I'd think it'd be unanimous in dissent.

I understand Brian's (and Napo's) objection, but I believe due to my experience here that disruptive members have more potential to do damage to the forum quickly (such as driving away members) than overreaching staff. If staff stays as excellent as they have been in the past, I see no problem. If they become corrupt or will be tempted to wage personal vendettas through their powers, we're fucked anyways.

A negative example one might keep in mind though are the RDF forums. I wasn't there precisely when it happened, but before and after. But their first incarnation, like, imploded.

(January 13, 2016 at 1:17 am)Jenny A Wrote:

(January 13, 2016 at 12:08 am)MysticKnight Wrote: So you guys finally found a way to get rid of me. *smiles*

I think in the unlikely event such a thing were proposed, there would be a number of votes to save you.

Haha, Mystic is like the nicest guy on the forum, yet living in perpetual fear of getting banned any time now for his inscrutable poetry

Hmm, how long do we get to move out of ground zero?

I demand an airlift be provided for me to get away from the fallout.

Oh, and do we get a mod flip at the end of the 48hr phase?

Boy this has sure been a hot issue. Anyone keeping score? Maybe we need a poll? Not that it should be required to implement the new rule. I just think there is much more support than paranoia.

Having been on the staff of another forum, I applaud this move. It's difficult enough to moderate a forum under normal circumstances, but when there's a person who dances at the periphery of the rules it makes the job exponentially more difficult.

At PHPFreaks we had a member named something along the lines of 'DebDoubleD'. She was one of those perpetual rule skirters who would disrupt entire subforums. Her MO would be to ask a coding question, then disagree and bicker with everyone who provided an answer. She was a textbook example of Dunning-Kruger, with the smug insults to match. We had long, heated discussions about her because she didn't technically violate the rules, but essentially shat on the forum every time she was active. It took us two years, IIRC, to finally have enough of her shit and swing the ban hammer, during which time both regular members and staff quit.

Perpetually disruptive assholes need to be removed from forums relatively quickly because they wield disproportionate power. It's incredibly easy for a single person to frustrate a group to the point of not wanting to visit any longer. A powerful but deliberate and limited-in-scope mechanism/process that addresses that kind of destructive outlier is a necessary addition to a staff's toolbox, IMO, regardless of whether it's a new rule or amendments to existing rules.

At TAF, I wrote the last set of rules, and one of those rules was indeed "Don't be a dick." It didn't mean "don't ever be a dick", it meant "If all you are is a dick, you're not welcome", and that's how we applied it.

Like here, our moderating decisions were almost always subject to vote (outside of spam/porn or other egregious violation). We had some vigorous discussions about what "being a dick" meant, and the general consensus seemed to be if you're being clearly antagonistic while adding nothing to the conversation, you're being a dick. Of course, we had an area called "The Pit" for flamefests and such, so if it was kept in there it wasn't dickishness. We also had informal warnings as well as formal -- myself, I'd just PM a guy: "Isn't that a bit past the rules there?" and give him a chance to edit, or "You're adding heat but no light to the conversation." Then on to formal warnings and bans which were always voted-on in these sorts of cases.

We also had a subforum called "The Oubiliette", where if someone broke the "don't be a dick rule", they could post, but only in that subforum -- and anyone in a bad mood could come by and shit up any thread the dick had started. A taste of his own medicine, if you will. They could come out after a week or two and hopefully understand better how it feels.

(January 13, 2016 at 12:08 am)MysticKnight Wrote: So you guys finally found a way to get rid of me. *smiles*

No chance matey...
You're our backup entertainment when the crazies are having a timeout for their meds.

(January 12, 2016 at 5:41 pm)Bella Morte Wrote: Yeah, as long as it doesn't get abused or anything then it is a decent idea.

+1

While I of course am going to support to consensus of staff and welcome this new tool, I have some concerns as to how this will work in practice. I am not concerned about anyone on staff currently, but you never know what the future holds.

Sufficient safeguards were put in place that addressed the bulk of my concern but I will be personally taking a cautious stance as SteelCurtain put it, and where there is any reasonable doubt in my mind I will vote against.

I do not expect many on staff would disagree with that approach.

(January 13, 2016 at 4:23 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote:

(January 12, 2016 at 5:41 pm)Bella Morte Wrote: Yeah, as long as it doesn't get abused or anything then it is a decent idea.

+1

While I of course am going to support to consensus of staff and welcome this new tool, I have some concerns as to how this will work in practice.  I am not concerned about anyone on staff currently, but you never know what the future holds.

Sufficient safeguards were put in place that addressed the bulk of my concern but I will be personally taking a cautious stance as SteelCurtain put it, and where there is any reasonable doubt in my mind I will vote against.

I do not expect many on staff would disagree with that approach.

Seems reasonable.