Rule Enforcement

[john]

Hi All

 

I am posting it here so that you are aware of changes in our community, and your involvement in making those changes happen.

 

Firstly, my profound apologies for letting the atmosphere of our boards deteriorate to a level where any member, especially long standing members, believe that it is okay to ignore our rules and treat each other with such disdain.

 

Those days are gone. 

 

Those that cannot reconcile their differences with this, will not be here long. If it means we lose a few members, so be it. My bet is that we would build a far stronger community with such an approach than if we allow any problems to continue unchecked.

 

Antagonistic or Aggressive Behaviour, Flaming, Trolling etc.

 

The days of tolerating or enduring antagonistic or aggressive posting are over.

 

Members will treat each other with courtesy and respect. Such aspects of behaviour are a part of our rules for good reason. Tone and attitude are important when posting. All the more so when a good atmosphere is required to encourage critique to occur. While a degree of confrontation will happen from time to time, both cause and conduct are considered in each circumstance. 

 

 

Rule Enforcement

 

Once upon a time Songstuff was more heavily moderated, and members were expected to treat each other with respect.

 

Members are still expected to treat each other with respect. That has never changed. The fact that this doesn’t always happen is unacceptable.

 

As such, things are going to change around our community regarding rule enforcement. In a bid to be a more relaxed feeling board, rules enforcement had become too relaxed. That is my fault.

 

For the vast majority of members of Songstuff, enforcement will not change what they do, because they by and large adhere to rules and treat each other with respect. It will however transform the atmosphere that has begun to develop in our community.

 

As said, only a very small minority have been pushing the rules. Flaming, trolling, bullying, being aggressive or antagonistic, will all be dealt with in line with our site rules. My personal tolerance of such behaviour, the tolerance of the staff, and I believe the broader community, has come to an end.

 

This is not just about the letter of the rules and guidelines. It is about the spirit of those rules. In other words, finding loopholes will not be an excuse for bad behaviour. Similarly, abusing the letter of the rules as a way to kick against the system will be deemed as trolling the community.

 

 

Reporting

 

If you encounter someone behaving unreasonably, abusing the systems put in place to keep this a fair and tolerant place, report the issue. While you can confront rule breakers , please do not break site rules yourself.

 

 

Line In The Sand

 

I am drawing a line in the sand right now. Should anyone decide to step across that line in the sand in future, warning points will surely follow, along with any other consequences that result from your actions, up to and including loss of privileges, moderator approval of posts, suspension and even ban. Believe me, severe breaches can take a shortcut right to a ban.

 

By continuing to use this community, you reaffirm your acceptance of our rules and guidelines. Should our rules and guidelines not be acceptable, please inform me by PM and we can proceed accordingly.

 

 

 

Here’s to a new day.

 

Cheers

 

John

[john]

On 19/02/2018 at 5:44 PM, fasstrack said:

And what recourse does a member have if they feel they've been unfairly accused? Made a remark that was misunderstood, not gotten, or mis-characterized?

 

Why not have an appeal process? It's not only fair, it's democratic...

 

We do have a way to appeal.

 

In most cases members will have an opportunity to explain their actions and any events from their perspective before any moderation decision is made. In arriving at a decision we consider the rules and guidelines, previous warnings, previous behaviour. Normally members will be given a non points warning or will have had a discussion with a moderator first, before they are given warning points.

 

More serious penalties require two mods or more to review the evidence and be in agreement.

 

Should new evidence become available members can always present it and staff will always try to consider it fairly.

 

The appeal process is: if you are unhappy with a decision, you can ask for a more senior / experienced moderator to take a look at the evidence.

 

For certain rules, breaking them will result in an immediate suspension or ban. 

 

A website is not a democracy.  However:

• We consulted the membership when drafting our rules
• Our staff are themselves members
• We try to consider member viewpoints on general issues
• We do discuss issues with members
• We sometimes conduct polls.
• We do try to be fair

The few communities that could be described as democratic, the membership are involved in all aspects of running the site, including the site finance with all members being levied a membership fee. Even then, most sites that do charge a universal fee are not democratic either. Some do have tiered membership systems where paying members have a vote while free members do not.

 

Songstuff does have a steering group of long term members that is meant to help act as a sounding board and discussion group for ideas about site direction.

 

So we do definitely have community involvement, and some democratic aspects to the community, but it is not a democracy