Understanding the DNT (Do Not Trade) rank

The DNT system is an alternative to permanent bans on Sythe.org.

Under this new system users who would have previously received a permanent ban for an offence on sythe.org will now generally receive a DNT rank and a temporary ban instead. When the temporary ban expires they will be left with just the DNT rank.

You should not attempt to trade with any DNT user; however, trades that occur offsite are not held to DNT standards. Sythe users who trade with DNT users off-site do so at their own risk and any trade is highly ill advised. We will not be searching for DNT users trading; however, if a Sythe user reports you for trading, you will be disciplined accordingly.



What DNT is:

• DNT is a more severe version of the TWC rank.
• DNT users cannot PM other users.
• DNT users cannot view or post in any market.
• DNT users cannot view or post in any dicing section.
• DNT users cannot display any ranks or miniranks except the DNT rank which they cannot hide.
• DNT users are encouraged to repay any outstanding debts they have and attempt to pardon through a streamlined process.
• DNT users will receive further temporary bans for attempting to trade with ban lengths proportional to how many warnings they have been given.

The logic behind DNT:

• In most parts of the world punishment, restitution (repaying) and protection of others are separated.
• In our case:
  1. A temporary ban is a punishment.
  2. Repayment of others is necessary to rejoin the market (through a pardon).
  3. DNT is for the protection of others.
• Once punishment (ban period) for an offence has been served it is finalized and the punishment is complete.
• DNT is not a punishment, it is for the protection of others.
• After ban period is served the debt becomes a civil debt just like every other legal system.
• Restitution (repayment of the debt) is still required to rejoin the market.
• Serious indictable crimes are still permanently banable.

Reasons for implementing DNT:

• Criminals who use this site will ban evade despite our best efforts to stop them.
• Hardline permanent bans do not result in a better outcome for victims: Either the criminals continue to ban evade or they use another forum entirely, either way they are much less likely to repay under a hardline system.
• DNT encourages people to pardon because they can reintegrate first into the community -- regaining limited access to their account provides an on-going incentive to repay.
• DNT acknowledges that people make mistakes and can change.
• DNT acknowledges that people should not be continually punished for past mistakes; that punishment is finite and once served should not be served again for the same event (double jeopardy)
• DNT allows the community spirit to continue while debts are being repaid.
• DNT means that guests / new users seeing our site for the first time won't be faced with 90% banned users in any random thread.
• DNT means that friend groups are not split up (for example one your friends is banned) thus encouraging overall activity and better community cohesion. This will encourage new users to join and help to grow the site.

 

I've been told there's a bug w/r/t existing/old pre-dnt pms. We'll look into it.

This will be on a case by case basis. Basically anything serious enough to do real jailtime for is permable.

 

The best way to work that out is to process disputes and get a feel for what adequate punishments are for various offences. If we make hard rules about what length corresponds to what offence it will just end up being unjust.

For example someone who welshes a $200 bet probably shouldn't receive the same ban time as someone who hacks a paypal and steals $200. The cold and calculating aspect of the latter needs to be taken into account.

Just like in real courts: Ban durations will be found and adjusted via doctrine of precedent / processing actual cases. We will take into account the durations listed in the previous / existing rules as well.