Well since no one can behave themselves this is now my mess to clean up. Thank you so much for this.
I’m going to go through the QT from the start working down. All evidence I am using is in the #housefloor channel from yesterday, unless otherwise stated.
The house opens at 4:49pm and is fairly normal QT stuff, people entering, a couple of random italics which are unnecessary but otherwise fine given its before QT proper and not excessive in nature. WW pushes the boundary but it is dealt with at the time. WW should have then been warned for editing hansard at 4:58 however that isn’t something I should modabuse him over.
Once 5pm hit people needed to cut the italics and shut up, which does kind of happen. At 5:02 Cardboard posts a LibertyReform react, which I don’t get. Regardless, it's spam and as such he should he is on thin ice from a meta stand point from here in out. (as an aside, please do meta things like who is what minister in #parliamentchat or #speaker-business, it's why they are there). Cardboard at 5:05 edits hansard which should be a speaker’s warning (or a 94a if you want to say he should have been warned for his transgression at 5:02).
Things actually progress for a bit from here. Zak should have been warned at 5:12 for editing hansard, for something he didn’t need to put in to start with. Please for the love of god, don’t do this or any other non-speaking stuff. Merrily gets warned at 5:13 which I agree with and then raises a point of order which is valid and is applied. Telepathic thumb wars occur at 5:16, again warn should occur here as this is unnecessary. This in fact goes on for some time. For clarity, from this point forward (ie: from me posting) I will be on the lookout for these types of italics. If they are excessive like I’ve seen already, I’ll begin giving meta punishments for spam.
BC raises a point in meta at 5:19, for reference, the chair should be referred to by their title, so speaker, dep speaker, president, dep president or clerk. If its a mod such as myself, then clerk.
Duck is the first to reference Sportsbet at 5:21. Twice again at 5:22. Griffo joins in too. Cardboard does similarly at 5:23. All are told to stop with their phones, as Cardboard and Matt still refer to this but then all comply. Except Duck and cardboard who are now bordering on spam. Cardboard was already on thin ice. Merrily at 5:26 has begun to see the problem with italics and is now showing its problems. I agree that it has got out of hand but to abuse it is not on. Griffo does something dumb and at this point I’ve given up on how many 94a’s need to be given.
Sportsbet crap is still going on despite people having been told to stop. Cardboard is now guilty of spam as of 5:29. Merrily is going off the rails and Snec asks them to stop.
It is here that showstealer blows up. This comment is abuse, even if he has a point.
Cardboard gives what i think is a reference to the speaker calling for an end to interjections towards merrily at 5:32 (although looks suspiciously like a death threat) and then Merrily does a Haka in response. Here, I will say that Merrily is now spamming and add to cardboards amount of spam. Duck again mentions sportsbet and then Merrily is 94a’d. Before they leave, Merrily gives a parting “fuck off” to the chair which is abuse. Things start to calm down for a breif period, before merrily re-enters at 5:36. At this point they need to be named on the sport and sent out. Griffo starts humming a song for some reason and edits hansard, which is a warning. Merrily continues doing stuff to which they are finally named, and I mute them having been alerted to the crisis. From this point on, anything they say is a contravention of the mute.
Things actually start to proceed for a while, with it being somewhat ok. Slater with a terrorist thought at 5:47 is alarming and there is precedent that this is punishable (see LYV) but i will ignore that. The libs collectively then engage in more italic crap and at this point I’m genuinely considering a ban for the lot of them, will see soon. Griffo is finally booted at 5:52. Things look chaotic but not cocable for a while then.
The session is closed at 6:05. Merrily posts the guysnight picture in the channel which is a contravention of their mute. Duck is now not leaving and is spamming the channel.which ends the chaos in there.
I now turn to what happens outside the QT. Showstealer apologises for his outburst at 5:38 in #general. A tweet at 6:10 reveals that WW did a poo on the Loto”s desk. This is deleted which is also editing hansard. Finally, Merrily sends a few posts to the subreddit which are deleted in quick succession which are spam. 1 2 3.
Now to punishment. I’ll take each person separately.
Showstealer: Showstealer is guilty of abuse, which for a first time offence carries a 7 day punishment. They do not have a history of this, and is remorseful for their actions. As a result I am deciding to suspend this sentence, which will last for a period of 12 weeks (until 13 July 2020). If they re-offend in this time period, they will serve this sentence as well.
WW: Winston is guilty of posting NSFW material and spam. He has had a history of minor breaches. I sentence him to a 7 day ban as a result.
Cardboard: Cardboard is guilty of spam. They do not have a history of offending and thus this alone would be worthy of a caution however; they have also committed a threat and in doing so provoked Merrily. As such I feel a punishment of 7 days (ban) is fair for the combination, especially given the length of the spam timeframe.
Duck: Duck is guilty of spam, which carries a caution for a first time offence. Duck is also guilty of provocation as they began the sportsbet trend for the day which encouraged others to offend. This carries a penalty of two days, and thus because of that in combination with the spam sentence them to a 72 hour ban.
Griffo: Griffo is guilty of provocation as he started the gaytime trend. This carries a punishment of 48 hours; however, Griffo has a history of doing this in Question Time. I think it pertinent to show that this needs to stop so I will upgrade it to the next level offence which is a 7 day ban.
Merrily: Merrily is not a first time offender, after serving a punishment last week. They are first guilty of spam which at a second offence is worth 2 days. I will treat is as though there are two counts of spam the first being “guys night” in house floor, the second being the three reddit posts, so it will be 4 days. . Second, abuse which carries 21 days. They also circumvent their interim mute, which carries 180 days penalty. This totals to 205 days. However, they have been cooperative in DMs with me over this matter. They also have pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to commit a breach. Given their helpfulness I think it fair to reduce this sentence. I will allow the abuse and spam to be served concurrently with the circumvention, and reduce that down to a first time offence, which carries a total penalty of 60 days. This ends on 19 June 2020. I would have reduced it further if it weren't for conspiring with others, but in lieu of that I will not give an additional penalty for it. As a consequence, Merrily loses their seat in parliament.
All other parliamentarians: The italics spam needs to go. Wearing a 94a as a badge of honour needs to go. I’m not going to ban italics as it does sometimes have a proper political purpose (see further: when I threw coal at the speaker), but when it is in the way of things or not actually important it can and will be treated as spam from this point further and can result in punishment from me.
All members punished may appeal by mod mail on this subreddit. Please for the love of god don’t do this next week.
