Moderation Guidelines and Arbitration

Governance & GOCs Proposals
#1

Hi everyone!

The following proposal is a draft of the Moderation Guidelines and Arbitration doc that is ready for review. Special thanks to Lorena for writing it and Christina for contributing! The plan is to open a discussion here for further suggestions and edits in order to update the doc and convert it into a GOC as soon as possible. Any feedback is much appreciated.

Rules and Moderation Policies

This section contains the rules and moderation policies for our Discord server. Moderators are required to base their moderation on those rules and their policies.

1. Advertising

Users are not allowed to advertise:

  1. without permission
  2. outside the dedicated channels (stream announcements, collaboration)
  3. any kind of content, this includes but is not limited to:
  4. Discord invite links
  5. Referral links
  6. Social media profiles or channels

This rule also applies to advertisements through direct messages.

Policy: Users who join our Discord server only to violate this rule are permanently muted when advertising publicly and banned when advertising through direct messages. Other users are warned.

2. Language or Behavior

Language or behavior is prohibited if it is:

  1. Insulting
  2. Accusatory
  3. Defamatory
  4. Violent
  5. Sexist
  6. Racist
  7. Discriminating

Policy: Users are warned when violating this rule, in severe cases they may be temporarily muted.

3. Content prohibited

Content is prohibited if it:

  1. Is illegal
  2. Involves pornography or nudity
  3. Is sexual or suggestive content
  4. Shows or encourages violence
  5. Threatens, harasses, or bullies or encourages others to do so
  6. Is personal and confidential information
  7. Impersonates someone in a misleading or deceptive manner
  8. Is spam

Policy: Depending on the severeness, users are warned, temporarily muted, or permanently muted when violating this rule.

4. Spamming

The following behavior is considered spam:

  1. Sending messages with arbitrary characters in a fast sequence
  2. Sending the same message again and again in a fast sequence
  3. Repeatedly mentioning staff roles

Policy: Depending on the severeness, users are warned or temporarily muted when violating this rule. Accounts that are solely used for spamming are permanently muted.

Penalty

  1. Ban - Permanently removes a user from the server.
  2. Mute - Permanently mutes a user in all channels.
  3. Temporary Mute - Temporarily mutes a user in all channels.
  4. Warning - A warning is a note that will be attached to a user’s account. 3 or more warnings within the last 24 hours will result in a temporary mute for a duration of 24 hours.

1. Moderator Rules

  • Moderators should always be calm and polite, even when users are not.
  • Moderators should never be rude to users.
  • Moderators should not use their power based on their opinion, penalties should be based on the moderation policies.
  • Moderators should try to inform users when they remove their content or mute them.
  • Moderators should offer helpful rule explanations, tips, and links to new or confused users.

2. Enforcement Responsibilities

  • Operations Committee is responsible for clarifying and enforcing our standards of acceptable behavior and will take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any behavior that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.
  • Community leaders have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject comments, commits, code, wiki edits, issues, and other contributions that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, and will communicate reasons for moderation decisions when appropriate.

3. Conflict Management & Resolution

Despite best efforts to create a safe space for Community Members to thrive in, there remains a possibility for conflict that can endanger the health of our Community. In anticipation of this, our Community has developed a protocol to prevent and manage conflict. We outline our approach below:

    • Maintaining Trust through Transparency and Accessibility
      • Conflict can be prevented by maintaining a high level of trust within the Community. Community leaders are responsible for maintaining this trust by communicating the values described herein.
      • It is the responsibility of each member of the Community to hold each other accountable for violations to the Code of Conduct.
    • Escalation and Community Involvement
      • Incidents and conflicts that require special attention are to be brought to the attention of the Mgmt Discord Committee. Mgmt committee will meet to discuss the issue and work to resolve it through a process of consensus. If the issue cannot be resolved through consensus of the Mgmt Discord Committee it will then be brought to the attention of the DAO Community as a whole. The Mgmt Discord Committee is responsible for leading the discussion with the Community on how best to resolve the issue through public discourse.
    • Transformational Approach to Conflict Resolution
      • Sanctions are a more appropriate measure for conflict resolution. Outright punishment (banning) tends to create resentment which rots community sentiment. Instead, Community Leaders should learn from the experience and create a use case that can be used to help improve the overall Community experience.

4. Guidelines

  • This space is a public good, treat it with as much respect as you would your own space.
  • Common sense is not so common; asking the community for help is encouraged.
  • Pro social discussions help to grow the community, think about how you can add to existing conversation.
  • Open dialogue and constructive criticism is encouraged.
  • Don’t dignify bad behavior with a response, simply flag it.
  • This is a place for civil discussion; mind your manners and be thoughtful
  • Keep discussion orderly. No spamming, double posting or divergent replies.

5. Scope

This Code of Conduct applies within all community spaces, and also applies when an individual is officially representing the community in public spaces. Examples of representing our community include using an official e-mail address, posting via an official social media account, or acting as an appointed representative at an online or offline event.

Conflict Resolution Protocol (for all conflicts)

Protocol 1

  • Ops Committee members contacts community member(s) involved in the concern or complaint in order to discuss the issue privately.
  • Ops Committee members discusses the issue with community member(s) within five days of the incident.
  • Boundaries of the discussion are address; meeting time for conflict resolution last no more than 15 minutes and are focused on the incident that raised concern.
  • The meeting will be recorded, for the purpose of transparency and accessibility.
  • Ops committee members will work to resolve the issue within the first meeting; if a second meeting is requested by community member, Ops Committee members will address the issue to DAO members who will decide through consensus whether or not to escalate the issue.
  • If the issue was resolved, address to rest of community and communicate lessons learned.

Protocol 2

  • DAO members will review Ops Committee members notes and discuss the issue.
  • DAO members will commission a member of the Community to investigate the circumstances surrounding the dispute and conduct an impartial review.
  • DAO members will review and discuss the incident report and prepare solutions to the issues that raised concern.
  • A meeting will then be arranged with the community member(s) to discuss the issue and offer solutions.
  • If a resolution has yet to be reached, the issue will then be brought up to the entire community via the forum to discuss the issue.

Protocol 3

  • DAO members will prepare a forum post which offers the following information:
    • Date of incident
    • Members involved
    • Summary of incident
    • How the issue has been addressed so far
    • Commentary from each member involved in incident
    • Solutions that the DAO members have offered
  • The purpose of a forum post is to allow an opportunity for the broader community to offer their opinion on the situation. DAO members will read the community sentiment and discuss the issue on a public forum (Twitter Spaces, Discord, etc) to reach a final resolution.
8 Likes
#2

Great effort going into this! I see this as a very informative guideline and I envision it to be the key to the GOC (guideline as the GOC attachment). As there is an abundance of what is prohibited/intolerable (which I consider highly necessary) outlined in the guideline, in the GOC draft itself, I would like to suggest including some more language pertaining to the DAO’s mission, ethos, and the expected/encouraged behaviors. In essence, I envision the GOC would provide a high-level overview of what should be expected and what is unacceptable in regards to moderation.

3 Likes
#3

I support this GOC and hope it can be, in full or in part, included in the Forum guidelines.

2 Likes
#4

In full support of this as is. But would love to see the language around our ethos and mission incorporated as @Estie said if possible.

1 Like
#5

I agree that this is a great guideline and I can see this as the main attachment for a Moderation GOC. As discussed in previous committee meetings, I believe “arbitration” can be drop from the title. Possibly rename to Discord Rules & Moderation as this seems to relate to Discord specifically.

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