I decided to do the first pass at the rules, since it seemed to me that people agreeing to be moderators should at least have a sense of what they’re getting into and more importantly how we may differ than the types of forums they’re used to. Since we’ll be stressing community, our forum will have a slightly different flavor than most.
When I put the first draft up, take a look and we(all currently registered) can discuss ones we have issues with.
I may let slide a few certain specific rules until an actual need for them arises. This would be so we can see how the community generally reacts before impose restrictions.
As to the points you raised:
1) Require a valid email address
Valid emails are required by software unless I give someone a pass (like when I generated the passwords by hand). While passwords can stop being valid and while I can see that it can be beneficial should members maintain them. I am not sure that we need an actual rule. I realize this is a common forum rule. I guess I am looking for a good reason why it needs to be a rule rather than a suggestion.
2) Limit the number of user accounts per person
My personal feeling is that the problem is not having multiple accounts, but how those accounts may get used. I am not sure why I should care if someone wants 10 accounts. I might care that someone is pretending to be different people to generate false support for their position. But it seems to me rather than banning multiple accounts, when there can be legitimate reasons for having multiple accounts, it might be better to just have rules banning the misuse of multiple accounts.
3) "password sharing" / Account hijacking.
I am more on the fence about the next one and can go either way. I think this is another one of those ‘advise them of the risk’ and lock the account if it gets out of hand issues. If a husband and wife want to share an account, I don’t have too much of an issue with that. It might be pointed out that it is on them to explain who is posting and that any confusion is something they simply have to deal with themselves. I think most the problems which I can see with password issues might be already covered in the more general rules about using the site.
Respect of others and their opinions
Respect of others sure. Respect of other’s opinions, more shaky and I am unsure what that even means. If someone says in their opinion 2 + 2 = 5, what does respecting an opinion mean? As long as the people aren’t personally attacking each other, I am of the mind that opinions are fair game. Though some of this is implicitly covered when the guidelines talk about being a good ‘citizen’ and community building.
Excessive CAPS
Should be a rule. Should be policed liberally though.
Moderator "begging" / pestering
Can you give some examples? I am also wondering if setting up separate moderator accounts would avoid much of that.
Spamming
Some controls needed.
[qutoe] The allowed size of posted images/files
Agreed.
Provide a process for dealing with member disputes of post moderation
Yes. It will have to avoid dealing with individual moderators and we’ll need to make it clear that people can question policy or the application of a policy, but that they have to do so separately.
10) Express the right of JKI to remove posts it determines to be harmful to the community at its own discretion.
Agreed. This is in, I dislike the obvious but it is short.
Agreed.
I have access to the actual rules that we used to address these issues, and could easily modify them to apply here. But I am not sure if I am in that position. I think we need a formal agreement, by the board I assume, before anything is actually formulated. Regardless, I hope the above gets us on the right track.
At this point let’s wait until my first draft and we can incorporate any omissions you see or tweak the language and then we can go from there. These types of actions get included in my officer’s report to the Board. The directors are free to participate in the formation of these policies, which is one of the reasons we’re talking about it here and not in email. ;-) Unfortunately, Ken (airassult), who has expressed the most interest, is away for a bit. |