Regarding the recent code threads.

As you may have noticed, several members of our forum have been banned recently. In an effort to continue open communication between the members and moderators here at Slickdeals, we would like to elaborate on this decision.

These individuals collaborated through the use of coded messages only viewable by those who had knowledge of this system, despite the fact that these posts were made in public threads. After reviewing the messages posted by the users involved, it was determined by the mod team that these messages were highly inappropriate and not conducive to creating a friendly community here at Slickdeals, not to mention several violations of our forum policies.

Because of the insidious nature of these messages, we opt not to discuss them in detail, but we have recorded multiple counts of specific infractions that have lead to these users being banned based on their involvement and number of posts that violate the rules. Not only that, but they compounded the situation by purposely avoiding the moderators and public by using this code. They also stated their own acknowledgment of guilt and wrongdoing in their posts. We would like to state that we are extremely disappointed by the conduct of these users and their blatant attempt to circumvent our rules. We only hope this can serve as a learning experience for the community, and to let the community know on a whole that this kind of total disregard for the feelings of others and forum policy will not be tolerated.

As you know, here at Slickdeals.net we try to have a very open and free-flowing forum in which users can come to enjoy an discussion with others. We feel that the community is growing well and that there is a strong level of bonding here. When we come across instances as this, it reminds us that at times order is necessary in order to foster this type of community. As such, we will be working to develop clearer policies and a well defined sanction process to help aid in the mitigation of these types of unfavorable violations.

For instance, we will be instituting a tiered approach to the warning system, in which repeat offenses will have more severe sanctions. We felt that, in part, the cause of this issue was the fact that the individuals involved believed that the worst that could happen would be some warnings. We took into account the fact that several of the people involved had extensive histories of violating policies and as such we determined that as a whole that their sanctions needed to be a reflection of their account life as a whole.

Overall, we would like to remind the community that this is supposed to be a fun and enjoyable place to converse with others, and that to do so we must entitle each other to respect and fairness.