DiS code of conduct / board rules

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#1

Hi all,

This is a spin off thread from the conversations being held on the social boards over the last week or so.

As part of the steps out of those we broadly agree that as a community we should have a code of conduct or set of rules that we expect to hold each other to.

I’m creating this thread as a place for the community to come together and agree that code of conduct. Once in this thread we feel broadly happy with it we’ll hold a boardwide vote aiming for a good consensus in favour to ensure this doesn’t end with a small minority enforcing stuff on the whole boards.

This thread is open for any board member to contribute to in a constructive manner. Please try and stay on topic and assume other posters are behaving in good faith - for example, if you disagree with a suggestion please explain why you feel it would be unhelpful rather than simply saying “it wouldn’t work” or “we tried that”.

If you want to contribute but don’t feel comfortable doing so yourself for any reason, consider asking another user that you trust to do so on your behalf or setting up an anon account to post what you wanted.

I’d encourage any user to sum up stuff when there’s consensus on any topic and I/the other mods can edit the next post to sum up the current consensus amongst the thread.

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Making DiS a safer space: next steps
#2

THIS POST LEFT DELIBERATELY BLANK

#3

if this is in Site Feedback does that not mean there will be very few replies?

it’s good idea, thus worth making sure as many people join in!

#4

:+1: There’ll be signpost threads in the social / music boards later this evening.

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#5

Don’t know how exactly you might want to do the wording but something like;

In order for these boards to be a safe and inclusive area of the internet for all users we have zero tolerance for

  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Homophobia
  • Transphobia
  • Islamophobia
  • Ablism
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#6

Had no idea you couldn’t do edits in a slow thread (really don’t like the idea of slow threads either but what the hey)

might change that slightly to

others might want to add more bullets and of course there’s a lot more needed than this but this seems like a bare minimum start no?

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#7

Actually that might be a good enough reason in here to turn that off for now…

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#8

Do we want to consider listing some of the behaviours that we want to encourage and some we want to discourage, then look at how we put them into a coherent code of conduct.

There’s the stark non negotiables that BITT has listed, which are clear enough to be bullet pointed but there’s stuff that needs some deeper wording. Starting with the jigsaw pieces of those then putting them together.

Off the top of my head:

We want people to assume other posters are acting in good faith.

Misunderstandings and poor wording can obscure meaning so asking for / being asked for clarity should be seen as polite behaviour.

Ad hominem comments are never helpful.

Something about not continuing disagreements \ arguments across multiple threads maybe?

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#9

maybe a catch all bullet point on the end as well, like

  • and any other forms of prejudice or bigotry
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#10

I think this is important - it is the flip side of having a stringent SSP code (as we should). By the nature of the way we communicate here, we loose a huge chunk of the interaction in terms of body language tone, facial expressions etc and it is easy for people to misconstrue meaning without those things.

Obviously if someone was too start posting anti-semitic conspiracy theories or throwing around slurs then there is no grey area, but generally if something can be taken two ways then usually no offence has been meant. We’re obviously a group of people who take treating each other well seriously to begin with and I think it’s worth giving people the benefit of the doubt until doubt is removed.

#11

Could probably do with a preamble explaining that the Code of Conduct has been developed democratically by board users who have experienced the highs and lows of online community both within and without this place and have learned along the way that being human, making and admitting mistakes, seeing through others’ eyes, growing and developing, putting ego to one side and treating each other with respect and tolerance are all things that make the internet a better place

…or words to that effect

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#12

With reference to the DJAnon exposé of long term much loved posters being protected by their position we might also want to look at ways to help mitigate the situation we had there where the user felt unsure any mod was unbiased enough to go to.

Not sure how to easily do this, though.

Maybe an anonymous survey to gauge how many users feel like there are no moderators to whom they could safely come with an issue. The problem of course is this sort of discussion can’t even really use fresh anonymous accounts because moderators will be able to see they’re coming from people who link to existing accounts.

It’s fairly simple for me to setup a really basic guestbook thing on my site that just lets you put stuff in a text box and publish it but that obviously still requires people trust I’m not harvesting IP addresses.

#13

Not sure if this is a useful framework but these are the house rules I set for a discord community I started recently. I quite like setting more of a focus on how you should act rather than how you shouldn’t. Does that make sense?

This community is a place to share knowledge, lols, and things that would be useful to other people who work in digital.

SOME RULES
Be kind and treat others as you would wish to be treated.

Racism, misogyny, conspiracy theories, whataboutery, and anything disrespectful or untoward behaviour that ends in -phobia will not be tolerated.

Thou shall…
:innocent: be helpful
:handshake: be welcoming
:nerd_face: share your wisdom
:raising_hand_woman: be unafraid to ask questions
:thinking: delight us with memes

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#14

It’s not just that things aren’t tolerated, but that there is an expectation that posters are active in ensuring that any concerns are believed, taken seriously, and dealt with appropriately.

(this hasn’t been wordsmithed, but hopefully someone will have an idea of how to phrase it!)

There’s been an issue with users (and I’m one of them) who basically just ignores things and maybe assumes that it’s been dealt with by someone else or the mods.

#15

Would add antisemitism and ageism to this list - great start chum :+1:

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