Last Updated 22 Nov, 23
Reports are advanced to Senior Staff for the verdict to be issued once the majority of the staff team has added their recommendations to the report. The system is streamlined so that reports have to have been reviewed by multiple other people before a decision is able to be made. This prevents uninformed decisions from being made by a member of the team and a user from being incorrectly flagged by the bot.
All points which are added to a user that negatively impacts the user’s reputation have been through the review process outlined above with the exception of auto-scanning of Modding Discords for users who are contributing to leaking and severe cases where a member of management is able to issue points directly. The latter will only ever be used in extreme circumstances where action needs to be taken instantly.
Whilst points are given at the discretion of the Senior Staff member reviewing the report, the points deducted will tend to follow the ranges outlined below. This is not an extensive list and can be updated at any time, it purely provides guidance for members of the team when issuing points deductions.
| Offences | Points |
|---|---|
| Actively involved in the leaking community. (Automated Issue) | 15 Points |
| Staff in a server used to promote the leaking of assets and use of those assets. | 90 Points |
| Known to be a serial leaker, with repeated and constant promotion or distribution of leaked assets. | 90 - 100 Points |
| Involved in the leaking of assets and distribution of those files and/or means of accessing them. | 30 - 70 Points |
| Using assets obtained without a purchase either via means of decryption or downloading from a leaking website. | 20 - 40 Points |
| Presenting a significant safeguarding risk to members such as those who have been convicted of crimes of a severe nature, or exploited people through means of impersonation. | 100 Points |
| Presenting a minor safeguarding risk to members such as those who have impersonated emergency services personnel but not with the intention of exploitation. | 20 - 50 Points |
| Violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) involving but not limited to the distributing of data. | 30 - 75 Points |
| Scamming of clients through either not delivering products, despite taking payment. Or providing files which are unusable and/or not what has been advertised. | 30 - 60 Points |
| Using hateful, discriminatory and/or offensive language. Or inciting violence or hatred through language or actions. | 20 - 60 Points |
| Threatening or actioning a DOX or DDOS attack against another person. Or inciting any similar actions. | 40 - 90 Points |
| Destroying, or maliciously disrupting, operations of a platform owned by another person (aka. "griefing"). | 15 - 50 Points |
| Fraudulently refunding/charging back, or failure to provide payment after receiving a working, legitimate asset or service. | 35 - 75 Points |
| Blackmailing a person or group of people by making unwarranted demands with threats. | 25 - 75 Points |
| Compromised or hacked Discord account, no longer held by its rightful owner (subject to appeal). | 100 Points |
| Knowingly submitting a falsified or faked STORM report on someone. | 5 - 15 Points |
If a report is submitted and the supporting evidence is more than 12 months old, from the date of the report. It can be considered a historic offence. In such instance, STORM Staff will look to only endorse the minimum amount of points available for the offence that has been committed. In minor cases, or cases where evidence exceeds more than 18 months, staff can also look to reduce the endorsement of points by up to 30%, on top of the minimum amount of points available.
For example, if someone was found to have leaked a single asset 12 months ago, and we have no reason to believe they have leaked anything since, they would only be able to receive a 30 points deduction. Alternatively, if they have been found violating GDPR 2 years ago, and haven't done so since, a person can only receive 28 points. A 30% reduction on the minimum of 40 points, available under our guidelines.
When querying a user, or scanning your server, the number of deductions someone has received (if any) will be shown. This added detail can help explain the severity of someone's deductions and give admins better insight to the risk someone may pose to their community. For example, someone with 60 points deducted, but only 1 total deduction is going to have done something more severe than someone with 60 points deducted, but with 4 total deductions. When used in conjunction with our guidelines, admins should have a strong idea on those they do and do not want in their community, and the potential risk someone is.
If you make a successful/accepted report, you will immediately receive a 5 points increase. Note, if you already have 100 reputation score, a report will not make you exceed this maximum. Furthermore, those with less than 20 score are not eligible for this increase.
If a member has been issued points which they believe are issued incorrectly they are able to dispute these points via the STORM website, all disputes are handled by Senior Staff and Management with members of the senior team providing their recommendations and a member of the Management team making the final decision on any disputes which are placed. Those who are on 0 points, may have to email hello@stormsystems.org to appeal as these individuals are banned from our official Discord.
Users who maintain a clean reports record for 3 months are eligible to see an increase in their their reputation, gradually. However, users will never be able to re-reach 100 reputation score, and will be capped at 85. This gradual increase is automatic and is built into our automated algorithm. Furthermore, those with less than 20 score are not eligible for this gradual increase.
For deductions that are less than 50 points, our team have the option for them to be issued as "Suspended Points". These are not immediately deducted from a users points total but instead gives them 3 days to dispute the deduction. This dispute will be fairly reviewed by members of our Senior Staff Team & Management Team, and if accepted, the points will not be added. However, if a users suspended points dispute is declined, they then can't dispute it for a minimum of 3 months after they have been docked from their total.
Only users who are already in the STORM Discord and with Direct Messaging enabled, prior to the suspended deduction, are eligible to receive (and dispute) suspended points. Those who are not, will be docked the points immediately.
Please note, we do not provide explanation for points deductions to anyone other than the person who has been deducted points. STORM is not a platform that shares exact reasonings as to why someone is of risk to online communities, and been deducted points. Instead, we provide the platform and algorithm that allows people to come to their own judgements about ones validity, or reputation, and give you the guidelines and transparency to do so, with a wealth of information at your disposal. When deciding someones level of risk, threat, validity or reputation, do so by taking into consideration the points we deduct for each offences as part of our guidelines and how their score reflects that.
Alternatively, you can always ask a person why they have been deducted points and find out, in detail, that way. If they provide you with the reasoning for their deductions, then you know. If they refuse to provide this information, you can be assured they are almost definitely hiding genuine wrongdoings they are guilty of.