RE: Rule Change (New Staff Power)
January 13, 2016 at 4:08 am
(This post was last modified: January 13, 2016 at 4:13 am by Thumpalumpacus.)
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.
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.