And why “simplification” doesn’t work.
Just so you can follow as we go, here’s the current link: The Rules of the Road
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I’m really bad at gaming the system, but I study it anyway, so I can spot it when somebody else is trying to.
For some odd reason , most of the rules that people quarrel with are the Do Nots. (The same people tend to ignore the positive rules, because there are very few penalties for ignoring them)
With a few limited exceptions I’m simply going to assume that the breakdown in reasons for Hidden comments hasn’t changed much in the past seven years. In May of 2014, I did a breakdown of 21 days of HRs, that I had gone over and sorted one by one, in order to try to figure out why they’d been thrown, and in what categories of rule violation they’d been made. Not all categories are still the same, but the overlap is pretty good.
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Did you ever wonder why Do Not #1 has so many qualifiers tacked on to the end?
Do Not Endorse or call for violence against anyone, public figure or private blogger, not even in jest. Claiming hyperbole, humor, or poetic license/justice is no excuse.
Every one of them has been used as an argument, not once, but multiple times. Many of the arguments have been well Recommended, generally by people who “can’t see what all the fuss is about.”
Recently, there was an excellent example of that. To paraphrase: “I’d like to adjust their face for them” was Recommended twice, flagged at least 7 times, finally Hidden, and in the process the flags were questioned by several commenters, on the basis of “Well, they might have meant something besides the obvious, and you don’t know,” and “They were just making a joke, and it wasn’t very good.”
It’s enough to cause any moderator to question whether it’s all worth it.
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Every six months or so, somebody comes up with the bright idea of putting all the disallowed words in a list, so that people will know what to avoid, and moderators won’t be so tempted to flag a word or a phrase that “really isn’t that bad.” Can you say “Fat Chance,” Binky?
As it is, the number of qualifiers on #2 has grown significantly over the last few years, and will undoubtedly need to grow again, as people come up with new categories and ways to denigrate “others.” IIRC, it was once “racist, sexist, or anti-LGBT.”
Do Not Use bigoted language in stories or comments. This includes but is not limited to slurs and stereotypes regarding race, gender, gender identity, sexuality, religion, age, class, locality, country or culture of origin, and physical or mental ability. Discriminatory speech of any kind is subject to administrative action, including banning. We respect everyone.
We are evidently currently allowed to be bigoted with respect to political affiliation. I’m not sure that’s a good idea, but as it has so far been impossible to enforce, I can’t argue too much. Might be worth discussing, though.
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Something that’s been relatively rare has come up more that once in the past few days; namely, the use of “bad” language on the site, and the notion that someone using coarse or vulgar language/ profanity is automatically guilty of insulting the person they are using it to.
Please don’t let anyone convince you that this is a legitimate response, and do have the following available for a cut and paste in case you run into it. Do Not #12:
Do Not Use profanity in the title of a story, which makes the site run afoul of Internet filters. Adult language is otherwise acceptable, provided it does not abuse other users or break site rules against hate speech.
So far, it’s also been the case that the same users also do not wish to have to worry about the actual Rules. I’m still not quite certain that at least some of them are serious, but serious or not, they’ve brought their own rules with them, and don’t intend to give them up for any silly site rules.
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Okay, this has to include Conspiracy Theory and Fake News, both. And Reality Based. They definitely need disambiguation before they can be properly dealt with. For now, I’m only putting up links to some preliminary work, because this is getting long.
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Finally, the single thing that tends to provoke the most persistent arguments, over and over again, is the very existence of the Rules of the Road, and community moderation itself. We should, you see, be able to discuss anything, in order to not miss concepts that might be useful...
… and what about the First Amendment?
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Of course I’ve missed a few. Or a few dozen. Add examples, please, in the Comments, but paraphrase as much as you can to avoid calling out specific instances.
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Comments are open. For agreement and argument and everything in between — and sideways, too. Enjoy.
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Next time: The RotR, Part III: What about the positive Rules? How do you moderate them properly? I would like some help on this one, please. Anecdotal evidence is fine, so please bring along one or two incidents where it was a matter of pushing for better writing, rather than punishing for infractions.
Tentatively, these diaries are set for Tuesday and Friday evenings at 9:00 pm Eastern time/8:00 pm Central/7:00 pm Mountain/6:00pm West Coast. If you have a topic you’d like to see discussed in one of them, leave a comment or kosmail me about it.
Anyone who wants to discuss community moderation topics is welcome. Of course, if you wish to tell us that community moderation is a failure and it’s all just an excuse for some people to set themselves up to judge others, please remember that Conspiracy Theories are not acceptable topics for discussion.
Previous diaries in this series, and a compilation of historical diaries showing the growth of Community Moderation on Daily Kos, can be found at A Guide to Community Moderation.
A caveat:
I do not speak for the Help Desk. This group does not speak for the Help Desk. In the unlikely event that any member of the Help Desk joins the group it still will not speak for the Help Desk. Kos and the rest of the Daily Kos staff, usually speaking through the Help Desk, are the ultimate authority in any and all disputes. Moving on...
Decisions about what to moderate, what to say, and how to say it, have always been individual ones. At most, it’s my hope that this group will offer advice which will make at least some parts of moderation more comfortable for more users.