you will be advised that further unacceptable behaviour might lead to your exclusion from i-church.
You may also get a Formal Warning straight away if your behaviour is sufficiently serious.
3: Exclusion from the i-church
An i-church Moderator may block your user account for a certain period of time, or you may be permanently banned – preventing you from signing in to i-church.
There are two situations where this might happen:
- You have received a Formal Warning and have persisted in the behaviour which you were warned about.
- You have done something serious enough to warrant instant exclusion. Such a thing might include highly aggressive or offensive behaviour; threatening somebody; sexual harassment; posting illegal or offensive text, media or website links; or posing a danger to children or other users of i-church.
Except in the case of very serious bad behaviour, we will not make the decision to exclude you immediately – the Moderation Team will ask you to take “Time Out” and they will discuss the situation while you are away.
“Time Out”
An i-church Moderator may, if necessary, ask you to not log in to i-church for a short period of time – say, for a day or two, or a few days.
This will happen if the Moderation Team feels that a short “cooling off” period is adequate to resolve the situation without the need for further action.
For very serious bad behaviour, it may be that the Moderation Team asks you to take “Time Out” while they discuss whether your behaviour warrants exclusion from i-church.
Right of Appeal
If you've received any kind of warning, or if you have been excluded from i-church, you have a right to appeal. This should be done by making an Official Complaint. The process for making a complaint is detailed in our Grievance Procedure.